Sen Dai Sushi — Restaurant in Milpitas

I had a very interesting ordering and pick up experience at Sen Dai Sushi. The last time I ordered from this place was a few months back and we did and UberEats delivery. This time we decided to pick up our food to avoid all the delivery costs. This restaurant does not take phone orders so you can't really talk to anybody to make an order. They make you order through Grubhub and that itself was not easy and smooth as I would have preferred. From Sen Dai's website, they send you over to Grubhub. I ended up making my selection of all the dishes and was ready to get checked out. There was no guest option so I had to go through the Grubhub registration process. The check out process was also tough because it would not take my credit card three different times. After the fourth time for clicking purchase, the order finally went through. Things were all good by this point and we were ready and waiting to pick up our food. When we arrived at the restaurant, we noticed the entire parking lot was full. We circled around and couldn’t find a parking spot so we decided to park at the business next door. After walking back to the restaurant, I stood in line and asked the person in front of me if this was the line for pickups that were ready or if they were just waiting from a confirmed order. He said it’s just one line and he already got sent to the back of the line because the first time around his order was not ready. The line was past the liquor store on the right and was starting to reach the next plaza. It was quote long. After I got to the front of the line, I showed them my order on my phone and completed the pick up process. I asked them if everybody had to wait in the single line whether their order was ready or not and he confirmed that was the situation. My advice is make sure the restaurant confirms your order is ready and prepare for a long wait time as the line is quite lengthy. We brought all the food back home and it all tasted good. There were no real issues with the food and we enjoyed the spread. The prices are a little higher than other nearby sushi restaurants, but since this places seems to be pretty popular, this is not unexpected. I gave them a nice pre tip before I got to the restaurant in the online order, but I would suggest doing the tip afterwards as typically you tip based on the service you get from...

So let's get the bad stuff out of the way first before we talk about the good which certainly makes it worth to deal with the bad. It's hard to find parking as this restaurant is in a place that is very busy at any time of the day. In fact, it's almost better to park a minute a way and walk over so you don't have to deal with the traffic madness. The other challenge is the wait. This place gets busy and if you plan to come for a quick bite during rush hour, then this is not the right place.

Here comes the good though: You can order take-out and they will have your oder ready on time when you come to get it. This avoids a lot of stress and you can eat at home in a more relaxed atmosphere.

The Sushi itself is excellent. The fish is fresh and because they are always busy, I feel they have rarely any left-overs they have to serve on the next day. You can get all the classical roles here, but I would recommend their specials. These are sometimes very unique creations of Sushi roles that will melt in your mouth. I like how they create flavor by mixing different fish in one role. The chef uses little rice so you can really taste your fish. Sometimes they overpower it a little bit with their sauces. Based on how they do their roles, this is certainly very modern sushi but a nice change to all the classical stuff you usually get.

Service is always friendly and trys their best to keep up with...

Update 2: Another update; changed to 5 star.

Update1: Tried few more times recently. Considering the pandemic situation, they have managed the take out service superbly. Also the taste has improved significantly. Instead of writing bigger pieces, I would like to correct myself and say that the portions are generous.

This is the third time we have been there. The place is always busy, at least Fridays and Saturdays evening. You put down your name and given a number according to the wait list. So essentially first come first serve, a simple process. Parking can be tight at times. We always order Sushi and in general can eat 3 rolls plus appetizer and soup easily between two of us. The sushi here are big, individual pieces. At times it is difficult to put in mouth. Lots of rice compared to the fish. The taste is average and not much to take home about. The service is super quick, like you order in one side of the table and you get served from the other side (for Sushi) the next moment. We asked for Seaweed salad, and believed to be served the Costco seaweed salad (my best guess, may be wrong). Overall, for Sushi restaurant, this is an average one. But you have much more options to choose from and other food styles may...