Yama Kitchen Pasadena — Restaurant in Pasadena

I am very disappointed that this is my rating for this place because it has so much potential. I have been to this location 3 times since they have opened, all at different times and each time the experience is different. The first time my friend and I went every thing was good, time of service wasn’t long and the food was good. Second time I went it was for a friend’s birthday and it wasn’t as great as the first time. The food and our server were good but the guy who was dropping off our food kept throwing our food and utensils to us. My friend said he had thrown our utensils before I got there and when I sat down he was bringing appetizers and he also threw them at us. I let our server know immediately because I was not going to let him ruin my friend’s birthday dinner. The third time was probably my worst experience. My husband took me for Mother’s Day (which I know it’s a busy day already). The waiting to get seated was not an issue, I knew we would have to wait as it was a holiday. We waited about 25 mins (even tho they said 10-15 wait), our server looked like she was new so I try not to fault her but I also feel like she should have asked for help to better our experience. They had a sign on their door saying mothers got a free mimosa for Mother’s Day, I asked her and she immediately shut me down saying they ran out of orange juice, okay no problem. However, after she leaves with our first order of food I see someone brining out 5 mimosas out, so were they out or did she not want to go check before telling me no completely? Whatever, no big deal. We placed our first order and it came out, she came again to ask for our second order. 5 mins passed so I go to the restroom to change my daughters diaper, I come back by this time it’s been about 15 mins still nothing. Our server comes back at around 20 mins to check if we got our food, we still hadn’t so she said she would go check. I see her talk to someone (a manager I assume) who I see talking to her kinda rudely saying the kitchen is backed up and that he can’t fix it. She comes and lets us know our food should be out shortly and that she apologizes for the delay, BUT suggest we cancel our order. I said no as we had already ate a bit so we were going to pay full price for pretty much not much food so no I would wait for our food. Another 15 minutes passed and at this point I’m mad because I see the table next to us keep ordering and their food keeps coming out at a timely manner. This time I am looking for a manager to speak to because my daughter is crying because she is hungry, my husband is upset and I am mad because we have spent a total of almost 45 minutes waiting for food, and our server is not coming to check on us. I speak to a women who I’m assuming if the manager or owner. I tell her my concern and a gentleman comes behind her telling her to offer us 15% off our tab. What is that going to do? We came to eat? Whatever, she brings our food out and explained that the kitchen was backed up. I told her I understand it is busier than usual as it is a holiday, however it is not okay that a table much bigger than our (2 adults + 1yr baby) is not getting their food when the table next to us was 6 adults total and they were ordering a lot of food. The gentleman who told her to give us 15% off our tab comes back with some hot sake (on the house) and offers his apologies. I appreciate him trying to make up for it but this was the second incident that has given this place a sour note for me. For these reasons I will not be coming back or recommending this place anymore. It’s very uncomfortable because like I mentioned at the beginning, the food was good and our first 2 servers were good. MAYBE I will be back in the future, but for now they are a...

I wanted to give a 1 Star review, but after I put some thoughts in it, I like this restaurant very much, all other server except Jenny are really nice. So I shouldn’t do such thing. So I hope the management can read this review throughly. On 17:30, May 11th, Mother’s Day, 2025. Me and my family are going to Yama Kitchen to have a family dinner. It’s the third time we going to this place since they are open. We are a party of 6. At the beginning, we are assigned to a small table, which is not enough space for all of us. So we requested to change to a bigger table, the management are really nice to move us to a bigger table in party room P2. Because of this, we landed on Jenny’s area. Jenny was not happy about it, she asked why did they move us to there. She gives a really bad impression to us. Feels kind like she looks down to us. Oh, I understand why, because we are a group of Asian family, right? At the beginning I wasn’t thinking like this, it was a busy night, she might be too busy to take another table. That’s alright I understand that. But what happened next, is unacceptable. She comes to our table, and introduces herself, her name is Jenny and asked what we would like to drink. I said we all want ice water. She turn around disgusted, said nothing to us. and told QQ which the nicest person I ever met. She doesn’t want to serve us, QQ should take us! And then she just walked away, leave our family and QQ shocked. Oh, yea, now I understand why, because we are group of Asian family, we are cheap, we only drink water instead of sugar. She doesn’t want us to tip her bad. Lol. She is not only a bad server but also a racist. Great. But guess what Jenny? QQ served us really good, and we all loved her, and she got tipped 50+ dollar on our table that night. Other than this incident, it was a lovely Mother’s Day dinner, the food is great, QQ is great. Love the place, will go back to there again. BUT, Yama Kitchen management team. PLEASE GET RID OF JENNY. You don’t want this kind of person...

My husband and I are obsessed with AYCE sushi so we definitely had to check out this spot and we are beyond impressed!

Pros: -Ayce sushi &/or Ayce Japanese BBQ -Menu with huge variety so that everyone can find something they want to eat -High quality sashimi grade fish (faves: salmon, pepper tuna, white tuna, yellowtail, eel, mackerel) -Appetizers and hot dishes are well made despite not being the main "star of the show" (faves: spicy edamame, crispy calamari, grilled mussels, gyoza, peppercorn tuna, yellowtail jalapeno, mango salmon, FRIED RICE was phenomenal) -Desserts were good too (faves: tempura oreos and banana, green tea & red bean ice cream) -The staff here is fantastic and family oriented. We were greeted with smiles and lots of attentiveness from the hosts, to our wonderful server Kenny. The manager Shawn welcomed us as well and was happy to listen to our suggestions during their soft opening.

Improvements: -Less rice on the rolls to avoid getting full off of excess carbs and letting the fish shine -Tempura ice cream is not crispy. It came to the table doughy and cakey -Consider frying shumai instead of steaming them

Overall the restaurant design was absolutely stunning. The modern galaxy theme with the lit up moon, saturn style lights, and modern futuristic vibes left me in awe as soon as we entered. The golden bar was sleek and the drinks were delicious. We will be back a few times a month I'm sure.

We love this AYCE style restaurant and Pasadena is very lucky to have this wonderful restaurant...