Tachikawa — Restaurant in Pinole

TLDR: Don't waste your money on the hamachi kama. And maybe skip this place altogether.

We came here for my mom’s birthday because she loves hamachi kama. Six years ago, they served us a burnt, overcooked fish, (which they easily replaced with a well-cooked one) so we chalked it up to bad luck and decided to give them another try. Unfortunately, history repeated itself.

We ordered hamachi kama (interestingly, it’s not on the menu. Maybe now we know why), shrimp and veggie tempura, miso soup, and some happy hour rolls. The Oh Yes Roll was actually good, and the other two rolls and tempura were decent. The miso soup, though, was too salty.

To our pleasant surprise, the first hamachi kama (pictured) was tasty. Good size, not burnt, soft and moist. My brother even ate the skin. We enjoyed it enough that my mom wanted to order a second one, and we got dejavu when it came out burnt. And no, not a char, as in the skin was completely burnt like it was cremated. All three of us took a single bite and immediately knew it was inedible. The inside was dry, rubbery, and just plain unpleasant.

We sent it back and told our server (who, to be fair, was very kind and attentive). But we overheard the chef in the back getting visibly salty and offended, which felt incredibly unprofessional. The server asked if we wanted it remade, but we’d already lost our appetite and wanted to go back to turn the day around with some cake, so we just asked for the check. She told us we’d be charged whether we had it remade or not, so we begrudgingly agreed to wait. Then she came back saying they would remake it, but that was “the last one” and offered to pack it up instead. Huh??? Why offer to remake it in the first place if it was the last one? Make it make sense. She also told us that the chef said they can't take it off the bill since "we ate half of it already" when we literally took one bite each off of the skinnier side. It felt like we were being punished for sending it back.

We refused (since again, it's inedible anyway, but now I wish I accepted, so I was able to take a pic), paid the full check, and walked out disappointed. That one bite of rubbery cremated fish cost us twenty bucks, and now we know exactly why it’s not on the menu lol

This was supposed to be a birthday treat, instead, it was a repeat of the same failure we experienced six years ago. We won’t be coming back. Thankfully, the cake from One65 saved my...

Disgusting! I really don’t like writing negative reviews that may hurt a business but when that business shows such disregard for their trusting, paying customers, a line is crossed.

We went for dinner on a busy Friday night and noticed the chef coming back from a fridge freezer with some of the ‘fresh’ fish.

On leaving later on, we noticed these refrigerators and when I say they were bad, it was a shocker just how disgustingly filthy they were. Considering these are on public view - right inside the door of the restaurant - and that the chefs must go to it several times a day touching the filthy handles with their bare hands before returning to prepare sushi (but yet somehow haven’t managed to notice the disgusting stains and greasy dirt) made me wonder just how bad the part of the restaurant that’s not in...

We decided to try a new spot and found this one on yelp. They don't have a current website up but they are open- I ordered while there for take out and the staff was very friendly. There were many people eating in which I took as a good sign... and it was. Everything we ordered on this Saturday tasted super fresh and high quality. I love when the niguri cuts actually do melt in your mouth! The special rolls were smaller than I was expecting (comparing to other sushi bars) yet we're very flavorful and just as fresh as the nigiri. The restaurant looked very clean and was easy to find, lots of parking. I plan on ordering...