Higuma Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Redwood City

We were really excited to try out Higuma seeing a 4.6 star rating. Very seldom do we come across a 4.5+ sushi joint and somehow Higuma never went noticed.

To sum it up, Higuma comes across really authentic. It is run by a Japanese owner and family and you can clearly taste the "non-commercial" way of preparing hearty Japanese food. Higuma does not try to be fancy and to a degree, it almost feels like home-cooked. This is very rare as most sushi places feel like a mini factory these days, making the same bland sushi over and over.

We ordered a collection of daily specials (really pricey considering all the imported fish). The nigiri was definitely made with care and love. Whoever was behind the counter certainly cares about what he/she puts on the plate, making the sushi with quality ingredients. Everything felt fresh and wholesome. In large, we genuinely enjoyed the 10-piece custom nigiri set.

So then why the 4 stars? First, the sushi is SMALL. When I say small, it probably is half the size of other regular Japanese restaurants. At first, it almost looked like a play set or toy display. So the fishes were cut small, as well as the rice that supports it. And where most sushis were great, the W5 wagyu was a massive disappointment. If they had used great wagyu (most likely they should have), over cooking it and serving it "lukewarm" was a huge mistake. Perhaps they made that one first and let it sit on the tray.

I want to give Higuma another shot and the next time we come, we'll definitely go with the regular sorts. Hopefully the price will be more justifiable then. I see...

Higuma is an authentic sushi joint that's usually not extremely crowded because of its location (it's in Redwood City so more of a "non-foodie" area). Although parking in the back is limited I haven't had problems finding parking in the parking lot yet. You do see more non-Asian clients here than other sushi restaurants but don't let that deter you because it's more of a function of location than testament of non-authenticity. They tried to accommodate more customers by having an outdoor extension so if you don't have reservations on busy days you may be able to be seated outdoors.

They have a wide selection of sushi especially fish from Japan than many local sushi restaurants. I wouldn't say their sushi is the most fresh I've had but they are good and fresh enough.

What I don't like is their pricing because the price is per piece not a pair you would typically get. I feel for some sushi such as unagi $4.50 for one piece is ridiculously expensive. In other words expect to pay about double of any other sushi restaurants. For fish from Japan, double that yet again and more. For comparison, unagi from Japan is $10 a piece. Whether that's worth it depends on you but for me the quality is not so good that it's worth it. However this doesn't mean this is a bad restaurant.

The other complaint I have is that it also uses the preset tip calculator when you check out and they are preset at 18, 20, 25% post tax which means it's inflated by...

My wife and I went to this restaurant yesterday because of the comparatively positive reviews on yelp and Google. The dining experience did not turn out well at all.

We went to the restaurant, and were sitting there waiting to be serviced for a whole 5 minutes, with no menus and no drinks offered. We had to say 'excuse me' and wave at the waitress several times before getting served. Finally this old waitress came and only said to us 'wait!'. I was shocked, her tone sounded like we were there begging for food, not to mention that there is absolutely no apology for the delayed service.

Though we were both very hungry, I was afraid the service will ruin our entire dining experience and our mood during our pre-wedding holiday. I asked for a takeaway instead.

Now the food, the food just does not meet the standard at its price point. We ordered two bento boxes, one with chicken teriyaki and veggie tempura, another with beef teriyaki and prawn tempura. The beef is not tender. The tempura is ok. Overall the food can pass but $40 for two bento boxes with food court quality, I'd call it expensive! I mean, come on Yelpers and Googlers, this restaurant should be 3...