Joe's | Sushi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Riverside

I have been a long time Joe's Sushi customer. It was very difficult to find good Japanese food or any Asian food in Riverside. Riverside has a great share of Mexican food and bars, but Asian food taste like dirty and we still ate it, because that's what we do. Maybe you will understand if you ever have Asian food cravings and live in Riverside. Back in my Riverside days this was the pre-gambling stop. Whenever my friends would win big or wanted to get in the poker mood we would hit up Joe's Sushi.

If you will notice, every review is either very good or very bad. Both sides are completely right. I feel the experience does vary per visit.

Let's start with the positive first: The food is not bad. You get very larger qualities and lot of flavor. They go all out on the sauce and that crunch stuff. If you order anything with cream cheese, you will get a mouth full. If you are a person that loves rolls (not sushi/ sashimi) this place will be heaven for you. I use to eat a crap load when I was younger so this worked out very well. The actually sushi is okay. The atmosphere at times could be fun at the bar when the servers are telling jokes and enjoying themselves. Some my best experiences were the first few times I went here.

The bad/ the usual experience: Any complaints about service are 100% true! This wasn't always the case. In the beginning it was simple crap talking and joking, but lately it just plain rude. My friends and I were a bit wasted once and one chef said here eat some cream cheese to my friend and said oink oink. I thought it was kinda fun at first, but he was so insistent he didn't stop until my friend took it and at least pretend to bite a random piece of cheese. Another complaint I heard was they talk smack in Korean. Yes, my girl can confirm this. Very accurate! Whenever a white person walks in and you think they are screaming something a Japanese greeting sometimes they are mumbling a curse word in Korean. Yes, the chefs will try to hit on your girl if she's Korean and you are in a mixed race relationship. I can go on and on, but the final visit here put the nail in the coffin for me. Back in my high roller days of poker, I knew majority of the sushi chefs and the sad thing is most of them still work there. I feel sorry for them, but that is no excuse to be mean to your servers, customers, and to be raciest. On my final visit, a few chefs gave me a balloon face meaning that I gained some weight. That is possible I'm not as young or active I was years ago. I know they were just being blunt, but the manager agreed. We are not my friends that is too far. I didn't take it personally, but it was hard to enjoy your All-you-can-eat meal when everyone working here is happy to see you again, but agrees you gained weight. Flash forward.. I am back to college shape now, but there is no point in going back if this is how you treat your loyal customers.

I admit I was a fan in the past, but Joe's Sushi has taken a turn for the worst. I have referred many friends here and had a lot of great times, but goodbye Joe's. If you like the smell of constant cigarette smoke on the sushi chefs, come here. Not recommended. Two thumbs down. Never again. I hope you go out of business. I recommend...

Lunch on 11/06/22

Let me start out by saying that I used to come here quite often and LOVED this PLACE. After not having been for a few years, we went again, and sadly, I really don't feel like I will be back. There are either New owners or its under new management management, either way, the warm welcoming atmosphere we once knew is no longer there. All the pictures of staff and patrons sharing good times that lined the walls are gone. In it's place are cold, sterile walls. It's no longer AYCE, which I get. Covid and inflation has probably made that unsustainable, so I can't fault them. Most things are 50% off so it's theoretically still a good deal except the quality of the food has gone down. I ordered a soft shell crab appetizer. The body was missing entirely, I was given only the legs, and they were covered in a thick tempura batter. My husband and I ordered some sushi rolls to share. Out of four, only one was really good, the Tokyo night roll. The rice tasted cold and old, like it was leftover from the night before. The service wasn't great either. Our server came to our table a few times, but always when we had food in our mouths, and never seemed to stick around long enough to hear if we needed something, we did a couple times. I ordered a plum wine, which is very tarsty, however, about ten plus minutes after we received our food, it still wasn't out, and I had to ask for it again. I wondered if I had said nothing if they would have tried to charge me for it. I also almost had to get a fork for a party member myself, as getting her attention long enough to ask seemed to be a little difficult. Lastly, they automatically add a 15% percent gratuity, regardless of party size. However, they base that 15% off of the total after tax, so it's more like 18%. I know these all seem like petty things individually, but all together it was enough.

For those who know what Joe's was like, what it's supposed to be like, and what it should be like still, don't go. Joe's is dead, the spirit is dead, and I don't think it'll...

My family and I have been going to Joe’s for YEARS, decades at this point. Tonight was the first night I’ve been back in a while, and I have never been so disappointed in my life. My fiancé and I walked in, so excited because I was telling him how amazing this place was and all the amazing memories my family and I have had there, and to our surprise, there were 2 men waiting to be seated, The multiple flustered men working at the front were very unorganized and made a mistake and sat a group of 4 before the 2 men, which caused the 2 men to start cussing and getting angry at the multiple hostess’s. (THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OUR FIRST SIGN) We waited about 10 minutes to be seated, we sat down, our waiter asked for our drink order, we looked over the menu, ordered. And got our first 2 items super quick ( like the old days) it was great at first! But then after our first 2 items got delivered, we waited about 15-20 minutes for every other item to be delivered. Then waited and waited for our last 2 items we ordered. One of which was the Baked Green Mussels, which was my most favorite item on the menu (before). They forgot about them 2 times, we had to ask 3 times until we got them, and when they were brought to our table. They were COMPLETELY burnt beyond eating! You could visibly see how burnt and bad they were yet, another random waiter set them down on the table and said “be careful they are hot!” No sir, they are BURNT! We complained to another random waiter (since it didn’t seem that we were assigned one) and he offered to take it off the bill, but didn’t really seem concerned. As we were leaving I realized all the men that were working the sushi bar were cleaning and using harsh chemicals like bleach that filled the whole air with the smell. (This was around 9:10) they close at 10. People were still eating and having to smell that! In conclusion, Joe’s was my favorite place in the whole world. But now I will not be going back. And I will be telling everyone who also used to love Joe’s that it is no...