Arigato Sushi — Restaurant in Salinas

Unpleasant experience! Food: salty imitation crab, second time around; thin slices of salmon while prices have gone up. Brought this attention to server while she has swung by to ask if everything alright. She said, “sorry to hear that.” While paying by the cashier, another server commented, “no one has complained about it.” That’s not true because this was mentioned to them already before. Her comment, seemingly defending the restaurant, made things even worse. It makes the customer’s feedback unwelcome. She has no clue that comments are not for personal use, they are supposedly heard to I improve the product or probably even service. I’ve been coming here for years, however, the service has deteriorated significantly. Servers are not trained in customer service, only basic in taking orders, bringing food and collecting payment. Loss of one customer will be replaced by other new customers anyway. Dirty chairs, lost ambiance, poor service, indifferent responses of these young ladies in black, overall decline in quality, higher prices make not worth going back. It’s already a business potential loss. Sorry to say these! I’m glad this happened because I’d rather save my money and stop coming here after hundreds of times in years! (I used to come here every week or every other week.) My only compliment is for those older sushi makers still...

Hostess and Waitress were professional / sincere and food came out within 10 minutes. Table felt clean. Cleaning chemical smell at waiting area but not near our booth in the back.

Food: Chicken teriyaki was nice and tender, thin parts were still edible and not rock hard. Pan fried gyoza was good. Sake nigiri tasted fresh and flavorful. Tempura batter was a little on the hard side. Cali roll jam packed with imitation crab, no cucumber. Subjective take, but not a fan. Son ordered golden philly roll. He enjoyed it, but I dislike philly rolls and deepfrying it didnt help. Other son ordered Green Dragon Roll. No eel, no cucumber, meh sauce on top, extra imitation crab. 🤮 Not a green dragon roll.

Apart from being another place thats stingy with their tentsuyu (tiny little black cup not nearly enough for the amount of tempura), the portion sizes were more than what you pay for lunch prices and its like the only Japanese restaurant nearby that doesnt close at 2pm. So, would probably go back if its in that time frame and really craving Japanese. Just gotta stay away from their version of green dragon roll (my favorite at almost every other Japanese restaurant). Maybe ask for extra tempura...

My husband and I dined at Arigato for the first time this evening. Our waitress was aloof and rude. We have had sushi tastings all up and down the west and east coasts and never in my life have I seen raw or fried onion as garnish for a sushi roll. My nigiri had red onion on it...these people are obsessed with it. One of the sauces on my husband's roll (which the waitress recommended before she never came back to our table) tasted of just mustard and it was topped with fried onions that they called "tempura." The shrimp tempura roll was ice cold when it reached our table and the portion sizes were way out of control. Sushi is meant to be one tasty bite per piece so you can really get the flavor of the fish. Having a piece that could only fit in an elephant's mouth just shows how truly unrefined this restaurant is. My husband and I had one escolar nigiri and 4 rolls between the two of us and are currently fighting off food poisoning. Quite a bizarre place that my husband and I will never be...