EMC Seafood & Raw Bar — Restaurant in San Jose

We'd avoided this place due to its location and expected heavy price tag, opting to save going for a special occasion. It was well worth the wait. The happy hour that's offered every day makes EMC somewhere you can go just about any time, for any occasion as long as you remind yourself that raw food will have its expected premium.

Literally everything that we got from the HH menu, from the calamari, French fries, carpaccio, and soft shell crab sliders were out of this world. I love French fries and like them a touch greasier (I know..) but EMC's were still on point and very crisp, though I'm not a fan of mushrooms and they're diced up into the accompanying aioli that comes with them. Soft shell crab sliders.. wow. We could have just ordered 20 of them and been happy. The calamari was fantastic and has a fine mix of spices and vegetables along with it so it takes a little more time to each than 8-10 pieces of battered and fried seafood.

I was origially skeptical on the $60 garlic noodles with lobster (obviously not on the HH menu), expecting it to be an overpriced small portion, leaving us wanting. I kept an extra menu at the table specifically for that reason, but what greeted us was quite the opposite. A large mound of noodles and a full, but cut up lobster adorning the sides and bottoms of the tray. My suspicions from seeing a small portion was quelled by seeing the other reasonably sized dishes we had prior. This was a lot of food, especially after partaking in items from the happy hour. When we gathered ourselves and picked our jaws from the table, we dug in. This was so good it bordered sexual. The noodles were amazing and they provide a bucket and crackers -- they give you a head start by cutting the two claws, head and tail in half. (Though when I asked about the cajun boiled shrimp, they said they come unpeeled but they can peel them for you for a $3 charge. I suspect they'd probably do this for you with the lobster as well.) It's lobster, so unless you know exactly what you're doing, it will probably get a little messy, but they proved hand wipes as well.

Overall, this was such a good experience and we were there at the height of happy hour (it was very busy)and didn't feel like we waited long for anything. Staff was very nice, despite their obvious high-workoad laid out for them throughout the restaurant.

As far as pricing goes.. yeah, it's not cheap but go during happy hour so you can try a bit of everything that you normally wouldn't during non-HH hours. Four appetizers and one of the most expensive items on the menu came out to only $55 per person, which totally beats our other go-to restaurant that we easily spend more for less at.

The quality food and nice space make this an experience and this is firmly out of the special occasion location to a "it's pay day, let's blow some money in garlic noodles and lobster"...

I came to EMC with my brother in law and niece for dinner. Let me first say that this was my first time eating at EMC and my experience was not so good. My brother in law said his experience prior before was good; so I guess it's a hit or miss.

Anyways... I receive a text alert informing me that our table was ready. I arrived within 30 seconds and they told me that the table was not ready yet and would be another 5-10 minute wait. That's fine, perfectly understandable.

About 8 minutes had passed, so I went to the hostess to ask for a status update. She said an additional 5 minutes is needed as they are still cleaning the table - okie... a little weird that it would take 13 minutes to clean a small table for three people. But no biggy still.

Over 20 minutes had passed and I asked for another status update. The hostess admitted that she had accidentally given our table away. I was pretty much annoyed at this point, but I didn't throw a fit. They quickly cleaned a nearby table within 5 minutes and seated us.

Keep in mind I was literally at the entrance of the door where they can see me clearly and I was in earshot to hear my name if it was called. I don't understand how our table was accidentally given away in this scenario.

Oh and to top it off, our food arrived very late. We waited about 40 minutes for our main course meal to come out. Why we didn't just get up and walk away is beyond my understanding.

Overall, our server was okie/nice. We didn't complain about the wait or anything, but our server gave us a complimentary desert as an apology...

Glad and as well thankful that EMC is still operational and are providing good seafood options that taste good and are delicious. Howsoever was a little disappointed with the size the of the serving , especially Lobster Roll, which we have had a larger portion of for the same price that we ended up paying this time. Also the salmon roll was a bit off on the taste though was still a good 7 on 10. Probably would still order a dinner another time and hopefully the one we had today just turns out to be a result of a bad day at work, which does not repeat often.

Still grateful that they are making these food choices available to the public in these times!!!

Update: 04/25/2021

Definite 5 star dinner served this time by EMC. We happened to order 7 items and that gave us a broad enough spectrum to test and taste a lot.

Starting with the cucumber salad which of course had been off the charts amazing all the time and it continues to impress us. The Truffle roll and the carpaccio cooked to perfection and tasted yummylicious.

Moving on to the fish tacos which we felt that 2 were just not enough, given how they were bursting with amazing taste and fresh ingredients.

The crispy calamari with the sauce was out of this world tasty and the grilled corn added a lot of gold to glory!!

Culminating it with the rich and creamy clam chowder, we couldn't have asked for more.

Definitely a 5 or maybe more...