Okayama Sushi #1 — Restaurant in San Jose

I went to this restaurant twice. The first time was fine (standard sushi and rolls experience), but it wasn't amazing. The second time I went, it was a very bad experience. I'll outline the reasons below:

I went with friends as a party of five. When they sat us down, we were placed at two combined small tables, but the ends of the table were against the wall on one side and very close (like 2 ft) away from the next table. This meant one side of our table had to cram three people. This isn't a huge deal, but it was not a good first impression for my friends. I'd much prefer that they turned the table so we could sit more comfortably.

My girlfriend ordered the shabu shabu, which was described as a soup with vegetables and "thinly sliced beef". We're no strangers to shabu shabu, and figured we could do worse than order it in Japantown. Unfortunately, when it arrived, the beef was quite the opposite of what we're used to. The beef was very "thickly sliced". They were also very large, i.e. one of the pieces covered half of the bowl. Worst of all, the beef was way overcooked, to the point where it was tough and chalky as soon as it came out. I'm usually very adamant about finishing food we order, but even I had to suggest that we just leave the beef to the side.

My own order was a seafood stew. Given the price, I expected good (or at least decent) quality ingredients. The soup itself was fairly bland, which is actually OK, since I was hungry for something lighter. The ingredients, on the other hand, were not acceptable. I got overcooked fish fillets. The shrimp was almost unrecognizable, as they were very long and had a "dissolved" look. Imagine if a piranha had access to each piece of shrimp for 60 seconds before it was served.

During preparation, we saw one of the handlers/cooks in the kitchen remove his earbuds with his gloves on to speak with someone, place the earbuds back in, then continued to work on the food.

If you're looking for a standard sushi spot, this place can get the job done. If you want to explore the menu, then I think there are other options in Japantown, as long as they're open (i.e. not Sunday). As for me, I can't in good conscience recommend anyone else I know to come here after that...

I’m a bit 50/50 on this restaurant. I’ve eaten at so many sushi restaurants so my standards are a bit high.

What was good: •The tea was so gooooood. It was green tea but it had a smoky aftertaste. I had to ask what it was because it was so good. •My roll was good as was the miso soup

What I didn’t love: •I have had sunomono salad at various sushi places and it has always been about the same; cucumber soaked in vinegar over a bed of shredded daikon or similar. I know sunomono can come in different ways but it’s usually mentioned like wakame sunomono.

Here, it was literally listed as just “sunomono” with no descriptions or subtext. So I ordered it thinking it would be what I normally get and instead it was a huge bowl of cucumber but also a bed of wakame, a huge chunk of octopus, and several shrimp. I am deathly allergic to shrimp and I have never been to a restaurant that didn’t disclose that there was shrimp in something. This is absolutely not okay so I am docking multiple stars since that could literally kill someone. If you read this Okayama, do better. Next July it will be the law so you better get on it.

•I ordered the green tea cheesecake… out. I ordered the strawberry mochi ice cream… out. Finally ordered the vanilla but the fact that the waitress had to come back twice to tell me they were out.. uhg.

•it was my friends birthday and i tried to see if they could bring him something with a candle and they said they don’t do that. What??? I have never been anywhere that didn’t have a birthday candle on something.

Overall, this place is not worth coming to when so many other places exist that don’t have these issues. Really unfortunate and I feel bad for my friend too since it was his...

You would think this establishment would be thankful to have any customers. The restaurant was practically empty when we arrived the sign says wait to be seated , as we stood there watching two of the servers tell each other jokes they decided to see us and sit us at a table. We ordered two soups One seafood and one pork and a sashimi and sushi platter. My soup was brought out immediately and my sister's suit came about 5 minutes later then they brought out the sashimi and sushi platter which was very small in portion I can't believe they asked that much in price for that small serving my suit was a pork ramen soup it was poorly produced with lots of nori and no pork at all in the soup When I had pointed it out that there was no pork in my soup the waitress walked away I waited several minutes but then a family of six came in and the waitress and staff went to serving and meeting their needs first I finally got the attention of a waitress and and I explained to her that there was no pork In My soup . They ended up meeting my need by trying to give me a extra piece of pork the size of a postage stamp. My soup was cold , I asked them to warm my soup up and to just put pork in it. my sister's soup was to her liking but she didn't like the service we had been given. I will never go back to this place overpriced and understaffed with no illusions of having repeat customers would be the...