Sushi Boat Town — Restaurant in San Jose

2018-Feb

Okay, they're back to their terrible service, much worse than my first/ original review. I cannot understand when a frustrated customer says she's asked for the bill twice, that the server goes to take 3 more tables' orders before ringing up -- one of which was 8 people. My kid likes the food, but I'm not going back. Nope! There are 2 other sushi places closeby enough that it's not necessary.

My original review is from roughly one year ago, while the previous owners still ran the restaurant.... and, as predictable, convenience outweighed my old distaste one night -- hope really does spring eternal.

HOWEVER: I will gladly now bump this up to four stars, instead of one. The new staff is now friendly and attentive, there is now a very fair variety of selection on the sushi boats, and it's relatively easy to get the sushi chefs' attention. After the first cautiously-optimistic visit, we've been back a handful of times, and I'm vey pleased to say everything's stayed consistent. They have happy hour most nights, which is a bonus. There are also some new Korean dishes, like kimchee-tofu soup, which I could eat every day.....

Hurray! Now there's a good sushi place within walking distance from home!

OLD REVIEW. It's hard to mess up on sushi, but here you have it. The sake, while cheap during happy hour, is lukewarm. The sushi in the boats is nearly all fried, and doused in sauces, not fresh.... and it's a regular thing to see 10+boats go by without anything but Wasabi or ginger. Yes, you can order specific items -- if you can catch the attention of the sushi chefs, who are very engrossed on the TV -- but isn't half the point of the boats to get a large variety, and try new fish -- a variety I wouldn't have thought to order? Another pet peeve: we couldn't 't get a server's attention for the life of us, not to order from the menu, nor for the bill. My family and I have come here several times since the somewhat recent ownership change because we live in the immediate neighborhood, but we won't be back again if I...

I never really find many sushi boat restaurants anymore (but a similar concept is being spread with kura with their conveyor system), but this one in south san jose is still one if the traditional sushi boat restaurants you'd find in the mid 2000's to mid 2010's! You can choose to sit around the sushi boats or sit at a booth as you wish. Like all other sushi boat restaurants, you grab little plates of sushi and depending on the plate it was served on, that was the price. Prices of sushi on the boats ranged from $4.30 to $10. On a lunch day like this, not too many sushi were on the boats unfortunately... maybe it might be more popular at dinner or weekends.

If the sushis on the boat dont appeal too well, there are many more options available through their huge menu! There are teriyaki plates to bento boxes to even a unique burrito sushi roll style dish! I ordered a bento box and the beef tasted pretty good minus the sauce which felt flat. It came with soup and salad and rice as well as a orange and dumpling! The main highlight of the bento box though was the tempura! It was really crispy and well breaded and fried! I loved the sauce it came with as well! $20

Service was very minimal and most interaction i had was just the payment as soon as i was done. But the place seemed to be well staffed and got around to anyone needing refills, etc.

Overall it was a pretty good experience! Although the bento box kinda felt a little...

I eat here often but today is my first time reviewing this restaurant. Today I treated my wife and in laws for lunch. As always the service and food was flawless. But today had nothing to do with food.

After we finished our salad, I noticed a very tiny spider crawling all over the outside of the bowl.! Discretely I showed it to the sushi chef, not to freak out my family. He told our server and I approached him and he apologized. He offered me dessert to makeup for the little creature. When he brought it to our table, everyone was asking him why the dessert. I motioned to him don't say anything and they thought  it was for my birthday. So they sang to me happy birthday including the waiter!  lol Then I passed out the dessert bowls the top 3 were clean but the 4th & 5th was obviously used! It had pieces of rice with soy sauce.

Strike 2 I realize a restaurant can get very busy but have a designated area for dirty and clean dishes! I'll give this place another visit but strike 3...