Ultra Sushi — Restaurant in San Mateo

Huge disappointment. Where do I even begin? I came here before with family and my experience was not as bad as this time.

SERVICE: 3/5 I read reviews before about the bad service but from my experience, it wasn't the absolute worst. We knew how to order and knew what we wanted so everything was done quite smoothly. The only issue was that our table was a little further away than the kitchen so the servers mainly hovered around there, but that wasn't the biggest issue. While ordering, we did notice that certain servers had different approaches to customer service. Some were nicer than others. We had a younger woman helped us first and she was very nice and more approachable than another middle aged looking man who was really slow in taking out his device to input our order. the staff here just seem to be a mix of younger people who don't know proper customer service and need a job and older people who just needed a job. There's not a whole lot of consistency but at the end of the day, we got what we asked for.

FOOD: 0.5/5 This was such a disappointment. Like I mentioned, this was not my first time here. Our first time, the fish was a lot fresher and presentation was a lot nicer. This time, Our sashimi came room temperature, it was fishy, salmon was extremely oily, certain fish didn't have much flavor, and it was overall extremely low quality. The way they prepared the sashimi was also very poorly done. Even low quality fish can seem high quality if cut correctly. It was like they took the block of fish and cut it like it was a piece of chicken teriyaki. Everything would've been easier to stomach down if the fish was cold, but because the pieces rough and room temp, it was terrible. The oysters weren't the worst, but there was no flavor. It was like they washed it and put it back in the shell? The scallop was fishy as well? and the UNI, oh my gosh, it was super fishy, bitter, and really low quality. I personally don't have super high expectations for food and my partner knows because I grew up eating anything and everything. But even this time, he was shocked that I thought the food was subpar. The only reason I even gave a .5 was because the best thing we ended up ordering were the meat skewers. they came out hot and moderately seasoned. (not the shrimp though) After eating unsatisfactory raw fish, the hot cooked meat on a stick really hit the spot. So in all honesty, I'm not sure if the skewers were actually good or if it was just way better compared to the fish.

Overall, if you're paying $50 per person, not even including the mandatory 20% service fee, you'd expect a higher quality of food, even if it's AYCE. We all know that if you're getting AYCE, you might be able to overlook a slight food quality adjustment, but this is just not worth it anymore. Reading reviews, it seems their food is really inconsistent. Some days it's good, some days it's not. For there to be such a high amount of inconsistency of food and service, $50 is too much. Another thing this establishment needs improvement on is their ordering process. Maybe invest in a tablet or a restaurant designated device to take orders instead of having staff use their personal phones. It makes the whole process seem a little unprofessional. And also to please clarify to guests that the QR code taped on their table or the wall next to them (which also needs improvement on) isn't for them to scan but for employees. Even on the table, there is a printed on QR code that says "scan to order" when in fact, customers aren't allowed to. It's very confusing and it seems like there were some customers that got a lecture for doing so when they weren't told what they can and can't do. There are just so many things wrong with this restaurant and so many things for them to improve on that their current state is not worth...

Never have I left hungry at an AYCE restaurant until now. Overall food was fine, but the customer service is the worst I've ever experienced.

We got seated around 8:15 pm after about 1.5 hour wait. We were told last call was at 9:15. By that time, they were completely out of sake and few other dishes. By 8:35, we started getting antsy as only 1 out our 12 dishes came out. We called over a waiter to see if we can order another round while waiting. We were then informed that we have to get EVERY dish from our first order before we could reorder. This rule was not written on the menu. The fact that we WAITED 30 MINUTES FOR SEAWEED SALAD arrive at our table should demonstrate the snail pace. At this point we called the waiter again trying to order our second round and still they would not allow us to order since none of our sashimi came. The waiter called over the manager and unfortunately she wasn't accommodating either. She just reiterated the policy. She did not seem to care whether we would leave full or not. Though they seem to refer to their policies a lot, they pick and choose. We saw plenty of tables who ate past the 90 min time limit. They were seated when we arrived and left around the same time. I also overheard the table next to us canceling dishes cause it was just taking too long.

We didn't get his name, but there was one waiter, who was also in charge of the waitlist, that did try to make up for the slow service. He was the only one who was apologetic and squeezed in a couple more dishes. He is the only one that deserves any of the tip!

Not only do they require 18% gratuity for groups of 4, but they tip themselves whatever they want and hope you don't notice. They charged us 20% tip. We were just so disappointed at this point, we just paid it and left. Honestly I've never considered not tipping at a sit down restaurant until today, but it wasn't a choice.

I doubt my review will prevent people from coming here. If you're still considering this place, be the first group. Do not expect any kind of service. Food comes out SLOW. If they were a little bit more efficient at getting food out and staff went though customer service training, this place could make a...

I want to rave about this place, but I simply cannot. The staff was all over the place. While they kept checking up on other tables, they kept passing us by. If we didn't flag them down, we weren't getting served. Also, they're in plain street clothes. I mean, cool, but we couldn't tell who worked there and who did. But fine, whatever. What really got me is in spite of the service the food was super tasty and fresh! I'm not going to lie, it's expensive for what's offer for all you can eat. I think it's $45-$47. But, I was able to try a lot of new yummy items. If you're looking for special rolls, they only have so many. What really messed me up and had my gagging at the end of our meal, like vomit inducing, was the last item I had ordered. I was eating it very happily when I noticed a hair beneath one of the pieces of fish carpaccio. Instant stomach flip. I'm sorry, but hair in my food gives me the heebie jeebies! We let the staff know, and they offered to replace it, but at that point, you start questioning everything else you ate. So we kindly said no thank you and asked for the check. Normally, when something like this happens, they give you a discount or sometimes even comp the food of the person who was affected. Our check arrived, and it was for the full amount. We asked to speak to the manager, Ebbe. I believe, and she apologized and again offered to replace it. We said no thank you and my mate asked if we could receive a discount. She flatly said no because the food we received was "free." Our bill was $100, I don't see how that was free. After going back and forth, we finally received a discount for a whopping $4.94 off! At least it was money off, right? Anywho, we won't be going back. We're sticking to Daiki on El Camino. They were closed for maintenance, which is why we ended up here, but if they're ever closed again, we'll wait for them to open. They're only a mile away, and they offer so much more for...