Blue Sakana Blackhawk — Restaurant in San Ramon

My recent visit to Blue Sakana presented a mix of highs and areas for improvement. The outdoor courtyard truly stood out, offering a beautifully landscaped and pleasant ambiance that set a wonderful initial tone. 🌳🌴

However, the dining experience itself felt a bit disconnected. The ordering process was unfortunately out of sync, with our entrees arriving before our appetizers and the server didn't check in with us, or let us know. This disrupted the natural flow of the meal and made us feel rushed to eat everything, rather than allowing for a relaxed time. We also noticed a couple seated about 10 minutes after us received both their appetizers and entrées before we did.

For appetizers, the parfait (pictured) offered good flavors, but the unexpected inclusion of crispy rice at the bottom felt somewhat an awkward texture flow. The rice actually went better with the entree.

The Miso Cod (pictured) was the highlight of the meal with delicious and well-executed flavors. A red pickled item served alongside was overwhelmingly salty, detracting from the dish's otherwise excellent balance. The sushi roll (pctured) we ordered was decent but nothing spectacular and didn't leave a lasting impression.

Finally, while the restaurant's courtyard had great charm, the rundown condition of the surrounding shopping center and parking lot felt quite unpleasant. It truly looked like a rundown shopping center parking lot.

Overall, Blue Sakana has some enjoyable aspects, particularly its beautiful outdoor setting and the flavorful Miso Cod. However, more attention to service flow and refining certain dish components would create a more cohesive and exceptional dining experience.

For those seeking similar cuisine, I would more highly recommend Aozora in Danville as well as Bamboo Sushi in...

Disjointed scene. It’s in the same one-stop-shopping mall as a plastic surgery storefront and an automobile museum. The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating. There’s a bar. The ceilings are high, the windows almost as high, and there’s lots of space for the wait staff to get disconnected from your service needs. Maybe at night it’s the trendy destination that the photos on the Blue Ginko website and the decor seem to wish to convey. The food during a weekend lunch was worthy of eating, but it wasn’t sufficiently delectable to consider dessert or to delay feeding the ducks in the water features throughout the mall with feed that we purchased at the Draeger’s grocery store in the mall.

It’s the restauranteur’s prerogative not to explain why they settled on the name, “Blue Ginko,” and it’s the patrons’ to sample the food and to rather consider the other things one could be doing other than eating at the Blue Ginko.

(Four stars if image is the overriding factor, as it is for plastic surgery and some of the cars in the museum. Fewer stars if cuisine is the point, unlike, say, for the ducks pecking at the...

I've been here about 5x total, and its fine if you want to have your sushi fix and not have to drive very far. Food came quick for an early Monday evening dinner, no surprise, since not many people were seat yet. Food server was great and on top of his game.

To start, I had the spicy hamachi roll for $13, 6 pieces which was very fresh, but lacked any spice. Also, I had the seafood ramen for $18, where the portion was decent, but everything else was pretty sad...4 pieces of frozen shrimp (overcooked - not even prawns) and very small scallops (size of the tip of one's pinky finger), coupled with a perfect poached egg, shredded cabbage and a very bland miso-no-like broth. I know this is not a ramen place, but if you are going to name it Blackhawk or Diablo and charge $18, it should be somewhat memorable!!

Unfortunately, not sure if I want to return. There are better places...