Leichi — Restaurant in Santa Clara

QQ-iest housemade udon since my go-to homemade udon place in Gardena closed down back when I lived in L.A. pre-pandemic. Little thinner than my favorite kind of udon, sanuki udon, though.

Most everything we tried was good, except the sushi. But we didn't follow my golden rule of sushi: "Don't get sushi at an izakaya; get sushi at a sushi bar." Most of their raw fish is very fishy. I did like their mackerel box sushi but that's a fishy fish to begin with. I recommend Sushi Jin, or if your pockets aren't that deep, Nori Nori or Takinori.

Many of Leichi's sushi-adjacent raw seafood dishes are good, though, like my favorite, their Hokkaido scallop-Hokkaido uni special, called the Hokkaidon, or their non-Hokkaido hotate-uni appetizer, but that's more of a crudo than sushi since it has no shari (sushi rice) and a non-traditional basil sauce. The vinegared octopus and scallops were great too.

Of their hot food, their tofu made out of sesame is something we've never had before, and aa very good. Reminds me a bit of Burmese yellow pea tofu in that it's thicker and less creamy than regular tofu.

We also liked most of their steamed/broth fish dishes, especially the tai chazuke with creamy sesame tea.

The simmered gindara was way too sweet but perfectly cooked. If you like or don't mind sweet savory this was great; for us the sauce marred an otherwise perfect piece of fish. To paraphrase Iron Chef, "I feel sorry for the fish."

Also, their desserts are to die for! The couple next to us our last visit left to get dessert elsewhere and I think they missed out.

The hojicha panna cotta and the soba pudding were both delicious, not too sweet. The panna cotta is soft, smooth and topped with crunchy puffed millet. The soba pudding is thick, dense, topped with crunchy buckwheat, on top of a secret layer of soupy, thin caramel sauce. The yuzu sorbet is a nice balance of tangy/sour and sweet, and topped with slightly bitter zest. Their green tea ice cream and lychee sorbet are fine but don't hold a candle to the others.

Things I didn't like or didn't try:

I haven't gotten their wagyuu because I'm very picky about wagyuu. I've had all sorts of wagyuu from real Kobe to the ultra-rare olive-fed wagyuu that only slaughters like five cows a year, and as Criwd Cow members we have a freezer full of A3-A5, so I don't get wagyu where they can't tell me the exact farm it came from.

I didn't care for their shrimp cake (ebi shinjo) or ebi baguette. Their yuba dish was also too salty and swimming in sauce.

The tongue steak was a bit chewy because it's cut so thick. Tongue is better sliced thin due to its texture.

We keep trying to order the konowata (sea cucumber liver) but they're perpetually out of this.

It helps to have reservations as it can get very busy.

At the seats near the bathroom you can smell the scent of old piss...

For a $130 per person pre fee pre tax "fine dining" Valentine’s Day Set Menu (comparable to Michelin-starred pricing), my expectations were high—unfortunately, this Valentine’s Day experience was chaotic, unsafe, and utterly disappointing.

Timing & Service: Our 7 PM reservation meant standing in the cold until 7:20 PM while staff scrambled to seat guests. The restaurant’s rushed “three-group” system (5 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM) felt like an assembly line, not a premium dining experience.

Presentation & Basics: Single-use chopsticks and no physical or electronic menu set the tone: this was not fine dining. While the first two courses (tofu, ankimo steak, sashimi) were tasty and well-served, everything unraveled afterward.

The Downward Spiral: Shabu Shabu Nightmare: The "innovative" paper pot over a flickering solid fuel flame was a joke. The broth refused to boil—even after replacing the fuel—leaving us staring at mushrooms, mochi ball, and raw beef for 10+ minutes. When the foam from cooking the beef began floating in the broth, we lost our appetites. Sharing one pot for two people felt like a budget hot pot joint, not a $130 meal. Chaos in Course Order: The kitchen and staff were clearly overwhelmed. Our table received the fried shrimp course after the miso soup and pickles (these two are supposed to come as a set with hot stone crab rice). Servers huddled in corners asking, “Did Table 5 get their shirmp yet?”—loud enough for guests to hear. It felt like a dining roulette, with no two tables experiencing the same meal flow. On top of that, the miso soup arrived without utensils. Grilled Fish Fail: The fish arrived lukewarm, as if pre-cooked and forgotten. Worse, it was riddled with bones—unacceptable for fine dining. A $130 menu should deliver a pristine, deboned fillet, not something resembling a rushed home kitchen experiment. Hot Stone Rice Hazard: The wobbly stone pot, perched precariously over an open flame. The server carried two sets with active fire. Huge safty hazard. When she scooped the rice, the hot stone nearly toppled onto our server as she struggled to balance it. The rice was utterly bland—no trace of crab meat. Our neighbors served themselves, risking burns. Forgotten Fish Roe: Midway through the rice course, a server suddenly gasped, “You didn’t get the roe!” and sprinted to the kitchen.

The Final Insult: Dessert arrived with the check—a blatant rush to flip tables. This was particularly frustrating as we noticed the next wave of customers also waiting in the cold half hour past their reservation time.

Conclusion: For $130/person, this was an embarrassing mix of amateurish service, safety neglect, and inconsistent quality. A few good bites don’t excuse the chaos. Save your money (and patience) for a restaurant that respects its guests—and basic dining standards....

Went without reservation but was seated quickly enough except the table was wobbly and we brought that to the attention of the server who seated us. She told another server to stabilize the table and then I saw that they were cleaning up the other 2 tables next to us and asked if we could moved instead. They fumbled and then insisted for us to remain where we were although other customers weren’t even shown to the other tables yet. Both their mannerisms weren’t very desirable. I actually wanted to walk out at that point. However, we didn’t as my friend said I had wanted to try this restaurant for quite some time.

Fortunately, we were served subsequently and mostly by another server whose manners was completely different from the other 2. She was very polite and gentle. But every once in a while we still get the other 2 coming to us and almost snapping at us. Can’t explain or pinpoint what is wrong but my friend sensed and agreed with me on my perception.

So, glad we stayed for the food. Ordered the Goma Tofu, Nasu Dengaku, Salmon Kama, Simmered Tako x Radish, Tori Soba and Panna Cotta. I like the creamy taste of the Goma Tofu and Uni on the tofu tasted fresh too. The Salmon Kama was very moist and tasty but wished the skin was crispy. Simmered Tako x Radish was good with radish being soft and had absorbed the flavor of the broth, but the Tako looked and tasted more like squid vs octopus that is stated on the menu. Nasu Dengaku is an eggplant with 2 different miso, I think. The darker miso was very sweet to the point I had to scrap away some of the miso topping to eat it. Tori Soba is handmade soba in a hot soupy clear broth. Panna cotta I believe is green tea flavor and I like that it isn’t too sweet for a dessert but the taste of green tea was rather faint and had a denser texture than normal panna cotta. Overall I like the food and the serving portions. The tofu I was told was made in-house. I like the taste and its creamy texture. Definitely very interesting unlike any tofu I’ve had. Ingredients tasted fresh to me too. The rice doesn’t seem/tastes like Japanese short grain rice. There were 3 servers in the restaurant and only 1 of them made us feel comfortable. The other 2 felt brash to us…don’t quite have the right word to describe the service of the other 2 servers but we definitely didn’t feel comfortable whenever they served us. I would recommend the restaurant for the food, but that’s all. Can’t speak about the sushi/sashimi since I do not eat raw food except...