This location is now called Itsumo. Still a Japanese restaurant, same chef, different owners and…read moremenu. I had never been in the spot but have always gotten someone to deliver or gotten through Door Dash. Then the notice that Door Dash delivery was not available so I sent a friend and called. I only got one thing multiple times when it was Pa's Papa, a large miso soup with extra tofu. Itsumo only had two small half cups and would not accommodate extra tofu. Not impressed.

Most of the time with restaurants, you either get value or taste. But every now and then you find…read morethe diamond in the rough that offers both. The bento boxes are absurd. Lord no, they are not bento boxes. They are bento PLATTERS. We got a couple bento platters, and between them we selected chicken teriyaki, california rolls, gyoza, and shrimp tempura. The chicken teriyaki have that crispy, caramelized goodness on the edge with visible grill marks. The california rolls are girthy, the shrimp tempura is large and crunchy, and the gyoza have perfectly fried. My father-in-law ordered the poke bowl. My eyebrow raised when I saw he did, but when the food came my mouth dropped. Guys, this is THE largest poke bowl you've seen in your life, and it comes with all the toppings you'd want. I didn't try it myself, because I have a thing about only ordering poke from sushi or poke-specific restaurants, but he was very happy with his choice. If you don't see an update, you can assume it sat well. Pa's Papa is firmly on our go-to spots for Japanese food in the neighborhood.

Been to a lot of sushi spots around the bay and this is my favorite so far. Cozy little spot,…read morefriendly staff, and reasonable prices for how good the quality is.

I live in Sausalito, CA. There are a couple of very good sushi bars between there and…read more Mill valley. I know what I like. I travel to Alameda a couple times each summer to manage sailboat races. Tonight I was in the mood for sushi, so I went to Hashi Gawa and I am glad I did. Now I'm an old curmudgeon, so I don't like menus on a tablet, but in this case I fully understand. Their selection of out of the norm fish is excellent. The quality of their fish is excellent. The service from their wait staff was over the top. Prices were very reasonable. I have to come back to Alameda next month to manage another regatta and will definitely be coming back here.

This is our go to place! Customer service is excellent and food always hits the spot! Yummy!read more

Rookie mistake when my husband and I came here! We ordered everything all at once but we weren't…read moremad at it haha we did eat everything so we wouldn't get extra charged for leftovers. We now know to pace ourselves. It is an all you can eat but you have limits on how much you can order at a time. It is best to get the premium so you can get the higher quality items in my opinion. I wished we had room for the oysters but that gives us more reason to make the drive to come back. Also, there were two servers and it was busy. We had to wait a little bit totally understandable.

A total hidden gem in the area!!! Reasonably priced!…read moreService is always wonderful and the dishes come out super fast!! This is the place I wanted to gate keep! But the food is soooo wonderful I can't help not telling everyone how yummy it is!!! I always get the poke bowl and it's always flavorful and the texture is great! It's also super filling! My partner loves the chicken katsu ramen!!! The vibe of the restaurant is chill and I always love how they decorate!!! Overall 10/10 love going here!

Nice hidden gem in East Bay! Not out here all that much, but this spot caught my eye initially for…read moretheir poke. The menu prices looked pretty reasonable at first glance, so I stopped by. I came on a Wed evening, and I was quickly seated. The interior is quite cute, as it's decorated with Japanese decor. Upon looking more closely at the menu, the Agedashi Tofu Soba caught my eye and decided to order that instead. The soba had a nice chew to it, and the dipping sauce had a lot of flavor. The tofu was quite silky, and fried just enough on the exterior. The sauce with the tofu was absolutely delicious. This meal was very comforting and was just perfect for me. While I'm not vegetarian, it was a comforting non-meat dish. The price point was quite solid for it too, coming out to $15.95 before tax and tip.

I figured out the secret of when this place is not busy with no lines. It's when the weather is 80+…read moredegrees! I dined here on a weeknight during a heat wave, and walked in as a party of 2 to be seated immediately. The host even provided options of which table we preferred. Totally unheard of especially when every other visit included a 45+ min wait. Mensho has great ratings, and for good reason. They have enough ramen selections to cater every type of eater. The ingredients seem quality and the noodle texture has the perfect chew, which Mensho described them as "mochi noodles". I opted for the vegan ramen during my recent visit, loved all the veggies and the broth wasn't too salty. I had a couple bites of the wagyu from the wagyu ramen, the meat was very rich/buttery. I probably wouldn't want a whole serving of that, but a few bites satisfied the curiousity. Currently, Mensho offers a matcha pudding type dessert for $7. It was very tasty with a few bites of red beans and couple slices of strawberry. I was actually enjoying every bite. Prices have definitely creeped up over the years, glad to see that they're still using quality ingredients. Service was good. I'll come again during the next heat wave. Haha. #39/2026

Popular local ramen spot with good food and friendly customer service. It is good for dinner with a…read morecasual dinner with friends. Recommendations: Garlic ramen Yuzu ramen Fried mushroom Aji fry Fried chicken They have gendered bathrooms. They take card.

So, you know how sometimes you have a good experience at a restaurant then go back and it's not?…read more NOT HERE! Second visit the food was awesome! Even better than the first time. Generous portions, fresh, and yummy! Will the third time be a charm? Will update.

Yummy fresh food! Have only gotten take out from here but…read moreit looks like there is plenty of space to sit and dine. The service has been efficient on every visit and I can appreciate that it stays open the hours it says it will be operating consistently.

This is my second time here at Nikuya and the food here is fantastic. Dylon has served me both…read moretimes and his service is the best i've probably experienced at a restaurant like this and will definitely keep coming back. I never have to ask him to refill my water, he's so attentive that he just keeps coming back and fills it for me. 10/10 would highly recommend to my friends and family.

Everything was really great! Rose was super prompt and quick with drink replacement and esuring we…read morehad everything we needed.

Really great sashimi & sushi!! Amazing service as well--so friendly & quick. We had a 10/10…read moreexperience here on a Saturday evening. The runners are SO quick to bring out the orders--I was so impressed. Super worth AYCE sushi (: Sashimi quality was great. The hand rolls, baked rolls, tempura, and grilled BBQ were solid as well. Highly recommend the salmon carpaccio & truffle yellow nigiri--sooooooo delish. We'll defo be back! Also plenty of parking in the connected lots, even with the outlets across the street.

5/5 stars for being one of the best Japanese Sushi and Hibachi grill dining restaurants that I have…read moreever enjoyed. This restaurant is the best all-u-can-eat Japanese cuisine BUFFET in town. The waiters and waitresses are all very good at providing the best customer service support by standing by the customer's dining table the entire dining experience with the customer. I spent 2 hours eating here, and the waiter was standing by my table the entire 2 hour time. The waiter spent that much time talking and got to know me and got me familiar with the restaurant and the menu item top choices. The food is super good. Every sushi roll was made correctly and all of the variety of food tasted very satisfying. Besides Sashimi, for the best hot foods here, they have hot clay pot ramen, udon, and hot clay pot rice bowls with their delicious Japanese curry sauce and their delicious hot buttery infused garlic toppings. Unagi, Salmon, Tuna, Shrimp, Chicken, Pork, or Beef. They also have unlimited all u can eat buffet grilled Galbi rib steaks for dinner. I highly recommend this place; and I have returned to eat at this place more than seven times. The dinner experience is the most enjoyable. I really liked this place a lot. The interior space is clean and comfortable and beautifully decorated with Japanese Cherry Blossom Flowers, Oriental Lanterns, Asia Umbrellas, and Wooden Bamboo Soju screen room dividers.

A hidden gem in Castro Valley!…read more I don't know if this place is actually a hidden gem or if everyone already knows about it, but it's become one of my favorite spots in Castro Valley. If you're in a rush and want something healthier than the usual fast food, this place is a great option. I've been coming here at least once a week for the past few months, sometimes twice, and the food has always been fresh and high quality. I'm not always in the mood to sit down at a restaurant and risk getting stuck waiting for the bill when I have places to be. Here, I can grab something quick, sit at one of their new outdoor tables and enjoy a good meal before picking up my son from school. Their new poke bowl station makes it even better. You can build your own bowl right from the kiosk, and there are plenty of fresh options. My son is vegetarian, and I always have them make him a fresh avocado roll. It's never taken more than a couple of minutes. The staff is consistently friendly, the prices are reasonable, and they have a surprisingly generous rewards program. It's a bummer to see their Yelp rating isn't higher, but it looks like many of the lower reviews came during their soft opening or when they were first getting started. I can't speak to how things were back then, but businesses need time to work out the kinks. Based on my experience over the last few months, I've got nothing but good things to say. Definitely worth checking out if you're in Castro Valley and want fresh, quality food without the wait of a sit-down restaurant!

Not bad for a store to sell packaged sushi you can take home. Beats me going to other stores and…read moresit down restaurants. Parking can be hard to find especially since it is located in a busy area but once you find a spot it takes less than 15mins to pick and choose your food. I came here a bit late so the many options were already sold out but was able to buy whatever that was left. Good selection from onigiri, musubi, to sashimi platters. I got a couple of rolls but the California roll is a bit pricy compared to other stores. Usually Cali rolls are about half the cost of the regular sushi rolls like cherry blossoms. Overall quality is great, price is reasonable. I loved the mango salmon. Def will be back!

One of my favorite restaurants in the Bay FORREAL. Japanese izakaya style food, which is basically…read moredelicious small bites. My brother took me recently and we went IN! Some standouts were the otoro nigiri, eel skewer, miso black cod, the pesto udon, as well as the sweet potato creme brulee. But we ordered way more food and all of its delicious!! It's very authentic. The service is good but they do have limits on the tables because it's sooo busy there so don't be offended if they tell you to get your big back up. Def make a Rez because it's always a wait. Im finna go back soon mmmm.

Had dinner at Kiraku last week. It was a big disappointment!…read more During the pandemic, my husband and I found this restaurant for take out. Everything we ordered was delicious. One of my husband's favourites was the fish porridge. However, after a few times, they decided not to make it anymore. It's a shame cause it was their best dish even though my husband normally doesn't like porridge, he thinks they made the porridge so good that he can give it an exception! Fast forward to last week, we decided to give Kiraku a try again - dine in. I noticed that they have quite a strict policy in reservation (if we don't show up, they automatically charge a fee and we have to spend at least $50 pp like other high end restaurants which I guess it's ok because it's hard to do business nowadays). When we arrived, we were greeted and seated right away. The restaurant was very small, obviously all the tables were very small as well. There was hardly any room for the wait staff to walk/move around and my head/arm got hit a couple of times by their elbows. That was not the worst though. The place was so loud that we could not hold a conversation. I felt that my ears and my head were hurting by all the noise from people talking and the sound of the dishes clinking. However, that still was not the worst! We looked at the menu, my husband doesn't eat raw stuff (I did tell him that they have lots of cooked items). I asked the wait staff what kind of fresh sashimi they have since I have a craving. She told me they have blue fin tuna. I was so excited so I placed that order. Here comes the break down of my disappointment: 1. Blue fin tuna, turned out that they actually didn't have. So I had to choose either salmon sashimi or torched mackerel. I don't like to order salmon sashimi since most of the salmon restaurants serve is not wild caught so the farm raised salmon often tastes fishy. I decided to order the torched mackerel at the wait staff suggested. It was a big mistake....the mackerel was so fishy that I couldn't finish the whole thing. My husband ordered the chicken karaage and the snow crab with torched cabbage which were only ok, we also had the tender beef tongue skewer which was good, black cod miso which my husband said I cook that one much better, we also had jumbo squid and gyoza which were only ok. Our dessert was probably the best - the sweet potato brûlée. We have decided to scratch this restaurant off our dining list because the food was just not good enough for us to give it another try! I guess I am spoiled by the excellent Japanese food in Singapore, Japan and Australia, this place just cannot compare to any of the places we had but I am sure I can find other better Japanese restaurants in California!