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Ariake Sushi
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
759 E El Camino RealSunnyvale, CA 94087
(408) 245-8383
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Sancho P. said: "After completing an empty-stomach lifting session across the parking lot at the 24 Hour Fitness, I was ready to have a titanic post-workout meal. So I ordered a bowl of tofu and a nigiri dish...NOT!!!! All-you-can-eat lunch all the…" read more »
161 reviews for Ariake Sushi
Review Highlights
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"Have only had the bento boxes (great deal, especially at..." In 17 reviews -
"PERFECT for a really fast sushi fix with their sushi boats." In 25 reviews -
"Or the spicy tuna roll with asparagus and radish sprouts." In 4 reviews
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160 reviews in English
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Review from Sean M.
Sunnyvale, CA
3/18/2012
Great place. The staff here are very friendly and go above and beyond for me and my fiance on a regular basis.
Your combo is not listed on the menu? no problem.
Real calm atmosphere. Never too loud. Sports to watch in the evenings. A nice sushi boat selection (you will generally find me here) and the food is great quality for the price.
My fiance and I generally eat well here for under $20. Super fast service. And open late for my evening work schedule! Thanks guys keep it up! -
Review from Archie G.
San Jose, CA
3/20/2012
This is Archie G, coming to you live from my the restroom at work. I have come down with food poisoning and I am vomiting, courtesy of my lunch at Ariaki Sushi. Now that's what I call a low calorie lunch.
I feel like I am anorexic again. Remember, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
Anyway, I am currently vomiting and writing this review on my iPhone. I multitask so freaking well. I list this on my resume, but I am not sure if it is helping my career out much. No promotions for me. Then again, throwing up in the restroom in the middle of the day only makes me look like a raging alcoholic.
Vomiting in this dirty restroom is almost as depressing as the ambiance at Ariake Sushi. I just feel weird eating sushi at a place with a dirty carpet, barren walls, and an odd smell that reminds me of an old strip club.
As for the crap they call sushi, it tastes better on the way up than on the way down. They claim their fish is fresh. But so my friend's baby's diaper after she toots. That doesn't mean I want to smell or eat it.
This review is gross and so is Ariake Sushi.
Puke. -
Review from Eva C.
San Jose, CA
2/27/2012
My water tasted like it had soap in it. It smelled like it too.
Sushi was dry.
You know those little menu stands they put on the table that list off types of sushi available, beers and desserts? I got super grossed out bc there was a little coackroach or bug stuck in it! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Very nice staff. and thats why i gave it 2 stars. -
Review from Tony R.
2/7/2012 7 Check-ins Here
Damn really?! Only 2 and a half starts? I can agree this isn't the best Sushi place in the world but man, it taste's good to me and its easy on my wallet. I've had really good sushi somewhere else and spent maybe $70 to even a hundred bucks on the experience. But Ariyake - cut em' some slack!
I come here for the Bento boxes, especially at Lunch time - for $8 bucks you get a feast that will hold you till dinner! The sushi is legit, nothing nasty about em'. Service wise, Ive been there when they are busy and they're on point. Been eating here for 7 years since its by my old job and my current job. Anywhere that can get you 2 Bento Boxes and maybe a roll or 2 and keep the bill under $35 for 2, I'm cool with. But yeah, I'm totally a fan here, nothing but love. -
Review from Alex B.
2/7/2012 1 Check-in Here
I decided to give Ariake a try, despite the poor Yelp reviews. Well yelpers - you were right! Although I received my food quickly (we told the server that we were in a hurry), the temperatures were off and the flavors were poor.
Miso soup - room temperature, watery
Salad - bruised lettuce. My husband didn't enjoy the dressing, but I liked it
CA roll - just 3 small pieces. Boo.
Dinner Bento Box -
large portion of beef teriyaki, but the flavors were plain
tempura was fine, but nothing special
sashimi was rock-hard and tough to eat
rice - mushy
Overall? Meh. Will I return? No. =( -
Review from julie n.
Sunnyvale, CA
1/14/2012 1 Check-in Here
I have been to the Ariake in San jose in blossom hill and this Sunnyvale location is NOTHING like that...
when we came in we thought it was closed because the workers were vacuuming.
we went in on a Thursday night and we were the only customer =X
we were starving so we decided to give it a try.
-Price was cheap but quality food was just ... ok. If there was a fast food drive through for sushi, this would be it...
our salmon sashimi came out on ice cubes... rice on the sushi was a little cold and stale. We had to ask for plates and tea n refills... I dont want to sound snobish but usually its provided for.
- on a good note our food came out super quick (because we were the only customers?)
Overall... this place would not be one of my top 5 recommendation for sushi.
#1 Kayenyama in fremont (monday half off rolls deals)
#2 Sato sushi in san jose (san jose rolls)
#3 Hanamaru in sunnyvale
#4 Sushi 85 in mountain view (all you can eat $25)
#5 Ocean sushi in sunnyvale -
Review from Julie N.
12/5/2011 4 photos
I had so little exposure to designer sushi rolls until one fateful day in Downtown San Jose when my boyfriend and I stumbled into Smile Sushi. That was back in 2007...
Prior to that, I thought Ariake was as good as it gets. My boyfriend and I both worked at the Best Buy across the street and my feelings would get so hurt whenever he ordered lunch from here with his friends and failed to ask me if I wanted anything too...which was every time ='( lol. The answer would have been, "YES! the spider roll, a spicy tuna hand roll or maybe a bento box please. thanks, love youuu."
Oh well. Vending machine snacks served me well hahaa
The restaurant was never too busy and the workers were always really warm and accommodating. Food usually came out pretty fast and quality was good enough for a solid meal. The food here is pretty standard, but that doesn't make it bad. I've never had a bad experience here, and although I now prefer more extravagant and fatty sushi rolls, I wouldn't have a problem coming back here to my humble, puppy love beginnings ;) -
Review from Kahveh K.
San Jose, CA
1/22/2012
I ordered a California roll and spicy tuna, and it was completely warm and bland. I've had a lot of different sushi from different restaurants and I can say this doesn't come close to it's preceding competitor. The wait to get our drinks, which was only water and a sprite, was over 10 minutes. The waiter also seemed very agitated, maybe from a long day at work. When we were finished, the check took another 10 minutes.
Overall, I didn't enjoy it. I'm willing to give it another try because I think I just caught it on a bad day, but I'm skeptical. Proceed with caution. -
Review from Greg G.
San Jose, CA
1/6/2012
Old fish
Roll very dry
Ginger on table, dry
Generally lousy -
Review from Julie K.
Santa Cruz, CA
11/28/2011
I haven't been here in ages and I am still not impressed at all. I have actually had worse else where. I really wanted to go to Kitsho but alas I was not the one to decide, I was not the one driving, nor was I the one paying.
I ordered the Monica Lewinsky roll and after one bite I knew it was "off". I knew if I took one more bite I would be ill with in a matter or minutes or hours. I refused to eat the rest.
I ordered the Hollywood roll and the rice was so dry and crunchy. The roll was falling apart and practically inedible.
My best friend and partner in crime had to share most of his Bento box with me.
One star for the hot tea which was served promptly and another star for the decent croquet (a.k.a. the flattened tater tot).
I am not really a sushi snob; I'm more of a yum cha snob, but this place is "pretty bad" as William S. writes in his 10/4/11 review (which is highly accurate). -
Review from William S.
Milpitas, CA
10/4/2011 1 Check-in Here
Aaaaahhhhhh, I never tried such horrible sushi. Ok wait, yes I have, 7-11 sushi is pretty bad, and worse than this. But this place was pretty bad as well. I won't go on and on to tell you how bad this place is and I'm not going to write a whole review on this place with every other word being 'bad'. All I can say is that, this place is shady, not tasty, expensive and service was horrendous. I know I'm not sushi expert, but I sure can tell when sushi isn't good.
Try it out for yourself, you'll see what I mean. Now I know what this place wasn't even packed when we walked in. -
Review from helen f.
8/16/2011 1 photo
This is for dinner review! My friends told me lunch bento boxes are better value
Most of the items in the bento box are ok. I liked the teriyaki beef and the salad. The tempura was ok. However, the tuna sashimi was quite bad... Thus the 2 stars.....
I will try again for lunch, and stay away from the sushi :) -
Review from Albert H.
7/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
It's not like we didn't read Yelp. It's not like we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. It's not like we couldn't see the signs. It's not like there's not a dozen better sushi places within walking distance of this one, including the sushi counter of the Safeway a couple doors down.
But we went in. We had to. We'd seen this place every time we went to the Cold Stone right next door. We were perhaps entranced by the boats? I blame my dining companion, really, though the choices in sushi at 9pm on a Tuesday night are not many.
At least we were smart enough not to sit at the deserted sushi boat bar.
Service was quick and very friendly ( we have fond memories of extravagantly friendly service at the Stevens Creek location a decade ago ). The menus, and table were kind of sticky in that way that things get when they've been wiped too many times with the same cloth. I suppose that we should not have ordered the sashimi assortment. Or the spicy tuna roll with asparagus and radish sprouts. I forget what they called that one.
The menu is, actually, huge. Four pages of sushi and sashimi. Plus a fairly wide assortment of bento and so on. Prices are pretty low, though not astoundingly so. Rolls start around $5.95. We get fifteen pieces of sashimi for $15.95.
The miso soup which came with the sashimi plate was actually not bad. Though it came with a chinese soup spoon. It reminded me of the stuff you can make from packets.
Very dry pickled ginger and strange little green logs of wasabi are available from glass condiment jars on each table. We were afraid and slathered ourselves with purell after touching the lids.
The roll was actually okay. Not pulled off the sad and lonely line of boats, but made more-or-less freshly. It was properly spicy, and the tuna was the completely pulverized type that seems to be popular these days, not chunks.
The sashimi was pretty bad. Five types of fish ( salmon, yellowtail, tuna, white tuna, and something else ), carelessly cut and bearing the watery sadness of freezer burn. Not fishy tasting. Not much other taste either. And not a large portion given the relatively high cost and very low quality. But we didn't get sick! Yet.
The other patrons were interesting. A quartet of loudly drunk folks just a little too old to be that loudly drunk. A family with small child. A few older couples. A loving mom who had obviously promised her young son to take him out to sushi boat, and who courageously sat at the empty bar and ordered a bento box. We kind of felt sorry from them. Except the drunk ones. They were having too much fun until they started arguing.
I mean, these guys all seemed nice enough when they were not terribly busy, but this is not the place to go for good sushi. You knew that already. We knew that already. But there we were. And there you are. -
Review from K C.
Sunnyvale, CA
10/1/2011
I've been a fan of this place since I visited the one in San Jose. Prices are cheap and the food is good. I don't ask for much when I go but I always get it to go. They are super quick and read in 10 minutes.
One of my favorite things is that they guy there sees me often enough that I get special treatment. Super nice to me always. I see all the bad reviews that are going down but honestly, I haven't had a bad experience and I'm just happy to get my stuff quickly and head home. Yeah, the ambiance could be better, but if you don't eat there, who cares?
My husband is grabbing me some take-away as I write this. Love it! -
Review from Elizabeth B.
San Jose, CA
1/23/2012
BENTO BOX you are my weakness with all the food my body craves and makes me weak 4. Lunch time $8 bento boxes cant go wrong with that . sushi is so so not a fan but tolerable give it a try for 8 dollars what more can you ask for
-
Review from Captain A.
Sunnyvale, CA
2/14/2012
No idea why there are so many lackluster reviews: I have been here literally hundreds of times over the last six years, and love this place. The sushi is not the absolute best I've ever had, but it's very good for a neighborhood-type sushi place. Service is always good to excellent, and I've only had sub-par food once or twice (bitter lettuce in the salad, under-fried tempura).
Worst thing I can say about them is that the tables aren't wiped down super-well, but I still trust their overall cleanliness level -- never gotten any sort of food-borne illnesses in all the years I've been coming here.
Any questions, just show up on Friday evenings when the owner himself is hosting -- his obvious commitment to his customers, food, and employees will remove any doubts you may have. -
Review from D C.
San Carlos, CA
2/18/2012
Sushi was uninspired. Didn't taste very fresh. Sat at the sushi boat, but was never offered drinks even though the lunch "rush" was not very busy. Will not return.
-
Review from Sharon Q.
6/16/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I am a fan of the cheap bento boxes for lunch! For $5.95, you can't get a full meal anywhere else. Of course, you have to compromise a few things...but not much.
Today, I got the tempura bento and it was pretty good. Service was a-ok. They weren't as quick as some places, but it will do.
Their yakiniku is prepared differently than what I'm used to... so don't come here if you are looking for authenticity. You'll have to pay more for that. :) -
Review from K G.
Sunnyvale, CA
9/24/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I am only speaking about the Sunnyvale Ariake location. I don't recommend this place to people that are Sushi connoisseurs. You will be disappointed.
Though while it may not be an authentic japanese sushi place, the food is generally good for those of us with no expectations of perfection. Also, if you order your sushi from the menu rather than grab from the boats, it is freshly prepared and tastes good to us.
My husband and I plus the kids go here at least twice a month for an affordable family dinner out. The kids and I love the salmon nigiri and my husband likes the tuna and yellowtail. We are also fans of the Terriyaki dinners and Bento boxes though the Bentos at dinner are a bit pricey. So for the amount of food you get (which is good portion), we usually go with the chicken terriyaki dinner which is only missing that extra side like the tempura or sashimi that you get with the Bento. Sometimes the kids split a dinner and get a nigiri or roll each.
Here is my only negative comment; there is one waiter who can be a bit abrubt sometimes and no matter how many times we go there (it's been over 50 times) and I use my credit card, he only brings me my customer copy of the credit card receipt after I sign the restaurant copy and I ask for my copy. He definitely knows me and my family and I feel like he should bring it automatically knowing that I will ask for it. It feels like a battle of wills sometimes. :)
So, all in all, reasonable pricing and good tasting food. Our family is glad to have Ariake in our neighborhood. -
Review from April B.
Sunnyvale, CA
11/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
I have only eaten here twice and both were good experiences. The California rolls are so good and reasonably priced. The soda is only $1.25 very good deal. The atmosphere is nice and both times the service was great.
-
Review from Cindy B.
2/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
How I got here was a long story... was thinking of Orenchi for Sunday Lunch but three was at least one hour wait and they were closing in an hour. So we drove onto El Camino towards Sunnyvale for sushi, except Chocolate Sushi didn't open for lunch.
I was checking Yelp for a new place but the driver decided that we were going to stop at the next place we see. It turned out to be Marie Callender's but since Ariake was next door and served sushi, we decided to go there instead.
It was very sparcely seated at 12:30, with a server, a bus person. The server was nice and give me a cup of miso soup even tho I didn't order a bento combo. It was much welcomed on a cold, rainy day.
Tried 2 rolls, each 6 pieces for $6. They were ok but pretty small, which was also fine considering it was quite cheap. In fact pretty much everything was quite cheap, just not very good. Especially the beef tariyaki, very thin and small slides and cooked to death (because it was thin).
In short, nice service but I wouldn't go back there for the food. -
Review from Lynette C.
San Jose, CA
2/17/2012
Ewwww Ewwww Ewwww Hell no!!!! OMG me and my friend were driving through Sunnyvale and on our way to our destination decided we should stop off and grab some late lunch. I saw the sushi sign and got excited peeled into the parking lot, guess I was so excited cuz it's been a minute since I had sushi. We walked in and OMG what is that smell? OK well I am desperate to pee so I wave at my friend to grab us a table and off I go. Um ewww it smelled like sewage in the restroom. Hmmm interesting oh well. I'm hungry we will let this pass since they were so nice to let me use their facilities. Now relieved I walk back to find my friend waiting at a table and one other table with one person. Hmm bad sign? My friend makes a comment about the smell of the place. "Is it normal to smell that fishy?" I said well it is a sushi place. After about 10 minutes of parusing the menu we can no longer fathom the over whelming stench of this place. I'm sorry I love sushi and I really wanted some but NO could not do it. Sorry we had to walk out. Sheds a tear will have to get sushi some other day.
-
Review from Michael M.
San Jose, CA
9/2/2011
OMG Stop think about what your doing before you eat here. I can't begin to discribe how bad my sashimi lunch was. I new it was going to be bad when I saw the sushi boats.However I thought it would be best to see it out as this was going to be my only opertuinty to eat lunch. So I ordered Hamachi, 6 pic came 3 were brown and 3 were white and server on a bed of ice. It kind of smelled like something you would use to catch Yellow Tail. I Had two bites and that was it. I coulden't pay my bill fast enough.
Listed in: When hell freezes over!
-
Review from P S.
Sunnyvale, CA
12/6/2011
Love this place. Best sushi. I keep trying other places but keep coming back here. The staff is friendly, attentive and they treat you like a long lost neighbor when you keep coming back. One of my favorite restaurants.
-
Review from Sung S.
Santa Clara, CA
3/10/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Come here for the bento boxes not for the sushi.
If you want sushi, go somewhere else, if you want some Teriyake Lunch or Dinner stuff, this is good.
thank you come again. -
Review from King S.
Sunnyvale, CA
9/20/2010
They people are very nice and polite, the service is really good, i go there about once a week or once in two weeks for sure, this is like a meeting place for me and my girlfriend, the food is good. The price is really moderate.
.. Good place to go if you want try same kind of sushi but with better service. -
Review from Vinny M.
San Jose, CA
1/31/2011
I frequent this place on my lunch break. The staff is pretty friendly. The sushi bar is OK. I usually grab the tempura shrimp roll, unagi nigiri or tekka maki. Sometimes the tekka has a weird taste to it but sometimes it doesn't. The chicken and salmon terriyaki are OK... nothing special but does the job. Gyoza is pretty good.
The good thing about this place is the lunch time prices are pretty cheap, espeically if you get a combo bento box. However don't expect superior fine dining. It's a basic sushi quick fix joint. -
Review from David L.
San Francisco, CA
12/23/2008
Filipino sushi chefs
Mexican waiter
Predominantly white customers
We were the only Asians in there
It was the Benetton of sushi places.
I knew we weren't treating ourselves to "great" sushi but we only had a few minutes to eat, saw the sushi boat sign, and figured why not. The play it safe plan was:
Order two cooked appetizers
Grab some simple nigiri
Eat just enough to stop our stomachs from growling
Get the hell out
The Nigiri- Holy crap. The raw fish was dry and the mushy ass sushi rice had no discernable vinegar taste to it. The rice to fish ratio was WAAYYY off and it was like a mini bowl of rice tucked under the fish. I started building snowmen out of the leftover rice balls. Tis the season!
The cooked crap- The saba had no trace of its natural salty mackeral flavor. Very impressive that you could screw up cooked fish. Hats off to you Ariake! Miso soup was salty but I needed this as a filler so I drank all of it. There goes my blood pressure.
Davids Bottom Line- WTF was I thinking?? How in the world is this a chain with multiple locations?? Nary a day goes by that I dont kick myself for this lapse in judgement. Good day to you. -
Review from A C.
San Jose, CA
12/2/2010
I guess this restaurant doesn't read yelp reviews, which is a shame.
I even feel guilty writing this truthful review, but its necessary.
The service was really good. Nice waiters and sushi chef. Food came fast. Special rolls are around $5 or so.
The quality of the food is pretty bad. The food is edible (at least I didn't find hair in it like YoYo Sushi in Mercado), but doesn't taste good at all.
My friend hated the sashimi.
I could barely tolerate my own orders.
Fantastic service, horrible food.
This is such a rarity. I'm actually surprised to find such an odd combo. Usually, you run into great food, bad service or bad food, bad service, but bad food, great service?
Well, I won't be coming back unless there is an indication that ownership has changed. -
Review from Tam H.
Santa Clara, CA
9/19/2007
This place sucks rice balls!
Once you step into this place...you notice the smell of urine burning your nose hairs away. But once the urine odor kills your smelling senses you then notice that there's some bugs kickin it with you at your table. The kind that live through nuclear war ie: roaches.
Now if all that isn't enough for you to leave. Just ask the waiters there for nothing more than a refill, and expect some attitude with that.
I'd come back here again...only with a health inspector and to punch the waiters!!! -
Review from Caro M.
Boston, MA
4/12/2008
Aiiiight, hold up. Gimme a minute to finish yacking.
Came here because all the other sushi joints are inconveniently closed during the hours of 3-5pm y'all... and that includes saturdays, too! Sen Dai, Cherry, Sushi-o-Sushi... all closed. I couldn't help but scream profanity after seeing the "closed" sign at every window of each joint. bitchfuckcuntmotherfuckingstupidshit......and as my deceased, loving, but hot tempered Chinese Father would say, "booooo-shieeeyit"!
I just ordered vegetables tempura and a cucumber/pickled raddish roll. Simple shit. Tell me why both turned out to be the nastiest shit I've ever eaten in my life? I'm not even on my period nor am I over exaggerating. The tempura batter was not even fully cooked. YACK. Then, the rice in my roll was super mushy... a consistency similar to that of the boogers in my nose. You know, the sticky ones that resemble little bits of fat you pick out when no one's looking and you smash between your fingers... YEAH.. I know you know... YOU know.. =P
"You, miso soup? On da house, fo you!" Oh thanks! But no thanks. I think that's what lead to my stomachs demise this evening. Shitting my intestines out. But I guess it's a good thing because I'm trying to lose weight.
ALSO, the soy sauce here is diluted. WTF?! Never coming here again. -
Review from Michelle W.
Los Altos, CA
3/23/2008
To borrow Miz Tam's favorite word...Ass.
I contemplated not paying.
So I was looking for a different restaurant that I had not been to before- just had the address- and as the street numbers on El Camino are not contiguous, I couldn't find it. So I saw the sign for Ariake Sushi. How 'bout Sushi? I say to the 4 year old. Good. She says. Pay attention that's the last time you see the word good in this review.
SERVICE:
We walk in and are kinda half greeted. I'm not sure an actual word was spoken, but eye contact was made. They have the sushi boats. I should have known then, but I was famished. Breakfast was at 7am and it was near 1pm and a lot had happened in between.
We decide to sit at the counter, not because we didn't want to order non-sushi things, but because the 4 year old likes to watch the boats. So we sit there for like 5 or 10 minutes and no one has come to take our order. El hombre de Sushi had asked us if we wanted some sushi, but I told him we hadn't decided. So I was ready to start with some miso and rice and I was jonesin for a diet cola. So I tried to get the waiter's attention. I don't know if he was purposefully ignoring us or what. I had to move my chair out and lean in front of him as he passed us to get his attention.
So I say, "We'd like some rice and miso." He turns his back on me. I pivot the direction he's going in and say, a little louder, "And a diet cola." Then I get the attention of El Hombre de Sushi and order an advocado roll for the 4 year old and take a tuna roll off the boat. We did get the soda, miso & rice, but only 1 bowl of miso & 1 bowl of rice. I was also going to order Chicken yakitori and some unagi, BUT... No one ever checked on us again and even if they had I had decided not to because...
Food:
The tuna was fishy- the fishiest tuna I have ever tasted. Any fishier and I would have spat it out. Any less hungry and I would not have eaten it. The miso soup was NAS-T! It was worse than the powdered in an envelope kind you get in the grocery store. And there was almost no tofu in it, which is my daughter's favorite part. The rice had a weird flavor and was over cooked and somewhat mushy. I had one bite of miso. I had two bites of rice. I lost my appetite. Now look at my profile picture. I have more than a hearty appetite. I like to eat. I lost my appetite. When I finally got the waiter's attention and asked for the bill he said, "Only two plates?" and made a little laugh. I should've said to him how bad it was. I mean, how else are they gonna know, but I didn't.
I hope I never have to eat here again. -
Review from Esther T.
CA
6/25/2008
I've had sushi and then I've had great sushi. Nijiya's sushi, Sushi O Sushi, sushi in Tokyo and around Japan...
This isn't sushi.
Seaweed all wilted and stringy around a glob of unproperly seasoned rice. Unripe avocado. Smelly fish.
Cheap yes. Quality no. -
Review from kevin q.
Sunnyvale, CA
2/27/2006
who cares if not evrybody there is japanese yeesh. Atleast the food is good.
if you haven't noticed, they have the best salad dressing out of every japanese restaurant. AND they have a joyful greeting when you walk in the door. -
Review from Kerry K.
San Jose, CA
6/10/2008
I was too scared to try the sushi here, so I got a bento box.
Man, wayyyyy too much food but a great price. We could have split one.
My husband got california rolls in his. The sushi guy (not qualified enough to call a chef) had made a HUGE roll and then cut each section in half, so each CA roll was open on one side. How lazy!!! And hard to eat.
I didn't like any of my food (burnt chicken teryaki, chewy tempura and flavorless gyoza). The waiters were rude and rolled their eyes a lot. The best thing was the sectioned orange that came with the bento because I could eat it with chopsticks.
Forget the food here. It's not worth it (except for the orange!) -
Review from Autumn P.
San Jose, CA
1/15/2010
I really hate to have to leave bad reviews.... But id hate for anyone else to have to spend the morning after eating here sick in the bathroom like i did.
I should have know better when i walked in and it smelt fishy. I should have turned around and walked out then. But i decided to give it a try since im a fan of their other location. I figured it couldnt be that far off from the other one. I was wrong.
The place was packed (i cant understand why!) so we took a seat at the sushi bar. Everything on the boats looked like it had been sitting there all day so we ordered fresh rolls. They were just okay. Not to mention it was a pain in the butt to try to get a waiter to give you any service there. My sister and i decided to order some miso soup since we were unimpressed with our rolls. I have NEVER been served a miso soup that was a milky white color. WTH?? and let me tell you it tasted as bad as it looked. It tasted like tap water. I didnt know you could mess up miso soup.
Needless to say, we payed the bill and bolted outta there thinking we left the bad experience behind us. We were wrong yet again. 2 of the 3 of us spent our next morning on the toilet expelling that terrible food from our systems.
I WILL NEVER GO BACK THERE AGAIN!
SideNote: I did notice that everyone else in the restraunt was eating bento boxes and terriyake chicken. I should have taken a hint from that along with the strong smell of fish. -
Review from Leo C.
1/26/2009
Ariake, in its multitude of locations, used to be a go-to spot for me for lunch when I last worked in the Man Jose/Manta Clara area. Now that I'm back in the area (and still heterosexual, unfortunately), I thought I'd check it out again. This place isn't meant to wow anyone, so please temper your expectations accordingly. It's not billed out to be a high-end sushi joint, so CTFO and deal with it. :) Oh, and yes, stay away from the sushi boats.
For all that are thinking about going there and have read all the poor reviews prior, let me say this:
If you came here for a decent Japanese Bento Box lunch, you're going to do fine. Stick with the lunch special of Chicken/Beef/Salmon teriyaki plus tempura plus California roll and you'll be safe.
3 Stars for the fact that you can get a decent teriyaki, shrimp tempura, and California roll meal in a definite food-coma inducing portions for ~$10 including tax/tip. -
Review from Pamela B.
San Jose, CA
2/23/2009
So I'm on a hunt for a good sushi place to get Chirashi since I have moved to Norcal. I tried this place since for some reason, I wait until around 3 pm to have lunch and there are hardly any places open at that time. I walked in to see that there were sushi boats floating around the chef's moat...the only thing was that there was absolutely nothing on these boats and they were not moving. I thought that maybe they don't use them at this time since hardly anybody eats at 3, hence the reason why almost every restaurant is closed at this time. So I gave it a shot.
After looking at their VERY small menu (I don't even know why I bother to look since I already knew I wanted Chirashi) I ordered Chirashi and Tuna/Tekka Maki.
Chirashi was priced very well at about $9 for lunch, so I was pretty happy when I ordered it...until I saw what I actually got. I was like WTF?!? It had only about 4 pieces of actual sashimi and the rest was seaweed salad, beansprout salad, and some other kind of filler. I was VERY disappointed. It didn't even taste great...it didn't seem fresh at all. The rice didn't even taste right. Seemed like plain ol' white rice. Also, normally whenever I order Chirashi, restaurants would include miso soup and/or sometimes a salad. This restaurant didn't include either.
I got the bill and saw that they charged me a little more than $6 for the Tuna/Tekka Maki which I think is freakin outrageous for those tiny little cut rolls. I should have known...they didn't even have that listed on their menu. Tricky tricky...
I totally should have read the reviews before trying this place out. I will never go there again. I am surprised that they have other Ariake restaurants in other cities. Shit, what a waste of money. -
Review from Sonny W.
Fremont, CA
3/10/2009
Decided to explore here for dinner this past Saturday. Will not return again. If I take the pricing into effect, maybe go up to 2.5 stars.
Ordered the teriyaki beef-tempura-sashimi bentou set and a myriad of sushi with my other half.
The teriyaki beef is a wimpy thin sliver of meat that hasn't been marinated. I think they just cooked it and pour the sauce on. The tempura was TERRIBLE. It was not fresh and chewy-- probably had been sitting there for a while. And, based on the consistency, even IF it was fresh, they used way too much flour batter so it would not have turned out fluffy-flakey.
The nigiri was so-so. The poki maki (spicy tuna roll) was passable. So was the spider roll. Again, it was not crispy crunch but rather stale and chewy.
I should've gone to Sushi Tomi in Montain View, or further to Tomi Sushi in Santa Clara (next to the Jpnse mkt). -
Review from Ron A.
San Marcos, CA
8/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
Good place to go if you want sushi quick and go. I sat at the bar where the sushi revolves on a boat. If you do not see anything floating around, you can request one of the Filipino sushi chefs to make a roll of your choosing. The prices are a little high. The sushi rolls are a little too big for one bite. The waiter seemed to be rushing to serve everyone. There was not even that many people to be served.
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