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Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
532 Grand AveTue-Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Tue-Thu. 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Fri. 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat. 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
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I'm not so sure that bottomless sake is such a great idea (the morning after) but the food and hospitality was awesome.
The food was actually pretty decent and came out like 5 minutes after we ordered... The wait time on a Friday night was about 1 hr. I would definitely try to make reservations if possible.
I would highly recommend this place for a birthday party (if not too big) because the restaurant is TINYYYYY... Like maybe 30 people max could probably fit in the whole restaurant (probably why our food came out so quickly and why the wait is so long). They really treat you well and Coach is always refilling our boxes.
long story short: great place to eat drink and be merry if you're okay with all of the above.
C oach Sushi
O h Coach Sushi
A lone or with
C ompany
H appy me
S ake, endless sake
U nagi
S ome more Toro and
H amachi
I stumble home with no sobriety
Coach sushi is great, but I had no idea about the bottomless sake! Clearly, I'll be going back.
Incidentally, if you can, get a seat at the bar. Chat with the sweet sushi chef who used to live in Vermont, and ask him what's good. He knows. Ohhh man does he know...
The aji was like butter, scallops melted in my mouth and were sweet as candy, and the beef sushi (yep, that's right) was gorgeously marbled and quite tasty with a smidge of wasabi! He gave us the prettiest cuts of hamachi, too!
Reasonable prices, awesome food, sweet sushi chef, but terrible service otherwise... we had to try for about 10 minutes to flag down a waitress to give us a second beer. Please don't make me wait for my beer. Minus one star.
Maybe I'm having a moment of hot monkey resident love for the fabulous Adams Point neighborhood, or maybe I'm just now realizing the number of sushi joints that will try to fool you with crappy imitation crab...
...but I love Coach. From his smiling face to his tippy-toes to the arm that wields the monster bottle of sake he will try to pour down your throat at any given time.
I love this place right down to the fantastic typos that pepper the menu to the bathtub-sized sink in their restroom to the friendly and talented chefs who religiously watch "Bold & The Beautiful" during the lunch hour.
It's hard for me to remember the time when the sad and perpetually empty "Mr. Sushi" used to occupy this now flourishing piece of real estate. Viva Coach! This one's for you.
http://www.youtube.com...
What can I say about Coach Sushi that hasn't been said in previous reviews?
I am damn glad I live…
Read more »
From one designated driver to another:
The food, all of it in general, is good. Its not spectacular Japanese food, but really, its not the crappiest either. Besides, all of your friends are here for the all you can drink Sake anyways right?
Note its actually, "all you can drink for 2 hours" There is a time limit on how long you can linger upon their hospitality, so don't expect to plan a visit any longer than that. After those 2 hours, the nice man carrying the big bottle of sake will stop serving you. Your drunken friends will start screaming profanities at the man that they were once (sometime very earlier in the night) cooing and singing praises for. You will silently thank the man for stopping the constant flow of liquor which you are not drinking because you, my friend, are responsible. You are the designated driver.
The problem here is that until those 2 hours are up, the man will go around and top off everyone's' boxes at random moments so your friends will have absolutely no idea how much they're actually drinking. You know how after a couple of shots you can't remember how many shots you've had? Multiply that problem times ten.
The service here is incredible simply because they are some how able to keep a smile on their face after years of picking up people off the floor. They egg on drunken revelry and somehow tolerate its raucous after effects. Cheers to that.
You, on the other hand, the DD, will wearily try and stuff your friends into your car. They'll scream at you from the back telling you to make illegal left turns while repeatedly moaning about how they feel like throwing up. You'll get false promises that you'll be repaid somehow for being the DD.
Coach Sushi: great for everyone but the designated driver.
PS: Its kind of inevitable that someone has to drive. Its pretty far from the BART. Maybe you could bus it. Oh and the street parking was sparse when I went. We paid $10 for lot parking. Make a reservation if you can; the place is small. We waited an hour on a friday night.
As a Japanese, I like Coach Sushi and their food. Their service is very friendly and welcoming, especially the owner, Coach.
I would say Coach Sushi is a good place to take non-Japanese friends to have them begin the journey of Sushi in US. Let me say that you won't find those creative fancy rolls at sushi restaurant in Japan. I believe they cover real tastiness of fresh fish putting a lot of additional sauce and flavors.
Anyways, I do still like sushi and rolls at Coach Sushi (Coach&Winter rolls, urchin&hamachi nigiri), chawanmushi, yakitori, and a lot other side dishes as this is the place I like the most among all sushi restaurants in the East Bay (excluding San Jose area).
I can't believe I haven't reviewed them already......Decent sushi at decent prices, plus the bottomless sake.....mmmmmmmm
My main beef with them is that I've decorated several boxes, but they can never find them, so I've given up on having the same box every time.
i finally had coach sushi for the first time, and i really liked it. i am not much of a sushi eater, but i do eat the ones with cooked stuff on it :) the california roll and the chicken one were pretty good. for an entree, i ordered the coach udon. it was very tasty and i loved the noodles. it was extremely greasy, but i guess that's where the flavor came from.
the miso soup, here, was piping hot. always a plus considering a lot of japanese places seem to serve up lukewarm soup. they also give this potato/carrot salad before you order, and it was delicious. i did not feel like drinking on this particular day, but i will definitely take advantage of the $3.50 bottomless sake at some point.
So remember how I said that I couldn't remember the food? I took another visit to Coach Sushi with a fairly large group of friends, three of which have lived in Japan, and not only can the small town girl who loves sushi can attest to the impeccable quality of the food, but so can my three Japanese experts (!).
Delicious, delicious food, decent sake on the cheap, amazing service...I think the only thing wrong with Coach Sushi is that you might have a long wait, but it's ENTIRELY worth it.
And then this part of my last review still stands:
The important part has been mentioned 800023472639856298347 times, but it's worth mentioning again:
$3.50
Bottomless
Sake
I would tell you about the food...but I cannot remember for the life of me whether it was good or… Read more »
Jin ROCKS m'world!!! Really.
Sit at the bar. Be adventurous. Ask Jin what's tastebud worthy --- he NEVER disappoints. He's even convinced me that Mendocino UNI kicks Santa Barbara outta the water. Yep. I said it.
Had halibut wing this past trip. Mouthwatering SANMA. The Spanish Mackerel melted in m'mouth. Specially seasoned HOTATE that was in SEASON. The KOBE sushi was O-mazing. And those were just the starters...
Made reservations this second time around --- and have to say that the service is stellar! I adore… Read more »
This place is great! I remember going in and I got my box and there was one little book shelf inside the door to look through - now, the popularity and service (not to mention the $3.50 sake) has made it look like the library of congress, sake box style!
Coach is hysterical - he's even picked me up off the floor from wrestling with a friend and then proceeded to pour me yet another box of sake (probably trying to get me to go to sleep under the table).
It is super crowded a lot of the time, but if you get there early, the fish is "fresher" and it's not so crowded!
If you haven't been - check it out....
To be honest, I don't remember much about the sushi at Coach. I mean it was all perfectly delicious, but I couldn't tell you what I ordered last time I was there, or the time before that, or the time before that...
You see what I'm getting at here: Coach is the guy you wanna visit when getting drunk off your ass on bottomless saki for $3.50 seems like a good idea. He comes around and fills your cedar box in a most efficient and friendly fashion, over and over and... Next thing you know you're waking up with a bad hangover, wondering where all those bruises on your arms and legs came from.
Coach Sushi is a tiny little gem and worth it if you ever stumble across it. I first visited with a friend and immediately responded to the ambiance.
The funny little drawings on the menus always crack me up. The first time you go to coach and try the $3.50 bottomless sake. The owner, Coach will make you perform a ritual of putting salt on the edge of your sake box, put you hands behind your back, and then taking a sip. After that its endless sake from then on. Coach will sneak up on you and refill your sake box. Your box could be completely empty or just a little sip and he'll still get you, he loves his job! If you get a chance to empty your box you can ask for markers. You can then customize your own box, so anytime you go again, you can use the same sake box over and over!
The sushi selection is pretty good, a varied assortment of various rolls & tasty entrees. When you finally manage to leave, Coach will personally go open the door for you and bid you farewell in customary Japanese tradition.
The only downside to Coach Sushi would have to be the wait list. It's usually packed on weekends and some week nights, so you have to either make a reservation, or know the times to go.
Otherwise this is one of my favorite places to go to. There's even a taxi cab number at the sushi bar you can call if you get too drunk to drive. Thankfully I live a few blocks away, so I never have that problem!
So I ate here a year ago and it was really bad (shows you how bad it was that I remember it for being bad), but I didn't have a yelp account to rate it. I found Coach sushi on Yelp and it's rated well, with a lot of reviewers, so since I love sushi, I thought I would check it out...
I took my mom and we both have high tastes in fresh sushi, when we got here, it was CROWWWDED! Always a good sign right? Wait....there aren't any asian people in here...hmm...oh welps. Sit us at the sushi bar please!
This was the first sushi place I've EVER eattin at that didn't take your order like a sushi bar at the sushi bar. We sat there waiting for the sushi chef to ask for our orders one by one (which is how it is usually done). They didn't even look at us. The waitress came up to take our order and we said we were just gonna order from the sushi bar, but she was really confused. So we ended up ordering through her, while she handed it to the chefs.
The sushi we order was pretty small. The rolls and the uni, tuna, salmon, etc were all smaller than normal. I sat there trying to distinguish if the chefs were japanese or korean, but I knew they were niether....they were Chinese! I'm chinese myself and I know that Japanese sushi chefs are the best, koreans are fine (better at making rolls), and chinese are unheard of. It explained the serving sizes.
My mom and I BOTH walked out saying "wow, never coming here again. Why is it so crowded?"
So I'm sure they may be known for dishes other than sushi (like hot foods and rolls), but for REAL sushi...don't go here. I almost started a Yelp account because of this place. I give it 2 stars for the benefit of the doubt, but I would go to any of the other places I've tried before this one.
Coach Sushi is a magical place. From the very first time I came and was gifted with a wooden box that entitled me with bottomless sake for the night I was in love. That box has followed me through the special relationship Coach Sushi and I have and has been drunkenly marked with more and more useless doodles every time I've been there. ahhhhh....
So the bottomless sake for 3.50 is enough to give this place 5 stars (although that might be a bad move - there is already no seats as it is), but the sushi is wonderful as well. And this is the only place that I have been to around here that actually deep-fries their ice cream. yesss!!!!! And to add to that, there is always a good vibe - drunk people make for good atmospheres.
So to get to the point, you should def come down here. Just not on a night I am here. ;)
I really like this place. Everyone raves about the bottomless sake, yes that IS a good thing, but the sushi is actually good too. Let's not forget about the sushi!
I can tell you, the winter roll, very good. The shiso leaf totally brings a minty-ish vibe to the roll which fits the name.
This place is beyond amazing. I came here tonight for dinner with several friends, two of whom lived in Japan for several years (and I spent two years there myself). We were amazed by the amazing quality of the food, particularly for such reasonable prices.
I had the hamachi sashimi combo and age gyoza (deep-fried potstickers). There was a wide variety of food, we all shared bits with one another, and everything was spectacular.
And the masu sake. Ohhhhh, my goodness. Bottomless decent-quality sake in a traditional cedar box cup for $3.50 apiece? Unbelievable. We had a fabulous time, our glasses were never empty (nor were our cedar boxes!) and the staff let us stay until a bit past closing time as we finished up our final sips of sake and bites of sushi.
I highly recommend this for the sushi connoisseur, or for anyone looking to give Japanese food a try who may have been daunted by the tales of enormous bills at the end. Our table of 8 came in well under $200, which is simply unheard of for a good sushi and sashimi dinner out with unlimited sake.
Sushi: tasty, but only came in like 5 pieces (WTH)
Food: average Japanese food like udon, teriyaki, and sukiyaki. The tempura was memorable with its light batter and fresh veggies.
Masu Sake: the best for $3.95!!
I would come here for the sake and the fun atmosphere. Food is just ok.
Drink up. Drink some more. Repeat
The sushi is just...sushi here. Nothing particularly spectacular. But that's not why people come here. No sir. You and I both know why peeps come here
Bottomless masu sake. This is what the place is for. If you're curious about the food quality or whatever else, stop it. You're completely missing the point of this place. You're coming here to get wasted, and have a little food to soak up the booze in your stomach. I wouldn't go to McDonald's and be like "Eh, I've had better beef". I'd be wasting my time, and wasting your time by telling you that.
Take some friends, get ready to drink, and have a good time.
Coach, fill me up, you giggly bastard.
Four overall stars? Really?
For the prices and the quality of food, there really are better places in the Oakland area that we'd rather go. Hubs and I each got a combo (pick 3 items). He had the teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, and tempura; I had the teriyaki salmon, tempura, and California rolls.
To start, the salad wasn't the best - and we have pretty low standards for a decent Japanese bento salad. Part of the problem, or maybe the main problem, was the so-so salad dressing. I mean, dress a plain salad with some tasty dressing and you're good to go! But here, the dressing was terrible. On to the miso soup, not great either - too salty.
The teriyaki items were okay but my CA rolls were really disappointing. The rice was too sticky - not light and fluffy. The overall taste of the CA rolls just left something to be desired - especially for the price of the bentos (around $15).
So, a return visit? Absolutely not.
Found this place on yelp and was completely perplexed by the multiple references to "bottomless sake" so I thought I'd try it out.
After ordering the boxed sake, I stared as they placed an absurd little cedar box in front of me. Coach bounces up behind me, instructs my boyfriend and I to put salt on the edge, and makes us put our hands behind our backs in order to take the first sip!! SO funny. The box was never empty--but not for my lack of attempting to empty it. Every time I tried to make a dent in the sake, Coach is back to top it off. Dangerous: you never know how much you drank until you stand up at the end of the night.
Sure its cheap sake; but for $3.50 and an endless amount, it's worth it.
Man behind the sushi bar was really wonderful, too. He answered all of our questions, was really intelligent/knowledgeable about his craft (apparently he used to work as a hotel chef? Big time!) and even gave us the secret to making those little balls of doughy ice cream (yeaahh!)
Sushi is excellent if you ask the man at the sushi bar to "be creative." He'll whip you up stuff that's not even on the menu and you will never be disappointed. Menu itself is pretty basic. Tried two different sample platters and was, once again, surprised at how much sushi will fill a person up.
Oh and make a reservation. This place is packed and if you don't, you'll wait a really long time.
Coach is my spot for quick sushi. It helps that my apartment is literally right around the corner, but there's so much to love about this place.
Food: totally solid to great. I've never had anything that didn't seem fresh here, and there are some total standouts. My absolute favorite-that-I-crave-most-moments-of-the-day is the Hawaiian roll. At this point I don't even remember the exact ingredients, but it's an amazing mouthful of love with an amazing sauce, seaweed and incredibly fresh fish. If you're into tempura, you can't miss the Romeo Roll. Go crazy, you're unlikely to find anything offputting.
The experience, if you do dine in, is also not to be missed. The menus include silly hand drawings and are random and overly-long, but that's part of the fun. The real deal to go for is the sake deal - you get your own cedar box (which you can draw on!) and as much bad sake as you want. Now keep in mind that this *is* bad sake...it's not the good stuff. But you will get SO. MUCH. for like $3. An older man, presumably the owner, walks around with a huge bottle and fills you up the moment any is gone. You almost have to hide it from him so you have time to drink it.
Coach takes reservations (unlike most sushi places around here), has lots of space, and has a really warm atmosphere. It's not the uber-fancy lifeless sushi place you might find in the city, but it's one of the happiest and tastiest places to get sushi in Oakland.
Visiting my sister in Oakland, tradition is to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately we didn't have time to do that, but we did have a moment to check out a sushi place that she frequents at least once a week.
Whenever I go to a sushi place, my gauge for whether or not it is worth my time is the sashimi platter. This one was a bit small, having 3 pieces each of salmon, white tuna, tuna, and butterfish. Served with a bowl of rice for $18, I think it was a bit pricey, but fresh nonetheless. I needed to also get an order of uni nigiri and white tuna nigiri to make sure I had enough to eat. The sashimi platter came with a bowl of miso soup which tasted pretty standard. Uni was good, but not as good as Village Sushi in the U district or Wasabi in Belltown. Still, very decent at any rate.
For dessert I got the tempura ice cream. A little disappointing because the tempura that wrapped the ice cream, although warm, was not as crisp as it should have been, but wrapped around a scoop of green tea ice cream, 'twas a tasty end to the meal. My sister got the green tea ice cream served with red bean paste which was delicious.
Will be back for the chirashi.
I will have to update this review once I go again... but this is a first-timer's take on a hole-in-the-wall local spot.
Now, it's gotta be said, 90% of the good reviews for this place have GOT TO be because they do all-you-can-drink masu sake, and who can blame them? Not only do you get all the sake you can drink from a sake-pushing giggling Japanese man who will fills up your cedar box the moment you aren't paying attention, not once, but all night long. But after spending $12-$20 on a bottle in any other Japanese place, it's nice to go somewhere and have you fill from someone who seems to know what they're talking about when it comes to bringing out the flavor of the drink. And you get to decorate your little box and keep it at the restaurant for when you return. Ace!
The sushi, on the other hand, while not spectacular, is what I'd expect from a place that I might go to again. Their prices are typical for a casual Japanese restaurant, although for trendy sushi places in the bay area, they were lacking a bit in the fancy maki-style roles department (not that I care, I had Chirashi, but some might). One could easily go there and rack up a hefty bill between two people, but on another night, order two bento-style deals and round the night off (with endless sake at $3.50 per person) at around $50. Not bad for a place that's walking - make that stumbling - distance from my house. I'll definitely be going back sometime soon. I just have to do my 'Under the Sea' theme on my little cedar box finished before I bring it back for another round of "dodge the owner's neverending sake bottle."
Can an entire party of five leave a restaurant schnockered for under $20? Not counting the fixin's, absolutely YES! But the charm of Coach Sushi is not in its ability to get your slaphappy ass blitz-bombed with cedar boxes of sake. Instead, it's all in the owner: a tall, warm-and-fuzzy Japanese man who never stops smiling. And like his permanent smile, he never stops sneaking up on you and refilling what you thought had been your final box of sake -- again!
All-you-can-drink for $3.50? Take that, Ozumo! I would suspect Coach Sushi has some sort of revenue sharing arrangement with the cab companies advertised on the tables, because if you're like many people I see who come staggering out of this charming little place, juice-faced flubbered up the wazoo like some kind of confused animal, you either walk home around the lake or need to hail a ride back to your neighborhood.
My advice: If you order sake and aren't particularly interested in becoming a sheet in the wind's eye, DON'T turn your distracted head away from your sake box -- start coloring it with the sake box markers and turn it upside down on the table... but you can't be careful enough, this guy's got a sixth sense for empty sake boxes! If you brought a camera, why not have someone take a picture with you and the owner, he's always more than happy to humor his patrons.
Now, aside from the hullaballoo that I seem to have been using to characterize Coach Sushi, I must admit that the food -- which is the main reason you should come! -- is tasty and delicious. It's also quite affordable, at least the vegetarian varieties, yo! Honestly, if I were an omnivore, I'm not certain how willing I would be to ingest low-cost fish and meat at a hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant. So go order yourself some avocado rolls, a Bento box and miso soup sans fish broth. And be early, as this place fills up quickly... kind of like your unsupervised sake box!
You're gonna call me a party pooper, but Coach Sushi gets only 2 stars from me, and I doubt I'll be returning. For the 3 times I've been there, neither the food or the sake were memorable, and that's not cuz I was drunk off my butt either.
For example, the clam soup was bland and milky colored; the sauce for the seafood poke tasted funky and straight out of a bottle; the rolls were just filler (the rice wasn't even tasty); and the nigiri just not fresh. Sure, you can get yer drink on with the bottomless sake box, but not surprisingly, the Oseki brand tastes watery compared to all the other quality sakes out there that are actually worth spending money on.
Most recently, I had the worst experience when there was a raucous party of about 12 people seated in the middle of the restaurant. It was clear that most of them were drunk and couldn't manage their noise levels effectively. And y'know, I'm all for a good time, but I shouldn't have to yell repeatedly to my companion who's just across the table in order to be heard. I saw Coach try to signal them once about the noise, but more often than not, he kept refilling their sake boxes, which just seemed to up the decibels. Hmm, not sure that's a responsible thing for an owner to do if he's concerned about the experiences of all the diners in his place.
Having a tighter budget these days, I really want to know that I'm getting my money's worth whenever I decide to eat out. Given there are sooo many Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area that serve better food (and ambiance) for about the same price as Coach (e.g. $50 for 2 people), I'll be spending my dollars elsewhere.
Iced green tea people.
Not the sugary crap that is labeled "Arizona" and comes in a mock liquor bottle, but real honest to goodness green iced tea. YeS!
and on a spare the air day this stuff is like liquid gold for your insides.
I came here and got a to go order to eat at Lakeside Park with a friend. She suggested the place for the $3 sake, but I don't do sake anymore - thus the green tea.
Oh! the food is good, too - the california roll was fresh, and the eel roll with shitake mushrooms was to die for. I died a little and can't remember the exact name....
I don't remember how I got home from here, but it apparently included me scoring a new phone number after drinking 7,000 calories worth of sake.
I think the food was good, too, but be honest: any place that has $3.75 all-you-can-drink booze could probably serve paint chips and sawdust and still pull a 4-star average.
I should stay away, but I am easily seduced by bad ideas.
Okay...so I had to try out Coach Sushi. All the reviews looked pretty good, and its walking distance from my house. I figured since I would be drinking I could just walk home...thats what I thought...
We both got the bottomless sake in the cedar box, and proceeded to get completely drunk on a Tuesday night. Everytime I blinked, the tall laughing Japanese man filled up our sake boxes. He was so funny and super nice, and never left us with a cup less than half full.
We ordered the green salads, edamame, salmon teriyaki dinner, and 3 sushi rolls. Pretty decent food, but not supremely fabulous, but definately fresh
.One of the cooler things was that underneath each glass table top there was a little piece of paper with their address and the names of 3 cab companies. Now if only I had a glass table top to carry around with me with MY address, I would be set...
This was my second time around to Coach Sushi. $3.50 bottomless saki is an awesome idea and sure gets this place packed. So why the 2 stars? I thought you would never ask! The food! I had quite possible the worst combination bento box that I've ever had. I was really looking forward to coming here and adding another great japanese restaurant to the list of reviews. I am really disappointed!
I ordered the $15.95 three item bento box with beef teriyaki, tempura and sashimi. It also came with miso soup and salad. I thought the miso soup was pretty good and was the best thing out of the order. The salad was okay but isn't the usual miso/mayo dressing other places serve. The asked for the beef to be rare and it came out dry and chewy. There wasn't even teriyaki sauce on it! LOL! The tempura was average at best. Lastly the there were 2 thin slices of salmon and tuna which didn't impress me at all.
Would I come here again? If my friends drag me here for some cheap sake I probably would. Who knows?
I don't really know how is it possible that somebody doesn't really loves Coach Sushi! I adore this place! Not only because it's so much different than the other traditional sushi restaurants that you usually go, than also for having a good food and a rich menu, not to mention cheap all you can(or can not) drink sake that maybe could have a MINOR impact in me for writing this review. Never the less, I love the whole concept of the place! It's not fancy-but you have a lot fancy dressed people dining there, it's maybe not traditional all the way-but you still have a lot Asian people going there, and it's so casual! People are laughing out loud, talking without of hesitation that they are going to be a disturbance to somebody, some of them(let's say high%) are getting drunk and nobody cares!:) I really like going there straight from work without dressing up, trying to look fancy-part, just going there, relax and enjoy.
Try it out, be open minded, you're not going to regret it.
My friend Pam eats here every day so I stop by whenever I want to see her. I can't believe I've been here so many times and haven't bothered to write a review. In fact, I've even been a few times when Pam wasn't (she must have been out of town).
I feel like the cost per value is spot on at this place. You feel like you're getting what you pay for, you're excited when you're planning to go there, and you walk out the door happy.
I love the spicy tuna roll. Yesterday I tried the nasu miso which was baked eggplant with miso sauce cooked to the perfect texture. If you've had a lot of sake and want something spicy/fried, you HAVE to have the dancing bonito.
Some of the sushi is a little Americanized, but that was great when I brought my parents! They loved everything about the place...and I may even be off the hook for asking them to try Ethiopian food!! They really liked the state rolls...you know, California roll, Alaska roll, New York roll, etc. My dad went on and on about how great the miso soup was.
I might take off half a star for the kind of limited selection of sashimi. I've had the tuna there and it was great...but all they have is 2 kinds of tuna and salmon. The combo comes with salmon and I only like salmon cooked. This is not just because ahi tuna is my favorite thing in the world and they don't have it.
Writing this review sort of makes me want to head there for dinner, and I was there yesterday.
Just realized a funny fact: I've been here more times than any other restaurant I've been in the Bay Area and I haven't reviewed it yet. Here is my poem for Coach Sushi:
Boxes are brown, origami birds are blue
Coach is the Sake Santa, and I love you!
Ok, that "poem" was freakin' corny, but to be honest, I just left the place thirty minutes ago and I had about 7 boxes full of endless sake, so I don't think your expectations for my review should be that high. Coach Sushi is a fun place with friendly service and pretty good food. The sake boxes are clearly the highlight and everything else is secondary. I love the place and I go a couple times a month- you should too! Get some!
Another great Oakland neighborhood dinner joint. This place is all about Coach. He's a former baseball coach, he doesn't drink himself but walks around all night with a bottle of sake in his hand to refill wooden box even if you've only taken a sip. Let me warn you know, this can be deadly, I know many good people who have lost not only their dinners but they're next day because of Coach and his sake.
Bonus - you write your name and decorate your box and they dig it out for you each time you come in. But drinkers beware - on your first trip Coach might make you do something ridiculous (like he did to me) and make you take your first drink of sake with your hands behind your back.
Sushi is good, not the greatest, but yummy and well priced. There is very often a long line out the door.
DATE: May 9, 2009 @ 9:30 PM
OCCASION: Saturday Night Date with Boyfriend
VENUE: A very tiny sushi place right across Lake Merritt.
(DATE TIP: A romantic opportunity to go for a walk around the lake with your date before or after eating at Coach Sushi. The lake is so beautifully lit at night and quite romantic. )
DECOR: Square cedar sake boxes which were decorated by customers with artsy and wacky drawings lined the walls of Coach Sushi. A small sushi bar at the back of the restaurant.
AMBIANCE: Cozy. Date friendly. NOT full of loud, crazy drunk college students stuffing themselves with cheap sushi. The crowd was mellow, mature and happily drunk.
SOCIAL SCENE: Groups of friends in period costumes. I wasn't sure if it was a wedding party or they were actors. Hip couples. One family with 2 little kids.
SERVICE: Attentive and friendly.
FOOD AND DRINKS:
Me: The famed $3.50 room-temperature BOTTOMLESS SAKE poured in your square cedar box.
BF: 2 Diet Cokes
Shared: Fried Calamari , 2 pcs Soft-Shell Crab, Raider Roll,
Hawaiian Roll, Spider Roll, Dragon Roll
Tab: $77.36 (including tax and 20% tip)
OVERALL:
1. BOTTOMLESS SAKE. It started with the owner coming to our table and asking if it was my first time. He made me smell the wooden sake cup which nicely smelled of cedarwood. Then he gave the ff instructions for masu-sake:
" Sprinkle a little salt on the corner. Put your hands behind your back. Then, drink like a bird." I did as he said and BF was laughing his head off knowing I'm shy at doing weird stuff in public.
2. SUSHI ROLLS: were not terrible and actually yummy. However, we've had better. The fish was fresh and the rolls although not small were not big rolls. The menu was extensive and there's a variety of bento boxes, nigiris,noodles and desserts to choose from. The sushi were more fun and creative than authentic.
**********************
BF and I had a fun dinner not just eating but people-watching. We vowed to go back again. It will be awhile though since I'm still nursing my hangover. I only get tipsy but last night I left the restaurant staggering drunk and spilled the contents of my purse in the parking lot. Lucky for me that Boyfriend does not drink.
*********************
REMEMBER:
1. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!
2. Cab numbers are posted on the restaurant and on the menu.
Close enough for me to walk home from, which is important.
The food is average, and slightly pricer than you'd like it to be.
I get my money's worth in all you can drink sake. Then I stumble home.
Every time I've been here, there's been a group of incredibily loud revelers at the front tabe in front of the window. That much sake doesn't lead to a queit dinning experience.
The Coach is pretty great. When you first order your matsu sake, Coach insists that you lean forward and drink from you cedar box, hands free like a bird. A majestic snowy egrit maybe. From that point on, as stated in every review on here, you box will never be empty; even if you attempt to decline.
The service at Coach Sushi was so friendly I'd give them 4 stars just for that. When it comes to food however, I'm really picky. The sushi was decently fresh--especially for the price...Oh, fuck it. I was going to try and write a food review but honestly I just went here for the $3.50 bottomless sake box.
I kind of thought people were kidding when they spoke of this magical box but they weren't. No matter how red I got, or how much closer to esophageal cancer I progressed (http://www.reuters.com...), my fun box was never even close to empty and it was always filled with a smile.
The fifth star goes to "Oh, him?" who got to meet the lady friends, and was thoughtful enough to leave me a note in the morning with directions on how to find my car. If that doesn't spell "keeper" I don't know what does.
Went there over the weekend to grab some sushi and who can beat all you can drink Sake!!! OMG, for $3.50 I drank my a$$ off. :-)
The place is a little bit small, the ambiance is nothing spectacular. The wait can be long, but you can make reservation. Be on time when you do, they will give your reservation away. It was a plus for us when we arrived. You snooze you loose....
Ended up ordering:
Edamame: it wasn't too fresh
Sashimi combination: it was okay, but the butter fish was pretty decent
Sashimi salad (forgot the exact name of the dish): it was pretty good, nice flavor
Teriyaki Chicken Satay or something like that: it was okay
It's been a week since my visit and I think I'm finally sober enough to write a review.
Coach should have a huge disclaimer on his chest...
that you have to sign.
Something like: "May and/or probably will cause memory loss, erratic behaivor and/or the emergence of pink elephants."
Do not attempt the bottomless sake on a work night.
As a casual artist (some of you are familiar with my daily robot doodles), I thought the draw on your box of sake was so awesome! By the time Coach had snipered in 3 or 4 re-fills though, I was unable to finish decorating mine. I got one robot doodle, a bat, my name, some swirlies and then quit. I'll need to go back and finish doodling my box. Heh.
I ordered the dancing bonita because well, how often do you get a chance to order food that dances? It really does and it's pretty cool.
I also got the tempura, which was delicious with the dipping sauce.
Lastly, I split a bowl of beef Udon with Mr. N. Watching him fight with the larger than life noodles and chopsticks was hilarious. He got so frustrated at one point that he put it down and scribbled, "Chopsticks are hard to use" on his box of sake.
Can't wait to go back! On a weekend ;)
I still have a headache from the bottomless sake....
The reviews are dead on. Coach smiles non-stop. Hands behind your back for your first swig of sake. The guy stays on top of those sake boxes. The decorating of the box aspect was a pleasant and an interesting surprise. Lot's of cab numbers on the wall, however, the stroll to 19th St BART is a nice one.
I know nothing about sushi, so Mrs N and I kinda followed the lead of the more experienced guests. I can say I like the batter dipped tempura shrimp and the beef udon. I'd be more descriptive but Coach robbed me of my capacity to recall very many details. Watch out for that guy. He'll gechya!
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