Jiro Japanese Restaurant
(between Decoto Rd & Mann Ave)
Union City, CA 94587 (510) 489-8044
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
157 reviews
Fremont, CA
"Mmmm mmm mmmm...so good! My hubby and I love japanese food so we were extremely happy to find Semo so close to where we live. Their sushi…" read more »
27 Reviews for Jiro Japanese Restaurant
i come here for lunch when i'm craving sushi since there aren't really any decent japanese places in the area. although they are pretty busy during lunch on weekdays, it's never a long wait to get a table plus there is always plenty of room at the sushi bar. the portions are fair and the sashimi is always fresh. i believe they are korean owned since they also have korean food on their menu. regardless, the food is quite good. i don't mess around with all the fancy rolls that are fried and douced with sauce...my usual is the chirashi which is all the raw stuff on a bowl of rice. it's good enough to satisfy my sushi cravings till i can make it out to yuki's or sushi on the run.
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Love the salad dressing. The service could be better. We end up sitting there for a long time to order or get our food, even when it's not packed in there.
i've been a customer here for the past few years or so. i've never had a bad experience and the sushi was always of great quality. i normally order the $50 sashimi platter and a few orders of nigiri sushi. i'm not really into the rolls. Try asking Jay (the sushi guy) what is the best fish he has for the day and you won't be disappointed.
the only cooked food i've had here was "mae-won tang". it's a spicy korean fish soup that is unbelievable after eating a monstrous amount of raw fish. it leaves your mouth feeling strangely refreshed but i don't recommend it for those of you who can't take the heat.
i believe the owner of jiro is related to the owner of koi across the street? but this place is better by far!
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one star for the big screen tv showing the playoffs, one star for decent service.
maybe i'm spoiled by yuki and hotaru, but the food here was not good. the waiters were chinese and korean, as far as i could tell.
i got the beef teriyaki and california roll combo. the beef was very thinly sliced - almost like the beef i get in my sandwich at quiznos! - and covered in a thick sweet teriyaki-like sauce. there wasn't much meat at all, and also on the plate was a huge pile of shredded raw cabbage - was i supposed to eat that or was it a very large garnish? i've never had a bad california roll anywhere before today. the california rolls were super mushy - the rice was mushy on the outside, and the crab meat was bland and tasteless.
we also got a chicken teriyaki + cali roll combo, and this was better, but still not great. the chicken appeared to be deep fried, but at least there was a reasonable amount of meat.
the miso soup was quite flavorless, and the bowl smelled faintly of bleach. the salad (and dressing) was pretty good, but i had a few pieces of lettuce that has some brown spots on them.
won't be going back here any time soon.
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3.5 star, new owner in the past year, Jay the sushi chef is from HI, (Korean but lived in Japan, plus was a fisherman so can judge fish freshness), he's fun to talk with
hey, i learned that sashimi-grade fish needs to be individually caught (no net, since the weight of a large catch can damage the fish plus they need to be bled immediately to maintain the quality and not left flopping about on the deck) -- additionally, the freshness can be determined immediately by how well the scales adhere...
their sashimi is flown in from all over, i.e. Hawaii, Japan, Boston. Had uni, aji (fresh), hotate, fish was good but rice could be better. Don't order bulgogi -- was dry and underflavored. prices decent (2 pieces nigiri)
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Being that this is the Japanese food restaurant I grew up on for the better part of 18 years, I'm a bit biased.
However, this isn't really the best Japanese place around. They have the best California rolls out of any Japanese place I've been to, but that's not real sushi now, is it? Their other raw fish sushi is good, but not quite as fresh as someplace that gets more dining traffic.
I really love their tempura and their chicken terryaki though.... Their lunch bento boxes aren't terribly expensive and you get HUGE portions.
This place is all right. I've had better sushi, lunch/dinner plates, etc. but what makes it good is the price! Very decent prices, especially around lunch time when they have their specials going on.
I usually like Philly rolls anywhere, but the ones here gave me stomach pains, and had a weird after taste..
The biggest down side, was that they didn't have any desserts available the time I went, other than ice cream.. It's not a meal unless you have the Tempura ice cream, duh!!!
The customer service was great though, considering we were the only ones in the restaurant, hahahaha. They had no one else's ass to kiss, I guess.
This is our go-to spot for Japanese-ish food. Their menu is extensive and even has some Korean items to choose from. Their Teriyaki steak is probably the most glaring weakness. They use a cheap and thin cut of beef, grill it till it's well done and smother it Teriyaki sauce. Everything else on the menu ranges from average to good. I was a big fan of the Poke salad but I don't eat that anymore because it's the equivalency of eating a thermometer.
The sfaff is very friendly and consistently good. The service suffers a bit when they are extrememely busy but I hardly notice it. I always eat here with friends and I'm too busy enjoying their company.
A good friend of mine would always suggest eating at Jiros because he had a crush on one of the waitresses. He would munch away on his tonkatsu and just stare at her. She looked young, like jailbait young. Therefore, Eduardo Kim Jong Il christened her Lolita. Sadly, she no longer works here and we just sort of stopped eating here. We had a lot of laughs here.
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This is where I had my first bite of sushi since finding out I was pregnant. My family, the boy and I scarfed down unagi, sake and saba nigiri plus four rolls: Dynamite, Tiger Eye, Cherry Blossom and John's (I think). Everything was delicious except the one I ordered (the Tiger Eye) - well that's not true, it was good too but I was expecting something closer to a regular crunch roll.
Not sure if everything really was this good or if I was just super stoked about finally having raw salmon in my mouth after all these months of abstinence, but I would totally come back again to find out for sure :)
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Since we were close by, we decided to try Jiro. The service was the best thing about this restaurant. Staff is very attentive. The food is just all right - considering the increase in Japanese restaurants in the tri-city area in the last 25 years, it is harder to stand out. This one is not exceptional. In another area, where there are fewer choices, it would be considered a very good restaurant. I prefer Yuki in Fremont which offers unusual daily specials that are not on the regular menu but it is a little pricier.
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Every time I'm feigning for sushi this is the place to go, I just love their lunch menu. I usually order this bento box with tempura and sashimi which goes for around $7.50 and the portions are pretty big. I haven't yet tried this sushi rolls, but they sure look good in their pictures.
Gotta agree with Arlene on this one. I have gone to this place for years and it has been consistently good but my experience last night.....not so good. The sushi was good but just good, not great. My father-in-law had some tempura and it looked like corn dog material on the shrimp. The whole experience was just not great. Try Satomi's instead.
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Love this place, can't live more than a month w/o it. Fo-Sho. The sashimi pieces are very snappy and sweet, freshly prepared like artwork. by Jay, the sushi chef. Sit at the bar for the ultimate dining experience. The scallop and toro pieces are always awesome.
This place is okay. I think the only reason I still go there is because it's familiar.
I normally order the futomaki dinner and my boyfriend orders the sushi and sashimi combo. Both decent meals. Some days the fish is fresh other days it's not. the price is good for what you get.
Positives: Most of the staff are friendly, nice decor, pretty clean restroom, fun birthday music, lots of parking, usually not too busy
Negatives: my BF got food poisoning once from the sushi, one server is very rude - had to leave the restaurant because she would not come to our table
This place used to be very good, but it seems to have gone down in quality the past month or so. I wonder if they changed ownership and/or sushi chefs. I used to get takeout pretty regularly (around once a week). Their sake nigiri used to be nice and fresh, and used good cuts of salmon, but lately I've noticed I've been getting inferior cuts (the ones that are next to the skin), and they don't seem to be as fresh anymore. Same goes for the maguro and other sushi that I've ordered.
This seemed to coincide w/ the fact that the takeout containers changed, as well as the way they arranged it, leading me to think that the sushi chefs I used to like are gone. My conspiracy theory on this is that the former chefs moved to Mioki sushi down the road on Decoto and Fremont Blvd. (Walgreens Plaza). Not only does Mioki's sushi taste like how Jiro's used to, they use the same takeout containers I used to get too!
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I'm a sashimi/nigiri fanatic and this place totally satisfies my cravings! The quality of fish is great and their portions are neither too big nor too small for the price you pay.
In terms of rolls, they have the basics, but nothing that would be considered new-wave sushi. I love their crazy roll and their dynamite roll.
The terriyaki plates are good too, even the salmon. I especially love their salad because the dressing isn't too creamy.
The place itself isn't fancy, which is good because some sushi restaurants like to over-do it on the fancy scale... but it is very comfortable and the waitresses as well as the sushi chefs are quite accommodating and attentive.
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Ok Japanese/sushi spot. I think that the sushi at Koi (at the kitty corner plaza) is better. I've ordered Jiro's spicy tuna for take-out and found it too spicy... I can't even taste the tuna.
Went here tonight for Moms' Night Out with a few moms from baby playdate group I've joined. There were 6 of us. They sat us in the corner, which was fine because we were pretty chatty. I ordered the dynamite roll which was pretty yech! I thought it was stale. The tea was not very flavorful, could be stronger. But everyone else seemed to like their dishes.
The "understaffed" staff was friendly, but gave pretty slow service. We had to ask them 3 times for the check.
Good sushi and other Japanese food.
The staff is always fun.
Maybe it's because I've been going to this place for years but the service I get here is nothing like how everyone else wrote. True, this isn't Japanese owned but this is a place that I would chose over any of the other Japanese places in Union City and maybe even Fremont. I personally don't care what ethnic background a person is nor do I care what kind of ethinc food establishment they run, so what if they are Korean.
**EDIT** May 10th, 2007
Jiro's owners sold the restaurant. Although their menu is still the same, the taste is different. Unfortunately the dressing has changed!!! THE HORROR!! The food tastes different also, but its good...just not the same.
Old sushi chef's from Jiro opened a new establishment at the Walgreens shopping plaza off of Fremont Blvd and Decoto...it was formally Edo Sushi now known as Mioki Sushi....menu is now revamped and awesome.
To the old chefs and owners if Jiro...it was wonderful while it lasted.
The sashimi I've had here was nothing but fresh and their green salad is really good, they even sell the dressing. Do I recommend this place? Yes. Everyone that I know of that goes there...likes or loves it.
Down one star from my previous 4 stars...sorry..
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Just ok. I ordered saba for dinner and they gave me one huge fillet. yum yum.
This is pretty close to my place but I often go to Koi.
Average nigiri and sashimi for the area, but nothing memorable.
Starters:
- Salad was above average. Good taste. Not runny. One slice of tomato.
- Miso was pretty good, according to my brother. Just powder and liquid.
- Tempura Oysters were below average, heavily battered, masking a lot of the oyster flavor.
Mains:
- Soba. This was my first time eating soba (usually go for nigir), so can't compare it to anything else. Noodles had a slight buckwheat flavor and the sauce to dip in seemed like a combination of soy sauce and tempura sauce. Could've used a little more oomph in the sauce.
- Hamachi (nigiri). Fish was fresh, cut to a good size, but no wasabi underneath the fish. Rice was cooked right. Nothing wrong with the dish, but nothing memorable.
- Sushi and Sashimi combo. 7 pieces nigiri, 3 different sashimi, and 6 pieces tekka maki. My brother said some fish were fresh, some were not. Hamachi (sashimi) was a good size and was fresh. Maguro (nigiri) not so much.
- Unagi Donburi. My two brothers came to a consensus that their unagi's pretty good. Not too sweet, not slimy.
Atmosphere
- Seating consisted of a sushi boat around the chefs to seat maybe 10 people and many tables for additional seating.
- Two TV's set to sports. The bigger screen was hooked up to a karaoke machine.
Good Service. Reasonable Price. Tons of modern sushi. Clean place. Yummy!
This place is pretty good. The decor is nice as well. Unfortunately, it's another one of those non-Japanese owned sushi places. If this does not bother you, then I can whole-heartedly recommend it. There is nothing special or unique about Jiro separating it from the plethora of sushi places out there, however.
Not fancy, great or exceptional, but clean, decent and solid, which is good for a neighborhood joint. I've been coming here on and off for many years, easily over a decade and I am not sure how many times this place has changed ownership, if it even has. A recent lunch visit solidified my loyalties to Jiro, for it hit me, this place always gives me decent product at a good value.
Upon seating i order a hot tea for my drink and boy do they give you a cup of tea. Its a big earthenware rustic cup full of hot Japanese tea. You have to grab it with your whole hand, not those two finger grab cups you sometimes get. The cup does conduct the heat so you have to watch out. Ordered my favorite bento box combo: the saba shioyaki (grilled mackerel) and sashimi. The mackerel was grilled perfectly but just needed a sprinkle of salt which was easily within reach. The tuna sashimi was not the super, deep red stuff but still it was fresh, clean and generously portioned. The rest of the box included white rice, a salad with a good toasted sesame dressing, pickled ginger and cabbage and orange wedges for a palate cleansing dessert. Oh and it came with miso soup in the beginning, all for under $8. Can't beat that with a stick. Also had their ama-ebi (fresh water prawn) cuz they do it right, meaning for the avg. American is served Fear Factor style. The body is served raw nigiri style, so sweet with a little chew and creamy texture. They put a little tobiko on top which offers a little color more than anything else. And about 5 minutes later the 2 heads of the shrimps come deep-fried. A super light tempura batter coats the prawn carcass and is deep-fried to golden, reddish crisp in fresh peanut oil. Crunch, crunch, crunch. You can practically eat the whole thing cuz its so crazy crispy, antennas, legs and whatever else lies in there. Some parts of the shell are a little thick and spiny so I'll leave that behind but the rest is all good.
Good times to be had at lunch at Jiro, as I indulge in a healthy and delish fish meal for a great price. The bonus is putting on that Fear Factor show for my lunch mates - makes for great entertainment.
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Agreed.. we are not impressed with this Japanese restaurant... the food is average at best.. and i am being kind.. there are so many other japanese places to go... if you feel you have a limited time on this earth.. i would suggest other japanese restaurants! Such as Yuri or Sushi Yoshi's in Fremont
Went to this place for the first time today for lunch. The portions are small for their prices. One sushi roll was $13 and the fish it in wasn't fresh. The rice in my bento box was rather yellow....hell knows how long they've been sitting around. I will not go back again. The reason why i gave it 2 stars due to it's friendly service.
sashimi is good and their sushi, but service wise umm well tables are all full but 2 waitresses only on the floor, but their soft shell crabs are yummy
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