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Mon-Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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All right for a quick meal. Don't ask for more.
I guess it's a huge scene on Fri and Sat evenings. I think I will be skipping that. Sushi was OK, service was good enough.
The decor is kind of depressing and the water at the bar with the floating sushi boats smelled kind of funny but not too bad, I guess. I had the sushi and it tasted OK.
[M]ona: 4 Stars
[W]ayne 4.5 stars
Average: 4.25 Stars
+ Decent Prices
+ Free Wifi
+ Good for Groups
+ Fast Service
[W] The first time I ever came here was for my friends' ladys' birthday. Its in Palo Alto near Stanford College and it seems like the place to be rather with a large group or a small party. In this case, obviously it's just me and Mona.
This would probably be my favorite sushi restaurant. It's away from the city, and it has delicious food. Nice staff and quick service. The only reason or two that they don't hit that 5 star mark is that they don't leave a teapot at the tables and we drink A...LOT....OF...TEA!! Also, when you pay with a card, the host always stands there and waits for you to add up your tip before they charge your card. I think that's a little annoying because what if people still want to talk or maybe they feel like they're pressured into giving a larger tip or something.
Getting back to the food. We normally order a Bentou box with beef teriyaki, california roll, and/or tempura or gyoza. We also normally order like 4-5 rolls of sushi as well lol. (yea yea fata$$e$...whatever! this is for Yelps sake!!!)
Oh oh oh!!! I can't forget about their side salad as well. I don't know what the hell they use as their dressing but its frigging delicious!! I always HAVE TO HAVE a 2nd order of it!! You really have to try to know.
The 2 main rolls that we always get is the Rainbow Roll and the Miami Roll. Both which are deeeelicious as well. This time we tried the Salmon and mayonaisse roll, San Jose Roll and a Tamago nigiri. I swear Mona has been on a Tamago spree lately so we've been eating Tamago everywhere!
Everything always end up tasting really good here. The beef in the bentou is almost always cooked medium rare which everywhere else fully cooks it through. This leaves the meat really tender and juicy, just the way I like my beef!
As for the rolls, feel free to play around with the menu. Again, everything always tastes pretty good so there's nothing to complain about. Parking is always easy rather on the side of the restaurant or in the little parking structure that gives you 3 hours of free parking so you can walk around after your done eating. Miyake's also have these cool names for their rolls such as, Intel Roll, Cisco Roll, Stanford Roll, etc.
Overall, we really like coming to Miyake Restaurant so we will be back!
[M] Wayne pretty much covered everything I had to say haha. Oh wait~ they also have free wifi here. Definitely a huge plus for me since I bring my laptop along where ever I go.
Miyake = Sake Bomb!!!
I'm standing on my chair holding a sake bomb, I look around and see my group of 12 all doing the same. As we inhale our liquid explosives, our waiter is doing the same?! For real? The whole restaurant is chanting "Sake bomb."
We eat some more than the waiter comes back and has us repeat the infamous Sake Bomb toast. We repeat this ritual several more times throughout the night.
The waiter returns with a stack of cups set in a pyramid shape. The birthday girl is standing by his side. He starts pouring the sake in the very top cup which overflows and pours into the cups underneath. The birthday girl is then instructed to finish all the cups without stopping. As she glares at the waiter with disbelief, the whole restaurant starts chanting her name. How do they know my name? She's confused by the crowd and intimidated by the challenge but she dives in and completes the challenge like a pro.
This is Miyake's culture. If you're interested in drinking heavily with a large group of friends, this is the perfect place to do it.
Oh, there's food too.
You know the deal...Sake...BOMB...Sake...BOMB...(repeat 5 or 6 times) *drunkenly fall off chair* and pub crawl down University Ave.
That's all Miyake's is really about: getting a good buzz and eating some mediocre sushi, hence the shitty decor, disco lights, and smoke machine. I hadn't been here since I was 16 when my friends and I would come to NOT underage drink. Came here again for the first time over summer though, and they seem to have beefed up their ID checking so sorry young'ns, gotta be 21+ to play now.
Anyways though.....the food is really just whatever. Typical sushi joint that tries to get creative with combinations of stuff but it doesn't taste particularly fresh or memorable. They could just make one type of roll and no one would even know the difference here. They're all very same-y. I will say, my friends baked salmon roll was super smokey, like it had been charred to hell and back again but it didn't look outwardly burnt. That was pretty nasty. Service is aight, they give you your beer and sake and call you out to drink but they're usually swamped so don't expect them to go out of their way to service your needs.
But who cares right? You'll be drunk and having fun and that's what it's all about at Miyake's. No pretension, just a straightforward fun business model that works damn well. Check it out if you haven't already!
Food is horrible, but that's not why you go to miyakes. It's for the enviroment and to get BENT. When I say saki, u say bomb!
What's with the balloon people scamming us tho. We were drunk and wanted balloons too. Next thing u no, they wanted $95 for 10 balloons they made! WTF?
So the only reason we eat here is because my husband is friends with one of the sushi chefs which is also why they have two stars and not just one. He is always pulling their butts out of the fire where we are concerned.
They are cramped, the servers and many of the customers are rude to say the least. It is loud and not conducive to digestion even a little bit. I guess if your a drunken idiot then Miyake is the place for you.
However be for warned if you are a vegetarian, The miso soup will be offered to you even though it is made with a fish base and if you have one of the non Japanese servers be prepared to be asked why a vegetarian is eating there. Also be prepared for a lot of eye rolling about being a vegetarian.
So if you want rude service sub par sushi and high prices then go here if you want great service a quiet romantic setting with top notch sushi go to Maru Maru in San Mateo , if you want a lot of sushi for your money go to Joy also in San Mateo. However for the best Japanese meal I have had in a while there is a new place in Redwood City called Little MadFish that I think you would love.
When the waiters say "Sake," we scream "BOMB!!!"
You don't come here for sushi. You come here for the experience of standing on your chairs and screaming "BOMB" at the top of your lungs and chugging it OR placing the sake cup on top of chopsticks on the rim of your beer cup while you all pound on the table to make it fall in THEN you chug that too.
5 stars for atmosphere and Sake Bombs
4 stars for service
3 stars for sashimi
1 star for their sushi rice!!!
Hopefully they find a way to make their sushi rice a lot better and get fresher fish so that I can give this place 5 stars! Sake bombs + awesome sushi (if this was the case) would be the ultimate sushi joint.
I'm not really sure why this place has so many bad reviews. Granted I've only been here once, so maybe I have yet to discover why this place is so bad. For what it is (a place build around college students/sake bombs), it seems fine.
Came here with a group of about 16 people or so for a combined birthday party for three friends so there was naturally going to be a lot of drinking involved. That said, hopping onto chairs and doing repeated sake bombs is a pretty fun way to spend the night. Plus, it's kinda cool trying to get other tables involved when you do your round, but it can get annoying hearing the same chant over and over. Didn't really get a chance to try any of their sashimi, as I stuck to rolls to help soak up the alkie. DId try a little bit of their chicken katsu though, and that surprisingly exceeded expectations - wasn't overly breaded or fried.
As long as you don't come here with the expectation that you're going to have a nice, quiet meal, and that the food isn't going to be of the highest quality (read: you are coming to do sake bombs), you'll have a perfectly decent time here.
A bit under the weather, I figured I'd take a quick walk up U ave and find something light. The pictures of salads in the window stopped me. As I headed in I realized this is actually a sushi place. Well, hoping to make up for my last sushi experience up the street, I figured I'd give this a try.
The sushi bar delivers sushi plates via little boats. Fun to watch, especially after dosing up on cold medicine. Then again, I caught myself watching grass flutter in the wind an hour before... so obviously the infamous Sake bomb here was out of the question as well.
I was seated at the bar, and began serving myself up dishes. I received a plate of wasabi and ginger, and chopsticks, almost immediately. Oddly, getting a drink order opportunity took several minutes. Perhaps they were giving me time to entertain myself watching the passing boats.
The sushi wasn't bad. I didn't get that 'fishy' flavor, so that tells me it was either fresh, or it wasn't really fish. :P It was primarily rolls and nigiri, no sashimi, but that's fine. I'll stick to sashimi at higher end places this far away from the ocean.
The price wasn't bad either. No drunk sorority girls doing sake bombs on the tables, though, but I think I managed my disappointment well.
2 words....
SAKE BOMB!!
Love Love Love Sake Bombing here.... It's affordable and fun!
Food, Meh.... Just OK... not awful, not bad, not great.... Just OK... You don't come here for the food.... at least me and the crew doesn't, we come here for 1 thing and 1 thing only.... SAKE BOMBS.
Sure, this place is cheap and you can get lunch for under $10. But you get what you pay for. The quality is on par with their prices.
I remember eating her a lot when I worked in Menlo Park back in 2001. The quality has gone downhill since then.
I would pass on this restaurant unless you're really trying to save money and can tolerate less than quality Japanese food.
I miss this place. I went there when I was in college with a college organization. This place is just described as FUN. They greet you with a 'hey' when you arrive. Go there for your birthday and they will make you get on the table to celebrate. Fun is the place. Food was good too. Sorry I can't be more specific but its been a long time.
OMG I can't believe this place has been so poorly rated! There are so many reasons I love Miyake!
First of all, it is soo Cheap! I love that I can go here with my mom, friends, date, etc, and the bill is never over $20 for the two of us. Thats amazing for sushi! Are the people rating Miyake sushi elitists who wanna drop bank when they go out? I seriously have never gotten anything bad here, and even if I did, it wouldnt be a big deal...5 bucks for most rolls? C'mon, thats not bad to spend on something you just want to try out. Who cares if you dont like it - its 5 bucks!
I have never been here to drink sake bombs, but I have watched others - it looks fun! I'd be down to come anytime and chug a few beers while standing on my chair and eating delicious, cheap sushi. How is that not a good night?
Chill out everyone, Miyake is awesome. Don't hate on it, sushi elitists!
Haven't had the food here but was just here for the sake bomb party. The old guy in front, I think he's the owner, is very courteous and efficient. We were running late to join our party which started at least an hour ago and
he asked, "Are you with X party?" I reply in the affirmative and he shows me in immediately instead of having me wait outside with the rest of the line.
The environment is very high energy on a Friday night. Just a lot of people getting drunk. There were girls dancing on chairs to the booming music. I felt sorry for this birthday girl there who was trying to have a nice dinner because everyone else in the restaurant was just hanging loose.
So if you're trying to have a nice dinner, don't come here on a Friday night. But if you want to do some sake bombs, do come here.
I'm torn on how to write a review about MIYAKE. On the one hand, MIYAKE gives you a unique sushi experience you won't find anywhere else. I mean, how many sushi places do you know where you can watch drunk 21 year old Stanford Sorority Girls dance on top of their dinner tables in skin tight dresses?
On the other hand, the food here sucks!
I ordered the NUMBER ONE SPECIAL and was pleasantly disappointed.
The grilled salmon was dry. The Sushi not seasoned. However, the teryaki chicken was tasty and the service top notch.
I'll give you a fair warning if you decide to come here for dinner-BRING EARPLUGS! MIYAKE is SUPER LOUD. I mean, is there any reason to have the house music BLARING at "club level" all night long. It was so bad, my dinner party almost resorted to "sign language" and "IM" to talk to one another... LOL Did I mention the food?
All in all, I think MIYAKE is the "Pier 39" of sushi restaurants. Somewhere you want to go to check out the fascination, but quickly ask yourself afterwards "what did I just spend all my money on?"
My Name Is BLACK KANGO, and I approved this review...
Don't be fooled by the "19 piece Nigiri Special"
It is actually roughly 7 pieces of nigiri and 12 maki rolls (YES! those small ass rolls with just cucumber/tuna, rice, and seaweed!
Otherwise, this place is decent. Came here on a Wed and the place was pretty empty (no lines!) and the food was oooookkkk. I wouldn't say I'd come back though- food was average and it took maybe 30 to 45 mins for the food to come out.
No frills here.
Miyake is a great place if you're going for the right reasons...and hopefully the sushi is not on the top of the list.
The food is standard, I prefer the kamikaze rolls (no one else makes them bite sized, so sometimes I will travel to Miyake specifically for them), but overall, go for the fun atmosphere or you might be disappointed.
During the day, the restaurant appears to be like all other sushi spots...but once the sun goes down, the debauchery begins. Grab a group of friends, order a round of sake bombs and stand on chairs while you take them down (fellow patrons and the staff will be cheering you on)! It's a fun place to start your downtown PA nights, just go with low expectations...
During evening hours, this place is always packed with business people and students. However, during lunch, most patrons are business people working around the area looking for a quick and easy sushi experience.
Ah lunch......I've never had fast and friendly service from this Miyake. My worst experience came over 2 months ago.
*I went to lunch around 2pm, sat down immediately since almost 75% of the place was empty, and waited 10 minutes for a waiter to acknowledge me.
( -1 )
*After ordering my Bento Box with Teriyaki Chicken, Tempura, and Gyoza I waited another 20 minutes before the waiter took out the food. The chicken was lukewarm and gyozas were cold. And instead of complaining and waiting another 15 minutes I just went at it. *starving*
( -1 )
*Can you believe it took another 5 minutes to flag down a waiter to get a tea refill. The guys just walk around looking through the windows gawking and making hand gestures at the pretty ladies that walk by. Even coming from another guy, its creepy getting stared down by one of these doods.
( -1 )
*When I had my water refilled, I made sure to ask for the bill. The bill was the fastest part of the meal and took less than 20 seconds. The total came to $11 after tax and put $15 cash on the bill tray for change. After 10 minutes the change never came back. You'd think I'd tip $4 for lousy service? The waiters never looked at me as I raised my arm to get their attention. Time was of the essence and after wasting this much time for food and service, I decided to just leave the place and vow to never come back! I made sure my presence was known and when I left the double doors, I made sure the glass framed doors slammed against the brick pillars, very loud. *did the glass break?*
( -2 )
I'd settle for 0 stars, but 1 is the lowest here.
How can I put this nicely? This place is HORRIBLE. Oh I guess I can't put it nicely in that way. I've seen people lined up outside this place and I thought it must be really poppin'. It was poppin' alright, it was full of drunks! When I first saw the menu, my eyes were wide open because the price was so CHEAP. When I actually got the food and ate it, then I realized why it was so cheap. The food was BAD literally and non literally. The fish was not fresh and the presentation did not look good. The food taste REALLY bad. I had a stomach ache after that and wanted to throw up all the food I had just eaten. Moral of the story? You get what you pay for. If that's the case, I rather pay more for my health.
I like how they greet me when I enter the restaurant. It makes me feel acknowledged, even though it takes forever for them to get the check when I leave. Which is not a big deal, because I know they love me...
This place can be packed or empty depending on the days. I guess this place is well known for Sake bombs. They feed you sake on your birthday, standing on a chair, while turning off the light, unleashing the techno, and spinning the disco ball. How bomb? Ichiban.
The food here is pretty average for Japanese cuisine. The fish aren't always the freshest, but the sushi are cheap. Quantity over quality I suppose. One thing that does it for me every single time though is the beef teriyaki. It is never overcooked and always come correct. I also love their salad dressing...
This place is definitely not as packed as it was before in its glory days when there were much less competition in the area. I guess every restaurant has ups and downs. I just hope one day Miyake can bring back its standards and back to the way I remembered when I ate there as a kid: packed, loud and full of animation...
Walk in this restaurant/bar and you'll see the strangest collection of people on any given night. But better yet, simply walk by so you don't have to be there.
Food-wise the place actually isn't terrible; the fish is acceptable and prices are surprisingly not University-Ave-outrageous. It's not great or even good by any means though, so there really isn't any need to go here unless you're with a large group of people and you want to go sake-bombing. In that case this place will work fine because you can be as loud and boisterous as you want and you won't care about how mediocre everything else is. The fact that this place suitable fills this one niche earns it a 2 star versus 1 star rating. If you aren't planning on going sake-bombing though, beware that other people certainly will so count on loud table banging and the lights suddenly being switched to swirling disco blacklights several times during your meal.
went in group of 2. food ok (got bento). they refilled tea really slowl.y.. actually didn't give us tea until we asked. water was filled decently quickly until we asked for tea. then we had to ask for them to refill the water =_=''. waiters didn't seem to know how to speak japanese. pretty expensive... more so for dinner. go to this place for lunch if at all.
sashimi not fresh (bento will only give you tuna)
teriyaki chicken ok
teriyaki beef better than ok
salad not so good
miso standard
tempura ok
rice ok
tea good
This is the only time I drink beer. With SAKE!! I've been here 3 times, and every single time I come this place gets funner and funner.
+1 on Playing Top 40's Music
+1 for cool treat when it's your Birthday (Sake Tower shots that keep coming at yah!
+1 Affordable Japanese food.
-1 Although its fun standing up on the chairs screaming "Sake Bomb!" It's a little unsafe, I've already witness seeing someone fall on their a**.
-1 Space between chairs from the other tables near you are a little too close.
Miyake's your fun, but how do you meet the safety guidelines and stay open?!
Oh well. Cheers!
If I had written this review a few years ago, I would have given this place 4 stars.
Then: this used to be my go-to place for a good bento box or sushi for lunch when I worked in Palo Alto. There was always a good crowd, the service was fast, and you'd get a pretty good meal for a good price. I even had a bday dinner here with lots of sake bombs and the atmosphere was great.
Now: A couple of job changes and a few years later, I'm working in Palo Alto again. I decided to get something to go. I went during lunch hour, and I was surprised to see it was not as crowded as it used to be. The greeting that they say at sushi bars ("Irasshaimase!") was delivered in a half-ass way and they were just not excited to see anyone walking in at all. The person who rung me up hardly made eye contact with me.
When I finally got back to my desk to eat my lunch, I was disappointed to see the sorry looking things sitting in my to go plate. I ordered three simple items:
1.) Salmon Sashimi: It had an odd color, weird appearance in regards to texture, and the taste was even worse. It didn't taste buttery like what a good salmon sashimi should. As a matter of fact, it turns my stomach just thinking about it now.
2.) Unagi Handroll: You'd think that a broiled, fatty piece of fish slathered in unagi sauce would be hard to mess up, but this was at best the blandest thing I've ever tasted.
3.) Edamame: I think there were some old pods mixed in with some new. You know your edamame is no longer fresh and should not be served when it has that sour, weird smell.
I'm just saying, if you can't get simple stuff like this right, what more if you ordered something complicated?
Go somewhere else, its just not the same Miyake anymore.
Pretty substandard sushi, although it is cheap. You get what you pay for.
You really can find better sushi and Japanese food elsewhere.
Definitely avoid this place if you're used to eating higher quality Japanese food.
If you don't mind stuff that tastes like it was frozen and microwaved, then come here. The place gets packed on Friday nights when they have disco sushi night.
Miyake is great. How can you not love a place where practically the whole staff shouts out to tell you hello and goodbye when you walk in (even if you can't understand what they're saying, they sure sound enthusiastic!). Japanese food is my all time favorite, and these guys do it well. Their prices are really good too. They have great lunch specials. I've taken many friends here over the years (they've always enjoyed it too!) and will continue to do so in the future!
So although i am a tad biased because I've been going here since i was 9 (im now 22) I can say this place hasn't lost its charm. Now i need to get one thing out of the way first.
The loud noisy club like aspect only happens on weekends from what ive noticed of the many years going there. If you don't like loud music or loud places this isn't for you. This is NOT a traditional quiet Japanese restaurant where you go for serenity and a calm atmosphere. This is a restaurant for fun and cheap food Do not go on Fridays or Saturdays if you just want to relax.
Now that that's out of the way i can safely say this is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, and that's saying along because i've been to alot of them including places in Japan. The food is cheap and still very delicious. Go with an open mind and ready to have fun!
On a side note, if you go during weekdays its much quieter.
came here for a friend's birthday. No line ... surprisingly on a Friday night but I guess we got there just before the big rush! Was seated and the waiter comes over to give us water and ask us how many saki we would like. Out came our saki and there we started. It was actually good that the saki came out right away because it made the time go by faster for the waiting for the food.
There was loud music playing and oddly enough there were people dancing. HAHAHAHAa I guess it was good entertainment. The sushi was okay ... had lots of different selections.
At the end of the night the waiter came out with a saki tower for the birthday girl and took a picture of her for a memento =)
Echoing what everyone else has said- loud, drunkness, sake bombs for all.
Going for a birthday of a friend of a friend was interesting. Luckily we had a reservation which seems to be the way to go or else you would be stuck in a line. The sake bombs were fun but beware that the service was slow so order when you are half done yours.
The sushi was not very good at all- what do I expect thought from a place known for its sake bombs. The only item I did enjoy was the teriakyi chicken which I never get at a sushi restaurant but my friend's was so good I ate half of hers.
Fun once- not multiple times.
The whole time we were there, they were playing MJ's music. They even have a roll in honor of him! It's called the Thriller Roll.
It's highly entertaining here when you take sake bombs. I went to my friend's birthday dinner here. We started to get creative when we drank the sake bombs. Since they were playing MJ's songs, Will You Be There, the Free Willy song, came on so we did the "I say Free, you say Willy." We also did the birthday girl's name.
And for your safety girls, take off your heels before getting on the chair. I almost toppled over and no I wasn't drunk. I think that's just an injury waiting to happen; however, it's still fun. I don't wear short skirts or dresses because I think I might have flashed the people behind me.
As for the food, it's alright. Nothing special. There's a boat section if you're interested.
Bathroom has two stalls and only one sink. Eh. You'd think they'd put two.
The only reason I go here is because I've been going here with my family since it opened. It simply is not what it used to be, which makes me sad! Like another review says, you definitely go for the experience though. I don't know if they still do it, but they would put on disco lights, have some fog, etc.
It's a good place to go for lunch, though. It has a good choice of obento boxes that are pretty cheap. My favourite is their Combination Sushi plates. They are cheap for the amount of sushi you get.
Miyake is what happens when you put all the loud, drunken groups you've seen at japanese restaurants into one place.
And this behavior is not only allowed, its encouraged. This place is definitely the loudest restaurant i've been too. A club-like atmosphere.
I mean, it was fun to do a sake bomb standing on your chair, but the fun of it wore away once almost the entire place does over and over again.
Food was alright, nothing special. The ambiance of the place was very overwhelming.
Overall the trick here is to see how long you can keeping getting on top of the table to do sake bombs... the loser is the person who takes a face plant off the table and then gets kicked out for being too drunk... it's that simple!
I seem to win this game while others fail miserably.
Sake Bombs meets disco lights and music, really its not tooo bad of a place and if you think so, you simply did not get drunk enough. I love watching people face plant on the way out of this place. The crazy staff loves keeping your table full of beer and sake. Though granted its cheap Japanese beer and sake; it does the job!
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Ok! Wackiest Japanese bull crap, EVER! Over crowded with students doing sake bombs standing on chairs! (yes how smart drunk f**kers standing on chairs) Dark disco light s**t with mexican severers some are rude as f**k! Ordering a soda? Forget about the refill a server will tell you "NO" straight up! No refills must order another soda $1.60. Food was s****y, too! Greasy bla bla garbage! Good luck to those who dine here. And if you're the ones doing sake bombs, hope you have insurance incase your ass falls down and crack open your skull!
If you like obnoxious drunks, blasting music, and chuggin sake bombs while you're standing on the edge of your seat - this is your spot. Me? Maybe I'm just getting old, but this place was only entertaining for a mere 10 seconds and I was over it.
The music was so loud, I couldn't even have a decent conversation with the person sitting next to me. Service was horrible. We had to ask 3 seperate waiters to take our order before getting some attention. No one ever bothered to check up on us to see if we wanted more sake or beer, but I guess they were focusing on all the huge drunken parties (as if a table of 8 isn't big enough). The food was lousy. All I wanted was one order of cali rolls (4 pieces), but they enforce ordering 2 rolls (8 pieces total) because they can't split up the roll. THAT'S SO DUMB. No where on the menu does it indicate ordering a 2 roll minimum, and secondly, why don't they just sell the entire roll as one order and raise the price by $1 or so??? Made it seem so complicated!!
I think if I had just turned 21, I would come here more often to drink until I stumbled out the door, but I have no intention of coming back in the near future. Thank you Miyake's for blowing out my ear drums.
True Story #1: At the "ripe" age of 15 and 16, my girlfriends and I came to Miyake for a casual dinner, totally oblivious to the craziness that we had just stepped into. We were so amused by the sporadic interruption of dimmed lights, flashing strobe lights, glowing disco lights, and loud trance music whenever the waiters approached the one of many birthday men/women for the ultimate birthday shot (three tiers of sake bowls to be consumed one right after another). So we inny minny miny mo'd one of our girlfriends to be the designated birthday girl. The waiter saw right through our innocent faces and mischievous smirks. We got the whole treatment anyway -- lights, birthday song, cheers and all. But instead of sake, he poured my girlfriend a whole three bowls of 7-Up.
True Story #2: Still fascinated by the events of True Story #1, I suggested to my family that we take my older brother here for his 21st birthday. When it came time for the infamous birthday shot, my brother did me proud by finishing off each bowl of sake without hesitation...and immediately turning beet red with the help of the Asian glow. But when I turned my head to see if the others in my party were just as amused as I was, I found my grandma plugging her ears because of the loud music, my overprotective mom's mouth agape at the amount of alcohol her son just consumed, my dad laughing his head off, and brother's then-girlfriend looking worried (she ended up driving him home).
True Story #3: I came here last week for a friend's birthday celebration. Sadly, this place has not changed one bit since I last came almost 10 years ago, except for the extra douchey-ness that they think they can get away with. From the dingy carpet to the unkempt bathrooms, this place can be classified as a total dump according to University Avenue standards. I applaud them for their quickness and reasonable prices. My tonkatsu was admittedly pretty good and priced right -- two whole cutlets, miso soup, and salad for under $9.
I have totally outgrown this place, but apparently the 40- and even 50-year old men and women I saw standing on top of their chairs, have not. And if I hear the following chant one more time, I might just go nuts.
When I say sake, you say bomb!
Sake!
Bomb!
SAKE!
BOMB!
Ichi ni san, SAKE BOMB!
True you don't really go to Miyake's for the food however the rolls are decent enough not to make you complain. Top that with vast amounts of alcohol (I think a little watered down sake and beer), getting on top of your chair and partying with your neighbors how can you not have a good time? The prices are cheap, the people are fun and if you want more after some drunkeness there are plenty of more places to eat/drink/ko.
Only worth it if you come here for the night life. One of my best birthdays EVERRRR here.
SAKE BOMB SAKE BOMB SAKE BOMB
Friends in a group raising toasts
waiters taking shots with you
scarfing sushi in between shots
going to the bars afterward around the corner
fun filled drunken birthday night...priceless
My friend thought it would be fun to visit her alma mater. I've never been to Stanford so I tagged along. The campus is beautiful and very large. After the tour, I was exhausted and famished. Feeling nostalgic she took me here for dinner. Our server was very alert when we were ready to order. I let her order various rolls (philly, eel, shrimp tempura, dragon-something) and an assortment of sashimi. She regaled with stories back in the day when she would celebrate here with friends and lots and lots of sake bomb.
An hour into our seemingly peaceful dinner, the lights grew dim and a club-like atmosphere emerged. A group of students at the other end of the restaurant, started chanting and jumped on their chairs. My friend was hysterical. "just like the good 'ole days!"
The food was average college fare, nothing special. I felt the price was not suited for a poor college student, but it is Japanese cuisine and in prime location, so it's not unexpected that it's somewhat costly. Then again, it's not about the food. It's about the sake bomb and the very entertaining patrons. If I wasn't so famished after walking for hours around the campus, my taste buds would have been more critical of the food. All in all a good end to the Stanford experience.
2.5 stars
Food was tolerable. Service--the absolute worse I have ever encountered, and that includes weird tourist trap restaurants in SF. Came here with a group of 8 people, and were completely ignored by the waiter just about the entire time. The sushi was so-so; tempura marginally edible, and the teriyaki was edible. Soups were not impressive.
We had to hunt down our own water pitcher, because the waiter refused to come to our table because there was a big party next to us--we had the misfortune of being sat next to a party 30 have a 21st-birthday-party-celebration. The waiter would look at our table and walk right by us. We had wanted to order more food, beverages, etc., but found it was impossible. We had to practically drag the waiter over to give us our check. Since they automatically tack on 20% gratuity to groups, we were unable to express our displeasure at the poor service in the traditional manner.
The music--and the neighboring table--were so loud, we literally couldn't hear each other talk, which sorta defeated the purpose of a gathering of 8 friends who hadn't seen in each other in around 3-5 years.
Will not be returning.
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Sushi Bars
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Sushi Bars
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Sushi Bars
Palo Alto, CA
Category: Sushi Bars
Menlo Park, CA
Category: Japanese
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