Shun Restaurant - CLOSED

Elite '08

17

174

Jeannie L.

Dublin, CA

Having come across a Japanese blog on 'Bay Area's Best Japanese food', I was ecstatic to find Shun located in Pleasanton and tried it out tonight.  The tuna was so fresh that it just melted in my mouth.  We also tried:

- Spicy tuna roll, absolutely delicious
- tuna maki and tempura roll, yum!
- hamachi kama (grilled yellowtail collar), tasted pretty good although we had to send it back for more grilling and they were stingy on ponzu sauce
- ankimo (steamed monkfish liver), the verdict has yet to be made
- seared albacore - delicous! love the pairing with fresh onion slices

Overall, the food was excellent. I wanted to try their chef's special but was told that you must make special arrangements beforehand.  

Final note, the service is a bit slow since it's family owned restaurant so give yourself plenty of time here....

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1

50

Rich Cha K.

San Jose, CA

Went there on 5/8/07.  It is not Shun anymore it was called something else.  Food was terrible.  I do not think they are Japanese anymore running this place.  I will not go again.

Went there on Sunday 12/10 and there was a sign on the front door it is no longer open on Sunday's starting 12/10.  
Well thanks to another member Christine sending me a message we found this place just down the street from where we live.  Shun place is very good at what they do and is very authentic Japanese.  My wife was able to order in Japanese and talk to the sushi chef and waitress in japanese.   It is a small place and hidden away so you would never know it is there unless you were looking for it which you should.  My wife had the eel and it was very good she said.  Not the best she has had but the best of any place in the area.  I had the steak which was call "Yakinacu?" or something like that and it was very good also.  More on the place when I get back to Dublin because we will be eating here a lot I think.
Richard

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3

9

Takeru A.

San Ramon, CA

Very friendly & warm atmosphere I must say, with the authentic special dishes Masa makes. I guess if you really wanted to eat at one of the best tasting restaurants out there, you would check them out :P

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0

14

J P.

Citrus Heights, CA

I only had the Japanese style tempura, shrimp and vegetables, with miso soup, salad and an assortment of pickled items.  Very well presented.  The menu offers exciting choices of foods that I haven't seen at other Japanese places.  Looks like a family-run place.  Small but comfortable, clean, professional looking.  Will come back and try more items later.

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9

31

Christine C.

Dublin, CA

******UPDATE**********
I went there tonight and found out it was their last night (4/14).  They are taking over a catering business called catering with style in SF.
We will definitely miss them as they were the best restaurant in the Tri-Valley.
************************************************** ***********************

According to my mom (who is Japanese and from Hiroshima), many of the Japanese (from Japan) in the Bay Area know about this place.  It's that good.

This is the top of my list for Japanese restaurants, but you will need to be ready to spend money because it's not inexpensive.  Dishes range about $15-19.  Depending on the roll, sushi can cost around $8-10 for the larger rolls.  Kids meal is $9.  I saw on their website that they have a lunch menu now (haven't gone to lunch there in a long time).  I just saw the website tonight too - it's www.shunsushi.com.  Very nice website.

Service is sometimes slow, but that's because Masa demands perfection.  It is truly a family run business with all the kids and obaachan working there.  We ordered tempura once that had to be redone because Masa was not pleased with it.

Masa has the fish flown in from Japan.  He sometimes gets special fish that is extremely hard to get.  I forget the name, but my mom noted that it came from a certain area where my brother and I were catching fish during a summer in Japan when we were kids.

All of the dishes that we've tried were exquisite.  Masa had some special tuna once flown in, and he seared it and prepared a special side dish for the Japanese plate.  (Note:  you can order some entrees in American style or Japanese style.  Japanese style takes a little longer and is more expensive.  However, you'll get to taste things like nimono (meat and veggies stewed), tamago (egg omelet), spinach with bonito flakes, or new things like the tuna seared.)  The special seared tuna was so delicious and soft, it melted in our mouths.  This attention to detail is what makes Shun worth the wait and money.

Also note that sometimes the presentation differs.  I've ordered the tempura dish and sometimes got it with somen noodles beautifully dipped in batter and fried to resemble wheat fields.  Sometimes it doesn't come with this.  So, don't expect it to always be the same.  The same can be said for the Japanese version of the entrees - the side dishes are not always the same since it depends on what's in season and what they have on hand.

Other dishes we've tried:
edamame - pretty good
CA roll - very tasty
spicy hamachi roll - very hot, but excellent regardless
anago (not to be confused with unagi) - distinct flavor, very good
tamago sushi - the way it's supposed to be made (some restaurants really mess this one up and don't put the bonito stock flavoring in - ***NOTE: sometimes there will be a gray or blue-ish color to the tamago.  THIS IS THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MADE.  Tamago sushi is NOT suppose to be very yellow like I've seen at other places.  If it is very yellow, they did not put the stock flavoring in it.  Just think what a normal omelette looks like - the paler yellow, and you will understand what the coloring is supposed to look like.)
ebi sushi - excellent
yakiniku - my husband's favorite dish, thinly sliced beef grilled with a special sauce
tempura - excellent, sometimes with unagi, sometimes with fresh fish to supplement the veggies and shrimp
buckwheat noodle/tempura - perfectly made (I know the trials and tribulations of getting the noodle right.)
salad - made with a cabernet sauce and dotted with thinly sliced cucumber and chopped tomatoes.  Just right.
cucumber salad (vinegar/soy dressing)- very good.
nabeyaki udon - very filling and filled with lots of veggies, served in a Japanese style pot.
miso soup - with green onions, wakame, and tofu

I haven't tried everything there, as they have 3 menus:
1.  sushi/sashimi menu
2.  specials menu
3.  regular dinner menu including kid's meal and bento boxes

Note: they also had on the specials menu a few multi-course kyoto-style dinners (kaiseki) that you must reserve in advanced.  I've never ordered this as it's a lot of money, but hope to someday for some special occasion.  They get a lot of Japanese from Japanese companies nearby, so I imagine they created this for that.  Also, they do cater to corporations as seen on a postcard they have.

My mom had the chirashi bento (sashimi and other goodies on a bed of sushi rice), and she was extremely impressed.
Also, she said the agedashi tofu was very good.

Sake - we're not big sake drinkers, but they do offer it.
Shouchu (kind of a Japanese vodka)- they offer this as well as wine

Desserts:
If you have room left after dinner, you have to get the creme brulee.  They have other dessert dishes, but I've never tried them before.

Overall, this is the best place in the Tri-Valley to get Japanese food.  Highly recommended.

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0

21

Roger W.

San Francisco, CA

It's a pity that Shun is closing at the end of March---or at least, changing ownership.  I was in Pleasanton for 3 weeks and this place, along with Sheldan's Bakery in Dublin, was one of the real bright spots.  Service, provided by the chef's family members, was occasionally scattered and slow---but what really mattered, the cooking, was wonderful.  The unagi donburi was silky and sweet.  The yakitori was plump and carmelized---he must have brined it.  The nigiri platter was fresh, beautifully plated and large.  The maki rolls were crunchy, tasty, sweet and salty all at once.  So, Shun, as it was, was a 5+ star for food and a 3 star for friendly, if scattered service---but it was a really about the food!
I'll miss it.

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Elite '08

154

299

Clara K.

Walnut Creek, CA

disclaimer: we got all sushi, so i can't comment on the tempura or other cooked items.

i may give shun another try to see how the non-sushi fares, but for sushi, i was NOT impressed. my bf ordered one of the sushi dinner combinations, which in the menu lists the kind of fish he'd be receiving. however, what he got was not what was listed, and when i asked the waitress what two of the fish were, she said both were white tuna, although one was definitely not. also, i think he got two pieces of salmon, but one looks slightly cooked (?).

i ordered a la carte. the tamago was pretty good, but a strange bluish color in the middle. then kani (crab) was okay -- real crab, but kind of salty i thought. and the white tuna was okay too, except the sushi chef is very heavy-handed on the wasabi and i had to scrape most of it off.

the worst part of the night (besides the slow service throughout) was that they forgot our bluefin maguro (tuna) nigiri order, and when i told the waitress, she said that they said they'd already sent it over, and when i said no they hadn't, she yelled over to the sushi chef, and he said directly to me "i gave it to you!" and i said "no i don't think so! i'd remember it!" and he said he'd sent it with the tamago but i said "no, i got the tamago and kani. no maguro." i could tell he didn't believe me, although the waitress was apologizing and seemed to believe me when i reminded her that the tamago and kani had come on the same plate, with no maguro. at this point i was feeling rather upset because i felt like he was accusing me of lying and it was just an unpleasant experience. plus when i finally got the maguro, it was sloppily cut and again had WAY too much wasabi, and on top of that, the tuna had a strong fishy taste (was it because it was bluefin? i'm not sure).

i'm really disappointed because i love sushi and i was hoping to find a good place in the area to patronize regularly, but i don't think i'll order sushi at shun's again. when i go back to try the other dishes there, i'll update my review.

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