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Tue-Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Tue-Thu. 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 5:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
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Great restaurant!
A little bit difficult to find at first but worth the effort! I love this place; I have been going there since they opened. Maru-san and his team enjoy making great food & are great people too!
PS - Oh... for the person that assumes that they use MSG - THEY DON"T USE MSG in their cooking! If you don't know how to achieve natural flavor from cooking (dashi, mushrooms, kombu, fermented foods, aged cheese - to name a few things) then you shouldn't assume they use MSG!
PSS - Also, if you are still calling it "Kobe", than you really shouldn't be posting about food.
- 1st. it is called Wagyu if it comes from Japan or if it's 100% pure, not "Kobe". The term "Kobe" is now used to generally refer to what is an American or Australian mixed breed of cattle. This is difficult to determine, as the grading is not overseen by the USDA, just to say that it is safe to be eaten!
- 2nd. "Kobe" was a generic marketing term for Japanese & American beef with any percentage of Wagyu mixed with another breed up till about 5yrs. ago.
- 3rd. so... not all "Kobe" is "well marbeled" & not all people know the grades of beef either!
Stopped by on a Sunday night without reservations and were able to sit down right away. This restaurant is tucked away in quiet downtown Los Altos, but inside the restaurant it's a bit more lively. You can see into the grilling/kitchen area in the center of the restaurant and along the counters there are rows of skewers waiting to be cooked.
The food we ordered was all-around delicious. We weren't too hungry, so we didn't order that much, but we tried:
oyako-don - grilled chicken and egg on rice (very yummy, perfectly cooked quality short grain rice)
organic chicken karaage - this was an appetizer order but came in a large serving with several big pieces of perfectly battered and fried wonderful juicy chicken along with a tomato and pepper, with lemon to squeeze over everything
agedashi daikon - a tender battered turnip served in a subtle and delicous clear broth with sliced green onions on top, nice presentation, it comes in a ceramic covered bowl
yaki onigiri - a lightly coated (with shoyu I think), grilled rice ball, I think it had bonito mixed in with the rice. the outside was perfectly crisp.
Prices are a little high, but the quality of the food is so good that it's not a bad deal at all. Service was a little slow, but nothing too bad. I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying more of their menu. The Sumika salad looked good, and next time we should probably try some of their skewers, which they are famous for.
Great restaurant. On its own, there isn't much in downtown Los Altos, but it's seemingly getting better, and Sumika is a classic example of this.
Great food, fun, although somewhat loud, atmosphere. The service is really nice, and the prices are reasonable. All in all, I love the yakitori and the sake. A great selection with lots of different things to try.
Looks like I've found my yakitori place.
Don't listen to the nonsense about msg being used or that people from this part of Bay Area do not know Japanese food. I'm from Tokyo and this place is between 4-5 star even using Tokyo standard.
The taste here is pure without much embellishments. In some ways I wish they also oftered stronger tasting items too with more varied menu. But, what they do best is using organic chicken to bring out the pure taste and goodness of chicken.
Organic Chicken at it's finest!
Before heading out to a Halloween party Saturday evening, we wanted to fill our appetites with something tasty and fulfilling before our drunkfest. The wife suggested we eat somewhere locally and chose Sumika since the other two never tried their food. We made reservations for 8pm, party of four, and showed up Asian time at 8:15pm. Upon waiting for the staff to seat us, the restaurant wasn't too full granted it was late and Halloween day. The waitresses were costumed and it made the festivities start off on the right foot. None of us were picky eaters but starving for some food. We all looked at the menu and went with everything my wife ordered.
This is what we ordered to start:
2 Asahi Super Dry 750ml beer (4 chilled beer mugs) $6.50 ea
1 Oyako-don (Chicken chunks and egg in a soup over rice) $12
1 Sumika-don (Grilled thinly sliced pieces of organic chicken over rice) $12
1 Tsukune-don (Ground chicken and egg in a soup over rice) $12
1 Karaage (Nicely fried and tender organic chicken with a garnish of lemon and chili) $7
1 Spicy Chicken (BBQed, Spicy mouth watering chicken, but too salty) $7
4 Kawa/Chicken Skin (BBQed skin, 5 pieces per stick, very tasty and crunchy) $3.80 ea
1 Rice (Bowl of plain Japanese white rice) $3
We consumed everything fast and not much talking was involved except for small sounds of delight and deliciousness. With 3 growing men and 1 hungry wife, we ordered more food.
This is what we ordered for our second round:
1 Tsukune-don (Ground chicken and egg in a soup over rice) $12
1 Ungai (Unagi & Shitake Bacon Wrap looked like a presentation of Spam, very tasty) $10
1 Spicy Chicken (We should've got the Karaage instead) $7
2 Rice (Bowl of plain Japanese white rice) $3
Every Rice Dish was consumed and we were scraping the bowls for more. Our guests particularly liked the soupy egg organic chicken mixture. Even one of the guys never eats eggs, but he made an exception since it was too good to pass up. The other guy was a garbage disposal and ate everything in sight not gasping for air while refilling his beer mug. We didn't get any dessert because everyone was darn full!
Overall, the food was excellent as it always is. The total bill before tip came to $126.95 and it was well worth it. All our orders came out quickly except for the Spicy Chicken but that was a small price to pay for excellent service and fast hot food. Even when we went to our Halloween party, our guests were raving and ranting about the food they ate for dinner and told everyone to go try it one day. We'll be back very soon. 5 stars all across the board!
Have been here multiple times, generally liked it.
Sat at the counter once & it smelled TERRIBLE.
That's not why 1 star - only 1 star because my husband & I tried to go on Sunday night around 7 pm. The place had 3-4 tables filled and part of the counter. Several employees were there (so it's not like they were short staffed). We were told that there were no seats available, except for the counter. We were also told that you need a reservation to be seated at any time.
We left and will not be going back.
This place is very good and very cool!
It's different than anything I've had before, so ordering was a little interesting since we didn't really know portion-wise what we were going to eat.
The grilling method is cool and interesting (definitely a good place to take a date for conversation starters). Everything we ordered was GREAT:
Fresh Spring Rolls
The Nest Salad (recommend splitting this for sure)
Kobe Beef Skewer (marinade/sauce, to die for!)
Chicken with plum sauce (great, and.... ridiculously MOIST. I hate the word moist, but this dish really deserves me breaking my silence to use it)
Chicken with cheddar cheese (cheesy goodness)
This is a seriously unique eating experience that I would hands down go to again.
This is my favorite yakitori place in the Bay Area. Delights abound with simple and delicious food.
Oyako-don, Oyako-don, Oyako-don!!! . Generally, I always felt like Oyako-don was kind of boring, or at least nothing special. But Sumika manages to make Oyako-don special here. Could it be the organic chicken and eggs? I don't think so because I've had other "organic" oyako-don's before. Whoever's working the kitchen seriously has a magic touch when it comes to chicken and eggs over rice.
There are other good things on the menu too. Most memorable? Chicken skin with ponzu, pork cheek skewer, chicken skin skewer, and the roasted rice ball. Pork cheek skewer was like little chunks of fat heaven and the roasted rice ball we had was YUM. It had flecks of shiso leaf in it which went perfect with the toasty rice yumminess.
the uni jelly was more interesting than tasty. The combo of flavors didn't work for me but the uni was still fresh and delicious.
And don't forget dessert. We originally had only one order of the frozen custard pudding but we quickly ordered a second. This was AMAZING.
Folks - if a yakitori joint doesn't have cartilage or chicken soft bone, it's not a real yakitori joint. Also, if the "kobe beef" is not marbled and they don't tell you the letter grade of the meat, it's not real kobe.
Then again, people in this part of town probably don't know better. They probably go in and think "wow this is something ethnic and cool" and remain blissfully ignorant as they "savor" the "authentic" Japanese izakaya experience.
By the way, this place really should tone down on the MSG.
Finally made it into Sumika, after mistakenly going into Sumiya in Santa Clara... that's a different review - but then I do have a comparison for local kushiyaki specialty spots. I preferred Sumika over Sumiya. Sumiya is good as well... I'd give that 4 stars, so I'm gonna have to go all 5 on this one in comparison.
Sumika definitely transported me back to favorite yakitori joint in Ebisu. Very similar vibe and pretty similar food. I was a bit bummed to see the loads of near-frozen pre-skewered food in the cooler top. Decided against having any seafood because of that (they really should hide that stuff...)
So I stuck to chicken and pork.
I had momo (thigh) in both regular and spicy. The spicy was frikken awesome. I need to seriously reverse-engineer the sauce.
Tsukune was great - served single-lump style on a thick stick.
The chicken skin (kawa?) was excellent.
The real winner was the pig cheek (ton ton?). Plenty of pieces of meat/fat/skin. Any pig-o-holics out there will dig this one.
also had a half "sumika salad" - which was just great and a steal for its size/price. And for some reason the draft beer hit the spot as well.
Recommended. A touch on the pricey side... but totally reasonable for kushiyaki.
surprisingly empty on one friday night.
grilled skewer aka kushiyaki is their specialty.
i liked yakitori with just salt (no sauce). juicy and plump. very solid.
but kobe beef was forgettable .
fyi, their yakitori features organic and free range chicken.
i also liked their chazuke and karaage.
portion was definitely on the small side, so don't come hungry.
my taste buds and i enjoyed time here...
until the check came out.
I had been dying to go here. I mean really, it's a 4 star place with 177 reviews and delicious looking pictures. Not only that, but we get there and there is a live jazz session going on, so all of it is looking like it will be one of those great experiences in eating delights.
Then we order juice and soju and realize we have to squeeze our own juice, which is fine, but I have no arm strength whatsoever. That's totally my bad. The grapefruit one was really good tasting. It was light and refreshing.
After that we decided to order, a salad, chicken skin, chicken skewers, liver skewers, scallops, and some other small dishes.
Honestly I have to say that except for the jazz music, chicken skin and, alcohol, I was kind of disappointed. Every other dish was delicious. You'd get NOMS and then followed by MEH. Sure we probably ordered wrong, but nothing should be MEH on a menu in my book. The scallops were either over cooked or not quite right from being dried as they had this weird toughness.
Greasy, expensive, tasteless.
At least they serve beer.
Went there Sunday night for dinner based upon yelp reviews and boy it turned out to be a great experience. Ironically, I work five minutes down the street and never new of this place. Arrived around 7:30 pm and it was pretty crowded, had to wait about 20 minutes or so. It's not a big restaurant. The ambiance and services were great.
Appetizers, Salads, etc.:
Unagi & Shitake Bacon Wrap: very interesting dish - OMG loved it. Remember to eat it with the garnish.
Spicy Teriyaki Chicken: it's not the typical teriyaki chicken we all know. It's actually mini drum sticks marinated with a very sweet and spicy sauce. The sauce is pretty overwhelming, I suggest trying it with sauce on the side. Overall, it was okay for me.
Fried Whole Garlic (comes with salad): when ordered it was a little bit intimidating. After eating it, oh wow the garlic was pretty sweet. It tasted like potato, should definitely try. It comes with this orangy sauce, pretty good.
Sumika Salad: it tasted like Chinese Chicken Salad, but lighter. Loved it!
Red Miso Soup w/Asari Clam: Not like any other regular miso soup. It has a zest of seafood flavor, it might be due to the clams. Very good!
Skewers: Each skewers average around $3.5 each. Ended up ordering the following:
Momo (chicken thigh): Very good, slighted salted with the grilled taste
Tsukune (chicken meat ball): Excellent, very well marinated
Kobe Style Beef: not too bad, has a sweet sauce to it
Scallop: The outside was seared, very good
Asparagus wrapped with Pork: loved it, it went well together.
Overall, I would love to come back. If they accept reservation, I suggest you make one. For two people, it was around $80 including three glasses of soju.
I am going to forgo sounding redundant and support the majority of the 3-4 rating reviews. (took off stars b/c of price and FOR ME, I RARELY eat meat and am more of a seafood / sashimi eater --- there wasN't much variety FOR ME to select from).
This place' concept is based on "Kushi-yaki (skewered-grilling)" of bite-size meats and vegetables that are served directly from the charcoal grill. Sumika PROMISES FRESH and QUALITY ingredients --- provide them feedback if you are dissatisfied or think otherwise.
There is a consensus---the food here is unique, delicious, and definitely QUALITY (however, not much quantity). There is a price to be had for all this wonderfulness-----it's worth it though and everyone deserves to treat themselves to all the goodness this restaurant has to offer.
FOOD NOTES:
-scallops: a bit dry and tough on the edges (probably won't get again)
+salmon sashimi: isN't listed on the online menu, but was printed in the regular restaurant menu ---- i am more of a sashimi eater and well, it was salmon sashimi (quality, of course)
+FRESH WASABI: must comment on this b/c if you request more wasabi, SUMIKA brings you the fresh wasabi WHEREAS at SUSHI TOMI they'll plate the fresh kind but bring you the powdered/paste kind when you request more (this is UNLIKE Sumika) --- I doN't think Sumika even has the paste kind in their (promise to fresh / quality ingredients) kitchen.
+Sumika salad: nice bite & flavor
+Oyako-don: the egg over rice is especially appetizing
+meat skewers: I didN't eat any meat so I caN't give you my thoughts but other diners I was with ordered a variety and enjoyed them with the condiments / sauces
SIDE NOTES:
1. There is live music on Tuesday evenings---typically jazz. I was more compelled to dine here b/c of the entertainment.
2. This place gets packed, so I suggest making a reservation---with that said, the service can sometimes seem a bit spotty.
3. upon being seated, a nice wet WARM clean WASHCLOTH is brought to you and after dinner, another warm clean washcloth is brought to you.......was quite refreshing!
Overall, pricey, but quality --- I'd go broke if I wanted to come here all the time, but I can definitely say we all agreed we'd dine here again (more likely on a jazz night).
Here is what I tried:
- Oyako-Don: chicken with runny egg over rice (see my photos): good, but not great, and definitely not worth a trip. I'm not sure why everyone raves about this. ($10 on the lunch menu)
- Frozen custard pudding: It's a crème brûlée that is frozen and sliced into cubes. Very good, and better than a typical crème brûlée. ($5 on the lunch menu).
One word: KAWA.
Definition: Grilled/fried crispy chicken skin on skewers!!!
Need I say more? Get this shit onto the KFC menu. Seriously. Entire lives nay civilizations will be transmogrified. Imagine the possibilities.
I just came here yesterday for the first time with a friend. I've been to SumiYa before and heard from a friend that SumiKa serves similar type of tapas dishes and Kushiyaki (charcoal grilled skewers) as SumiYa. My friend and I ordered a bottle of shochu and few skewers that we really wanted to try, and left everything else to the chef (omakase). For the skewers, we just asked one for each order and shared. From my limited memory (because we ended up downing 2 bottles of shochu), this is the list of what we had;
Sumika Salad (half order)
Baguette with special Liver paster & leek cream cheese paste (Omakase)
Hatsu (grilled chicken heart)
Kawa (grilled chicken skin)
Cold pasta (Omakase)
Tomato and Bacon skewers
Tontoro (grilled pork fat)
Grilled yamaimo (Omakase)
Grilled Chicken Liver
Tsukune (grilled minced chicken)
Tori Nanban (fried chicken in a sweet and sour sauce, also from Omakase)
Enoki Bacon (Enoki mushroom wrapped with bacon)
Kobe beef (grilled kobe beef!)
Yaki Onigiri (rice ball)
We sat at the bar and told the main chef what we liked and did not like (basically everything other than shiitake mushrooms), so he made the omakase menu accordingly. The service was great because he served all the food just at the right timing. Even though we eat very slow when we drink, we always had fresh, steamy skewers right in front of us. I especially liked the tsukune here, served with a raw egg yolk. It might seem like a lot of food for 2 girls, but the portion is relatively small (or maybe we just eat too much), and we had no problem finishing all the food that was served to us. The chef was so nice he even made us a bowl of ramen from his special chicken stock and that was probably the best bowl of ramen I had in a long time...
I would definitely recommend this place to someone who likes Japanese skewered food. Don't just stick to yakitori (skewered grilled chicken breast/thigh), venture out from the comfort zone and ask for a Kawa, Hatsu or Liver, and award yourself a shot of sake for trying something new =)
Next time I'm here, I'll save some space in my stomach to try their oyakodon and desserts... Pictures to be uploaded soon!
Our two only regrets are, (1) we jumped into the yakitori-mania bandwagon a little bit too late, and (2) Sumika was the first yakitori restaurant that we went to so it set an unbelievably high bar.
Our first introduction to yakitori comprised of four sticks of Sumika's spicy momo (chicken thighs - unbelievably tender yet charcoal-y), two sticks of tsukune (chicken meat balls), two sticks of bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms and the best bowl of oyako-don I've ever had. Soon enough, we were trying two other yakitori stores around the area, only to be mildly disappointed by the falling short of expectations.
So when we went back again on a Friday night, place was abuzz with shrieking Harajuku girls sitting in the table next to a group of prim-and-proper Los Altos ladies, a group of four Japanese men in suits (not sure what their stories are), a family with kids, and couples sitting at the bar.
We were unfortunate enough to get the cramped bar seats, but we were hungry and we've staved off the craving for their spicy momos for quite some time so we didn't feel like throwing a hissy fit about the seating arrangement. We were soon rewarded with all of the dishes mentioned above, plus the Sumika salad which, with cool cabbage, shreds of chicken, wonton strips and peanut sauce, was extremely tasty. Even my anti-vegetarian tongue found it to be more than just agreeable.
I'm in love.
Been to lunch here twice. The first time was mostly a good experience. The second less so.
The oyaka don is good. Would come back for it. But the problem seems to be the service is spotty. The first time, service was just slightly spotty. But we liked it so much, we wanted to come back. The second time, the waitress gave us an attitude. But did warm up later.
Not sure if I would do yaki tori here. Sumiya had fantastic food and service. I perfer to do without the small dramas.
My gripe:
The second time we came in 20 minutes prior to closing. Came in asked for a table for two, but no friendly hello, no just a minute please.
My buddy wanted to sit by the windows. We asked if we could sit there. No words from her, just this is your table (away from the windows). No I'm sorry this section is closed. Just a glare from her saying, this is where you will sit. A simple I'm sorry tt's closed would have done. We have both worked in the service industry. We are not demanding.
I wanted to just walk out. But we where hungry. But I guess I said to my buddy in a clear voice, well there goes her tip. Not that a $4 tip for lunch was doing to make a difference to her but still.
Didn't asked what we wanted to drink. So didn't get any tea. Ok, we forgot to ask for some. She did warmed up later taking our order. But still luke warm service from a Japanese restaurant is almost unheard of. In Japan the Customer is God.
I went here the other night with FL. We walked in and were greeted, and asked if we had reservations. Ashamedly, I said we didn't, but a table was prepared for us, and we were seated within 5 minutes. Never having had yakitori before (gasp! I know!) we asked the waitress about how many skewers apiece we would need. She said about three, so we opted for some chicken thigh, breast, kobe beef, shiitake mushrooms, scallops, zucchini, and pork-wrapped enoki.
The beef came out first, after about 10 minutes, and it was quite delicious. Tender, flavorful, and hot off the grill. Sadly, we had to wait an additional 10 minutes until our next skewer came out. While in the middle of the chicken thigh, a waitress came around taking last orders at about 8:30. I was a bit bothered since I had no idea how full I would be after 6 shared skewers, and the closing time is supposedly 9:00, so we quickly ordered another kobe beef, chicken thigh, and the shrimp cakes.
I think the chef forgot to season the chicken thigh the first time around, because I found it rather disappointing compared to the second chicken thigh skewer. The shiitake mushrooms were slightly salted, which made them delicious. The zucchini wasn't especially memorable, since it just tasted like plain, grilled zucchini. The chicken breast was alright - we ordered it with the sour plum sauce. Quite sour, so watch out! The scallops also seemed a bit lacking in flavor. The shrimp cakes were interesting - had a bit of crunch to them because there are uncooked noodles on the top. The enoki skewers were good...but probably cause I LOVE enoki. FYI, it's HOT in the middle, but it's difficult to bite into cause the enoki is stringy.
I may love my food, but that was NOT enough. I left feeling slightly unsatisfied, and guilty for feeling as though I had not fed FL enough. =( (I heard he later had a slice of cake when he got home, which must mean he was not fulfilled!) I spent $45 on a meal that left me unsatisfied with both quality and quantity. Boo.
I'd definitely give it another try - perhaps during a time when I don't feel the grill's about to close, but I was pretty disappointed this time.
How can anyone not love food on a stick? And throw it on a charcoal grill?!? Sign me up!
Ok, so it can be a bit expensive. If you are craving a hungry man's dinner, this may not satisfy your tummy. Order the Sumika salad - light and refreshing but they give a lot so it's filling. Also go for the chicken karaage the pieces are big and juicy. The husband ordered the Sumika-don which was filling too, loved the flavor of charcoal "grilled" rice. So delicious.
Kobe was nice and tender. Chicken wing was nicely seasoned and
crispy. Angel shrimp was smokey and sweet, but you only get one =(
Highlight of the meal was the special: firefly squids. Tiny purple-y pink raw squid, so pretty and very tasty. Fresh and tender. Not fishy at all. Wish I could order it everyday.
Yes, they speak Japanese. . .duh, they are from Japan and it is Japanese food. We had great service and a fun meal. Definitely will return to try the oyako-don and black sesame panna cotta. . .
Love this place, average sushi, great for families.
Interesting tapas and grill place! It's tucked away in a parking lot, but upon walking in, you get to see the grillmaster behind a giant shield with a grill. And instead of a sushi bar, there is a skewer bar (instead of fish in a glass case, there are skewers of raw meat)!
My friend and I ordered a lot of food today. She loves this place and has been raving about it, so I wanted to check it out! In no particular order:
1) Chicken karage: Fresh, hot, fried chicken. Not too oily, and seasoned just right.
2) Grilled zucchini - Tastes like you expect!
3) Meatball skewer - Soft, hot, well-flavored meat on a skewer. Good!
4) Cherry tomatoes wrapped in black pork on a skewer - What exactly is black pork? It just looked like bacon...on tomatoes. Interesting exchange of flavors between meaty bacon, and tangy grilled tomato.
5) Grilled rice balls - This is more like a crispy, grilled plain onigiri. Delicious with red pepper flakes!
6) Salmon and tofu balls - Airy tofu balls intertwined with salmon pieces. Very good.
It's a small and intimate restaurant, and good service =)
Sumika was our 3rd Yakitori location in our "Yakitori Gauntlet". This week my sister and I have been hitting up as many Yakitori locations as we can, before Sumika was Saizo and before that was Sumiya.
I have to say, Sumika takes the cake in terms of decor and ambiance. Dim lights, awesome and cute salt and red pepper jars, beautiful and elegant wooden chopsticks and spoons, and sexy jazz music!! I was definitely loving what they did with the place, so simple yet elegant enough and very authentic feeling! Even their skewers weren't just a plain shish-ka-bob stick, you'll have to see them to know what I mean.
The skewers didn't top Saizo, however one standout dish was actually not even Yakitori. The Oyako-Don bowl was MIGHTY. Bowl of rice, topped with super tender cut up grilled chicken, coated with a soft boiled egg and a delicious sauce. Top notch grub.
If you happen to be in Los Altos definitely stop by Sumika. As stated the ambiance and decor was nice, and its VERY authentic. 100% Japanese working there and no one else.
Sumika is a little gem of a Japanese restaurant located in Los Altos... walk in some evening through the parking lot entrance, soak in the authentic atmosphere, the great charcoal aroma, and listen to the staff speaking to one another in Japanese and you're suddenly transported to the Ginza district.
My wife and I came to listen to some favorite local jazz musicians and have a few skewers of grilled chicken, but we couldn't resist trying some of the other offerings. Pork wrapped asparagus... fantastic! Scallops.. moist, succulent and cooked to perfection.
One caveat... the numerous choices and portions of a Kushi-yaki - based menu makes it easy to order enough to have regrets after the check arrives.
Sumika is not a cheap Yakitori fast food place, but with the quality, ambience and
great local jazz artists, it was well worth the price
Some of the best yakitori in the area IMHO, reservations suggested
2nd time's the charm.
I first visited Sumika almost 3 years ago, in giddier times. Although stuffed to the gills, I didn't leave the place with a 5 star feeling. Yes, it was very good, but this is an izakaya after all, it's not really meant to be 5 star. So as things go, I was not overly impressed.
Second time's the charm.
I don't know if it was the mood, circumstance, or mere hunger, but the 2nd time was an order of magnitude better than our first visit. Just to give you a tally, we had:
Grilled chicken skin
Chicken thigh
Chicken wing
Grilled shitaki mushrooms
Sumika salad
Chasuke
Okay, I lie...we had a couple of orders of each.
In the end, we were equally as stuffed as the first time, but the second time around , the whole was better than its parts. Why is that?
Who knows. May be it is a state of mind. May be it's in the ordering. May be it's the fact that chefs come and go. Probably it's a combination of all of the above.
OR, may be it's just the realization that to expect too much is an invitation for failure. The law of diminished expectations I suppose. Such is life in the New World, I suppose.
What a great place for yakitori!!
This place reminds me of a good yakitori place in Robongi!!! And the yakitori I've tasted in Kyoto! Good food brings back good memories, especially when it's food related!!
It's a must try!
I really don't enjoy this type of Japanese food first of all. I'm more of a sashimi fan. The food is fresh and tastes ok. I tried the Momo, Steak, Tontoro, Shitake Mushrrom and sashimi. I had to stick with my good old sashimi and the portion was small.
Food: OK
Service: POOR (Japanese waiter didn't understand English; you might need a translator.)
Price: OK
Return: NO WAY
Visited 5/23/09 for the 3rd time for dinner, ordered 3-4 appetizers, lots of Yakitori skews, and of course SAKE!
1. Food (5 stars)- Good volume, juicy Yakitori (loved Enoki and Tomato Roll), and good variety of SAKE. Yakitori is something you don't want to cook at home for Japanese because so much time and energy is required, yet it's hard to find a really decent Yakitori place in the US.
2. Service (4 stars)- Everyone works there is very friendly and attentive, however, I think there's still a room for improvement such as a timing for check (Sorry for being picky...).
3. Price (4 stars)- Paid $130 for 2 including tip. I would say it's decent with this level of service and food. For the record, we had 3 beers, 1 glass of Sake and a Sake sampler.
4. Cleanliness (3 stars)- standard.
5. Experience (4 stars)- Yakitori is supposed to be a meal/snack for Japanese "Salary Man" and it comes with cheap Sake. Their Yakitori is way too fancy and it has a Western twist but I really like it. I would recommend to order some appetizers from today's special and Nabe (Hot Pot) if you have a chance. Don't forget to order Yaki-Onigiri- it's SUPER!
Sumiya is the only yakitori place I like in the Bay Area. I've had better yakitori in Japan, but this place is solid.
For lunch, I recommend the Teriyaki Donburi (teriyaki chicken over rice). This is not the American version of Teriyaki - chicken covered in thick sweat soy based sauce. NO! This is real teriyaki - grilled chicken with just a little bit of light soy based glaze. And the chicken is grilled to perfection over charcoal. It is delicious.
For dinner, get the Sumika Salad - a refreshing salad with a slight hint of wasabi. Skewer wise, I definitely recommend the Momo (Thigh) WITHOUT the sauce. Get it plain - the juicy chicken with the charcoal flavor is to die for! The Tsukune (chicken ball) and Teba (Wing) are both pretty good too. I'm not a big fan of their karaage (fried chicken) - I've had better.
Sumika is great, though it's a bit pricer then other yakitori places...
The thing with a la carte yakitori is that despite being very tasty, it can add up price wise as you keep trying to fill yourself up. Sumika's yakitori itself is fantastic and on par with any other yakitori joint in the Bay Area. I only wish they had more combo type meals available, even though that may not traditionally be the norm with yakitori.
I'll probably go back at some point out again, if for no other reason than to hear some live jazz along with my yakitori, which they have every tuesday nights.
oh and before I forget, the kobe beef on a stick is exquisite.
Sumika, you juicy little thing you, you greet me so politely when I show up for the first time! You're terribly polite and sweet. You serve me delicately flavored, beautifully arranged meat, veggies, and nibbles, on lovely, artistic earthenware. you make really interesting tea, not the usual green tea, and it tastes good!
you have terribly cute waiters with a slight accent who make me want to blush and open my eyes into giant anime expressions of delight and quivering embarrassment but alas I am not Japanese so ... here we are.
So flavorful and delicate. Yummy unagi and shiitake with bacon roll slices. delish red miso soup. the egg on the rice thing i cannot remember the name of but there was a don and a buri in it. grilled shiitake mushrooms - SO flavorful, lightly salted, heaven!
i'm only disappointed that i could not stay to enjoy the entire meal with my friends, nor partake of what i'm sure was a yummy dessert. or continue to eye and be bashful with the waiters. or the cute dudes in the suits next to our table who kept looking over, either because they were checking our food out, my group out, or just had wandering eyes.
oh, the karaage, juicy fried japanese chicken, how you rival, how you THREATEN korean fried chicken! so yum! i didn't even need to add salt! i did contemplate soy sauce, though. i'm addicted to it, can't help it.
the bathroom, out the back, down the hall, was spacious, smelled fine, and there were cute marbles in the sink, which i realized could be totally unhygienic but whatever they looked clean, they were quirky.
even more thrilling - our head waiter - owner? manager - in an apron. so KAWAII! he was earnestly smiling and pouring us tea, serving me food. he was pleased at my attempt to learn some japanese phrases, and friendly and charming.
A GENEROUS, ATTENTIVE, FRIENDLY MAN SERVING ME DELICIOUS FOOD IN AN APRON. DELICIOUS FRIED CHICKEN. TO A BLACK GIRL. WHO LOVES ASIAN FOOD. AND FRIED CHICKEN. AND ASIAN MEN.
*squee*
When one of my friends who I had met while teaching English in Japan many years ago came out to visit, I thought this would be the perfect place to go. She lives in Austin which has some good/decent Japanese places, but not the variety of types of food so yakitori is something she hadn't had for awhile.
We started with the Sumika salad which is huge. I think it could easily be enough for 4 people, but there were only 2 of us so we got our veggies. I loved the peanuty dressing and the textures of all the different ingredients.
We then tried the miso mozzarella which we ordered out of curiosity. I couldn't really taste the miso flavor, but it had a nice smoky flavor. We also ordered the agedashi tofu which was good as expected. The enoki mushrooms wrapped in black pork was okay, but it was really hard to eat without swallowing the whole thing. The momo with spicy sauce was tasty, but unfortunately I found that mine was not cooked thoroughly. Thank goodness they use good quality organic chicken so I was fine. Our server was thoroughly apologetic and took off both orders even though only mine was undercooked.
Overall the meal was tasty and I liked the authentic Japanese atmosphere. All the little dishes add up quickly, so definitely not somewhere you can come often, but great for a good treat.
Came here this past weekend with Pete and Op. They open at 11:30 on Saturdays so we actually waited a bit and strolled around downtown. We heard Sumika imported a chef from Japan so we had high hopes. We ordered the Oyako dunburi for $10, not too bad for lunch. It comes with a side sesame salad and couple of pieces of takuan. They have a lunch special that for $3 more you can get a side of udon.
The Oyako don comes very traditional, with the egg half cooked. Some of us got it fully cooked because they were expecting. Nevertheless, the flavors comes through quite nicely. The meat and the sauce has this heavily smoked taste that is quite different from other donburi's I've had.
Service here was ok, it was only one person on the whole floor while everyone else was in the kitchen. They do not serve Yakitori's during lunch which was a bummer but this place sure look like a lot of fun to go drinking with all the sake selections they have. They even have a $15, three sake tasting here.
I love Sumika! Whatever I try I have never been let down. My family loves the food. I recommend the chicken katsu and the udon. The service is good, but the entrance is in the parking lot. Come here for lunch, and you won't be disappointed.
I usually go to my local ramen place for skewers and ramen in Daly City. That said, my hubby wanted to have dinner near both our work place and wind down after a LOOOONG day at work... and that's in the South Bay!!!
So we headed towards Sumika, albeit with some hesistation b/c 1) it's expensive and 2) it's in Los Altos and well, I don't have high hopes for finding good food anywhere but SF... but boy I am lucky I'm wrong!!!
Sumika's food is SOOOO fresh and tasty!!! My recommendation for the skewer dishes I had were the chicken breast in coconut sauce (unless you want your sinus cleared, then go for the wasabi sauce!!! WOOOOOT!!!!), the scallops, and the bacon wrapped cherry tomatoes (VERY fresh!!!) The okra and mushrooms are pretty fresh and decent though. :) The chicken skewers typically is dry... NOT HERE!!! Very tasty and juicy!!! Yes, their cooking technique DOES make a difference!!!
Definitely go for the Sumika salad too and the garlic clove!!!! Very tasty!!!
Waitstaff and kitchen staff very attentive!!! And yes, this is definitely more authentic Japanese fare since there's a LOT of Japanese people eating there. (And of course, the majority of the staff speaks Japanese!!!)
I took one star... (okay, more like a half star...) b/c it's just so expensive. Yes, I probably can only afford to go here at most once a month unless I come here for lunch or just get the don. (But knowing me, I can't resist the skewers...) Hubby and I are SOOOOO coming back to this place!!! And i probably will go for the frozen custard once I'm off my diet in May.
4.5 stars here!!! :D
I'm normally a pretty big yakitori and oyakodon fan, but I think I'm spoiled living in San Jose Japantown. Yes the setting here is great, and it's cool seeing the chef grill the skewers over a very authentic looking faux charcoal grill and fanning it, but it just doesn't cut it cost/quality wise.
The skewers add up in price FAST. You'll probably need to order 6-8 if not more to feed just two people. There's good variety in what's available, but the price is about 3x's what I normally pay for skewers.
As for the Oyakodon, I've experienced better in both SF and SJ Japantowns. Yes it's good and runny eggs, which I like, but there's not much flavor to the sauce overall.
Los Altos, CA
Category: Japanese
Sunnyvale, CA
Category: Japanese
Los Altos, CA
Category: Japanese
Los Altos, CA
Category: Japanese
Los Altos, CA
Category: Italian
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