Sugata Japanese Restaurant

I invited my Japanese grandma for lunch and she insisted we go to Sugata. Street parking was a challenge but we somehow managed to find a spot just around the corner. We were warmly greeted as soon as we entered. Apparently, she’s a regular and they know her by name. And there were two other regulars at the counter. I was amused with the banter between the sushi chef and his customers. But we still had to wait a long time for our food… no special treatment on that part! At least I can say it was worth the wait. I ordered a few nigiri and we shared a noodle dish… all yummy! I can’t wait to bring my husband here.

I went with the family (hubby and 2 kids) for dinner one Friday night. The servers were really nice, and gave us the tatami room. However, they promptly forgot about us. After waiting 10 min, I had to get out of the room to retrieve some menus, just so we can order.
We ordered the sashimi delux, and udon. The sashimi consisted of low quality unfresh meat full of tendon. The edges of the sashimi were jagged and looked as if the pieces were hacked with a dull knife. Presentation is very important in Japanese cuisine. It looked as if the chef just piled the sashimi pieces on the plate in a hurry. In the end, I had to take the sashimi home and boil them to make them more edible. The udon was mediocre at best.

It took over 30 minutes to get my Nigiri combo. They told me sorry for the wait but they had to prepare a special off-​menu item for another customer that took extra long. WTF? Make the other customer wait for ordering a special off-​menu item not me! The Nigiri was terrible and I could only eat a few pieces. Worse than what you find pre-​made at grocery stores. I will never go back to this place.

Don’t make a reservation with Unilocal.It won’t show up on their system and you’ll just be staring at them. I don’t know whose fault is that but having a confirmation email won’t help you.

It is true… The service here is SLLLOOOWW, buuuut if you’re okay with just chatting it up while waiting for your food, it is definitely delicious. In the end it’s all about if the food was good or not to me :) Their sashimi is delishhhhh, tempura is perfect, udon is yummy, rolls are good, quality is thumbs way up!

Really tasty, fresh sushi and great dishes for those non-​sushi people! Casual dining, small comfortable space. What really makes this place is the staff — they’re awesome. Friendly, engaging and ready to get us whatever we need. This is my go to spot. Very family friendly — my daughter loves sushi because of this restaurant!

Great little spot for some casual sushi. Located right next to the theater and you might miss it if you blink as you turn onto Solano Ave. We found parking easily and seemed to be the 2^nd customers for the night… Good thing because it started filling up soon after we arrived. It was very small but bright interiors made it feel cozy.
We ordered the Chuwanmushi to start, a sinfully soft, savory egg custard, served piping hot. «It takes about 20 min» the waitress informed us, but we were fine with that. It was really worth the wait. Soft and custardy filled with scallions, fish cake and carrot.
I ordered the Sushi Tempura dinner combo. I did hesitate a little at the prices, but then I figured, ‘what the hey’ I will give it a shot. My dining partner ordered the Teriyaki Ribeye.
After our delicious custard we were quickly served our entrees and I understood why the prices were so high. The amount of fish and quality was well worth it. The combo was a delightful array of various nigiri and one tuna avocado roll. The tempura were crispy and plentiful. I loved the presentation as well. The kid ordered the Ribeye which came out on a sizzling platter. The beef was melt in your mouth, and the sauce was not overpowering.
We both had our fill and then some! We took a to go container and will return for more!

I’ve been here numerous times and it never fails to satisfy. The fish is fresh and in fair portions. The service is traditionally friendly Japanese. My only criticism is that it’s dark and could use a touch of remodeling. Overall a good place

What I ate: spicy tuna roll, saba nigiri, Albany roll, yellowtail roll, age dashi tofu
Visit date: March 7, 2015
First time? Yes.
What was going on here? The food was good. I appreciate the bite-​sized sushi rolls filled with fresh fish and simple, clean flavors. I usually get a spicy tuna roll to test out a sushi establishment, and I liked Sugata’s spicy tuna. It had the kind of spice that just lingered throughout your mouth and the fish was tender. The age dashi tofu is another one of my «test dishes.» Sugata’s age dashi broth had a rich, balanced flavor. I wish the flavor soaked through into the tofu a little bit more, but it was fine.
So, the food was good, but what was not ok, was that our simple order took 45 minutes to come out. It wasn’t just us either. Food trickled it slowly at other tables, too. Not only did the food take long, but everyone at the table couldn’t eat at the same time because entrees were being served one at a time. Good thing we ordered family style. Our sushi came out first, not our appetizer. For fear of eating all of our sushi and then waiting around for our starter to come out we decided to eat the sushi really slowly. It worked! The tofu came out at the tail end of our sushi consumption. I also had to ask about one of my other orders; turns out they ran out of the fish I wanted but they didn’t tell us up front. Strange.
A couple came towards the end of our meal and started to wait for a table. I really wanted to go warn them of their future. I’m not sure how this place stays in business. We only spent $ 35 on our meal and we were there for two hours. Plus, the space is tiny. All I know is that I won’t be back.

We gave this restaurant way too many chances to make loyal customers out of us than it deserves. Rude employees, below average food quality and presentation, loooong wait with many disappointments when we were told that the item we ordered is no longer available, 25 minutes after the order. etc.

We love Japanese food. This was my son’t last night state-​side before he flew out. We chose this restaurant. We should have read Unilocal first. The place is small and awkward but that wasn’t the problem. They were busier than the amount of people that were eating there. Turns out they were working on a huge to-​go order that delayed making ours. They were out of two items we asked for — one of which was salmon.(?) No big complaint about service, but the quality of food was bad. I can honestly say I make better sushi. I have no reason to go back unless they clean and learn to make better sushi.

The food was ok; not great but ok. It was also overpriced for the amount of each serving. There’s an apparent lack of communication between servers and kitchen staff. There won’t be a second time for me here.

Four stars for their chirashi deluxe, two stars for their understaffed, overworked, super slow service. We were a party of three who ordered unagi don, chirashi deluxe, half a dozen oysters, and a glass of plum wine.
I loved their chirashi deluxe. It comes in two bowls, one is filled with fish and the other with sushi rice. The rice has bits of mushroom and egg and was delicious. The scallops were super fresh. A few pieces of sushi were stringy, but there was no fishy taste.
The unagi don was only okay and the rice was a little overcooked, but the eel portion was generous. The oysters were good, but the sauce/​mignonette was overly sharp and acidic and tasted a little too much of soy sauce. But if price wasn’t an issue, I would have ordered another dozen. They tasted very fresh.
The service was slow with a full restaurant, two waitresses, and one sushi chef. Our oysters came after our food had arrived, and we had to remind our waitress about the plum wine.
But chirashi was soooo good!

I’d walked past this place for years and decided to pop in one day for lunch. I sat at the sushi bar with the idea that it would be fast. Wrong.
The waitress would have been more at home in a hash-​slinging diner! She didn’t know the menu and didn’t seem to understand what food came from the kitchen vs the sushi bar. She didn’t have a clue about what sake they served and started going over to a shelf and pulling down tiny bottles with big price labels on them. It was very tacky. I never got my tea — but she served tea to a man next to me. Huh?
The food was «okay». The fish was fresh and well presented. However the remainder of the bento box I got was lacking in technique and flavor. My «salad» was a pile of tasteless, shredded cabbage!
My quick lunch took over an hour, the service was horrible and the food was meh,. I won’t be back.

I’ve had many memorable meals at Sugata over the years but the last few times I’ve gone there, I really couldn’t believe it was the same place.
The servers didn’t know the menu — not even the word «edamame»! — and the wait was brutal, though it wasn’t crowded. The servers didn’t check back to refill our water glasses, ask if we needed anything, or even just make eye contact. The worst part was finding a hair — ugh! — in my appetizer, which they quickly replaced but still charged me for.
I like to be a loyal customer and support my local neighborhood businesses, but in this case it’s pretty tough for me to do that. I’d love to see them regain their place as one of the top sushi restaurants in the East Bay, I’d definitely go back to being a regular. :)

Food was not bad, but unfortunately they are suffering from serious service issues.
Soon after sitting down, I realized we might be in for a rocky ride. No food was coming out of the kitchen and it took a really long time for the wait staff to get our order. I’m not sure what was wrong, but our food took over one hour to come out. Luckily we both ordered sushi, because at least the two dishes came out at the same time. The couple next to us finished their udon dish before the second dish came out and just asked for the bill… yikes. for some reason they also ran out of miso soup, so we got a cucumber salad instead.
When the food arrived, I was at least relieved that the portions are pretty substantial.
Both the tempura plus sushi combo and the chirashi bowl were not bad, but not worth having to wait over an hour for. The restaurant itself is small, quaint, and cozy.
With so many other Japanese options a few blocks away, there are better options. Hopefully they can resolve their service issues.

I came here for a friend’s birthday party. Super small place. Our party of 10 literal took up half the space in this restaurant. Street parking was a hassle to find and there are people who do the most frustrating moves to get a «closer» parking spot.
Service:
The service was great. Out waitress was attentive, friendly, and professional. She was very quick with the beverage refills and noticed little things (like we needed more napkins).
Food:
Salmon Teriyaki — I though the salmon was cooked well, but the sauce was overpowering. They could definitely reduce the amount of sauce. I didn’t care too much for the salad or the miso soup (these were below par in my opinion)
Assorted Rolls — I tried a couple of pieces of sushi from my friends and they were pretty well made. Nothing too fancy, but definitely satisfied the taste buds.
Overall:
I would come back and give this place another try.

⁴⁄₅ stars for the fresh fish but a definite 0.5÷5 on the service. I’ve been here a few times before and it wasn’t as bad. However, this most recent visit could keep us away for good.
I came with my parents, arriving around 7:30p. We were seated fairly quickly since they weren’t busy. The space is small, holding about 10 tables, a small enclosed tatami room and a sushi bar. There were only 3 or 4 other occupied tables, one being a party of six sitting behind us. About 10 mins pass and no menus, no water or tea was given. They finally acknowledged us after taking the order of the party of six behind us. They brought the menus and asked what we want to drink. After a few mins of browsing the menu we were ready to order. Another 10 mins go by and we’re still waiting for tea despite the fact that where the waitress and owner (i’m assuming) were standing was only a few feet away. It’s about 8:15p before our order was taken and by this time, more customers were being seated, filling up the restaurant. They finally bring the tea with the cucumber salad and miso soup.
Knowing that the sashimi is pretty good, I decided on the Chirashi. You would think that it wouldn’t take that long to cut and prep an order, 10−15mins top. We waited 30+ mins for our food. It’s not like they were busy, the sushi chefs were chatting it up, taking their sweet a$$ time. I saw my order sitting on the counter for about 20 mins before they brought it over. By the time we finish and paid the check, its almost 9:30p.
Despite the sashimi being great, this place needs to hire servers that can multitask or to hire people that actually know what they’re doing. Honestly, the service is what’s bringing this restaurant down. Here’s my tip, if you want sushi/​sashimi, sit down at the bar. At least you can watch an entire sports game while you wait for your food. I doubt I’ll be coming back here any time soon.
*Other people in the restaurant* 1) Party of five in the tatami room, arrived around the same time as us. Same problem, no menu and no tea/​water. They ordered after us and I didn’t see any food brought to them while I was eating. 2) A couple was seated next to us. They sat there waiting for what seemed like 30mins before being acknowledged by the waitress. By the time we left, they hadn’t gotten their food. 3) A pair of women came in and stood for about 15mins waiting for an already open table. They also did not get their menu and tea/​water for a very long time. 4) A father and daughter sat across from us who had the same problem. I don’t know if any of them got their food when we left. Who knows, they all might still be there waiting.

I was Hungry after Hoodlum Hunters. So I street hiked to Sugatas Japanese Restaurant for Dinner.
I rolled in and was Greeted and Seated and Presented a Menu.
I went with the Tempura and Sashimi Special Off the White Board.
My Server seemed like she was overwhelmed. She brought me a bowl of Miso Soup
and Cucumber Salad.
My Tempura and Sashimi Special came 10 minutes later.
The Tempura was Average and the Sashimi was little chunks of Tuna on a Huge Bed Of Shredded Lettuce. I ordered Sashimi not shredded lettuce.
That was a PRICEY Bento Box Special for $ 26 dollars.
I wont be Back. LOL.

Unless you know where this is or happen to notice it when walking or at the stoplight, then you might miss this place. It’s almost hidden between two restaurants. The restaurant itself is fairly small, so I wouldn’t reccomend bring large groups here. However, there is a sense of «Japanese authenticity» to the restaurant — with a seperate room where you can have a meal kneeling/​sitting on the floor.
I ordered the shashimi/​tempura combo (A) and the serving size was huge! It came with a delicious cucumber salad and miso soup. The shashimi literally melted in your mouth, almost had a buttery consistency. I’m pretty particular about my tempura sauces, and I wasn’t a big fan of it so I ate my tempura without it. It also comes with a large amount of salad that I wasn’t too excited about either — maybe it was the lack of dressing? Overall, I did like the meal.
My boyfriend who has been here once before ordered the teriyaki beef. It comes on sizzling plate (just like Chevys) with veggies. The meat was very tender and the teriyaki sauce was a bit unique but it was delicious.
Definitely will be back to try their rolls! A bit pricey, but they make up for it with quantity.