Kiku Sushi

Beautiful sashimi and nice katsu. The small and cozy space was packed. Hope the service can be more attractive.

I had Japanese food craving one rainy Sunday. A lot of the Japanese restaurants I wanted to try weren’t open till 5pm. Kiku Sushi was the closest that was open at 4pm. We were lucky to find street parking right away. I decided to sit by the counter because I wanted to see our food prepared. My husband and I shared the Chirashi Special ($ 20.95) and ordered three more sushi: Tamago ($ 3.95), Animo ($ 6), and Uni Japan ($ 15). I kept reminding my husband to savor the food and appreciate the freshness, taste, and texture with each bite. I guess he still wasn’t full afterwards so he ordered a BBQ short rib ($ 16) as well. Our bill was under $ 70 without tip. I thought the quality of the sushi was good. My husband agrees but he does not think it’s an authentic Japanese restaurant because for some reason, he is under the impression that it is Korean-​owned. Does it really matter if it’s run by Japanese or Koreans? To me, it all comes down to the food.

great place
wonderful sushi
fresh fish and good service

Great tasting fresh sushi. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. The green tea is good, not too strong. The teriyaki salmon was well flavored and cooked to perfection.

Best sushi place in East bay! Everything was delicious, service was prompt. Definitely will come back!

My craving for sushi is everlasting. That said, I’m always on the lookout for affordable yet quality sushi.
Kiku sushi has become our go to sushi spot over the last year. Prices are reasonable here but it can get pricey depending on what you order. I usually stick to nigiri only which are $ 5 – 7 per order of 2 pieces. If you pay in cash, you also get a 10% discount off your bill.
They usually have a good selection of fresh fish for the day. I recommend the scallop and salmon nigiri. I also recommend the live scallop but it’s not always on the menu. Everything I’ve ordered from this place has always been outstanding and I have yet to be disappointed.
I’ll probably see you again soon, Kiku Sushi!

What I ate: Tempura, agedashi tofu, spicy tuna roll
Visit date: December 30, 2015
First time? Yes.
Nestled in a cozy Berkeley neighborhood, Kiku Sushi is the cutest place on the block. It comfortably seats about 25 patrons. It’s easier to snag a table if you come early or are a small party.
We ordered the assorted tempura and agedashi tofu to share. The tempura is crispy — the sweet potato and shrimp were my favorites. The agedashi tofu had the bonito flakes and ginger on the side — add as much or as little as you wish. The tofu is cut on the small side which I really like because there’s a better surface area to soak up the sauce. I could drink that stuff!
The spicy tuna roll was just slightly spicy. Kiku uses the ramen pepper spice as their heat source.
10% off if you pay with cash.

Great sushi spot on the border between Albany and Berkeley. On a weekend night, the wait was fairly minimal, though we sat at the sushi bar.
The menu is great with a variety of daily sushi specials, rolls and also cooked seafood dishes. In addition to deliciously fresh sashimi, we ordered the salmon collar and fried octopus which were both great.

Found these cute little spot with a friend visiting from out of state. We are both sushi lovers and so relish in these little experiences!
I am NOT a tempura fan at all, but I will say the tempura served here is one of the best I’ve tried. There was some actual light flavor in the chosen batter and it really made the experience that much better. They are quite compact and quaint, so if you are not a people person or don’t like other tables gawking at your food this is not the place for you. LOL
Service was excellent from start to finish and really love the mom and pop feel. but they really need to look into purchasing a larger space to truly compliment the products being generated.
The size of the rolls are small though, ordered two and left hungry. So I would suggest maybe appetizer style and drinks kind of eating. rather than full meal consumption.

One of the better sushi places in the Berkeley area. Kiku sushi is pretty small, but that makes it cozier.
When I first visited here, my boyfriend and I ordered the Sashimi, rock n’ roll and spicy tuna roll. The sashimi was awesome! Super generous slices and the fish was super fresh. This is probably my go-​to place for sashimi. Their spicy tuna roll was also exceptional. Most people chop up the tuna, and I really do not like that since it ruins the texture of the tuna. Instead, they sprinkle spicy powder on the tuna. Perfect! Kiku’s definitely doesn’t skimp out on quality and quantity.

Food was decent
First off, this place is very small — too cramped imo, don’t be alarmed if you get touched by workers and other visitors. Or even smell BO bleh
anyways it was packed with people during dinner time. Started off with Uni (2 pieces) — tasted pretty fresh ⁴⁄₅
Chirashi 3.5÷5
–for $ 21, it’s a very pretty penny with not as much sashimi as I would’ve liked. I also wish the pieces were cut smaller for a bite-​sized feel. Dish was moderately fresh not the freshest, like some pieces like the mackerel was meh.
Fried baby octopus ⁵⁄₅
–ordered this by accident thinking it was takoyaki, but it was delish! Super crunchy, piping hot baby octopus with a nice spicy sweet dipping sauce — chewy and yummy :)
This place is a hole in the wall, not sure if I would come back for Japanese again — but it was a decent experience: don’t come here with large parties!

When I walked in with Sprinkle, I knew that we were in for a treat. We sat at the sushi bar and were greeted by smiling cartoon authentic Japanese people. We ordered a feast! We deserved this!
We first got miso soup and the house salad, which came with chicken teriyaki. Let me just say that the miso soup was — the salad was deeeliisshhh! The dressing on the salad was a peanuty-​soybean some kind of something. Very good, though!
Next up the dynamite and rock’n’rolls appeared before my eyes, and i do declare that they were FABULOUS. The buttery wetness of the unagi melted in my mouth and manifested in joyful tears from my eyes. The dynamite roll made me feel… nice?
In a whirlwind, we were on to the gyoza. They were not my favorite. Shmeh.
In waiting for our chicken teriyaki, we received complimentary edimame! This was due to our order being given to another table. Whoopsie! The edimame was cold. Brr! Left me shivering!
We are still waiting on the scrumptious chicken teriyaki. My tummy,’-@$!# here it is! Sizzling. As much as it sizzled, when I put it in my mouth my expectations fizzled. Boooo! my tastes buds are angry.
Sprinkle and I had a wonderful time. We find using chopsticks erotic. This is going back to the bedroom;)
Thank you Kuku!

This sushi place seems to be in the middle of nowhere in a suburban neighborhood. Restaurant is on the smaller size but it was pretty packed when we went. Sushi is on the pricier side but not unreasonable. You will probably spend about 20 a person just on food.
Between two people with small appetites, we ordered the chirashi bowl, yellowtail nigiri, salmon nigiri and the salmon roll. The chirashi bowl was good. It came with mushrooms which I really liked. They were slightly sweetened. Good thick cuts of fish but it came with a lot of rice. I really liked the sushi roll. It was simple, just seaweed salmon and rice. There were six small pieces but it was only five bucks so not bad.
What I really did not enjoy were the nigiri. Looking at it, it looks amazing! Thick cuts of sushi with generous portions of fish. But when I took a bite, the salmon was really fatty… Super buttery but not in the good way. I had to dip it in a LOT of soy sauce to eliminate the fishy taste. Both of us did not want to eat it but it was such a waste of money.
After leaving the restaurant, I could not leave that fishy taste in my mouth and had to get ice cream to cleanse my palate. Will definitely NOT visit here again.

I came here because my parents were visiting and wanted to take this chance to explore restaurants that weren’t as close to campus, and I was deeply disappointed. We came in around 1pm, and it was pretty empty. There was only one other person in the restaurant, but we decided to give it a try anyways.
We ordered the baked spicy scallop roll, crunch roll, salmon skin roll, chicken teriyaki bento, and miso glazed black cod bento. I didn’t get the try either of the bentos but my dad said that the fish was alright, and the amount of fish that they gave him was really small. My brother said the chicken was pretty dry and was heavily coated in teriyaki sauce. I tried a piece of the California roll that came with the bento, and it was standard. Rice was soft but they were pretty small pieces. The crunch roll was alright; I’ve definitely had better crunchy rolls. It wasn’t particularly flavorful. The baked spicy scallop roll was not spicy at all and was not really baked either. Baked rolls at other restaurants usually means a whole roll that is covered in some sort of sauce mixture that includes mayo and then it’s baked in foil boat and then served to you. The baked salmon roll did not look baked at all. You couldn’t really even taste the scallop, so I decided to dissect a piece and there was a small piece of scallop tucked away inside the roll. It was just topped with a dollop of mayo and some garnish. The salmon skin roll was the absolute WORST. It was not well made at all. The moment you picked it up, everything fell apart; the seaweed around the roll did not even hold the roll together. The salmon skin was pretty dry and just plain salty. I had a really good salmon skin salad right before I drove up to Berkeley, so I was hoping I could find a place here to satisfy my cravings but I was so wrong. There were some vegetables in the roll as well but they didn’t really complement the salmon. Each bite was super dry because there wasn’t any sauce, and the fish wasn’t juicy at all.
The food is edible, but I’ve definitely had much better sushi and will not be coming again.

What I really liked about this place is the emphasis on fresh fish, the fast service we received and the zero hassle parking. They had a wide variety of fish on the menu and 10 more on the specials board. Taste wise, the fish was 3.5÷5 but the variety of rolls offered is less than I would have hoped. I ordered the salmon roll and one with tuna and they were both pretty bland and I could hardly taste the fish. My friend got chirashi (fish over rice) and he said it was ok, neither good or bad.
I might go back because it is the perfect spot for a lazy Sunday night, but my search continues for a really great sushi place.

Came by here with my girlfriend because we were craving for UNI and this place usually has Japanese UNI but today they did not have any because they were going to be closed for the holiday, we ordered the kaisen– something roll I forgot what it’s called but the roll was very enjoyable ! The fishes were fresh. We also got the ankimo, hotate, amaebi, sake nigiri and they do not disappoint! The service was excellent the sushi chef made sure we were satisfied with our food and on top of that they offered FRESH WASABI!

Have you ever had fried uni in a shiso leaf?
If you’re adventurous and want to try this dish, then I highly suggest you come here.
Their fried uni was as good as the one I had when I was in Japan. (I paid extra, $ 15 instead of $ 8 to have their uni flown in from Japan which was totally worth it)
If uni isn’t your thing, then may I suggest their sampler?
Toro, ankimo, salmon… all flavorful and fresh. Think notes on a piano.
If raw fish isn’t your thing, then how about their cooked miso cod? With a hint of truffle oil? Decadent and delicious.
Had several of their rolls. Toro, hamachi, butterfish, all were excellent.
Who knew this restaurant in the middle of nowhere could be as good as the ones in SF?
Bravo!

Great sushi place located at the corner of Gilman St and Neilson St!
Location (⁵⁄₅): This location is right at the corner — ideal for all businesses! Street parkings are limited, so you may have to park far away and walk here.
Services (⁴⁄₅): Services is quick, knowledgable and friendly. They take awhile to make food, which is perfectly fine for us.
Food (3.5÷5): We ordered the following dishes: seaweed salad ($ 5.95), sashimi sushi 6 pieces ($ 16.50), Kobe beef special sushi dishes ($ 6), salmon skin roll ($ 6.50), shrimp tempura roll ($ 8.00) and 3 mochi ice cream ($ 3.75). My favorite dishes out of all dishes were the fresh seaweed salad, the crispy salmon skin roll and the ending mochi ice cream. As recommended by a lot of Unilocalers, the seaweed salad are indeed pretty refreshing. Unless you don’t like seaweed textures, you may not like it. Second, I personally LOVE salmon skin, and I’m glad that their salmon skin was WAY crispy and flavorful. The shrimp tempura roll, on the other hand, was a nah~ It was oddly sour and not up to my preference. Up for desserts? Try out their mochi ice cream! They came in various flavors and presented to us on a beautifully transparent plate.
If you are looking a sushi place around Albany and the Berkeley Hills, come here for solid food!

Authentic sushi!
Don’t expect to have flaming rolls and things here. But do expect to have super fresh sushi. We ordered 1 roll and a few nigiri. The roll was simple, yet delicious. The nigiri pieces were huge! A bit on the pricier end, but definitely worth it.
Luckily when we came there were only a few tables, but I can imagine how it could be busy with such a small space!

Small and tightly knit sushi place!
Do get their fresh Uni! It was great.
As for their specialty hamachi carpaccio, it was nice with the tangy, but smooth grapefruit juice blend, small kick to the jalepeno and slender texture to the sashimi itself!
They have the norm of sashimi and sushi rolls! Their hamachi kama was yum and rich in omega 3!
I do recommend the Chirashi set if you want to sample the chef’s special on their sashimi! It is quite a filler!
For dessert, their tempera ice cream was interesting with the outer layer to be tempura texture. It was good, but not the best batter used.
A good spot!