Minamoto Restaurant

My favorite sushi place in the area. My only complaint is that they open earlier than the Tachi sushi in Clayton, which is subpar to this restaurant! The sushi is alway fresh and the miso soup is delicious!

I came here with my sister on a whim. When we entered the restaurant the young women who greeted us both was very nice! She said it would be a few minutes and then sat us right down! The décor is basic, but everything was very clean and put together. I found this place very positive and the people surrounding me were families, friends, and even a couple who might have been on their first date! I was not very adventures that night and stuck with my fav. a bento box with teriyaki salmon :) when the waitress brought my food out I was very surprised! My dinner bento box looked like a little piece of art! At the end of my meal I happily finished off with my green tea ice cream :) I would highly suggest this restaurant for anyone looking for a laid back causal evening and of course with delicious food ;)

Food was excellent but service was terrible. Although the ladies and gentlemen that work there are great and their attitude was good, the time it took for them to deliver our food was not acceptable. Then they brought a whole plate with sashimi and sushi that we had not ordered, and by the time we realized it wasn’t ours and she brought what we had originally ordered it was too late we had eaten all of it. We were starving!
I will go back because it is very close to my house and the food is good. I just know it will take a while to eat…

We have been to Minamoto’s several times. Our Japanese friends like to go there and frequent it often. However… last night was the worst ever. There were four of us. One of us ordered the Udon Noodles and three of us ordered the Bento Box, two of which were the salmon. Our friend who ordered the Udon got his dinner first. He was finished before we even got our order. We waited and waited for a good 20 minutes for ours. We complained to the waitress and she apologized but no mention as to why it was taking so long. Mine came next. Waited another 15 or so and then the other two came out. The salmon was dried out.
Here’s what you do to satisfy your customers, you offer them an appetizer while they wait. We complained as we walked out to the hostess. So never again will we be going to Minamoto’s. I read one of the other reviews and the owner said they were the only Japanese restaurant around. Excuse me, you are not!!!

Called to order to go on a Friday eve. I was sitting outside and could see it was sort of busy but not packed so decided to take it to go. Called and was told it would be 90 minutes before food was ready! One item! Seriously?! Not good customer service.

Delicious food! The staff was extremely friendly and nice. We ordered ramen, a few rolls and some nigiri. Very fresh. The ikura we ordered had a unique flavor so we asked one of the sushi chefs about it and he explained that he marinated it with citrus grinds to make it extra fresh. Pretty cool. He seems very knowledgeable in Japanese cuisine. It’s very cool to see an actual Japanese sushi chef working at a Japanese restaurant. We will define recommend this place to friends and family.

Good food and great service!
Portions are big and taste is amazing!

I have become a regular since I’ve been dining here almost every weekend with my boyfriend. Recently we came in and noticed new menus and new higher prices. I understand that restaurants need to offer their food at prices that are reasonable and profitable and this may change over time. However we didn’t receive any warning that our regular orders had gone up in price. My favorite dish went up $ 4.00 in price which is a 40% increase. I’ve been here more times than I can count and they didn’t bother to mention to me that my regular order cost has changed– a bit of notice would be nice!

Love love LOOOOVE this place. Their service is great. Very attentive and friendly staff. I try something new off their menu every time and everything I have ever ordered was enjoyable. No complaints with anything whatsoever, but if I have to pick what my favorite item is off the menu, it’s the Mango Paradise roll. So unique. So fresh. But I mean, everything tastes incredibly fresh, so you can expect that from any roll you order. I love the atmosphere. They always have basketball or baseball games on. Who doesn’t love watching the Warriors while eating sushi? The only thing that I’d say is more of an annoyance than a problem is the size of the restaurant. Not a lot of space for the amount of customers that come in.

We had a nice dinner of ramen and sushi rolls.
Also ordered the Shiro Maguro Tataki as an appetizer which we thought was really well done.
The sushi rolls were also well done and we liked the presentation. The ramen was just okay though. Miso ramen could have been a little bit more saltier. Otherwise wise it came out kind of bland.
Other than that, there was no wait and service was spot on fantastic.
The wait staff was always available and friendly and our tea cups never went dry.
Parking was convenient.

Haven’t eaten in the restaurant yet. I called the restaurant to ask some questions about the menu, and spoke to Nick, the restaurant manager. He was very patient and friendly and answered all of my questions. He even gave me a head’s up about ordering take-​out which can take a long time on busy nights. He also said to ask for him when I called to place my order as he would help me with my special requests/​substitutions.
Can’t all places be this friendly and helpful?
Can’t wait to try the food.

Love this place but they play the F*** you game when it comes to phone orders. 1^st phone order a few weeks ago: 2 easy rolls «Okay it will be 50 min» get there… «oh you so late it’s been done for 40bmin!» Ok…
Tonight. Called when they opened at 5. «How late will you be open?». «we stop taking phone orders at 7» ok fine. call at 6:30 «ooooo were totally slammed do you want to wait for 1:30??» Last time they said that it was done in 10 min. These guys only care about getting off on time, sushi is good but they definitely could care less about your business.
Go to the new place across the street, Otaku. Happy to serve, want to stay in business.

Amazing service, but food? Not so much. Came to this cute and cozy little restaurant after lunch time with a girlfriend, per her recommendation. We opted for the ahi poke salad, sashimi carpaccio, agedashi tofu, a dragon roll, & 49 roll (seems to be popular amongst the Unilocalers) & a slice of the green tea cheesecake.
ahi poke salad — the poke didn’t taste very fresh. seasoning for salad was lacking in taste. nothing to rave about
sashimi carpaccio — don’t be fooled ! I’ve had amazing sashimi carpaccio but this was absolutely horrid! Sashimi was not fresh and the flavors were unappetizing. It tasted like they drenched it with diluted soy sauce. Super disappointed
agedashi tofu — super soft tofu that had a weird texture to it. on the plain side
dragon roll — it’s as good as a dragon roll can get
49 roll — disappointing. nothing memorable about this roll. had a weird aftertaste
green tea cheesecake — so yummy! For $ 5 a slice, you’d think they would cut a more decent size but our piece was tiny!
super disappointed with the food. It looked appealing but I should’ve known that looks can be deceiving. The only great thing I can say about this place is the service. They were super fast and friendly– Too bad the food wasn’t up to par!

This was BS. I called up and gave an order for pickup. Then they notified me that they weren’t doing pickup orders because the restaurant was too busy.
I’ve dined in before and the food is good and the people are nice, but this is completely illogical.

I was looking for a new sushi place to try since there are so many everywhere. Seem like now a days you can find a sushi place on every corner like star bucks.
Well on this night I decided to try this place called minamoto. It was a decent atmosphere nice bar and tv with sports playing. Definitely a casual dressing sushi restaurant .
The food was amazing here. I definitely have to give credit to all the sushi cooks they have here. Everything I had tasted fresh and great quality. I Would have to say the Minamoto Roll was very delicious and one of my favorite items I tried. I will defiantly will return back to this sushi spot. It wasn’t too busy when I was there too so I didn’t have to wait long for my food everything came out pretty quick.
The waitress was nice and friendly too. There were a couple who were coming helping us at our table but for the most part they gave great service and were very friendly and nice. I noticed they had great special on the wall to they had a lot of good sushi not all sushi places carries,. and the price of the rolls weren’t to bad they were set pretty decent not too expensive and not too cheap. right in the middle. I would recommend this place for someone who is looking for a new sushi place to try out.

I found this place on Unilocal,of course. We originally planned on going to Happy Roll in Concord but we forgot they were closed on Saturdays, which I hate because we love that place! So we thought we would try out a new place then.
The place was empty. But the staff was really nice. Our waitress was sweet but I was a little annoyed when she asked if we were Filipino for no reason. Does it matter? It was so random. Then she switches back to her professional tone. Okay?
My husband ordered a bento box with chicken teriyaki and asked to substitute the tuna sashimi for salmon. I had the dragon roll and the lion king. She walk away and put in our order but with the restaurant being so empty, we can hear everything that was going on. They really didn’t know how to communicate with each other. Our waitress comes back and tells us the salmon substitution is going to be $ 3 extra. He was really craving salmon so he said okay. She goes back and they’re having another miscommunication. She comes back to us and tells it’s actually just $ 1 extra.
The sushi came out right away of course. It was presented so pretty. It looked amazing. The dragon roll was okay but there were only 2 small pieces of eel and mostly avacado. The lion King was disappointing. It was really salty and it didn’t taste like a lion King would. I’ve had a lion King from lots of other sushi restaurants and I know they’re not all the same but this was not close. I barely touched it and just finished the dragon roll.
My husbands bento was even more disappointing. They’re really good at presenting a beautiful plate but it has to be consistent with taste, right? His salmon sashimi was so tiny. He literally got 3 tiny squares, about an inch by an inch square sized sashimi. The chicken was just the same, tiny little pieces and a super small portion. They fooled us by serving a nice big scoop of rice before the actual bento.
I’m giving them 2 stars because the restaurant was clean and the staff was really nice, but unfortunately, we will not be returning because the good was really diappointing. Don’t be fooled by the pretty pictures.

Quite possibly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a sushi restaurant. The two main factors of any restaurant, the service and the food, were both beyond exceptional. Let’s start with the food shall we?
They have a good selection of sushi classics as well as their own selection of special rolls. I opted for one of each; The Spicy Tuna roll and their Lion King roll. The Spicy Tuna roll comes in eight pieces. The tuna was very fresh, and the heat was present but not over powering. The Lion King roll is definitely a new but welcoming addition to my sushi palate. It has crab and avocado on the inside, seared salmon on top, and drizzled with Lion King Sauce. The seared salmon is most definitely the star of the roll. It is the balance it brings with the coolness of the crab and avocado inside. The flavor is different but amazing. The Lion King Sauce also deserves a shout out. It’s sweet and buttery at the same time. I had to stop myself from licking the plate.
Now let’s talk about the service. We had two servers helping us. Both were phenomenal and deserved to be mentioned. Angelica brought us our beers and edamame (free with check in offer). She was very friendly and made sure everything was perfect before she stepped away from the table. The same goes for Nicolas. He brought me a complimentary miso soup, because my friend’s order came with the soup and he didn’t want me to be left out. Good call because the soup was delicious. He was quick on clearing our tables when we were finished, and like Angelica he made sure everything was perfect before leaving.
We went during happy hour but I was still shocked when I looked at my bill. Both of our beers were still under $ 5.00, and these were pretty big beers.
Easily my new favorite sushi restaurant and right down the street from my house. Yay me!

Arrived here with a party of 3. It was my brother who introduced us to this restaurant. My brother is very picky with Japanese food and he was right. This is an excellent place to eat really good Japanese food.
We had the Minamoto Bento and the Lion King Roll. I think the portions were a lot. I was so full, but yet satisfied. It wasnt that feeling of regret when you make yourself full. I honestly really enjoyed every bite.
The Bento, sashimi, salad, grilled chicken teryaki were just absolutely delicious. The presentation was also beautiful.
The workers are extremely nice and it’s diverse too. A really relaxing atmosphere.

Woops! Thought I had gotten around to writing this review sooner. We went here back in November to celebrate my husband’s birthday. If I could dedicate an entire review just to our server, Emily, I would. She was fabulous! Great service, super kind, and easy to talk to. Thank you so much for showing us a good time!
Quick blurb about the décor and ambiance. Though it’s tucked away in the same plaza as a salon and grocery store, the inside is bright, inviting, and clean.
We came here on a recommendation from some family who rave about this place. Overall, food is delicious. Price is just slightly higher than what I’m used to paying, but what you are paying for is authentic Japanese cooking with beautiful presentation. What you are also paying for is sushi made with love and care — which can be a good and bad thing. Good in that it tastes great, but bad in that a lot of time is spent in the preparation of your dish. We came as a group of four, and rather than have all the plates come out at once, dishes were served when they were ready. Bento boxes or dinner plates were served hot. It was busy at dinner time, and plenty of tables were ordering sushi — including us — so our sushi took the longest to arrive. I waited the longest for my food, so by the time my dinner came, everyone else at the table was nearing the end of their meal. I had to subtract a star due to the wait time.
I’d definitely come back to eat here, however I would not recommend this for a group of people. Perhaps dinner for one or two. Or, don’t come starving.

Brilliant marketing naming sushi rolls after Bay Area sport teams. As proud member of the Infamous Raider Nation, couldn’t refuse to not part take on the Raiders Roll without hesitation. Commitment to excellence, you already know that.
Trust the chef. Go Omakase. An assortment of sashimi and nigiri. You may find a surprise of smeared wasabi. That’s nihonjin style! If indecisive get a Minamoto Bento. Agedashi tofu, sashimi, California roll, tempura, and grilled chicken teriyaki. Hands down. Ono!
Portions are generous and not in excess. Happy hour is beer fest. Large Asahi at $ 3.45 keep it coming. Do a Unilocal check-​in and receive something.