Wasa Wasa Sushi House

all these haters? fine! I LOVE WASA WASA AND IM GOING TO KEEP GOING TO WASA WASA!
Wasa Wasa is a Korean owned Korean/​Japanese restaurant with a very kind owner and small staff. Some people get all bent out of shape about the ethnicity of the staff, I read someone saying «OH JAPANESE BUT THE SUSHI CHEF IS SAYING THANK YOU IN KOREAN» …SO? Why so racist? Go to any restaurant that serves food from a specific culture I. E Italian, Mediterranean, Chinese, etc. Ask yourself «who do you think is cooking your food?» It’s 95% not a person of the same ethnicity I’ll tell you that! My grandma makes some of the best sushi I’ve ever had and she isnt japanese, she’s filipino!!! LOL ANYWAYS.
Don’t know what to order? Try the ume land roll or the tony’s roll! Also, the cherry blossom roll is good as well. I also enjoy the chicken katsu!
The restaurant is small, quiet, and the staff is as well. They only have one sushi chef, and one or two servers on the floor. Most of the time, it’s not too busy (like some sushi places) which is why i enjoy coming here!

I used to order delivery from Wasa Wasa frequently when I first moved here 5 years ago. It was my go-​to sushi spot for delivery at the time… probably for the very fact that they delivered. It had been the better part of a year (probably more) since I had ordered here last. Well we got pickup tonight and something changed… drastically.
The nice menu they used to have? Gone — replaced with a cheap photocopy menu with greatly increased prices
The big portions? Gone — half the size for a lot more of my hard earned $$$
Good quality fish? Gone — tasted cheap and/​or frozen
Way to cheap out! You best rely on the business you’re getting from the hotel your restaurant is in, because you probably won’t be getting too much repeat business from us locals anymore.
Two stars for being edible… barely.

I only came here because I had purchased a
gift certificate (+1) about 2 years ago and decided to finally use it up. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think I would have ever considered coming here.
We ordered gyoza for appetizer and it came with 6 pieces. I’ve never had gyoza so crispy and practically at room temperature. It looks like it’s been re-​fried so can someone tell me why the heck was it not hot?
I ordered the 3 Item Combination (~$ 16) with Saba, Chicken Teriyaki, and Chicken Katsu. The saba was good but the chicken terriyaki was drenched in teriyaki sauce… it was almost swimming so I had to take it out and put it on a plate and then put it back in the bento box after some sauce had dripped off of it during that process. The chicken katsu was fine. I am not sure why it took a good 10 minutes for this to come out especially since we were 1 of 3 parties that were there eating… and none of it was actually HOT. It was between room temperature and warm.
The miso soup wasn’t hot. The salad was drenched with dressing which, by the way is completely NOT Japanese style. The reason in the first place they use that type of dressing is because it’s light and used for just enough flavor on the lettuce.
The only good thing was the sushi guy told us he’d give us a huge piece of sashimi (the 4 pieces of sushi. an option in the bento choices). So (+1).
The only horrible thing about using the
certificate is that it is an automatic 18% tip. For me to even consider giving that much for a tip, the service has got to be outstanding. I didn’t even feel this way. Sure, the waiter was nice and he tried but I often times felt neglected and especially when I gave him my card with the bill to swipe so I can bounce, he placed it on his table ran to get a beer from the back to give to another table and then FINALLY ran my card. That annoyed me. I know he’s only one person but I was first… and I was obviously trying to get out.
I just hate how Japanese food isn’t done right. It gives a bad name to other great Japanese restaurants out there. You’re paying a lot for dinner that does not live up to expectations. I am very disappointed.
So to sum up my complaints and reasoning on my generous 1 star rating are: Food was not hot. barely warm, WAY overpriced… go to Spirals or Akagi in San Bruno (less than 2 miles away).

Like the one star says… Eek! Methinks not.
The place looks nice and decent, but it had a weird funky smell. I couldn’t figure out what it was. The sushi chef said hi and welcomed us in. They were Korean people. We came here to eat because we had a voucher purchased from
or else we would never come here and it was only rated three stars.
The waiter brought us tea and it was luke warm. It also was very blend and water down, it need a bit more tea in it.
We order a Gyoza, it came in 6 pieces and a soy sauce dipping. They look really good, but the inside was cold. I did not understand why it was cold. The Gyoza was also super crispy.
I ordered a Bento box three items. I had the Chicken Teriyaki, Vegetable Tempura, 4pc chef choice sushi. The chicken Teriyaki was alright, it was marinated and grilled and drench with sauce, I forgot to ask sauce on side. Since the chicken was marinated and topped off with Teriyaki sauce it tastes a bit funny. The salad dressing was over power and very sour. As far as the Tempura, the first couple pieces was good and the batter turn super soggy, I don’t understand why, but it was disgusting when it was soggy. The sushi was alright and didn’t taste fresh.
As for my girlfriend, she had Chicken Teriyaki and Pork Katsu with grilled Saba. The pork katsu was super cold like old and the sauce did not look right as well it was a big mess along with the Chicken Teriyaki. The only thing good was the Saba.
Overall, the food is super terrible and I would not come back again. This place is expensive and overpriced. The service was alright not pleasant. I had to flag the waiter couple times to ask for more tea or give an eye contact to him to get his attention to get my tea refill. The bathrooms were decent, and better than other restaurants. I did not understand why our food came out warm or cold and it was not even busy at all…
**parking**
You can park in hotel free or street parking
Cash or credit.

Took my boys out to dinner today, and it was great! Beautiful food, and delicious. Curteous service, quiet and clean atmoshphere.
I didn’t use the restroom, but my 6 year old son said, «It’s the best and nicest bathroom anywhere… and it’s clean.»
I’ve eaten at many sushi houses, and this one will be my new fave for now!

2 stars the quality of the food was underpar
took some rolls home togo for some late nite eats, had several choices so I can tell you what I tried was not great, not great at all.
The edamame was good, and with edamame all really done to it is boiled and lightly salted, we sampled the Lion King which has crab meat, avacado, salmon, mayo mixed & baked in toaster with a house special sauce, the mayo was a lil on the heavy side, crab and salmon did not mesh well; we also tried the Oh my god roll which contained spicy tuna, cucumber, white tuna, avacado and special sauce this one did have some kick to it but it seemed the fish tasted bit to pasty; the Phoenix which was basically white tuna with white tuna, cucumber and sliced green seaweed was ok if I come back I would order this roll again; the caterpillar contained avacado, eel and cucumber with some sauce, I do like unagi or eel but there was more avacado on this roll then anything else.
for late nite eats this is the only late nite sushi spot open on the pennisula end if you dont want to head to the city that is, so Unilocalers beware the food here is not that great.
food **
service ***** waiters, and even cooks are awesome inside the greating and making you feel welcome is there sadly the food is not up to par
price $$
ambiance *** small spot literally a bar/​counter and maybe 7 small tables, this restaurant is part of a hotel on el camino in Milbrae, clean inside,. very friendly staff
maybe to eat in I would come again since there service was excellent, but food wise I will probably have to pass =(

This place is my secret: high quality fresh sashimi and sushi, and great customer service, especially the Japanese sushi chef! On top of that, they accept
certificate! A high quality Japanese meal for 2 for less than $ 25, I can’t think of anywhere else in the area.
I recommend trying their speciality rolls as they are quite different from other places. Tempura was nicely fried and not oily. Again, their fish is always fresh. Love everything!

I have to agree with the review by Rakela, posted a few weeks before I ate here. I wouldn’t have bothered without it. Since I travel extensively for work, I really have to depend on fellow Unilocalers to find good places to eat, etc.
I found a spotless restaurant with absolutely no fishy smell. Fishy smell will make me turn around immediately, since it usually means stale or at least old fish. No sign of that here.
I ordered the large sashimi platter which came with hot green tea, a bowl of miso soup and a salad. Nice dinner for a hungry eater. I topped it off with a little ice cream. I ate later in the evening, but found the service to be prompt and very friendly. If you like good sushi/​sashimi I think this is a good choice! Portions were generous, above average size too.

The food here is awesome!
The bad reviews are unfortunate but I assure you that I can tell they’ve been read by the owner by the way he takes time to ensure that I’m satisfied.
Yes, this is next to a La Quinta but having stayed in several La Quintas across the country… this is by far the best. Spacious rooms, comfortable beds, full-​sized kitchens with black marble counter tops (suites), a pool, full gym, free breakfast… it’s not the Ritz but this La Q is stellar. As a chain, they need to work on consistency for overall imaging but this one shouldn’t be sold short.
Back to the food.
I decided to try Wasa Wasa because it was convenient. I played it safe and just ordered salmon teriyaki. It was cooked perfectly, the portion was great for the price ($ 13 for dinner), salad crisp with tasty dressing, rice sticky, and soup flavorful.
After spending the day in San Francisco with hundreds of food choices… I decided to go back to try their sushi for dinner.
I was not disappointed.
The chef/​owner (Henry) recommended the 7 piece sushi. By the time I finished my soup and salad, dinner was ready. I went near closing time and it was dead but that worked to my advantage as Henry took the time to show me the best order to enjoy the dish.
It was amazing. He added little touches (garlic purée, chives, heat/​spice) to select pieces to add complexity and elevate flavor.
He also let me try two of his eclectic dishes that are not on the menu.
1. Seared tuna encrusted with Cajun seasoning topped with a sweet and sour salsa and avocado.
2. A baseball… rice and cooked seafood (including soft shell crab) formed into a ball and topped with roe.
I sincerely feel that Henry does care and is dedicated to making sure that guests have an enjoyable culinary experience.
If you’re in the area or have a coupon… go for it. You might find yourself seeking it out in the future.

There’s no way a sushi place can stock fresh seafood, when they have ZERO customers on a weekend.
In my opinion, it’s suicide to offer deep discounts like Restaurant-​com
when they have NO customers. First they scare away most walk-​in customers with the overpriced menu (SF downtown prices), and that’s before the disappointment by the less than average food quality. Those customers won’t be back. While giving 60% off to those with coupons. Now the only customers that come here are the ones with coupons. Why charge high prices when there’s no incentive to pay it? It makes more sense to have a reasonably priced menu for all customers, and offering 20−30% off coupons (if any).
Dear owners,
The convenient location inside La Quinta is fantastic, every hotel guest is a potential customer for your restaurant. But they don’t come, so that means that u are doing something wrong. Your only competition is a pancake shop and a cheap Chinese food place. That should be a wake up call. Here are some suggestions:
Step 1: Change your business name. Locals have already associated the name with poor quality.
Step 2: Get rid of the sushi. Make something simple that doesn’t spoil easily, AND that can be made quickly. Maybe Japanese curry, udon or ramen, or a sandwich shop. Even a coffee shop might do well, since there’s none nearby.
Step 3: Offer more reasonable prices. Most customers who chose to stay at La Quinta want affordable value, and probably avoid pricey menus.
Step 4: Update your website, u are not open until 2:30am. (should be «pm»).

I’ve been to Wasa Wasa 3 times now. Each time it’s a mixed bag of good and average. My family and I liked it when there was some Korean food on the menu as the short ribs were actually quite good.
Now there are new owners in place and they chose to remove all Korean food from the menu to make it purely a Japanese restaurant. That’s not a bad thing, but we did enjoy the kalbi.
Anyway, on this latest occasion we were greeted by a friendly young man who took care of us. He came back multiple times during the meal to make sure we had everything we needed. He was kind to the kids, which is always nice.
We ordered 3 bento box dinners. Among them we had sushi, tempura, chicken katsu, beef and chicken teri. The chicken katsu was surprisingly good. Having had chicken katsu in Japan I know what good is. I recommend this dish.
The food was a little slow coming out of the kitchen, but not anything to complain about. What was a bummer was that I asked for sauce on the side for the teri dishes and 2 of the 3 came with sauce on them. A really good place will offer to redo the meal whereas an average place won’t. This one just apologized and didn’t mention it again. I’d like to be made the offer and have a chance to say it’s okay
The beef and chicken teri were average — a little dry on the chicken and a little tough on the beef. The kids liked it all right though. The shrimp tempura was good, the spicy tuna roll not so good, and the chef’s choice sashimi was good.
The salad dressing is good, the side order of edamame was cooked just right, which is important. Overcooked edamame is the worst.
Prices are a little on the high side ($ 40 w tip for 2 adults/​2 kids), which may be hurting business. I use a
coupon every time I go here.
If I could give 3.5 stars I would. I can’t give 4 as I think any place I’d give 4 stars to I’d have no complaints.
My Growth Coach Tips for Business Improvement
First off I think you need to think about the hit and miss food quality. It’s really easy to go for cheaper cuts of beef and chicken and hope the teri sauce masks it, but it never does. Also, no one will tell anyone else about your food if it’s just average. Get better cuts and give less quantity in my humble opinion.
Next, work on the speed out of the kitchen. Each time I’ve been here the food has never come out very fast. I’ve read in other reviews that it’s slower than it needs to be. There’s a percentage of the population that hates to wait, e.g., older couples that don’t talk anymore. You want to meet their expectations for speed.
Lastly, the music didn’t match the décor. High energy asian pop music sounded odd played against ESPN on the TV. I think mellower background music with the travel channel on the set would be better.

Ummmmm… NOT. It is missing quality. The beef taste like it just came out of the freezer (u can taste it). Everything was drench in sauce — I guess to hide the freezer or put in some taste. So, everything taste the same. I did eat up the salad tho…
Tried it once and that is all it takes for me not to go to this place again.

Um… For my birthday I want to Eat at Wasa Wasa & Stay a Night at the LA QUINTA MOTEL BABY!!! woooo… NOTTTTTT!
So Like 99% of the population, I came here with a
coop (thats what me & my lady call them lol)…
To start off, the atmosphere was odd… not bad. not great… took 5 minutes to even get a menu (however we were greeted when we walked in)
**not to mention right as we were thinking about leavin we hear some older asians yelling at the kid because they have been waiting over 1 hour for their Udon. and the place was empty why was it taking 1 hour blah blah… right when we were thinking about leaving… they brought our sushi. which pretty much forced us to stay haha.
Anyways, just not really a «real» restaurant type place. only 3 employees which was like the Grandpa, the dad & a 15yr old kid that was like the waiter & had no common knowledge of being one.
the sushi was nasty. hard rice, pasty tuna. i was having a hard time eating it cause I was scared of the freshness… but i ate it.
We also ordered 2 entrees. I got the Ton Katsu Don (Rice bowl w egg & katsu)… it was ok. better than the sushi thats for sure… & my lady got the chicken katsu roll dinner… which was actually somewhat unique & not bad either…
Would I come back? def not. so many other spots that are cheaper than this & are wayyyyy better… Way to expensive for what it is especially at a LA QUINTA!!! haha
Pass… So see you all at my bday party at wasa wasa & we will get rooms at the LA QUINTA after hahahah I still cant get over it

I’ve eaten here a few times. Never been particularly surprised by the quality. Ordered their party platter, I felt the Sashimi was too thick and not fresh.
I’d eat here again but it definitely isn’t my first choice for sushi.

I don’t get why this place has a 3-​star average. I read some of the reviews before coming here. My friend had a $ 10 off $ 20 coupon from
. Because of the reviews, I was not excited to come here when my friend suggested it. When we walked in, it was dead. There wasn’t a single customer inside, which put me off a little more. But when our order arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The sushi were BIG and fresh. It didn’t stick to the rice well though. Then our bento boxes came. I ate half of mine and felt full already, but it was so good, I finished it. The spicy tuna roll had a lot of rice, but it was good nonetheless. The katsu was good too. The sashimi was delicious. I rarely order tuna sashimi because many places do not cut it nicely. When I bite into it, the vains make it had to separate, but not this place. Everything was perfect. My friend’s chicken teriyaki was good too. The chicken was sliced into nice pieces and was not dry at all. We expected the three «chef pick» sushi to be something like California rolls or something generic like that, but it wasn’t. Everything was well-​cut, nicely cooked, and every fresh.
The only complaint I have is that the place doesn’t have any heat, so if it’s cold outside, it’s cold inside too. It’s pretty hard to spot, since it’s attached to a hotel (but I don’t think that’s the owner/restaurant’s fault). Also, the sushi, although delicious and not tiny, was poorly made.

My party and I would not return here even if the food was free… two members of our party actually had to spit out their food for fear of getting ill.
1. The tempura batter was thicker than the shrimp and slices of vegetables.
2. The tempura batter was still in the doughy (white flour) stage when it was served (fried on the outside/​white flour dough on the inside).
3. The chicken karage was bits of chicken deep fried in more of the the doughy tempura batter.
4. The gyoyas that were deep fried had oil leaking out of them and were soggy.
5. The sashimi had a very fishy smell.
6. The chicken in the chicken karage was still RAW and cold after getting past the thick tempura batter.
7. The salmon teriyaki was similar to fish jerky with a glaze on it.
Redeeming factors, plenty of convenient parking, and Shaw’s Ice Cream is across the street.

A-​OK sums up this place in one word.
The food is good– I’ve had better. We ordered three rolls, one order of short ribs, and three large asahis. Everything came to about $ 80, so it is kind of pricey. Luckily we had a coupon from
, which is really the main reason we were there. The service is good and the place wasn’t crowded.
So all in all, living in SF would I come back here? No. If I was in the area and wanted decent sushi? Yes.

Located conveniently with free garaged parking, this place has been a favorite spot to hit up. They were nice and friendly; they had a lunch special menu which was well worth it. A couple years ago or so, my family had a birthday party in their special room where the seating was designed traditionally with the mats and a low table, but the seats did not require kneeling as they were normal seats dug into the floor so it was still comfortable.
This time, I had the bento box with chicken karaage and chicken katsu and I have not had a smoother, more tender piece of chicken in a looong time until now! This was very tender as it surprised me, so thus I had to take a picture to document and show y’all here. I had already gotten focused on eating it before I realized that it was definitely going on Unilocal

I had the bento dinner with salmon & ton katsu and my wife had the beef sukiyaki. Both were very good. The ambiance was quite nice and the service was excellent…

It’s kind of small… and yea the service is slow.
The only thing that really shines in my opinion is the lunch bento… everything else is overpriced for the quality.
That said, there really isn’t much in the decent sushi department in the greater San Bruno and Millbrae area.