Yama Sushi

Wish I had listened to the negative reviews and just not gone.
Sushi was terrible.
It smelled like sewage and I heard a customer in there say «are your pipes still broken?» Like this had been ongoing (don’t know why she’d come back to eat the mediocre food if it smelled so bad before!!) the waitress just kind of ignored that comment.
We ordered a ramen and three rolls. I told my husband not to finish his spicy tuna the quality was so low I was already starting to feel sick.
I had three pieces total of my two rolls. It did smell bad and that added to the gross-​out factor. His ramen smelled I think a little like poop but hard to tell if it wasn’t the restaurant smell.
It was so bad I actually said something about the quality and the waitress ended up taking one of the rolls off and they brought mochi ice cream to try and make an effort… and that is the reason I give two generous stars.
Shoulda known better. Now we have to go spend more money on food that’s a sure bet good.

My sister ordered take out they gave her 5 pieces of sushi and 3 gyozas total was 15 dollars horrible go to sushi time or harumi

Love coming to this place! They have a long list of fun named sushi rolls (lover’s point roll, kamikaze, 49er, godfather, etc) my favorite by far is the Rocky roll! A beautiful balance of sweet and spicy and soooo yummy! Staff was pleasant and attentive. Nice and quiet atmosphere. Highly recommended for any sushi lovers.

Im giving them one star because of the lack of good customer service. They gave us attitude simply for asking a question. The food is okay, not the best I’ve tried.

Misses the mark, in a big way!
Waited forever for our drinks to arrive (cold sake). Waited longer to give our order. The sushi chefs are the only efficient aspect of this place. Even they looked grumpy except for the young one. The items on the table tops (i.e. Soy sauce bottles, etc., all need a good wipe down). The sushi was nothing more then, so-​so. Won’t be going back.

WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCE!!!
arrived and was seated fairly fast, yet… WAITED 30+ MIN, without even a server comming to our table… This happend having little, to any customers.
FOOD WAS DISGUSTING, worst place I’ve ever been to…

BLAH
WHY OH WHY… Did I bother entering this place? Waste of money if you ask me. Only few tables occupied and was I browsed the menu I felt rushed to order. The waitstaff kept coming to me non-​stop asking if I was ready. If a customer is still starting and browsing the menu, they aren’t ready!!!
This place isn’t a «real» sushi joint. They didn’t even have a sashimi section to order from. I went with the basics order of Sake nigiri and Turo nigiri and a miso soup… Kept it simple. The miso soup, sucks. The sale was nice and creamy but the Turo wasn’t quality fish. Was disappointed in the most simplest orders. Also was disappointed with the staff. I sat there for awhile waiting for someone to notice my plate is empty and I waited and waited for the bill.
On another note, the non-​Asian sushi chef was sick and obviously had the sniffles sniffing up his snot. I don’t think someone who’s sick like that should be making sushi rolls with their bare hands. Luckily he didn’t make any of my dishes or I would have had to said something.
Until the next review…

I’ve eaten a lot of sushi as its my favorite food, but was very underwhelmed here. Wasn’t bad but wasn’t good. Ate a few rolls, just very bland and generic. Staff was friendly but again, rolls very plain and lacked flavor.

Good atmosphere, good service, and good food. Plus it’s nice to have real Genmaicha tea in a pot and not the tea in bag.

My Gf and I were in Del Monte Shopping Center the other day. We came across Yama Sushi restaurant. We saw their menu& the 50% off of Sushi Rolls. So this weekend her& I decided to give Yama Sushi a try. So we ordered take out& weren’t disappointed at all. Their lunch bento box was very good& their sushi rolls were delicious. I would recommend this place to anyone who is in Monterey looking a good Sushi place to eat it.

Came from the Bay Area to check this spot out the friendliest service and such delicious sushi you won’t be disappointed! Also if you’ve got a sweet tooth the tempura green tea ice cream beats the pazooki by a long shot! Not too expensive either spent a total of $ 30 on me and my fiancé! If ever in Monterey I will definitely come back!

My husband and I are in town celebrating our anniversary and have never been here before, so we asked our server, Hannah, what was the most popular rolls. She gave us 4 rolls and we told her we would have all 4. Pricing is amazing! The rolls were ok. Edamame was served warm and was very tasty. The highlight was really our server. She said she has only been there a little over a week. She is funny, a pleasure to speak with and very efficient. When we come back to Monterey, we are definitely coming back merely because Hannah was delightful!

This place is solid to get a sushi fix as long as your not super picky about your sushi. I come here semi regularly and get a different variety of specialty rolls each time. Sometimes the rolls fall apart, but hey for the prices they charge, I’m not expecting perfection. Don’t expect amazing service here either, the wait staff generally ignore you and you have to flag them down to get refills, check, etc.

My girlfriend’s sister recommended this restaurant to us during our trip up here. We decided to take their word for it and go for it. The restaurant is located in a nice outdoor shopping area and I was excited to go and eat some sushi.
The interior of the restaurant is very Japanese. It was very cool to see your rolls made in front of you at the sushi bar (with Mr. Yama himself making them for you). The lighting is a bit dim for my taste but it was very warm and lively in the restaurant.
We were greeted with a menu with many, many, and I mean many choices. Almost too many. I looked at the menu and was overwhelmed with the amount of choices that were offered. Our waitress offered to let us take our time and decide. And after deliberations, we ordered a bento box, a Green Peace, Golden Gate Bridge, Kamikaze, Inside the Forest, Sake Hunter, and Spicy Snow.
The Service: Our waitress struggled a bit to communicate with us but got our orders right. After she left us to give us a few minutes to decide, she left us for 15 minutes. Awkward. The rolls took about another 15 minutes to arrive. We had a second waitress that was less confused and nicer than the first.
The food: The rolls were pretty good. The tempura fried rolls were among the best things I ate tonight. The tuna nigiri I ordered was fresh and delicious as nigiri should be. The bento box was quite good with a lot of tempura battered vegetables and potatoes. I have no complaints about the food I ate today. As stated above, I do think the menu has too many items.
Overall, this is a great sushi restaurant in this area. The environment was very Japanese, the service could use improvement but I can’t blame the waitresses. The food was great and pricing for our party of 5 racked up to $ 80 which isn’t very expensive at all considering the food we all ate. It’s not the best sushi in the world but with this pricing, you really shouldn’t expect it.

I love This place!
The environment is amazing, the have nice ambiance and amazing bar an benches.
This time I went with my friends we had the wild-​thing with Salmon, California dream, the lobster delight & Chicken Katsu. Every thing about the food was so perfect especially the crispy fried crust of the California dream rolls.
One more thing, don’t forget to try the soy beans edamame as a starter the bring that so fast and it comes warm and the ones comes with the chicken Katsu are cold.
I want also to give a special thanks to Haley because she give us extra attention and I think we were so demanding but she was always responding with a great smile.

I love coming to Yama sushi for sushi and the good prices. But I did enjoy the sushi until I couple hours later I started vomiting, which I’m assuming is food poisoning. To top of ending the night with throwing up, the customer service there is sooooo horrible, it’s actually been like that for years. The manager needs to train employees, because every time I go I never get acknowledged or asked if I want anything to drink. I’m tired of sitting and sitting there waving the waitress down! I’ve had enough and will never return, I’d rather pay more for the same sushi, and not get food poisoning.

The sushi is really good and the price is great but the customer service is terrible.
I continue to go because I like the food. However, every time I go, it takes at least 8 minutes to be greeted and half the time they either forget my drink or bring me the wrong thing.
C’mon Yama, step it up!

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! DO NOT COME HERE.
I was a very frequent customer at Yama Sushi. I was there twice a week every week for about 9 months. Today has completely changed my mind about this restaurant. I have been going here for months without a problem, but tonight I showed up with my friend and they were a normal busy on a Friday. but we had been sitting down for 20 minutes so I asked the person walking by, who just so happened to be the manager Mae, if she could take our order because we knew what we wanted because we go there so often. She simply waved her hand and said that there would be a waitress to help me, 10 minutes later we had a waitress come and I told the waitress that I did not appreciate that the manager was so rude with me and just waved me off. Then I continue with my meal the waitress was perfect and she had no problem she brought everything and knew my order before I even had to say anything, but towards the end of my meal a friend of mine shows up who just so happens to be the boyfriend of Mae and he tells me that Mae called him because I told the waitress that she was being rude, and that she didn’t like that. I have never been to a restaurant where it is okay to send your boyfriend to talk to one of the customers. I was so embarrassed that I spoke with the owner but because he does not speak English, he said that he would send over the manager. But of course the manager is the person that’s upset with me. She comes over and yells at me about how I had started drama that night and how she sent her boyfriend because she didn’t want to yell at me, and she just proceeds to embarrass me in front of all of the customers there. My friend could not believe that happened and agrees it was the worst thing he had ever seen. I have never been so embarrassed in public in my life I cannot believe they call that customer service the people who spoke English there understood what the problem was, and told me that I could go ahead and leave and that they totally understand why I was upset and embarrassed, however the owner who does not speak English, proceeded to make me pay and then said next time he will train her and to come back, although I proceeded to tell him that I would not be coming back and that all of the other waitresses were amazing and I really appreciated the few months that they gave me and that I was really truly disappointed that they allowed the manager to act like that.

Good sushi, good prices, short wait time.
They have take out which is great. They always are quick to make whatever I order and their rolls taste fresh and always consistent. The place it’s self is pretty clean, but very little lighting. It’s always dark when I go in to order.
Check out if you are in the mood for a quick sushi trip !

Cheap prices, good sushi, Okay service
We visited this location on several occasions (~20 times). The first couple of visits were just okay. Some orders we would receive wrong because we frequently customize our rolls. After a few visits, the chefs began to recognize us and would have a look of disdain when we would arrive. That look would disappear and be replaced with smiles on later visits as they expected what we would order.
For the price, the quality of the sushi cannot be beat. Other places would usually skimp on meat and fill their rolls with more rice, but this place doesn’t. Not the best sushi we’ve had, but definitely the best in Monterey.
Recommendations: Lover’s Point, Spicy Snow