Nijo Castle

I absolutely love eating at this place for regular dining. Staff is always friendly and the service is great. The sushi rolls are so delicious, my favorite rolls are the Tom & Jerry roll, Crazy Monkey, and the Spicy Crunch. Definitely would recommend this place for sushi.

I just love this place. They have pry, roll, sashimi and so on. They have booth, table and bar. So I can have a quite chat with my companies.
Beautiful deco and kind ppl too.

Love the fried rice and steak! Our chef wasn’t very enthusiastic but I was ok with that because the food was delicious.

Had reservation for 8pm… arrived and seated at a teppan Yaki table on time, but we’re soon told that we would have to wait up to 1 HOUR for a chef. They had 13 ACTIVE TABLES AND ONLY 3 CHEFS!!! WE LEFT!!!

This place is a hit or miss for me. Had some tonight and wasn’t worth $ 50. I was very disappointed.

Went for a bd lunch. Nice show at the grill. Better than benihana in taste. However it was cold.

Typically I am a Benihana’s type of girl, but due to the group of people my party had and where they were traveling from we decided to try this place. My party was a group of 14 split into two tables and two different chefs.
The first problem I had was the two young ladies in the front seating people looked like two deer’s caught in head lights. They had zero personality and actually came off as pretty rude. They had a half eaten in N out burger just sitting there with fries all in the open. Gross.
The next problem I had was the location of our table. They cram all kinds of plates and dishes along the wall where we were sitting. Constantly being bumped into by people and trays is not ideal.
Only one chef showed up to start cooking meaning only half of our group started to enjoy the show and get their food. The ladies that took our food and drinks orders had theeee driest personalities I have ever encountered, when I tracked one down to notify her that 3 people still did not get their drinks she looked at me with a blank look. I might as well have been talking to the wall.
I enjoyed our chef he did a nice job.
When we received our check we made a mistake and asked for it back to fix it. When the lady brought it back she tossed it to the table and walked off clearly irritated about talking under her breath.
Spending $ 600-​$ 700 for a group dinner my expectations are much higher than the service we received. Also, the last time I checked it was no longer legal to charge gratuity to a check.
2 stars for the Chef and the bartender in the bar.
Long story short, I’ll stick with Benihana’s.

Whenever we visit San Jose, we HAVE to go here. The Simba roll here is a life changer. No other fried sushi compares to it — the creamy mayo and crunchy texture is amazing.
Food itself is great, the usual hibachi tricks by the chefs are fun to watch. Shrimp and chicken combo fills you up because they serve vegetables, rice and then the meat. The restaurant is huge so we rarely have to wait to be seated.

ARE SUSHI ROLLS MASKING THE FLAVOR OF THE FISH AND RICE IN SUSHI?
That’s a question I’ve been pondering lately. In the Tokyo episode of Anthony Bourdain’s «Parts Unknown» ex-​New York sushi chef Naomichi Yusada stated the main aspects of a sushi is first the rice then the fish. Eating these rolls, while they’re delicious, I begin to wonder if I’m missing the essence of sushi.
Growing up I’ve drove past this place several items. This restaurant has that iconic wood etching on the tower. About a couple of months ago my friend and I had dinner. From looking at the menu this restaurant specializes in sushi rolls that are listed in section of Nijo Castle’s Rolls. Since the name of the restaurant is Nijo Castle I figured these are the best items of the restaurant. We ordered 4 types of sushi rolls: Spicy Crunch, Sky Roll, Sexy Sexy, and Monte Carlo. The first three rolls are breaded. One of my guilty pleasures is food that is breaded and fried. While these breaded rolls satisfied my guilty pleasure I was wondering if I’m eating an Americanized version of sushi. The closet thing to a sushi was the Monte Carlo. This item you can taste the fish and rice but it was topped off with green onions. If you look at these sushi rolls they’re covered with either sauce or breading that cover up the rice. Sometimes with sushi rolls I can’t tell what kind of fish I’m eating due to the abundance of ingredients.
I don’t dispute that the sushi rolls at Nijo Castle are delicious. I’m just beginning to question if sushi rolls in general are more about satisfy my cravings than appreciating what real sushi is.

Had lunch there today at the sushi counter. The spicy spider roll was a delicious combo of soft shell crab, unagi and other great spices. Very spicy with a hint of sweet. It’s my new fave. :) The service was great and the staff friendly and welcoming. The only two drawbacks were that the hostess was not at the front of the restaurant when we walked in and we waited too long. Finally decided just to go and look around for her and got seated immediately. The other was a minor problem: the tea i ordered was not hot. :(
Other than that, will definitely be returning for a dinner that’s supposed be quite entertaining.

My family and I came here for dinner just about a week ago. I quickly checked the reviews since I don’t frequent the South Bay too often and saw a bunch of 4 – 5 star reviews! Yay, I was excited.
We got in at around 7:30 and were seated almost immediately. For a Saturday night, this place was pretty empty. I wasn’t sure what to order since they have about 3 pages of speciality rolls and it was a bit overwhelming to say the least haha. My uncle recommended their youssinabe (he ordered it for me too so I’m not even sure if that’s how you spell or say it). I also got an Oregon roll which was basically Alaskan Roll but with what I think was tobiko on the outside covering the rice. My grandma and aunt got bento boxes and salad/​miso soup was served to everyone which is a plus considering some places only give it to you if you order a dinner bento box.
Youssinabe-​huge seafood soup with clear noodles and a side of rice. Way too much food for me but the broth was good and the seafood tasted fresh.
Oregon roll– not bad, hefty amount of salmon inside and a good sized roll
Bento boxes– from what I tried, pretty basic, nothing special.
Service– Good. My cousin is 6 and they apparently always give her pizza gummies at the end which she loves. So nice of them!
Parking– plenty
Prices– bill came out to around $ 65 for 2 bento boxes, 2 youssinabe soup, 2 rolls!
Will I be back? Probably not just cause of how far it is from home. If I’m in the area, I’d opt for something new. Service was good, meal was alright. The soup was the only memorable part for me but my uncle loves this place. Solid 3 stars :)

Yep. I agree with other Unilocalers that this restaurant overcompensate on their décor for the lack of service and quality of sushi. 2.5 star review, I’ll round it to a 3 star to be nice since their décor is outstanding.
Dining at teppanyaki: a fun experience. The person who cooked the food was skilled at his tricks and entertaining. Kinda have the same tricks at other teppanyaki places tho. Food is decent and equivalent to chinese take-​out. Portions were good.
Dining for sushi: came with a large group, service was slow and hard to wave down a waiter to order more food. The menu are all rolls! (which is a dead giveaway that their fish quality could be below average or just so-so…FAR away from authentic sushi). Notice how the majority of their rolls have a bunch of fried tempura or its all sauced? This place is Americanized sushi for sure.
Knowing that I’m not going to expect the finest cut of sushi, I just picked food that are least likely to dissapoint me: ichiban roll, uni, oyster, and seafood udon.
Ichiban roll: not a lot of fish. more rice and avocado than fish portion. The pro is that the sauce made it easier to eat.
Seafood udon: It tastes like udon… but it left me wanting more. The soup tasted like it was seasoned with udon soup packets? Wish it was more brothy. Well at least this is one of the better dish of what we ordered.
Uni: likely came from Santa Barbara or somewhere local. I can totally taste the ocean in this. The good side is that there’s hella uni given.
Oyster: just alright. Lol writing this review is getting me more depressed because I usually love to rave how awesome it is… but it has been quite hard.
Tldr: this place is for you if you are looking for a place with awesome décor but very very americanized Japanese food. DON’T expect authentic japanese.

I came here with 5 guys and we were all looking to feed like cavemen (and woman) and stuff ourselves silly… and we did!
We decided that we were going to order 2 sushi rolls each, but being the lone female and at 135 lbs next to their testosterone-​filled frames, I upped the ante a bit and added the Spicy Chicken to the order. Since that came with a salad and soup, I was the first to eat anything, and I promptly stuffed my face as the salad had a very tasty dressing, while the soup was equally delicious.
The first entrée to arrive was my Spicy Chicken, and it was so unbelievably delicious that I didn’t want to share. However, since I had agreed to that arrangement and didn’t want men crying in front of me, I did… and the consensus was mutual all around, and once the chicken and veggies were finished, the guys were even scraping any sauce off the plate they could to use with their rice.
The rolls that we ordered were the Simba, Titanic 2, Sexy Sexy, Spider Roll, 007, Butterfly, XXX, Kani Dynamite and the Bay Island.
All I can say is OH. MY. GOD. We finished EVERYTHING, to the point where the waitress came over with a look of satisfaction and disgust. Lol!
I particularly loved the Bay Island, but the preference for everyone else may have been different. Regardless, there wasn’t a single roll we didn’t like!
We are coming back!!!

I assume there is not a single Japanese working here, but they try to over-​compensate with decoration and also, getting the hostess to dress in cotton Summer kimono. Even though they are not authentic, it is still a great spot for some sushi.
Their sushi was fresh, and creative rolls, and it was pretty good sushi. The sushi chefs were very nice and friendly.
Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my food blog, foodlovergirl.

I’m not sure if people have been writing reviews for this place based on the yakitori/​teppanyaki or the sushi but I would say if you come here this place is best for teppanyaki… I didn’tr try any of the sushi/​sashimi/​rolls so I can’t really review or comment on those options.
I would same the atmosphere of this place for teppanyaki is as good or better than a Benihana and for that reason, I wouldn’t bother trying to drive further to do teppanyaki.
I’m most likely echoing many of the other reviews but the teppanyaki chefs were great and depending on how talkative or skilled a chef you get you’ll get different but nonetheless enjoyable experiences either way.

I enjoyed our spontaneous dining in this location. We usually see this as we drive along 880 and that night we decided to give it a try. Parking lot is huge and you can see that they have cameras watching your car as soon as you enter the restaurant — extra protection bonus! They would ask if you want the regular dining room or teppanyaki. If you will come to this place, I would recommend the teppanyaki room. That’s where the fun begins! You will mingle with other couples or group to complete the table.
I had the seafood combo and White Guy ordered the filet mignon and chicken combo. Make sure you will get the special egg fried rice. I’m surprised about the calamari that comes with my order. It was soft and tender, very tasty! Scallops was huge too. Shrimp was just okay. I believe there’s always two shrimps that comes with any order. It was fun watching how the chef prepared your food. I love the fire sizzled all over the air!
I was about to give them five stars, but the chef in our table was grumpy compared to other table who did a lot of tricks. I actually enjoyed watching the other table while waiting for our own chef. Maybe it’s the heart shaped fried rice that he made. Groups come here too to celebrate their birthdays. They will give you a complimentary sweets if it’s your birthday.
I’ll come back again and will tell the chef to be happy and jolly. I’ll bring my go pro too!

Went here for dinner. Very friendly staff and a fun atmosphere. Bring your kids here and they sure will have a lot of fun.
I ordered the NY & Shrimp!!!

I am absolutely disgusted by my dinner tonight at nijo castle! Unfortunately in the middle of eating my husband looks over and sees a pubic hair on my plate! That was it… Dinner was over and we were ready to leave. Right away we called our server to the table who was very apologetic and offered to comp the plate. I’m sorry but I wasn’t paying for any of that food!!! I asked to speak with the manager and we had to wait 15 minutes and he wanted us to pay for «just drinks». Are you joking? IT WAS A PUBIC HAIR PEOPLE!!! After another five minutes he says don’t worry about it. Sorry bout that.
VERY DISAPPOINTED AND EXTREMELY GROSSED OUT.

Come here within 7 days of your birthday, and they will discount your lunch/​dinner meal! I came 8 days after my birthday and they couldn’t honor it, but did offer me ice cream after dinner.
I’ve been here once before and enjoyed my experience. It’s a decent teppanyaki spot with a good variety to choose from. Their rolls and sashimi selection isn’t half bad either. Hit or miss with the chef, as some are highly experienced and others, not so much.

Right when you walk up, the décor has a very authentic feel, and continues as you walk in and all the way to your table.
The staff is friendly, but pricing is a little high.
The food is always cooked just right; you can even have it cooked right in front of you! And if you’re at a table with less people, you can usually find yourself with more food than you asked for!
Our chef was very charismatic and funny, talking and joking with us the whole time. He informed us that it was only his second day but he still cooked everything from our shrimp to chicken to fried rice perfectly.
Only eh’s to the place is the waiting. Waiting for chef to start to cook, waiting for your order to be taken, waiting for bill to be picked up. Lots of waiting. But if you don’t mind the time, this place is golden.

nom… nom… NOM!