Yama Sushi

Beware if you are getting take out you may have to beg to get extra sou sauce. I bought several rolls to go today and they wanted to charge extra for tiny sauce packets

So we came here for the ½ off sushi… of course we weren’t expecting anything out of this world but we picked up one of the tools and out fell a bug.
Obviously I was done we told our severs and they brought over the manager who wanted to make us new ones which we refused.
Overall the service was ok but I can’t forgive something like that. They did give us the food for free but it just worried me what else might be lingering in there items.

This was THE WORST Sushi I’ve never had in my life. Tried them for the first time today. After one bite it went in the garbage. I ordered the Spider Roll and Edamame’s. The spider roll was filled with fake crab meat which isn’t supposed to be in there. The rice was super sweet and they fried the soft-​shell crab in what tasted like corn meal. The soft-​shell crab was over cooked. It was terrible. The edamame’s weren’t fresh. I didn’t even bother to taste them. They looked like they had been microwaved. This place is terrible.

Whatever you do DO NOT DRINK THEIR TEA!!! Went there once and will never go again! While eating my half frozen sushi I noticed the waitress went to an empty table took the leftover customer’s tea and poured it right back into the tea pot!!! At this point I was not sure if it was an old tea pot or what until the waitress took the tea pot and refilled a customer’s cup with the tea! I know I know I should have tackled the waitress and saved human kind from drinking back-​washed tea but im not going to lie — i was in shock.
I failed at saving those customers from second hand tea BUT I am saving you my fellow Unilocalers– BEWARE OF THE FLOATIES IN YOUR TEA!

I hav lunch here about once a week. They’re great at what they offer: fresh and tasty sushi fast and cheap. Cash price for sushi after 1:10 is half off their already low prices.
Only negatives? The teriyaki is just okay and they are packed during the lunch hour.

I have had a handful of roll from this place. All rolls were delicious and I will add this little place into my rotation for go-​tos during work hours.

So far, tried gyoza, hamachi nigiri, hamachi Kama and dragon roll and they were all delish!

I’ve been here a couple times with my brother since he works nearby and I go to school close by. Cheap rolls and ok service. There can sometimes be a line though. I’m not sure if their management changed within the last couple of months but I would always ask for saba (mackerel) and sometimes they have it and sometimes I get the «we have whatever is on the menu» speech.
Came here on Wednesday and the service was really slow (maybe because they had a lot of to go orders??) We asked for a box and our check twice within 10 minutes. I heard the waiter tell the manager and she said «I’m doing something. Just let them wait» (in Mandarin)…which I understood. RUDE!

I’m taking them down to 2 stars. They messed up my order today. Also, their tempura roll is filled with imitation crab meat. Why is that even added to a tempura roll?
Also, I saw the container holding the seaweed, and it doesn’t look very sanitary. Just saying.

Not bad for convenience sake.
In a rush to find something quick to eat, Yama Sushi just seemed to be my best option.
There was a line of people waiting for to-​go orders leading from inside the restaurant outside to the sidewalk, and for a moment had me considering going else where. However, after mentioning to one of the guys working there that I would be dining in, he managed to seat me pretty quickly.
The place is small, leaving a slightly cramped feeling;It also is not the most aesthetically pleasing. They do however, seem to offer a decently appealing menu, with plenty of reasonable options to choose from, including some fantastic lunch special. I ended up going with a bento box with no sushi, being that I was a little hesitant to have any sushi there do to the uncertainty of how safe it would be. I ordered a 2 piece/​option choice bento box. The options I chose, were the Teriyaki Chicken and Shrimp katsu (a.k.a Tempura). It also comes with the standard miso soup, salad and rice. I however, opted out on the rice and substituted it for more salad. It also came with edamame.
Soup was ok. Edamame was also just so-so.The salad was good. Shortly later my bento box arrived looking more appealing than it ended up tasting. Shrimp katsu (shrimp tempura) was decent. I’m not exactly sure why its called Katsu, for the breading and consistency was more up the alley of tempura, but anyhow, it was at least good. Teriyaki chicken was just ok; had a slight reminiscent of a funny aftertaste that left it slightly less than appetizing, and which left me not finishing it.
Overall, it’s not a place where I would expect anything spectacular, so I didn’t necessarily have any high expectations coming in, but it was decent. The prices are friendly, as well as the service. Oh, and it’s a .50 charge for credit card orders under $ 15.00.

Lunch time can be tough– Yama has quick and affordable sushi at the corner of 19^th and Franklin. if you go after 1:10pm and pay with cash you get 50% off most items. The food is good and has good options/​variety.

good service and GREAT prices! After 1:10 PM the rolls are half off… yes, that’s right you can get sushi rolls for under $ 5! A decent lunch for a great price. I always get the baked salmon over california roll (VOLCANO) and the hand rolls aren’t bad either! Not the BEST sushi, but definitely worth the price.

Seriously — Donburi bowl with unagi for only $ 8? (It was $ 7.95 or $ 8.95-can’t remember exactly) The unagi was plentiful and perfect — I didn’t think I’d eat it all but it was so good that I did. Came with a little salad and miso. Steal of a deal… will be back and back and back.

Two things I expect from food serving establishments:
1. Good food
2. Good service
Up until today, I’d had pretty good spicy tuna rolls with seaweed salad on top from here. Today was my 4^th time calling ahead then walking over to pick up my order. I walked up to a line outside the door and wished I could have just paid for & picked up my food vs waiting for everyone else to stare at a menu then order their togos. As I got to about 3^rd in line, I noticed the phone was incessantly ringing & EACH time, she’d stop to pick it up, take an order, then proceed with those of us who were there. Rude, rude, rude. Place those individuals on hold. When I do reach the front (now 25 min after calling my order in), my rolls aren’t what I ordered, or at least what I am normally served by them, but instead spicy tuna smooshed next to avocado pieces with no seaweed salad on top I ask about the avocado, she notices, looks at the post-​it she just took off & proceeds to tell me that’s their spicy tuna. Again, I’ve eaten there 3 times before. NEVER was avocado included. Next, I have to inquire about my seaweed salad that’s missing from atop. She runs over fills up a container, seasons it, and gives it to me. Wah-​la. A seaweed salad a la carte. My total ended up being $ 8.60 some vs. the usual $ 5.60 some I pay.
To them I recommend: 1. Lay off the phone orders. People who call ahead have the time to wait on hold for a moment, they’re probably not on lunch yet. 2. Listen to your customers because you just lost one.

Rolls are worth getting during special hr, otherwise wouldn’t really come here.
Really tiny place, not good for groups. After 1:10pm lunch specials are 50% off CASH only.
Interior totally reminds me of a china town shop (they are Chinese here)
Service is spotty, can tell they’re still getting situated, inexperienced. Messed up our orders, poor waiter is just not experienced at all
Sushi and sashimi combo: (6 pcs CA roll, 3 pcs maguro sashimi, 2 pcs sake sashimi, 4 pcs nigiri) sashimi pcs are about half the typical size, nigiri pcs look pretty sad assembly and size wise. CA rolls are standard size. Rice is pretty wet and mushy, seaweed is chewy. Sashimi were served still super chilled and cold. Not the freshest tasting (maguro and sake, the hamachi and tai tasted fine on the nigiri)
Alaska roll: all the rolls are all pretty small, not sure if that’s only during the half off, fresh ingredients though.

It’s kind of hard to put the correct review on here. Up until today (I.E., the past three years), I’ve only ever ate the udon, since it was the only place by my work that made it/​made it fairly decent. I will still buy this from them when the weather turns cold again. So three stars for that.
However, I ate their sushi for the first time today. I split an order with my coworker, and the raw fish tasted off. So maybe I’m spoiled, but I haven’t tasted sour raw fish in a good while, and several hours after lunch, right when I was heading home I was hit with the worst stomach ache. The kind that precedes a painful bathroom visit. Being that I had not eaten anything else since lunch, I can’t imagine what would otherwise cause it.
I am overwhelmingly in love with Japanese food, and sushi. So it’s kind of a big deal to say I can’t even think of eating sushi right now, or possibly for weeks due to this experience. It’s been nine hours since I ate and I still feel rather ill.

What I ate: Spicy tuna roll
Visit date: March 18, 2013
First time? Yes.
My friend suggested we meet here for lunch because of their lunch happy hour– half off sushi! Umm, yeaaa!!! Surprisingly, the lunch crowd was nonexistent; could it be that not many people know about their great deal? The sushi is decent for the price; the spicy tuna roll is more on the sweet mayo side, but still passes the spicy tuna roll test.
PS Lunch happy hour is dine-​in and cash only.

Pasted from my shitty food blog (you can see the pics in the photo section):
Yamma sushi on 19^th street in Oakland plays the devil as it temps customers to come in for it’s 1:10 deal. Every weekday at 1:10pm sushi becomes ½ off. Two gigantic rolls for 8 bucks.
Problem is the reason why Yamma is so cheap at 1:10 is because their refrigerator doesn’t work properly and the employees figured out that if they don’t sell all their fish by 2pm, someone is getting sued for food murder.
I make sure I only order the cooked rolls, but now I am having second thoughts. Their fryer probably doesn’t work either so the fish don’t get the necessary internal temperature, but get somewhere in-​between. I probably just ingested some bird flue or some hyper-​bacteria.
The trained and experienced sushi chefs looks more like a factory line as they frantically cut fish and make rolls to negate possible health inspection suicide.
I just ate the roll that probably had something resembling salmon on it. Obviously, I made a bad decision. Shit, at least it is dirt cheap.
To properly consume the scary, luke-​warm rice bites, one must unload massive amounts of soy cause and wasabi.
After I long trip to the bathroom I couldn’t finish the rest of my avocado vomit. Anyone hungry?

Yama Sushi has some great stuff going for it. After the 1:10 PM of course when all the sushi becomes 50% off!
I was able to get 2 hand rolls, a CA roll, and a softshell crab roll for right around $ 8. While it wasn’t the best sushi I’ve ever had, the price makes it a serious contender for my lunch $$$.
The restaurant itself is very small so I recommend you call in ahead of time for a take away order.

Pretty good quality fish. I agree it’s not the most authentic spot, but I enjoy this place. It’s a good lunch option in this part of downtown Oakland.
I work right in that area, and like many of the other reviews I usually get sushi after 1:10pm when it’s 50%. My coworkers usually call in an order because the table space usually fills up quickly. I’ve only had their sushi and a $ 3 (half priced) 6 piece California roll and 6 piece Eel and Avocado roll is definitely worth it. Spider hand rolls are good too.
I’m not a fan of the $ 1 service charge for credit card charges, but now I’m just getting picky, and that’s a minor issue that I’m willing to live with.