Jin Sho

I had the Sushi lunch and it was very good.
I loved the natural light coming from the ceiling.
Of course, being at Steve Jobs’ sushi restaurant adds a super special touch.

Yum yum and yum. This place has sushi I have never seen in any other sushi establishment I’ve been to and everything was super fresh. I will definitely come back.

Dinner probably is overpriced, but lunch is surprisingly good value for the food quality you get. $ 16 I had the soft shell crab salad, very fresh. Miso cod as my second course, comes with bowl of rice. Miso soup was good, come with little dessert too.

Fresh sashimi, their soft shell crab, UNI, and their LIVE EEL, are my favorites in this place. Great lunch pre fixe, you choose two items (I always go with the soft shell crab and sashimi), you get dessert, rice and soup for $ 16 — great value! It gets pretty crowded, so a reservation is helpful. Trust the sushi chefs’ recommendations — they know what they are doing.

This is the closest place to Japan when it comes to fine and authentic sushi.
Even though I paid $ 150 for 2, it was definitely worth it.

Interior … Meh
Service … Server day dreaming !!!
Food … Garbage !! Can’t call this Japanese food …
Food was so bad, we paid the bill which was $ 180 for 4 people, then drove all the way back to San Mateo to eat at a different restaurant which cost another $ 260…totally worth it!!!
You have been warned… go at your own peril

Very disappointed tonight. Was hoping to go to sushi Tomi but decided to come here instead because it’s closer.
I sat at the bar, got the sushi deluxe dinner and as the waitress handed me the plate, I saw a hair touching two piece of the nigiri. I pointed it out and she’s like, what where? When she finally sees it, she’s like oh and handed the plate to the chef where he proceeds to take one nigiri out and made another nigiri and put it back to the plate like nothing happens. At this point I’m like are you serious? I’ve lost my appetite. For all I know it could be a pubic hair. God. For a $$$ restaurant, it doesn’t even taste fresh. Regret coming here.
Oh and plus while waiting for my food I saw one of the chef kept on touching his ears and at one point he inserted his pinky and digging into his ear I’m like OMG and he’s gonna serve my food. I wanted to cry watching, eating, and paying almost $ 100 for 3 of us.

When I first arrived to the scene, I was being assisted by a petite kawaii waitress to grab a seat in the restaurant. She was so kind, attentive to the customer’s needs, and really quick. I don’t know her name but she provided such an excellent customer service. I was being seated at the corner, where is easily forgotten by the workers’ view but this waitress never forgot about me :) She always came by to check on me. Such a sweetheart!
Anyway, I had the rainbow roll. It was tasty. Love the addition of sesame seed on top. It added a little twist to the sushi roll. But here’s my favorite part. The DESSERT. So I decided to get the Strawberries & Crème. I never regret picking this deliciousness of heaven. Oh god. It was so cute looking. AND IT TASTED SO DELICIOUS. I CRIED. I LOVE IT. i’d totally recommend this place!

I do have high expectations for my sushi restaurants, and Jin Sho definitely satisfies them.
They have some hard-​to-​find seasonal fish such as Aoyagi (Orange Clam), which is one of my favorite sushi. Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time to avoid any long wait time as this place tends to get crowded very early.
*Side Notes: I only order nigiri or sashimi from their menu, so I cannot speak for their small dishes/​entrees. I would describe their atmosphere as casual, but «decent enough for your first date.»
Authenticity — 4 Stars
Sushi Variety — 4.5 Stars
Sushi Quality — 4 Stars
Atmosphere — 4 Stars
Service — 4 Stars

I am confused, I need to double think if Kiraku is the best Bay Area Japanese restaurant in my heart after I ate at Jin Sho tonight.

Full disclosure, I’ve never been a fan of raw fish. If you’re thinking to yourself, «why did you go to a sushi restaurant??» the answer is because I really like tempura and udon. I came here with a friend on a Thursday night and were seated immediately. Our waitress was very nice and attentive. Great service.
I ordered the shrimp tempera roll and a tamago sushi, while my friend ordered the pris fixe A, selecting the ceviche, duck breast, and the crunchy shrimp and crab. Our food was all pretty standard. No complaints, but it didn’t blow us away. We then split two desserts, the green tea tiramisu and the blood orange mascarpone mousse. The mouse was absolutely incredible. Definitely get that! The tiramisu was pretty good, but towards the end, it mostly tasted like fluffy cream, paling in comparison to the bright flavor of the blood orange. Neither of the desserts were too sweet, which we liked.

I rarely leave negative reviews, but needed to in this case. We came without a reservation on a Friday night. The place was full, but there was no one waiting.
The first woman asked if we had a reservation and I told her we did not. She asked us to wait a moment and then disappeared into the back room. When she came back she explained that they are full right now and it might be a 10 – 30 minute wait. She asked us to wait a few minutes to tell us more clearly. Her English was not great, but she was very polite and honest.
No problem. We have waited at so many restaurants that this isn’t a problem.
Then a second woman came up to us, her eyes wandering unwilling to make contact with us, rudely asked if we had a reservation and when we told her we didn’t she said quite harshly that they are busy and there is no room for us. Then she said the wait is one hour.
We felt genuinely unappreciated as customers, and while I can understand they are busy now and may not care for our business, they ruined any chances of us coming back simply because of the way they handle their interactions. And any time this place comes up in conversation you know we’ll share our experience.
At these prices I expect decent service and politeness, not rude hosts/​owners.
I’m giving this review 2 stars instead of 1 because we had been here years ago and really enjoyed the food, saki flight, and experience.

Came here for dinner since my friend really wanted some sushi. I’m not a big sushi fan myself, but came here based on my bf’s recommendation. The place is pretty small and you can tell it was under staffed. We waited at the hostess stand a good 5+ minutes before someone acknowledged us. We ended up sitting at the bar and that was fine. It just took forever for us to order or get the attention of staff.
I ordered the pris fix dinner with the hamachi yellowtail, miso cod, and spider roll. The meal also came with a small bowl of miso soup. All the items were good, but not memorable. I’ve had miso cod at other places that were too sweet, but this place cooked this dish very well.
My friends ordered some rolls and they looked decent, but I still prefer cooked dishes over raw fish. This place has a good selection of cooked food and raw fish so it’s a good place to take someone who may be starting to try sushi!

The secret to dining at Jin Sho is that you should not get sushi. I’ve been here three, four times and there’s been a consistent pattern; sushi is disappointing, other entrees are decent.
A rainy day in Palo Alto. A good warm noodle soup is exactly what you’d crave. I came here by myself on my way from a chore, and got:
— Agedashi tofu: The broth was fragrant, and the spicy mentaiko & seaweed garnish was a nice touch. But the best part about this appetizer is how the tempura crumbs on tofu have a really interesting — somewhere between slimy and crunchy — texture!
— Nabeyaki udon: The broth was a little lacking in deeper flavor, something I’d call umami. The tempura shrimp was good, and I really liked the mushrooms. But I didn’t quite get the point of a few strips of chicken — bland and tasteless strips of chicken, to be exact. I ended up spraying some shichimi powder, and finally it hit the spot.
From before, I can definitely tell you that you should skip chirashi. The fish offered doesn’t feel fresh, nor is the variety offered better than other restaurants that charge comparable prices.
Not great, but per the dearth of good Japanese restaurants in Palo Alto, this place should be considered decent. I’ll be visiting here from time to time when I need a quick sushi fix.

What a great experience! We arrived at about 8pm on a Tuesday, and it was surprisingly crowded, but we managed to snag two spots at the sushi bar. We ordered:
–Yellowtail with jalapeño: great! Very fusion-​y, especially with the cilantro. Got a nice kick from the jalapeño, though some pieces were significantly spicier than others (depending on whether it happened to have more or fewer seeds).
–New style sashimi: very good. Was not expecting the fish to be warm! The garlic and ginger dressing worked well.
–Seaweed salad: great, though done differently than at most places. Multiple types of seaweed = very colorful, and they were cut into large pieces so you could really get a sense of their funky natural shapes. Light and refreshing.
–8 piece sushi special: overall very good, though we enjoyed some pieces more than others. I don’t remember what they all were! Should have written it down. Oh well. A few of them had garnishes or little hidden bits of wasabi — a nice touch by the chef! Definitely better than your generic sushi joint.
We waited until after the sampler arrived to order more, because we weren’t sure what was coming (which is such a fun way to eat). We ended up supplementing with the following:
–Uni from Japan: we were slightly nervous, because we’ve both only had Uni once before and it was terrible, but we figured if anywhere would do it justice it would be here, so we gave it a second chance. It was very bright and refreshing, like an early morning on the sea. Kind of like oysters, but also totally different. Buttery and unique. Uni has definitely redeemed itself!
–Live eel: not actually live, but delicious. Totally unlike the bbq eel that you’ll find draped across a dragon roll. This melted in your mouth. If you like eel even a tiny bit, definitely order this!
Finally, we asked the chef what was the best way to end the meal. He recommended the seared blue fin tuna. It was to die for. So so so so SO good. Whatever you do, get this.
Did you hear me? Get the seared blue fin tuna sashimi, already!
Yum.

The quality of the sashimi here is very good, higher than most places I’ve been to in the south bay. The uni we ordered was sourced from Japan and was one of the best uni I’ve had (though you do have to pay a bit more for it as compared to uni sourced from around here). Very creamy and sweet with that bit of briny-​ness rounding it out.
In addition to the uni and some salmon nigiri, we went with the Today’s Special Nigiri I believe it was called, and the Dinner Combo B with black cod. We shared everything between 2 people.
All 8 pieces of the special nigiri were pretty decent. Textures of each fish were smooth and delicate. What stood out was the fatty toro, but I shouldn’t say that because bluefin tuna is getting fished out of existence… The black cod was good, but maybe a tad sweeter than I’d like. Not a huge fan of the roll that came with the combo, but that’s just because I’m personally more interested in nigiri.
Overall a high quality meal, but not one that would fill you up, necessarily. Next time I’ll try the omakase!

My friend and I went here for the pris fix dinner. We went on a Saturday evening and were promptly seated. The waitress suggested the Jin Sho sake platter, which was delicious. The sakes ranged from dry to semi sweet. My favorite was the Ika Na Onna. It was very dry and refreshing.
The ceviche was delicious with the perfect amount of citrus. It had shrimp but I didn’t notice any fish.
The sushi came, and I thought it was a mistake. It looked like spicy salmon. I checked with the waitress, and it wasn’t. It was just regular salmon ground up. I’ve never had that before. Was it fillers? I expected a chunk of salmon. It tastes okay, whatever it was, but it didn’t meet my expectations.
My friend had the black cod and loved it.
had the ceviche, rock shrimp, and salmon avocado roll.

I think this is my new favorite Sushi joint in the area. The quality of fish is quite good and the prices are reasonable.
The last time I went here was for my wife’s birthday. She ordered menu B and I had the sushi plate. Both were quite good. Service was nice and they even brought out a green tea cheesecake with candle for her and sang the song. It did get busy during peak times so I would make a reservation. Other than that, I think if I want quality sushi nearby, then I will come here.

Good sushi, but not worth it at this price. You pay for the ambience and a more upscale atmosphere, but it isn’t worth it in the end. My recommendation? Try Homma’s, or even Odori, which are both nearby.
What do I mean by good sushi? The fish is high quality. We ordered the Chirashi dinner ($ 23.65) and there was a good variety of high quality cuts. The red tuna, the salmon, and the mackerel were especially good. We also ordered the sushi dinner ($ 19.75), but you get better bang for your buck with the Chirashi.
For an upscale place, their service was hit-​or-​miss. At times it was over-​intrusive, interrupting us mid-​conversation, and at others it was non-​existant, as my tea went empty for most of the meal. I’m not normally one to complain over service since people can have bad days, but considering you’re paying a premium for the service, you’d think they would have mastered this basic task of knowing when and how often to check up on you. It’s not «bad» service at Jin Sho per say, just service out of line with the expectations created by the menu.
Overall, it is a place that you might want to take a business client. Go if you really need the nicer atmosphere, but not if you want to get good sushi for a reasonable price. I don’t give out 2-​star ratings too often, but in this case there is just as high quality sushi nearby and at much lower price.

The Good:
1) No wait on weeknight evening.
2) Parking is right in front of the resto.
3) Steve Jobs’ favorite sushi…
The Bad:
1) Mediocre nigiri.
2) Slow service.
3) Many open tables, why do you try to put us next to another group!!! Told the staff right away that I would like some S-​P-​A-​C-​E!!!
Overall, a decent place to go if you are in the area, otherwise I would not drive out of my way to come here.