Momo

I was excited to dine at Momos for the first time since I heard really good things. But unfortunately, I was not that impressed. My family and I came in for lunch. Gladly, they did take reservations and the customer service was really good, the staff were friendly BUT the food was not that great.
We ordered potstickers and lumpia for appetizers. The lumpia was mediocre, and the potstickers were extremely oily. When I bit into the potstickers, oil just dripped out.
For our meals, we ordered a tempura entrée, beef teriyaki bento boxes (regular and kids meal), salmon bento box and 3 different sushi orders. The tempura were okay but got oily as you ate more. Both the beef teriyaki on a stick were not good at all. They were burned, tasted like charcoal and were extremely oily. It seemed like they reheated the meat and just dipped it in oil. We took a bite and didnt touch it after. The salmon bento box was good. The sushi were ordinary. But the best item we ordered would have to be the Lion Queen sushi. We basically shared that.
Overall, customer service was good but the food wasn’t.

The food here is pretty good most of the time, and we’ve eaten here quite a few times. Their 3.5-star rating is just about right.
They have interesting appetizer options, and each one we’ve tried has been delicious! The sushi rolls have been hit & miss for us, with some being amazing and others pretty weak. Portions are not huge, but decently filling. Atmosphere is modern, young, hip, and since the building acoustics suck, it’s often noisy and difficult to have a conversation without yelling across your table.
****My huge issue was when we saw a chef walk outside to smoke (still wearing his white chef’s jacket), while spitting loogies into the nearby tree planters.
The worst part? Just before he walked back inside, he plugged one nostril with his fingers and blew his nose into the bushes!!! Freakin GROSS and super unsanitary! NOT supposed to wear chef’s jacket anywhere other than the kitchen, but to risk getting cigarette residue, saliva, and snot on it and carry it all back to the kitchen? Heck noooo!
Thus 2-​stars instead of 3 :(

I’ve been looking forward to trying Momo’s for a while, since I’ve heard nothing but great things about this establishment from friends, and this weekend I was finally able to experience it myself. Hmm. Sad to say I was little disappointed.
I ordered the pork belly appetizer, Lion King roll and a Momotini from their cocktail menu. The Momotini tasted a little blah; I was hoping to taste a hint of the pear sake. The pork belly was very tough and had an old leftover meat kinda taste to it. Not good. However, the Lion King roll was REALLY delicious (poached salmon, crab, topped with garlic/​parmesan aioli and tobiko).
We had a very attentive server, very friendly, water was refilled regularly. The restaurant interior is very nice; there’s an extensive bar with TVs overhead. I would come to Momo’s again and give it another try.

I found myself underwhelmed but still gave it a wonderful shot. One thing, I am glad that a place like this opened up in Pittsburg. The food was Okay, not the best but it still hit the spot. The prices are a bit higher than it should be. Come on, an entrée should at least come with rice for what i payed for. But it was still good and I would order it again.
But one of the turn offs was a gentlemen working there, I believe his name was Mike.
1) he made a drink for himself in front of me. (Do i really want a drunk employee serving me, thank goodness he didnt. but still… shame on you)
2) complaining about how long he’s been working there. But at the same time you were not really doing anything except for drinking your delicious alcoholic beverage.
The other employees were awesome and cheerful which is fantastic but the gentlemen Mike was one of those that can taint the experience big time and impact my future visit.
I’ll give another try to see if my views on this place will change.

I’ve only had sushi a few times, and after seeing Momo finally open up, my wife and I decided to check it out. The ambiance isn’t bad, but it’s also not that great either. My wife and I couldn’t stop laughing over this gigantic photo of a Japanese woman that graces half of an entire wall. It’s just. well… odd. Tables are a bit too close together, and when combined with the open air of the place, the noise level isn’t going to make this a place to enjoy a quite evening for two.
We ordered sashimi for an appetizer — we enjoyed it. My wife ordered another sushi plate for her entrée, and I ordered the special — braised short ribs. The food was excellent. Service was probably a 6 out of 10 — nothing spectacular, nothing horrible. I’m always a bit more forgiving with new restaurants, as it will take some time for them to find their sweet spot. It would be nice for them to better time the preparation of the meal with one person orders sushi and the other a cooked entrée, as our food did not come out together.
Pricing is a bit steep, but then again I’ve never been to a Japanese place that hasn’t been a bit expensive. It’s probably best to go non-​alcoholic if you’re on a budget.

I grew up in Pittsburg, and I really care about supporting local businesses. So when I heard that there would be a sushi restaurant in Old Town, I was ecstatic. And I really wanted it to do well.
My family and I went on a Saturday night around 8pm. We were promptly seated – a good sign. But, as we ordered and waited for our food, I noticed that there were a bunch of employees… doing nothing. Just standing around the bar, hanging out, while our waitress appeared to be serving ALL the tables at the restaurant. Seeing employees with nothing to do is a huge turn-​off. Could none of them help the one waitress? Did all those employees need to be on duty?
Then, my boyfriend goes to the restroom, and sees one of the employees not wash his hands before leaving the restroom. Gross.
The food is good, but the portions are very small. Even if the prices were ever lowered, I can’t say that it is the best Japanese food I have ever had.
And sorry, but if I’m paying that much for food, I would rather not have my waitress or bus boy talk to me like he/​she is my homie from back in the day, particularly when my grandma is sitting next to me.
Nonethless, because this is in Pittsburg, a city very close to my heart, I am hoping the restaurant does well. It appears from their comments on other reviews here that they do take the comments seriously, and I appreciate that.

My husband came here after reading the reviews on Unilocal… we decided to sit at the bar and start the evening off with two Pineapple Martinis… they were okay but that was about it. We then had two rolls as an appetizer. the Alaska and the Volcano to start.
We were really expecting rolls for the amount that they were charging… We have eaten at several sushi p, aces in the area and have seen prices like this on much bigger rolls.
We decided to stay at the bar and just order dinner. I had the Beef teriyaki donburi and my husband had the Teryiaki Salmon Bent box… food was okay, but that was about it.
I would give the food a two but the service was good which brought it up to a three.
One suggestion to the owner, if he/​they read these… get rid of the huge funky brown blob off of the Volcano Sushi… it is very un-​appetizing looking.

First of all: kudos to Momo’s for the gluten-​free menu! Although it was limited (it would be marvelous if they offered gluten-​free tempura, etc.), it made me feel comfortable as a celiac. The location and décor was excellent, and you have to admire the bravado of a viewable kitchen.
I have a Japanese step-​family, so I am particular about my sushi. I was not disappointed. I had the rainbow roll and nigiri uni. Fresh, tasty, and well-​presented. The sushi rice was perfectly spiced so it didn’t overwhelm, but accented the savory-​sweet flavors from the fish and crab/​soy sauce (which they also had gluten-​free) and wasabi. Also, they used the correct gari (ginger) variety for sushi. So many places prefer the pretty pink ginger which is too sweet and not as flavorful.
The service was top-​notch. The staff was friendly and accommodating, and ever at one’s beck and call. I do agree with other reviews that the place can be a tad noisy, but the open kitchen and full bar should give patrons a clue that this is not a going to be a haven of tranquility. Rather it captures the zeitgeist of an emerging, trendy, downtown Pittsburg that we locals should relish.

I have hard time assigning a rating as I am not at all expert when it comes to Japanese cuisine. Think supermarket sushi and those restaurants where the show is the deal and not the food. That has been my experience. Well, we spotted this new place in Old Town Pittsburg and tried it out. Truth to tell, we ordered almost at random as neither of us knew enough to do otherwise. Salmon roe appealed to me and there was tempura and something else. All was good and, boy, those salmon eggs are big. The noise level was significant even in a half full place, a big negative to us. Other than that we have nothing bad to say.
The important thing is that MoMos takes oldtown Pittsburg closer to where you say «Let’s go to old town» rather than to a specific venue.

After waiting an what felt like an eternity for this place to open I wish they hadn’t.
We finally get Sushi in downtown Pittsburg and its mediocre, at best. The service was acceptable on the one time I went, though my Wife went with some coworkers and had a terrible experience with none of the food arriving anywhere close together and many forgotten drinks.
The food was okay. The Chicken Katsu was amazing, almost enough to bring m

I just tried Momo’s last night for the first time. I’m thrilled to have a sushi joint in Old Town Pittsburg. Any new trendy restaurants and bars are much needed in this little city. Plus happy hour is from 3pm — Close (in bar and lounge area only)!!! Also, this restaurant is connected to Sasa in WC and Blue Ginko in Lafayette/​Blackhawk. I assume the same owner.
This is a new restaurant so my review may change with more experiences. However, the worst thing they have going for them right now is how obvious they are new. I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars.
Service:
Wonderful customer service — VERY IMPORTANT to any thriving business! Although our server was wonderful, you could tell she didn’t quite have the menu down. I had many questions in which required her to have to go back and ask. It’s not her fault, we all go through this with a new job. It was just kinda annoying that I would come up with new questions and almost each time she would have to go back and ask — that’s all. There was a man who helped out our server who made sure our water was always filled and empty plates were cleared from the table.
Bar/​Drinks:
They have a full bar — that’s right they are already winning with this statement alone. I was pretty disappointed that they didn’t have my flavored Ciroc options: peach and coconut. They do have regular Ciroc and other top shelf liquor. Courvoissier is my boyfriend’s drink which they had. A lot of places don’t carry this so I was pleasantly surprised for him. I didn’t try the sake but plan to return and get my sake on.
Food:
Edamame and gyoza are always a must for apps. They have 3 different ways you can have your edamame prepared: plain, sea salted or spicy. We opted for sea salt on ours (can’t go wrong). The gyoza was fried up pretty well, definitely crispier than the norm but was still very good. I’m not a fan of fish so I usually don’t even eat sushi but I was feeling adventurous. I ordered (not really sushi) the fried California roll with a soy paper instead of seaweed. By the way, if you want to replace seaweed with soy paper it’s an additional $ 1.00 added to the price. I don’t think I ever heard that before (dislike). The rest of the group ordered the Philly roll, Lion King, 4 season, Momo, EB and some others I cannot remember. Out of the 4 people eating all of that sushi, they all agreed the the 4 seasons was the BEST.
Ambiance:
Someone recently made a comment to me about why do people write about ambiance in reviews since it has nothing to do with the food. I could have popped them in the mouth for saying such a thing! Ambiance to me is almost as important to me as service. The space is small but not crowded. The lounge area only has about 4 small bar tables located near the bathroom. The décor was metro chic. They have the filtration systems exposed on the ceiling with some small chandeliers hanging throughout. The tables were clean and were set very nicely. They have plenty of flat screen TVs through the bar and sushi bar area. What I didn’t like the most is that this place is so NOT kid friendly. My kids love sushi so I it kind of sucks. They don’t have any kids menus, no Japanese sodas and no coloring or activities to do while they wait. They do provide kids chopstick helpers upon request.
Overall it doesn’t look like something you would find in Pittsburg which is why I really like it. Pittsburg is evolving and I think this restaurant is a good reflection of that.

Friendly service, decent sushi, good selection of standard drinks. It’s a very good addition to downtown Pittsburg given the lack of options in the area. They’re new and they need a lot of work, but I did enjoy my visit to Momo.
Drinks:
I ordered the nigori sake, which was served in a pretty sweet carafe with an ice well, hot sake, and a very generous pour of Macallan neat.
Food:
I ordered mixed greens with ginger vinaigrette and salmon, a spicy tuna hand roll, a dragon roll.
The salmon was forgotten and I had to put in the order again. Then it was brought out half raw. Third time was a charm and it was excellent when cooked right.
The tuna in the hand roll was «warmer» than the rice itself which made it taste tepid and old — as if it had been sitting on the counter for a couple hours. The dragon roll, on the other hand, was excellent.
Service:
The service was inexperienced, which is OK because I went on opening week, but they were friendly and responsive.
Why 2 stars?:
–If they work on food temperatures (warm sashimi and raw salmon) then I would add a star.
–But if it takes three tries to get food right, it needs to be taken off the tab. Handle issues better and I would add another star.

Tonight I went to Momo’s «Soft» opening. Wow was it busy! They did a great job though. 5:15 every table was occupied and people were out the door waiting. So much for soft opening. Word must have got out. Thanks to Facebook :)
Make reservations.
They have a full bar with some fabulous drinks:
Ginger Lemon Drop
Pineapple Martini
Manhattan
(Yes, I tried all of the above — YUM)
Give the service a break for the first month — Pittsburg has been dying for a new restaurant so everyone will be going to check it out.
It is pretty loud in there since the ceiling is so high.
Beautiful Décor, Wonderful Food, Service is great but they were a bit stressed tonight.
Enjoy and give yourself a little time don’t be in a rush.