Wayne’s Sushi Bistro

After seeing the consistent 5 star reviews, I knew I had to make a visit to Wayne’s Sushi Bistro.
We came Friday during lunch and ordered the sashimi omakase to split, the golden city roll, and the oyster special. The omakase’s come with soup and salad, both which were good.
The sashimi was a sight to see! It included bluefin tuna, baby octopus, snow crab, scallop, ankimo, ama ebi and seared kurodai. SO GOOD. The fish was incredibly fresh and even the octopus was so tender, not chewy at all.
The oyster special was good, but the oyster was still partly frozen. But still tasty.
The golden city roll had great fish to rice ratio, and flavors were nicely balanced.
Service was friendly and quick!
Who knew that a place in Pleasanton would have amazing sushi!!! Wayne’s Sushi Bistro is definitely the place to go!

I was pretty excited about this place after hearing so much about this place, so I had to try it out.
I am not sure if it was because of the lunch hour, but overall, the food quality was just very mixed.
The décor is nice on the inside, and in general the staff seem fairly friendly, and overall the service was pretty good, so nothing wrong on either of these parts of the experience.
I thought the sushi rolls were actually great too, particularly the Golden City, which was very yummy.
However, part of the reason I was told to come to Wayne’s is because of the quality of the fresh fish they have, and the selection was prime for my tastes.
I ordered the sashimi appetizer, Toro nigiri, Sake Toro nigiri, and the King Salmon nigiri, and was super excited to try all of these out.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I am not sure if it was because of the lunch hour, but the quality of the fish was actually overwhelmingly disappointing to say the least. The sashimi appetizer included salmon, tune, white tuna, and hamachi. They were all not well thawed out, and was still fairly icey for some of the pieces. The texture and taste of the meat were all just fairly off, and not all that great. The hamachi was the only pieces that were pretty good, while the Salmon pieces were average. The Tuna and White Tuna were both not all that great. Yes it was a daily special, but it didn’t feel special at all.
Now we come to some of the higher quality fish. The Toro was unfortunately not up to the standards I am used to when I order Toro. It didn’t taste like anything. I could taste the fat, I couldn’t taste the fish, I could really only feel the texture on my tongue, and that was the end of this bland experience.
The Sake Toro was also a disappointment as it pretty much felt like I was eating the same Salmon sashimi I had just ate on the sashimi platter, which is not why I’d be paying more for just to get a slightly higher quality meat, but slightly higher from mostly disappointing doesn’t make it all that much better.
Now, the King Salmon, while it certainly had a different texture than the other two, it was still bland, and not delicious, and was not all that great.
The upside I guess is that the portions here are great, but it does not compensate for the lackluster flavors of the fish, and that was just the most disappointing part of the experience.
Again, something to note, this was lunch time, so I’m not sure how often they get customers that come in to order higher quality fish for lunch, but the quality of fish that I got was just not there, and it felt like they were just not ready to provide better quality food for the night time. It was a nice place inside, the service was fine, the sushi was tasty, but outside of that, everything else was an incredible disappointment, and I’d be hard pressed to come back here for the sashimi anymore, but may take on some more sushi next time… if I come back to try it again since it’s actually a pretty far drive, and not sure it’d be worth it for sub-​par fishery.

I almost didn’t want to write this review because the dining room was not crowded for lunch on Valentine’s Day, and we had such an enjoyable experience, that I selfishly want to keep it that way *horns pop up from my head,* because we will now be regulars here! My husband and I decided to share the omakase combo «B,» and let me tell you, the B stands for BIG!
When we lived in Southern California, we frequently would go to AYCE sushi places for a good value on lots of OK sushi. Typically, our bill is always over $ 100 for the family to enjoy alright sushi and rolls. At Wayne’s, we loved all of the omakase fish selections, and even though we were starving when we got there, we were completely full after devouring large cuts of the best sashimi we’ve ever had! After gorging on the oysters and tasty sushi, we asked for a box to take the rolls home. We were shocked when our bill only totaled $ 80 for the four of us! We even left with a box of rolls that we joyfully snacked on after our visit.

Food is amazing! Service is terrible! My wife and I went on a Friday night at 7. Called ahead and asked for a seat and was told they would hold us one. Arrived and no seats available. After a short wait we were seated and received drinks quickly. Waitress never came back to take our order! Finally, had to stop a different waiter and place our order. 45 minutes later our food arrived and it was delicious. I recommend the oyster special for appetizers. They are amazing! Sushi was cold and fresh! We ordered the combo A. Sashimi pieces were thick cut and amazing. Nigiri was awesome and the two rolls were just enough to round out the combo. Good thing the sushi was the best I’ve ever had or else the rating would have been a lot lower.

My husband and I had a late-​night dinner on Monday, and we really enjoyed it. This is Chinese-​Cantonese owned, and they do a pretty good job. Service was excellent and the venue is causal, simple, and comfortable.
We ordered the caterpillar roll and Golden City roll, the latter per the recommendation of our patient and helpful server. The house sauce looked like a combo of unagi, spicy mayo, and wasabi sauce. We also ordered the goma-​ae (spinach with sesame paste), and it was decent; it’s a couple dollars pricier than other places. My husband commented that it was a little pricey here. If we are nearby, we’d come back, but we have some favorites closer to our home that are closed on Mondays.

I have to say that this place is the best sushi restaurant around! Its actually a bit better than Amakara! Only because there’s no long line. Everything is fresh and Japanese owners that take pride in freshness and to detail, creativity etc.
I was wondering why it’s 4.5 stars. But now I know why. It’s 5 stars in my book!
I ended up ordering about 10 dishes for just between my daughter and I. We did have couple dishes to go.
But, it was just unbelievable! I’m just so glad it’s in a quiet secluded area off bernal/​vineyard where it’s hard to find, just for selfish reasons…

This place totally reminds me of Amami in San Bruno! Cantonese chefs preparing really fresh fish (many straight from Japan) at a very reasonable price. And by reasonable, I mean a 10-​piece omakase for $ 40.
I really loved every fish. The omakase was such a good deal because individually, some of the fish were pricey and added up to more than $ 40. They were all my favorites except the bluefin tuna. It just didn’t taste as good as others I’ve had.
A real surprise was the Happiness Bowl which is slightly misleading because for $ 20, you would expect a massive rice bowl. But this was a couple spoonfuls of ika, ikura, uni, caviar, and black truffles. It’s a really unique combination of flavors and worth trying at least once if you like those items. Aside from the aesthetic, I don’t feel that the caviar added much flavor to the dish.
There were only 2 guys making the sushi for the entire restaurant so some things took some to come out. They did a fantastic job though with the meticulous presentation. I would come back if it weren’t located so far from the freeway, nestled in creepy suburbia.

Noisy. Cold bring a jacket or sweater. Very busy!
Food is so fresh worth waiting! Miso soup the best I’ve had. Spicy salmon & rock n roll very good. Everyone’s food appeared fresh & looked very tasty. Would return

Horrible service. Seriously understaffed. Went on a Friday night around 7. No organization and they gave a table to a couple who were after us. Even after telling the waitress she just shrugged & didn’t do anything.
At least 2 tables were empty and waiting to be cleaned. Instead of seating people they just had a bunch of us waiting.
We sat down and 2 separate waitresses came by asking what we wanted to drink. Then we had to flag her down to take our order.
Food wise we had grilled rice & fried chicken app which were good. Then the chef’s choice plate which had frozen sashimi which was cut too thick. My husband ended not eating half of it. My kids had the udon and they didn’t like it. It tasted like packaged udon noodles. Not going back.

I have been here a few times. I often get takeout. Service here tends to be slow.
A note on the «Spicy Sauce»
I would like to preface this with the fact that I usually like spicy creamy sauces that come on sushi rolls. However, I am not such a fan of Wayne’s. The spicy sauce that they put on the Lion King Roll and the Kamikaze Roll (among others) tastes like it has a strong mayonnaise base. The mayonnaise flavor is too overpowering and, although I do like mayonnaise on some things (hamburger, mixed with ketchup, etc.) sushi just doesn’t seem to be the right mixture. (Note: I am not sure if it is actually mayonnaise, but it tastes like it.)
I still go here due to the convenience and the fact that they have fairly good sushi rolls. I am stuck between a three star rating and a four star. So, I guess I would say heed my warning on the spicy sauce and other than that they are good.
Recommend: Dragon Roll

This place is a hidden gem in Pleasanton. If you love Sushi/​Sashimi, you’ll love this place.
I was delighted to find this place near home, thanks to Unilocalers. We came here for my husband’s birthday and it was a delight. Today we explored quite a bit with the menu… Surprisingly, everything we tried are good.
I can’t wait to go back.

Came here on a weekday after my finals for a treat-​yo-​self lunch and it was definitely a great way to end an awful finals week. I got the sashimi omakase and the mini scallop burger.
The omakase was delicious. The presentation was beautiful, it was decently filling, and the chef definitely had some great combinations. It was still a relatively simple omakase but even then it showed how creative sushi can really be! And of course all the fish was very fresh. Some of the items included bonito with ginger, sunomono w/​crab, seared salmon, kurodai w/​lime, bluefin tuna, and more.
The scallop burger was really interesting too. The scallop itself was so fresh and sweet. It came with a fairly mild spicy tuna and was served over cucumber. It didn’t all come together super well but the ingredients were so fresh and the price wasn’t half bad. And once again the presentation was beautiful.
The waitress was very nice though she didn’t check up on me a lot. She also gave me a slice of green tea cheesecake for dessert. I’m not sure if this was part of the omakase or not. It was a very very dense cheesecake and the green tea flavor didn’t come out too much but I’m not going to protest free dessert.
Overall I love this place and can’t wait to come back. The price wasn’t too bad for the quality and on top of being a place with good sushi, the restaurant itself is actually pretty empty for weekday lunches and a few people were eating alone like me which was great!

First, credit to Unilocal friend George F for writing about Wayne’s Sushi Bistro. We came here for an early Friday night dinner. Its located in a small strip mall that’s somewhat isolated — several miles from the busier business and restaurant area of Bernal Ave.
The restaurant is nicely decorated — red painted walls, Halloween decorations, and nicely printed menus. They offer all sorts of Japanese cuisine — sushi and sashimi of course but also hot entrees, skewers (Yakitori!), and udon.
We shared the chicken, asparagus bacon, and mushroom skewers — all cooked well with a nice seared crust but slightly heavy handed on the sauce, so maybe a tad over-​seasoned. 4 stars.
Veggie Tempura — excellent deal for $ 6.50 — large pieces of carrots, zucchini, broccoli, beans with crispy seasoned breading (just enough) and piping hot inside. 5 stars!
Free miso soup and edamame with our entrée was excellent (5 stars). I liked the free salad too but it had too much dressing (4 stars).
The entrees are where Wayne’s really shines. Omakase Sushi at $ 32 for 10-​pieces is a good value given the high-​quality ingredients they used. This is not your typical, sushi combo as Omakase means «Price is no object, give us your best shot!». My dish had treasures from the sea: creamy fresh oyster nigiri, creamy uni, snow crab leg, fresh scallop, and fresh shrimp — I know since it was light gray and not the cooked pink like amebi. The other 5 dishes had conventional fish toppings like tuna, salmon, hamachi, and Spanish mackerel I believe. All were super fresh and good. Definitely recommend! 5 stars.
The wife got the miso sea bass entrée and it came with a large dish with two filets (skin on) and a pile of sautéed cabbage and veggies (similar to veggies used in Yakisoba) and a bowl of rice with black sesame seeds. I only tried a small bite and the fish was amazing — juicy and yet not too rich from the miso. Just perfect.
It’s a bit out of our way compared to other excellent neighborhood sushi places (Yayume, Senro), but we will definitely come back when the craving hits. Quality and service wise I think they rank right up there with the best, including Wasabi Bistro.

Hands down the best sushi joint in the Tri-​Valley. The rolls here are great, but the main focus should be on their amazing sashimi/​nigiri.
— Omakaze was definitely an amazing experience and I highly recommend it. Great fish selection, fresh ingredients, and beautifully presented.
— Toro is seriously of this world. I always order toro when I get sushi and this is definitely ranked somewhere in my top 5.
— The rolls here are pretty big and are generously packed with fresh fish. 1 and a half rolls is the perfect amount of food for me.
Wayne’s Sushi Bistro is my go to when I’m craving sushi and you should definitely come check it out.