Smile Sushi

Smile sushi is now has happy hours everyday from 5−7pm!
All the cold/​hot (house) sakes and kitchen appetizers are half off!
Maki Sushi and Special Rolls are 20% off!
SJSU students 15% at any time except happy hours!

I know the place has been reported closed — and I’m not surprised at all.
My girlfriend and I went here a few weeks back and we certainly did not smile. This place was not particularly tasty, presented value or was that interesting.
+ Value was poor
+ Service was kind of poor
+ Taste was average to poor
+ Pricey considering the type of restaurant
Not happy to see anybody close, would prefer they fix their issues but having said that try Fuji Sushi or Good Karma for a better experience.

Though This spot is no longer called «Smile Sushi,» it’s just as good! The previous owner, Jack, sold the restaurant to his cousins and most of my favorite rolls are still on the menu. There are a lot of new rolls to try as well.
I’m sad to see Jack go, but so happy that Ozu Sushi does not disappoint with its delicious rolls!

Decent sushi place downtown with good lunch specials. You can pick either two items or three items. If you pick two sushi items cost more. During my few visits there, I haven’t had a chance to try their sushi rolls since I’ve been coming for lunch and found the most value out of their lunch specials. I usually go with the sashimi and gyoza. All lunch specials come with miso soup and salad.
Overall, it’s a decent place to stop by within walking distance from work for lunch. Service tends to be a bit on the slower end.

Great deal for lunch. 2 Item or 3 Item bento boxes will fill you up! Their sushi is fresh as is everything else there. A 2 item bento comes with salad, miso, rice and then an appetizer, teriyaki fish/​chicken/​beef or tempura or a sushi roll. 3 item gets you one more item!
Can be a bit slow on occasion, that is why only 4 stars.

The lunch specials here are fantastic. Generous portions and fresh fish. I had some salmon sashimi and I loved it. It wasn’t mushy. It was fresh… enough.
I didn’t see any other sushi place around except for one other. I will have to try that one too. However, the lunch specials are good enough for someone to stop by and grab some sushi.
Not sure about the service. We did have to wait quite a while for the food. Of course, when I went, the restaurant was packed. I was also in a hurry so I just ate everything quickly.
So my over all criteria for this place is cheap lunch special that won’t disappoint. Any other time during the day… you’re on your own.

Second review. Actually crappier than I remember. I sat at the bar, which was a mistake, cuz the sushi chef was just YELLING at everyone. Uncool, dude.
Also the crazy roll was not rolled tight enough, same as last time, causing the damn thing to fall apart everywhere. Sigh. Making sushi rice is pretty essential, and if they don’t know how to make it, then they have no business making sushi in the first place.

I work in DT San Jose and there’s really no AWESOME sushi joint in this area. This place is my go-​to spot if I’m jonsing for sashimi during lunch. I always get the two item bento box to-​go for less than $ 10. Most of the time I’ll be doing sashimi and beef teriyaki. Both are satisfying enough. I get five cuts of sashimi (usually two tuna and three salmon) and it’s good sized portions as well. The beef teriyaki is nothing to rave about but it hits the spot. I have tried the chicken and pork katsu. Very forgettable. The gyozas were good enough. Have tried the crazy roll and liked it enough.
It’s 8.95 for two item box, and $ 11.95 for three items. Comes with miso soup, salad, and rice. Reasonable enough. If you get more than one item from the rolls section, it’s an additional charge. I’ve done the math and concluded it’s not cost effective that way. Not sure how service is dining in, but they’ve always been prompt and friendly when I come to pay and pick up my order.

For a restaurant located in DTSJ, I definitely expected a lot more. I was craving sushi so despite its mediocre reviews on Unilocal,I decided to give it a chance and try it out. We got seated around 7:30 PM on a Thursday night, and at the time there was only one other diner in the restaurant… whaaat. There was only one waitress staffing the entire restaurant, but it made sense considering it was so slow.
Food:
First off, in both the tuna poki salad and in the Sexy Sexy roll, the tuna tasted as if it was just defrosted! Who knew how long it’s been sitting in the freezer… The flavor of the two dishes were good itself, but the taste of that tuna really threw it off. One of the litmus tests for a successful sushi restaurant is the freshness of its fish, and it definitely failed on that. No wonder it didn’t have that many customers. However the cooked rolls were fantastic. I was impressed by the Hurrican roll, which had wakame, crab, and spicy tuna? Either way all components in that dish were cooked so it tasted pretty bomb. Definitely wasn’t expecting that combo in a roll but it works. I also liked how they fried their rolls in their tempura rolls; it’s light and crispier, comparable to the veg tempura batter.
Service:
The waitress was nice and accommodating but she was rarely in sight when we needed her. I’m a pretty patient person but my boyfriend is not :/​
Also, they have a 10% discount for SJSU students! I’m definitely willing to give this place another shot for the Hurrican roll, but I wouldn’t recommend anything else here until they serve fresher fish…

My first impression was it’s a small whole in the wall. Granted it was a Sunday evening and wasn’t very busy.
It was a pleasant surprise. I was very pleased with the friendly service.
The menu was a bit limited. However, the sushi chef is very generous with his portions, and the fish was very fresh.
Prices were reasonable. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a nice quaint little sushi place.

3 combo, gyoza, salmon teriyaki, sashimi.
Came here for lunch. Its pretty small, right in DTSJ. Décor is typical.
Really friendly and prompt service. Food was about average.

They give a discount for SJSU students and their sushi is very good! Sashimi tastes fresh and they serve you really quick.

My first night in San Jose, I decided to take the light rail and just check out the downtown area. Although passing through Japantown and suggestions from friends, fresh fish was on my mind. I really didn’t have any place in mind, but as I was walking around, I saw the Unilocal sticker and the… over 200 reviews! Wow, it is going to be a completely new experience moving out to the west coast…
Anyways, I walked in and was promptly greeted by my server and I asked if I could sit at the bar. Hey, I was a lone and was curious to see what new fish would be behind the glass. There was a table of students and another student came in to also sit at the bar, but the place was oddly empty. Maybe I was there late, or early, or it was a slow night, or they mostly run the lunch crowd but I was shocked considering how good the food was.
I decided to be simple and get the Nigiri Deluxe. My meal came with a great little salad and some soup and by the time I was finished with both the sushi plate was ready. Good amount of food and it was nice to get some of this fish this fresh. The albacore was different, but the regular tuna was delicious.
I would gladly return, especially when I found they do bento boxes. And the most fascinating part of the experience was watching the sushi chef slice up what seemed like an endless supply of huge salmon fillets.

Tried the soft shell crab
and the lion king roll
Fair food. wasnt too busy even on a saturday.

3.5 stars, sushi was not bad.
Located downtown SJ, small sit-​down sushi restaurant. Originally we were supposed to go to Original Joes, but that was an hour wait so we walked here instead. Luckily, there was no wait.
Hawaiian Poke — (3 stars) They left out that it was «spicy»! They put lots of sriracha and placed the poke on top of some greens, but it was not bad. It was no Hawaii poke, but it was ok.
Samurai — (3.5 stars) yellow tail, salmon, and eel. mmm. I love eel so yes this was good, I only had one piece but I liked this one.
Hurrican — (4 stars) this was definitely my favorite roll here! It was a maki roll, which are larger with everything wrapped in seaweed. Funny cuz we only ordered this from making fun of the typo, and it turned out to be the best dish =P fried spicy tuna with seaweed and crab. Yum!
Liong King — (3 stars) I’ve had Lion King almost everywhere, so sorry I didn’t take a picture. But this Lion King was not bad, a bit more on the cheesy side. I said it tasted like a pizza and my friend said it tasted more like a burger lol.
Sake — (4 stars) Their hot sake was actually really good though. It went down smoothly unlike other places when it just tastes like rubbing alcohol. There was a loud table next to us doing sake bombs. A large sake was $ 7 and gave 3 people 3 – 4 shots each.
FOOD: 3.5 stars
AMBIANCE: casual, japanese decorated, small sit down restaurant
PRICE: ~$ 9 – 13 a roll
SERVICE: 3 stars
OVERALL: Ok place if you’re downtown and want sushi. Not the best, so location plays the upper hand. I’d get Hurrican (not cane) and Sake! ;)

Whenever I go down to CA to visit my friends, we ALWAYS come here. It’s just two blocks from where my friend’s apartment is, and the sushi is always fresh (we go on Thursday night or Friday night, since we know that they get their fish deliveries on Thursday morning.
And Smile Sushi doesn’t break the bank! I LOVE uni — and so does the friend that I stay with. We usually stick to what we like, or ask the chef what is the freshest, and get that. I’ve never been disappoint. My friend, before hanging out with a lot, used to only get Spicy Tuna rolls and CA rolls. Now he’s down to try everything. Our usual order will have us both eating Hamachi, Masago w/​quail egg, tobiko w/​quail egg, scallop, surf clam, albacore tune or white tuna (I don’t know what kind «white tuna» is, but it’s definitely fattier than albacore, which is also «white». But «white tuna» is super white and very smooth.
We usually order via phone and walk back with like four takeout boxes of sushi. And it’s also affordable (my friend had lived in the downtown area since getting his MA in Econ), and so walkable. I don’t know how we’d do walking after all the sushi that we always order and sake… That’s why we go home to gorge. LOL

I loved this place. I’d walk from SJSU to have some sushi rolls all the time. This was the closest place with good sushi for a college student. The prices were decent and I usually went when the rush hour was dead so there was a nice quiet atmosphere. I’d get some of my studying done too.
This was the first sushi restaurant I went to that added fruit to sushi. Pretty unique and untraditional idea but it had it’s own character.
If I was still a student, I’d probably go there again. Now it’s just hard b/​c downtown SJ parking is so confusing

3.5
Solid lunch place. I had a simple 2 item lunch: CA roll and spicy tuna rolls. Note, if you order 2 sushi items from the lunch 2 – 3 piece menu, you will have to add $ 2 to the stated price. It was served with miso soup and salad. The miso soup was ok, and had tiny pieces of tofu in it. I didn’t touch the salad because the dressing looked pink and unnatural. My company seemed to enjoy their food as well.

Omg! What’s the deal?! Was it a Lilliputian dinner that we had? I swear it was the smallest of sashimi slices in my whole adult life that I’ve encountered.
Portion and prices didnt match at all. I’m not to complain about prices. I think if you eat out you’re prepared to shell out money for good food, good service and some portion in there to at least somewhat commensurate for the price.
This place has fresh sashimi but it was shocking to see a $ 13 sashimi with miniature slices of fish. I was shocked!
I’ll throw in a good word for service and freshness of fish. Besides that I have said what I can. My Momma taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say about someone don’t say it! But a fish is not someone! Lol!
C’est La Vie!

I’m very sorry, Smile Sushi. I walked by you, oh so many times… I have never paid attention to you because I knew you to be one of them from the name of the restaurant and the look of you (Sushi place operated by non-​Japanese peeps).
Yes, I was very wrong. I came here for a late lunch on a weekday as this was one of fav. places for my co-​worker.
Got there after 12. We didn’t have to wait to be seated, nor service was slow. Good thing!
Two of us ordered four (4) rolls; Caterpillar Roll, Gangster Roll, Lion King Roll, Sharks Roll, They were all yummy, and I really enjoyed each one of them.
Might not be a good place if you’re into authentic Japanese cuisine, but if you are like me who enjoy the unique sushi rolls, you should give a shot at this place!