Yojimbo - Alameda

4 out of 5 sushi place. The speciality rolls were decent. The nigiri was tasty but didn't seem super fresh. Would go back if my go-to was closed.

With all the raving reviews, I really had high hopes for Yojimbo... To start things off, parking is a major headache. Good luck finding street parking and I 'm not even talking about anything remotely close!! The streets on both sides are filled thanks to the many businesses within the vicinity. I was kind of confused at the initial entering of Yojimbo. It seems to be as though you enter through the quasi kitchen which eventually leads into seating. The restaurant is a narrow strip and an assortment of art decorates the entire restaurant. There are 2 tiny tables located outside for those who are interested in outdoor dining. The menu in itself offers appetizers, bento boxes, ramen, rice bowls, and nigiri ala carte. There are a number of sushi rolls which all come with pictures to help assist with your choice makings. Since we had a late lunch, our party decided to order lighter than we normally do. Dinner consisted of: California Roll Miso Soup Sashimi Bento [comes with rice, salad, miso soup] sodas Food: California roll was on the small side but I wasn 't really mad. I kind liked the filling ration Vs the rice surrounding the nori this was the perfect size for my 3yo to enjoy. The only downside was the rice being really blotchy and not evenly spread around the sushi roll. The miso soup was amazing. This is by far the best miso soup we 've had flavorings were perfectly seasoned and the tofu and seaweed pieces were extremely generous. The tofu cubes weren 't teeny tiny and didn 't primarily consist of simply liquids. I 'd come back solely for this!! The sashimi bento was great when it came down to portion size but the quality was not there. The salad itself was so massive, it took over half of the container. The rice portion was no different normally a small heaping of rice inverted from a small bowl is provided but Yojimbo uses those plastic soup containers. This place is a rice lover 's dream!! The sashimi is where things go downhill. There seemed to be 4 types of fish provided and cuts of the fish ranged from thick to misshaped smaller pieces as if leftover bits were just thrown in as fillers. Before anyone find this as a petty complaint, let me be clear that the random shapes and sizes didn 't bother me. The problem with the fish was the tuna being still frozen in the middle nothing fully solid but it was undeniably some bite due to the ice bits. A secondary fish was also extra chilly internally not frozen but abnormally colder than normally. The remaining 2 assortment of fish didn 't have any issues. 3 stars overall. Not only was the quality and dining experience lacking but it was super weird for the staff to stand right at the table while we were paying for the tab. She literally stood there and waited as cash was being pulled out and she immediately took the bill to process. I 'm not sure if that 's the normal protocol for the restaurant or if they just wanted a speedy turnover rate... but there was plenty of seating still available in the restaurant. The experience could only be defined as meh .

Really good food, (in fairly large servings if you're hungry), pretty good service, and the atmosphere is amazing. They have lots of art, little figurines, and they play a lot of great movies (mostly Studio Ghibli as far as I could tell) on the TVs. Great place.

100% a stumbled upon GEM! It looks like it's nestled in a side alley in old Tokyo. Wow. And the sweetest service. Giant bowls of noodles

I've had their sushi several times now... It is exceptional. I highly recommend Combo C for 2-3 people.