Isushi - Castro Valley

Delicious and fresh every time I've gone here. Definitely worth the price.

We loved it. Although the place doesn't' look fancy, it serves fantastic and unique food. The dishes were all delicious, interesting and surprising. Highly recommend.

We came here on a weekend afternoon and found it to only be occupied by one other group when we walked in. Service was not the best. Waitress didn't seem happy to be there and seemed irritated at times with us, especially my young kids. We ordered a chicken ramen for the kids (they substituted with miso broth since they only had spicy ramen broth available). The chicken was cooked well, but the ramen was soft and overcooked. I ordered a sashimi salad for myself. The sashimi was not fresh and so disappointing. It was equivalent to supermarket sushi that's been sitting there the whole day. The color also looked off, and the fish had a leathery taste. Fish should not taste like this. Salad was mediocre and drizzled with heavy cream dressing, which I didn't like as it washed out the flavor of the fish. I guess in hindsight, that might have been good since the fish was the worst part. My husband got a chirashi bowl, which had the worst sashimi he has ever had. He let me try the sushi rice, and it tasted very off. It was almost like they put only vinegar and little mirin to balance the vinegar flavor. It also tasted a little old. We paid a whopping $75 before tip. Definitely not worth the price. Also the restaurant was very rundown with part of the front broken wood covered by some cardboard. I will not eat here again and don't recommend it given the much better options in the area such as Tancho.

I can see why the reviews are deteriorating. There is nothing that separates this place from every other Chinese-owned Japanese restaurant that does the bare minimum. The vibe is totally run down, awkward and pressuring. I would've loved to try the items that people raved about years ago, but they don't come in small quantities anymore and they're super expensive.

The food was good. Portion size has not changed, but the prices have definitely changed. I have made pictures for the updated prices. $10 for imitation crab in the small version of California reels are a bit... Sushi roll down was Brynne and Madison for $18. You are right, I was not full and this price is what a regular price full meal would be elsewhere. It tastes good, but I'm sorry, isn't common as often due to prices.