Judy Margaret Chen
Small restaurant in the outskirts of Downtown San Mateo. The restaurant was not busy, just a few customers dining when we arrived. Yet, the wait time was still so long while we were supposed to be next in line.
Food was average. They were all too salty for my taste buds. We ordered one Special Poke Bowl and one Shrimp Udon. The water bottle could be too pricey here.
… moreAileen Hokama
I came here to take a couple of onigiris to-go on to my plane ride the next day. I got the salmon ume and the tarako. You order from the screen as soon as you get in, and the options they have is quite impressive. I stuck to some typical flavors and was really happy with the salmon ume one. I usually get mentaiko, which is a spicy tarako, and the tarako seemed like it was cooked and not raw? I wouldn’t recommend the tarako if you’re expecting it to be like mentaiko. However, it was really good and even though I ate it the next morning, it was still really delicious. I’d come back for sure and would recommend this place.
… moreKristy AKI Oshiro
Very fresh and tasty Japanese food, reasonable prices, travels well so excellent choice for delivery.
We get the rice bowls from here all the time via UberEATS and they are always outstanding. There are so many choices and a variety of fresh veggies stuffed into each bowl.
Rice bowls have a base of partially killed brown rice and mixed greens. On top is washable salad, red cabbage, carrot, edamame, takuan, onion, and THREE choices from a huge list of seasoned meats, seafood, and veggie dishes.
I really like the miso nasu eggplant, spicy beef, and spicy shrimp, my partner likes the shrimp tempura, teriyaki chicken and teriyaki tofu. We both love the creamy sesame dressing which is like kewpie roasted sesame dressing (there are other options)
We also like the takuan (pickled radish) so much that we order a full side order. It is SO satisfyingly crunchy and the sound of the crunch penetrates your brain in the best way.
… morecav kat
We had baked salmon (okok ) , snow crab ( liked ) , unagi ( (liked ), miso tuna ( not special). 2 for each person was good. Could go with set or bento, but we just wanted to try Onigilly first. Will go back to try more.
… moreAngelica Gemo
My first time here and I always wanted to try it. I finally had the opportunity and it was great! It’s located in a tiny lot, surrounded by 7-11 and zen noodle (which is great too, if you want to try them). There was plenty of parking when we went. The restaurant was clean, they had a lot of seating and I thought it was pretty spacious inside for their size. The restaurant has bar stools, a few seats outside, and tables inside. There is a large menu above and 2 tablets to place your order. The employees were busy making food. We took a while to order because there were so many good options. We finally ordered two flavors of onigilly, to try: one miso nasu which is fried eggplant with miso sesame and green onion, and hijiki which is braised seaweed, carrot, tofu and edamame. I got a salad bowl with mixed greens, seaweed, red cabbage, shredded carrot, edamame, and onion. It includes three proteins: I chose unagi, krab salad and spicy miso beef. My sister ordered a poke bowl: ahi tuna, mixed greens, seaweed, krab salad, cucumber, corn, shredded carrot and red cabbage. We both chose the sesame dressing, however, we didn’t use it. There was so much flavor in our bowls already that it really didn’t need it. Everything was delicious and so flavorful. Definitely worth it and I can’t wait to come back and try other items.
… moreDanika Miller
I LOVE Onigilly San Mateo!!! Tasty, affordable, and AMAZING customer service!! I am obsessed with the miso tuna, teriyaki tofu, and krab salad onigillys.
… moreJoyce Lam
This small Japanese fast food is clean and simple with a few small tables and a couple outdoor tables.
Onigiris are great. Udon and bowls are decent for fast food. The teriyaki chicken is not that great though.
… moreLisa Huang
I was skeptical of this place thinking it’d be extremely gimmicky but was overall pleasantly surprised. The onigiris were pretty good and had a great amount of filling. The poke bowl was also good for its price. My only disappointment was in the quality of the salmon, it seemed to be a cheaper cut or something.
… moreNancy Chou
I believe this place is operating as a “ghost kitchen” or side gig of another business — a quick search shows that there’s also a “Curry Ninja” and “Tokyo Poke” located at the same address, with the same food photos. In addition to a catering company.
I got a “build your own” poke bowl with salmon, Shio Koji poke sauce, and “Original-Non-Oil” dressing.
This bowl is definitely a step above the normal ones. Flavor was different than what I was expecting, but delicious. Good variety of toppings, good balance of flavors, not overly sweet or salty. Love that it’s real seaweed salad, not the Yellow #5 Blue #1 stuff that most poke places offer. Highly recommend the Shio Koji sauce. I didn’t know what “Original-Non-Oil” dressing was, the ordering system doesn’t say, but I was feeling brave so I got it. It’s some sort of vinegar/vinegarette. Everything in the bowl was fresh. It comes default with half brown rice and half mixed greens. Very filling portion size too.
Only complaint is that I like a little bit of a spicy kick which wasn’t present here. To be fair, maybe there was an option in the ordering system that I missed.
The place faces a back alley road and looks like some sort of warehouse. Amazing poke bowl tho, highly recommend!
… moreNatsumi
Even from a Japanese perspective, the food here is good. The poke bowl in particular was even better than the one I had in Hawaii. I’ll definitely come back!!:)
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