awesome food..great atmosphere..Bernie and Sam and staff do great job...you have to give them a try read more

Bamboo on 2nd - Sushi Bars Near Me - Birmingham, Alabama

See all

Amazing food and service! Such a cool spot for date night. We will definitely be back!

Love the food! Bartenders are always great! I love the creativity of their cocktails! BUT... the way their system is set up for tables and the people at the front desk are terrible. There is limited seating so don't expect to sit for a table larger than 4 very quickly. It was a Friday night and we showed up at 7 for a party of 6. They told us it "wouldn't be long". While waiting and chatting at the bar, we saw multiple tables being sat. So an hour later at 8 we checked back in and they said it would be another hour. That's is not exactly what you think when they saw "it won't be long" and then you have a 2 hour wait. A while back when they opened, the long tables were community tables and first come first serve so we saw a big table leave. The general manager was cleaning it and we walked over in delight to sit. He quickly corrected us in a rude tone to check with the front desk and snapped at one of us. This is he 2nd time we have had this experience with management. Overall point, the food, drinks and waiters can only be so good that it only takes a few people to make you never come back again. read more

The food is very good. It is worth it. I suggest you get wine or beer. The mixed drinks are very watered down. Two women in my party ordered martinis/cosmopolitans. Both had three. The drinks were so weak that three martinis had no effect in an hour. Disappointing! read more

clean. trendy. fresh. a little pricey for sushi but the staff is friendly

I would like to rate this at 4.5. The food is great & service was good. It's a bit small and somewhat cramped but that won't deter me from going back. Really good and reasonably priced. Definitely on the rotation. read more

I love eating here. (But the ad for this restaurant at the Alabama Theater with the big snake makes me want to not come back) Food is delicious. We love to eat at the bar. read more

I can't say enough good things about this place. Sushi was absolutely superb. The staff's recommendations were spot on. Atmosphere was great for a girls night out for catching up. Highly recommend!! read more

Simply outstanding...lived in Cali for years and got very spoiled with GOOD sushi. This is GOOD sushi. Staff is outstanding. Have been several times and will be back often. Ask for an off the menu item called "The Joanna"... Seared tuna with jalapeños and bonzi sauce. Have not had a bad roll and will be back soon. read more

We have been to dinner here several times and love it every time. The food is great. The drinks are great. We were a little sad when they had to let go of their wonderful sandwiches, but understood the business reasons. Plan to wait unless you get there early! read more

Another fun evening at Bamboo on Second! The food was delicious and the service was great. This was our second time here and we love the small plate concept. Fun to try different things and have such a nice mixture of flavors. We will definitely be back. read more

Not sure why this place has such high reviews. The atmosphere was trendy, although the furniture was not comfortable. The service was above average. Otherwise, I would not recommend eating here. The food was average at best and the sushi was bland. Almost all the rolls contain tempura. They do not serve sashimi. I guess there are not many other sushi options in Birmingham; regardless, I will not be going back. Bottom line: nothing special. read more

Neat little place. The decor is modern and has a lot of clean lines. The service was excellent. The food was good, but maybe not my preference. We had the Lemongrass Chicken Skewers and they were pretty good, but I really wasn't a fan of the fried green beans (they were not crisp on the outside like I would have expected, although that isn't me knocking them, they were just a bit different). I also ordered a Ramen Bowl and it was ok, but maybe next time I will order it differently. It was a ton of food and I couldn't put a dent in it. I went with the pork broth and it was a bit rich for my tastes, so I will choose another broth next time. The vibe is cool, but it is very loud, so don't go if you want to have a serious chat over your meal. All and all it was pretty good, just wasn't my favorite. They do have sushi though & I will definately try that on a return visit. read more

I imagine they probably have great food. I wouldn't know because apparently large groups are discouraged. There is one big table for groups of 6+ and we were the third group to arrive. We grabbed drinks at the bar and waited, but after about 30 minutes we were approached, rather rudely, about sitting in the back, splitting up our group. We requested to stay together, or at least split into two tables, which were open along the booth side, but they denied us that request. So an hour later, we finally gave up as the second group was being seated and went across the street to El Barrio, where we were able to sit almost immediately. Definitely disappointed in the attitude and inability to seat groups. But it's probably very nice for date nights as parties of two take priority in the seating set up. Will try to go back with only one other friend so that I can actually try the food that seems to be well reviewed. read more

Very nice restraunt. Nice selection of unique specialty sushi rolls. Awesome place and great service !

I ate at bamboo tonight with my boyfriend and had an amazing experience. We had a sweet little waitress who was very soft spoken and polite, but knew the menu very well and made perfect recommendations for us. We loved everything! Best service we have ever had. Very attentive and caring. Even let us know the Godzilla sauce was hot and requested we get I on the side! I will be back time and time again in the future. read more

As Birmingham's culinary scene continues to thrive with a wide variety of restaurants popping up to satisfy any and all palettes, Bamboo on 2nd is yet another gem bringing life to local cuisine... This is of course what I might have said had I gotten the chance to eat. We arrived at 6 o'clock and waited eagerly for our own chance determine whether Bamboo lived up to the hype. We were rudely told that we would need to wait an hour to an hour and a half. We, with happy and hopeful hearts, happily obliged. Once an hour had passed, I approached the hostess and asked if we were any closer to to being seated. I then discovered that our wait time had not changed. After several minutes of debating whether or not to stay, we left eat elsewhere. An hour later, after we had already eaten at another restaurant nearby, I received a call from the hostess telling us that she would not be able to seat us tonight. We were all left with an unsavory impression of this restaurant and walked away collectively feeling as though we had simply been.... Bamboozled. read more

The food is good, the experience--not so much. We arrived on a Tuesday night around 8:00, hoping the wait would not be as long. A table for two was going to be a 45 minute wait, and we were pleased to hear that we could go have drinks somewhere else and that they would call when the table was ready (especially since there didn't seem to be a designated place to wait inside.) 45 minutes later, I got a call that we weren't going to be able to sit at a table, but that the sushi bar was open. However, when we got there, a table for two had opened up. We ordered the Momos and 2 rolls for dinner. The Momos came out within 5 minutes, and the sushi took another 30 minutes. The waitress repeatedly apologized for the wait, and I heard her explain to other tables that their orders were also going to be another 20 minutes. It seemed like if you ordered sushi, you were immediately told about how long it was going to take...not really what you want to hear from a sushi place, especially at 9:30 in a half empty restaurant. There seemed to be a lot of staff (especially behind the bar) who were not really doing anything, while 2 or 3 people made sushi in the back corner. The food was very good, and we enjoyed everything we had, but the overall experience was not what we expected. It's definitely a trendy downtown sushi place, complete with Godzilla playing behind the bar and loud music, but there seem to be a few kinks that need to be worked out in terms of efficient service and turn time for tables. I would happily try it again after they've been open a little bit longer. read more

I've eaten at Bamboo a number of times. The sushi is pretty good, and many of the other dishes are incredible (pork belly skewers, momos, Kathmandu chicken). I'm giving this place a low rating because of the rudeness of the hostess. Judging from the other reviews, this seems to be a common theme, and I am hopeful management will address the issue. When my friend and I approached the hostess stand, she was distant and rude. She told us the wait would be an hour or an hour and a half. We gave her my cell number, but after discussing, we opted to leave since it was rather late. NINE minutes after we got in my car, the hostess called to say our table was ready. When I told her we left because we were told it would be an hour or longer wait, she acted like she couldn't care less. I know these things are hard to predict, but I've heard this criticism about Bamboo a lot. I hope management won't let their staff ruin an otherwise exceptional restaurant with great food and cool atmosphere. read more

First off, we have eaten here before and the food was good, which is why we were back. This review is for our horrible experience last night, with a jerk of a waiter, which was so negative and annoying that we ended up leaving the restaurant without eating. When dine eat out, we are accepting and forgiving of small things things that fall into the "stuff happens" category as we are there to have a good time. Any one, maybe two, of the offenses by our waiter would normally be shrugged off, but when they were all put together, along with his condescending, snarky manner, it was too much. When we first sat down, he came over and, without saying a word, picked up my wife's pocketbook and moved it from where she had it on the table in front of her to the bench beside me. She was outraged that anyone would touch her purse without permission, but didn't say anything, just put it back so she had access to the reading glasses inside. When my wife, who is in recovery, asked for a Diet Coke, he cocked his head and raised his eyebrows at her as though she'd done something wrong and said, "What, no alcohol?" Really? How dare you condescendingly try to foist alcohol on anyone who has chosen not to drink. Next when he brought our drinks, my wife put hers by her right hand and, again without asking, he grabbed it and moved it all the way to the left side of the table and in a tone that sounded like he was scolding a messy child said, "I like to keep everything together on the left side of the table." Again, we just looked at each other like WTF, shook our heads and she moved it back where she wanted it. Then it came time to order, and my wife, having studied their online menu before we came, knew exactly what she wanted, a beef sandwich which he informed her they no longer served. Ok, that happens, so she ordered a salad and started looking at the menu to choose an entrée. While she was doing that, I ordered a combination of items that included sushi. I asked him not to bring out my food while she was eating her salad, that we wanted all of our entrées together. He said, "I can't do that." Another WTF? So I asked why not. He said when he places the order for the sushi, it comes out more quickly than the rest of the food. So I said, "Then how about waiting to order the sushi until she's finished with her salad, because I don't want it till after." He then forgot or blew off the fact that my wife was still looking for her main course and turned his back on me, flicked his wrist in the air in a dismissive manner, and, looking over his shoulder, said sarcastically, "I'll try my best." That was it. As soon as I could catch his eye, about 2 minutes after that, I motioned him over and asked how much I owed him for the Diet Coke because we were leaving. He said, "It's too late, I've already put the order in." Holy Crap! Are you trying to tell me after 2 minutes that you are going to try to force me to stay and eat or pay for a meal that hasn't been prepared when I've said I don't want to be here? I looked him directly in the eyes and said in an unmistakably firm tone, "I don't care. Cancel it. I'll pay for the drink, but we are leaving." He went and conferred with someone and came back and said the drink was on them, and we left. read more