I heard so much about Sumika about their great yakitori. Unfortunately yakitori is available only at dinner and I only had time to stop by during lunch hour. There are several public parking available and took me about five minuets to find a spot during lunch hour on weekday. They were busy but had one seat available at the counter. I really debated between oyako don and gyu harami don. I wish I have a stomach to digest both. After a much consideration, I decided to order gyu harami don. Beef was so tender, juicy and flavorful. I loved every bite of it, now I can't stop wondering how good oyako don is and I really need to come back here to try their yakitori someday. Lunch comes with salad, soup and pickles. Just right portion size and price is reasonable for lunch. Friendly service and really good food, when can I come back to the Bay Area? read more

Sumika - Gyu harami don - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

If you're MSG sensitive, stay away from the udon soup and the agadashi tofu. I had both these items for lunch and got massive stomach and headaches after. So why the 4 stars? Their food is so tasty! Twice for lunch and once for dinner. First lunch I ordered the agadashi tofu lunch and added a side of udon soup. I was really sick afterwards. It was bad. 2nd time I came for dinner and had the skewers. If you're into unadulterated food, you will enjoy it here. You can really taste the light charcoal flavor and light seasoning.. probably of msg. I only had a very slight headache this time. Third time for lunch again, ordered the seared tuna bowl (amazing) and a side of udon soup. Yep you guessed it, stomach ache and headache.. albeit not as bad as the first time. I know I am a glutton for punishment. I have decided to stay completely away from the soup or broths. The rest I can suck it up because it's damn good. 4 stars. read more

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Great Japanese izakaya in the area! Made a 5:30pm reservation on a Saturday night. There's a very small lot right outside, with plenty of street parking. I saw a long line waiting when I walked in. FOOD - great but not always consistent. Sumika salad (half) - very refreshing and flavorful with tomato slices and shredded chicken. Salad sauce was light. Portion was huge for half size. Oyako Don (chicken thigh mixed with egg over rice) - highlight of the night! Chicken was super tender and juicy, and the egg was cooked perfectly. There was just enough soy sauce, everything blended well together. Momo (chicken thigh yakitori) - juicy with right amount of salt. Tsukune (meat ball yakitori) - super flavorful, will be better with rice. Black sesame panna cotta - second highlight of the night! A little pricey but SO good. Came with whipped cream, small sesame crisp, and salty red bean paste. Butter soy sauce scallops - scallops were big but a little dry. Mune Ume (chicken breast with plum sauce yakitori) - chicken breast was too bland and dry, ume sauce is overpowering and too sour. Will not get again. Enoki roll wrapped in pork - very bland and mushroom flavor was too strong. Only took one bite, will not get again. Soy flavored chicken karage - the chicken was drenched in soy sauce, way too salty to stomach. Returned the dish and the item was taken off of our bill. Overall, a good dining experience at Sumika! I'll definitely be back, but will probably stick to what I already know is good. read more

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Hidden gem in Los Altos. Delicious and different! Highly recommend! When you're in the mood for Japanese but not sushi.

I wish I could give negative for the review. I stopped by with my son yesterday. I order around $33 to eat there and around $44 togo. When billing, the tips is around $11.92. This is almost 40% of $33. Then I found they charge my togos as well. My understanding is tips are for services while eating e.g. cleaning tables, carring food, etc. I asked what kind of service you provided for my togos? He said "packaging". and he also mentioned that only togos ordered with other platforms are not charged with tips. wouldn;t you package if order online? Anyway, he charged tips for my togos which doesn't make sense at all. Their attitude reminders me of my friend's joke that is the restaurants in bayareas think people are rich but stupid so they could charge more without their notice. Please do not go this restaurant again! We somehow help them build this attitude that they think we are stupid. read more

Yum! I came here to celebrate a birthday and was very happy with the yakitori quality. The agedashi tofu, egg, fried garlic, and chicken thighs were particularly memorable. None of the dishes missed the mark though I did find the chicken breast to be less tasty (certainly healthier). The food was beautiful and high quality; the service was also attentive. This is the best yakitori restaurant I have tried in South Bay. read more

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Prices have increased, while the taste has deteriorated. Additionally, the service lacks promptness. It used to be one of the best Yakitori restaurants. read more

Yakitori was burnt badly and has no charcoal smell. It tasted bitter. We also ordered the famous karaage, but the chicken taste funny, you can tell the chicken is slightly ......... I am slightly disappointed. read more

Sumika - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

Sumika's yakitori experience (only for dinner) leaves much to be desired. As everyone says, make sure to make reservations because the value proposition is even worse if you have to spend an hour or two waiting. Sumika's small, sort of dingy looking vibe prides itself on being an authentic experience but it's a bit of a hit and miss. Some of the food options were excellent while others seriously made me question the hype, price, size and other issues one has to put up with to enjoy a bite or two. The Uni Sunomono, a sea urchin charred on top with an onion salad underneath is quite delicious, fresh and unlike most of their dishes, you are given a good portion for the money (quality uni is expensive). Note: we ordered it a different time and it was prepared in a completely different manner. The Oyako-Don (oyakodon) had a perfectly runny egg mixed with the chicken and rice. It may very well be the best oyakodon in the Bay!!! Most izakaya places don't specialize in this and even if it's offered, it is subpar (completely different style of preparation and cooking). This is not the case here and I'd highly recommend it. The Ebi (shrimp) was also very fresh and grilled to perfection, leaving not much more to be desired. That being said, everything else was either too dry, too bland, and just mediocre at best. It's sad because you can tell they used quality product but the end result was disappointing, especially for a Michelin recommended restaurant. The tontoro (pork cheek) was so dry that it lost all its juicy flavor, the Sumika salad was bland, the enoki maki (pork wrapped enoki mushroom) tasted almost like rubber which was shocking. Keep in mind this was Saturday night so you'd think they'll bring their A game... nope. The service was a similar hit and miss situation. At times they were very attentive and other times you had to wave for 5 minutes to get their attention; that's after they haven't walked by in the past 20-30minutes to check on you (especially since we did note we'll keep ordering more and more). I think we asked for water 3 times before they finally remembered to bring it and of course we never got a refill despite our cups sitting empty for the other half of the meal. Overall, this place is entirely overhyped and there are much better places in the Bay to get the authentic Japanese experience at comparable prices without the shortcomings of long lines, poor service and overcooked/bland meat for half the dishes. Other than possibly returning to get very specific items that were truly spectacular (uni, oyakodon, shrimp, etc.), I don't see myself ever going back. read more

Sumika - ebi, unagi, tontoro, momo???, uni sunomono, kobe beef negi, oyakodon, Sumika salad, and enoki maki - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

I am afraid this restaurant is experiencing end times. The yakitori is now completely unseasoned - neither tare or shio or yuzukosho on any of the skewers. The chicken skin skewers were raw and when a new batch was brought to the table, they were unseasoned and burned. This used to be a superb yakitori restaurant. No more. read more

We wanted to order take out for pick up through Doordash for the Los Altos location since it was closer to us than the Homestead one, but Doordash only offered Homestead location. It would be nice if they offered both locations for pick up on Doordash. So in order to pick up from the Los Altos location, we went on the restaurant's website directly to order. Which is fine. Although, it was a bit frustrating being rushed through by the ordering site on a timer with only 7-8 mins to review through the menu, and trying to type in your payment information as fast as possible or you have to start all over again. Not sure why there would be a timer? Unless they're limited with the amount of food they make each day in order to "hold" your portion of the food? So that wasn't a nice experience, and 7-8 mins was just not enough time. I wanted to order the Gyu Don that I saw on Doordash, but that wasn't available at the Los Altos location either, the only beef don option was the Roast Beef Don, which was way overly priced for $25 a bowl with a big bowl full of mostly rice and not enough beef. Although, the sweet onion sauce that came with it was very tasty and complimented the beef very nicely. Same with the chicken momo thigh grill sticks with the green spicy salsa sauce. Loved the charcoal grilled smell on the meats and the sauces were delicious. read more

Sumika - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

The food is incredible but there's a huge gripe I have with the online ordering system. I can't understand how the mandatory 18% service charge is justified for take-out. Bake it into the prices if you really need that extra money, but for larger orders we're paying a premium of $25+ and we get unequal (less) service compared to dine-in customers. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to order a single rice bowl and appetizer here, only for the price to reach $40. It's price gouging. It's especially lame because their sister restaurant Orenchi, which serves identical menu items, doesn't charge the premium. Frankly Sumika is the only restaurant in the South Bay that does this. It really needs to be changed. read more

So interesting - when I first came here with my friend, I remembered not liking the food. As a result, I never returned to this place for over a year. One day, another friend really wanted to check this place out so we came, and I ended up surprisingly liking the food (except for their tofu, which was a little too bland, and their beef tongue, which was a little too chewy for my taste). Maybe they improved their flavors for the other plates, but this place is worth checking out. You should definitely make reservations, because it's a rather small place that gets packed easily. Overall, service is great, the servers were all so polite and kind. read more

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Terrible, terrible service! Ordered 4 items. Waited over half an hour and got 3. People who came and sat down next to us got all their food before us, finished their food and left, our 4th item has not been served. And it was an hour! The 4th item was chicken wings! Did you guys have to go to a farm and kill a chicken for the wings? We canceled the wings. Complained to server but no discounts or compensation for the extremely bad experience! Food was unremarkable but service was unacceptable! Never come back! read more

Sumika - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

We've been to Sumika so many times that I thought I'd written a review. It's one of our favorite restaurants and the best place around for yakitori. I'd recommend making dinner reservations since they are a small but popular restaurant. The lunch menu is limited, so if you want to try all of their dishes, dinner is a better time to visit. Some of our favorites include the oyako-don (must order), Sumika salad, chicken karaage, and any of the meat skewers. They specialize in chicken so I recommend trying at least a few of the chicken skewers. For dessert, the frozen custard pudding is delicious! Parking is sometimes full in the Sumika parking lot, so you may need a few extra minutes to find street parking. read more

Their SKEWERS. Holy. SO mouthwateringly good, Im obsessed. We got the Kawa (Skin), American Wagyu Beef, Enoki Roll, Pork Belly with Garlic Sauce, Butter Soy Sauce Scallops. All of them were really good, and I can't really pinpoint my favorite. The Enoki Roll is probably the most unique tasting one though. All the meat was so melt-in-your-mouth delicious with great flavor profiles without being overly salty. We also got their Oyako Don which was really great as well, although expensive. It had a substantial portion of chicken and was well-seasoned. We also got the Green Tea Creme Brulee and the Black Sesame Panna Cotta as desserts. The Creme Brulee was whatever, but the Panna Cotta was delicious with such a great Black Sesame flavor and creamy texture. Mmmmm. Service was great and we felt attended to the whole time. The skewers do take some time to come out though (not complaining though because they tasted fresh). Just a note to try to order them all in the beginning, so you get a steady stream of food comin' to ya. We came on a weekday dinner with a reservation and would recommend definitely making a reservation if you can, since its a small, but pretty poppin' place. read more

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I was a bit disappointed with their limited menu selection. For the price you pay, I expected more. It's very typical yakitori that you pay 1/3 less elsewhere. Given by its location, the cost of the rent is passed down to their customers. Corkage fee is really expensive -$35 for sake!!! (Twist and turn by myself) Will not return again read more

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Glad they take reservations otherwise it might be hard to get a table. Overall the restaurant is pretty good, came twice before. (Video: https://youtu.be/3zolQNi5nHM) Some of our favorites: Sumika salad, Momo, Sori, Beef tongues (and cartilage but they ran out this time) Mune Yuzu is good but a bit dried since it's chicken breast Love the black sesame panna cotta! read more

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this place is VERY GOOD things we got: sumika salad (5/5): one of my favorite dishes. crunchy and coated with a sauce that was slightly salty and sour (ish) with a hint of sesame oil. highly recommend to share as an appetizer for the table spicy karaage (4.5/5): this maraage is one of the best ive had. not too oily and the perfect amount of breading (although some parts had no chicken, the fried bits tasted good still). the spicy sauce wasn't actually too spicy and added a nice flavor oyaku-don (4.5/5): the texture of the rice was so well cooked and balanced the flavor of the sauces. it was not too salty and the runny egg was a nice touch. my only complaint was that the ratio of rice to chicken and egg was slightly high and there was ALOT of rice charcoal grilled chicken bento (5/5): WOW the chicken was grilled so nicely and ahad a charred taste. I like how they give the teriyaki sauce on the side so its not drenched, and you have the choice to eat the charred chicken alone. the picked ginger and cucumber in the middle were really good, as well as the lotus, carrot and mushroom mixture (lotus root was my favorite even though i usually don't like it). the potato salad and and tamagoyaki were great and not too salty at all charcoal grilled mackerel bento (4.5/5): it was so nicely grilled and the saba was very tender. if you aren't into little bones however, i would stray away since one piece had ALOT of bones. Still it was grilled nicely but very little (usually is like this though) overall, great place with good service and nice set food. i recommend coming with friends to just share some grilled dishes read more

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tldr: Best Japanese Izakaya joint in South Bay. The skewers are a bit pricey, but the ingredients are high quality. To-die-for oyakodon (chicken and egg rice bowl). Good selection of Japanese desserts. Sumika specializes in Japanese Izakaya (grilled potpourri) dishes. The skewers include grilled chicken to okra. There are always special skewers including the chicken and green onion, which is a popular Japanese specialty. The oyakodon dish is one of the best I have had in the U.S. The egg has the oozy consistency that is desired. The chicken is extremely tender. The desserts are light and delicately composed. It won't weigh you down after the heavy dinner. read more

Sumika - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

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Kind of hard to find with a decent amount of parking around Downtown Los Altos. Was very tasty and delicious. Went here for Lunch on a Sunday and was not too crowded. I am not too sure, but I think the food ranges from Lunch to Dinner and maybe different days. There specialty for a Sunday Lunch are the Oyako Donburi and Chicken Karage. The Oyako Don comes with a runny egg but sauced up with all kinds of flavor. The Beef Steak Donburi comes with 8 bite size pieces of Tender savory steak. They have Teishoku (sets) meals which was pretty cool to see. I know that they are also known yakitori as well, but that was not offered during lunch time on a Sunday. Sumika is a little small so I can see how it can get busy and long waits. The wait will be worth it though! read more

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Came here for lunch Decent food - Skewers were tasty, Bentos (Roasted beef and Karraage) were just ok, a little bland to our taste Services were just ok, need to ask a couple times for tea refills. Other than taking orders and bringing in the food, there weren't much else. Note: They charge 18% up front for service (mixed with the rest of the bill) and there is a big section of tip guide in the bottom to ask for additional tips. If you are happy with their service, feel free to pay more, otherwise beware of this greedy business practices read more

Probably one of my favorite restaurants in the bay area and quite possibly the one I have visited the most often during my decade of living here again. An authentic yakitori/yakiniku place conveniently in Los Altos downtown where parking is usually not impossible. Love their oyakudon, rice is so good, raw dishes like hamachi sashimi also good. Momo and negi skewer. One of the few places that serves dashi tamago. Beef tongue skewer. Love their lunch specials and the udon is actually perfect, great broth and noodles. Can make reservations online. read more

Double date - reservations made for 6:15pm. Plenty of parking. The place is very intimate and I really liked how there's plenty of space between tables. The service was pretty good - our teas and waters were refilled multiple times. Hand towels before and after your meal. Also, there is a glass window so you can watch them grill but also sealed so you won't smell of charcoal after the meal. Organic Free-range Chicken Karaage (fried chicken) $ 12 - comes with 6 hefty pieces. Pretty standard. Comes with a side of pepper and tomatoes. Fried Soft Shell Shrimp $9.50 - comes with 8 pieces. pretty good and well seasoned. Oyako Don (Chicken Thigh cooked in Egg sauce over Rice) $16 - a bit too sweet for me but appears to be a very popular dish from reading yelp reviews. Chazuke (Rice with tea) salmon $11 - our favorite. we really love the tea and rice combo. very favorful and easy to eat. Tsukune Meat Ball with Cheese $4.5 - unique item. it was actually pretty tasty. the meat ball was very juicy - will need a knife to cut for sharing Sori (Premium Thigh with Balsamic Sauce) $4.4 - with skin on. also very juicy four pieces American Wagyu Beef with Apple Onion Steak Sauce $5.8 - Our favorite of the skewers very juicy. suppose to come with 4 pieces. We didn't get dessert. Although, they all look pretty good. Would come again and again. read more

Gotta try the skewers. They are good. Smokey flavor. Simple salt flavor will do it. Yeah they are good.

The service: We two ladies went to Sumika for lunch. We saw there was a table available outdoors and requested it, the male server explained that it was meant for four customers, that is fine. We sat down on the curbside table, with a lot of cars drove by and brought over lots of dusts. Before long two guys, not four, sat down on the table meant for four people. We late moved to a table away from the curbside as we requested Food is ok but not great. The bill: they charge 18% of service surcharge, and tax it. The male server explained 9% was for the front and 9% was for the back. And there is additional tip guide on the bill. Honestly I don't care how they divide the serve surcharge. I do think it is pretty smart to explain this way so that it sounds like not even 10% to the front or back. Really?! Since when did we start this tipping practice?! read more

This would be a great place if you're looking to eat light. Would recommend getting a reservation as this place seats only 30-40 people at once. Note that each skewer is roughly $4 and you get 4 small slices in each skewer that would be enough to eat for one person. This also means that the bill will likely add up so not the place to go if you're looking for a place light on your wallet. Their skewers are very tasty. I personally get the kobe beef (soooo soft), eel which was extremely tasty, and pork cheek. I would pass on getting the karaage as it doesn't differ from any other chicken kaarage. In my own experience, the service was okay. The team seemed a bit frazzled as it started to get busy and had forgotten one of our delicacy dishes. Would try again though! read more

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Sumika is a wonderful izakaya, Japanese bistro-esque restaurant that my family and I frequent often. We usually order their agedashi tofu, their salmon and yellowtail hand rolls (dinner only) and their tsukune and wagyu beef skewers. I also love their clam miso soup, the momo and green onion skewers, and their miso eggplant. read more

Went there after photographing in downtown Los Altos with friends. Lucky enough to directly get a table without waiting at 8:00pm. Ordered chicken thigh, chicken skin, scallop, beef tongue, pepper and corn for BBQ (forgot to take pictures though). The beef tongue is in special list and was cooked in medium, personally think it is the best among all BBQ. The pepper is too hot, even for my Szechuan friend. Definitely not recommend. For main dish, we ordered tea rice and parent-kid rice(don't remember the exact name...). Both are good. The tea rice is not as plain as we thought, and the chicken in parent-kid rice is soft and tasty. Because of the small amount of each dish, we added cucumber and original fried chicken at the end. The cucumber is good for relieve the greasy feeling brought by fried chicken. Perfect combo! The crispy wrap of the chicken seemed mixed by salt yellow yolk. Overall good for a 4 star. read more

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Let me start by saying the food was delicious, which is the only redeeming quality about this place. The service was incredibly slow. Although we ordered everything at once in the very beginning, it took 2 hours to get everything. The food only started coming out faster, when we asked to cancel some of the items. We were seated outside and the waiters hardly came to check on people, only to deliver items. It was a terrible experience. read more

Was amazing when it first opened and was so for years. Went the first week it opened years ago. Recently I had the opportunity to go back and it was still good just not great any more. The care just isn't there any more :( read more

Sumika is Orenchi's sister restaurant, offering yakitori and other Japanese tapas. It was surprisingly hard to snag a reservation, be sure to call early! Loved most things I ordered, and will be returning soon for more skewers. ======Favorite Items In Order====== * Chicken Skin Yakitori - 5 stars: Rich, fatty, chewy, tasty. I thought the texture might set me off, but it wasn't slimy or overly chewy. * Pork Cheek Yakitori - 5 stars: Chewy, rich, nice bite, delicious. * Kakuni - 4 stars: A big portion of pork belly, rich and fatty with a flavorful sweet soy sauce. * Miso Onigiri - 4 stars: I LOVED this! It's just a grilled rice ball but it was flavored with miso and so tasty. * Oyakodon - 3.75 stars: Would be ranked higher if they used more sauce. Pro-tip: use the sauce from the oyakodon! A bigger portion than the rest * Karaage - 3.75 stars: Super fresh, crunchy, juicy on the inside. Nice big pieces. * Kobe Yakitori with green onion - 3.5 stars: A little too chewy for me, expected more. For Dessert * Frozen Custard - 4 stars: Yum, it tasted like cheesecake or cremebrulee frozen into chunks. * Sesame Panna Cotta - 3.5 stars: I prefer my panna cotta richer and heavier, this was very light almost liquidy. Would recommend to anyone who loves sesame. read more

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My favorite izakaya in the Bay Area. I go to Sumika at least once a month. They serve very nicely. Food quality is awesome. I can't describe well how their food is good, so please check that out by visiting Sumika. Highly recommend this restaurant. One thing what I felt sad tonight was the Yaki Onigiri. They made it with Katsuo Bush and some special ingredients before. It is my favorite menu there and the reason I love Sumika. But tonight they served a different style of it. I was so sad, but it was delicious too. This area name by Los Altos is very cute and fun small town. They have many cute stores near Sumika. read more

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The food was just ok. All the barbecue grill items have the same general taste and seasoning. Didn't live up to the hype for us.

Service is super slow, food arrives cold and they force an 18% service fee on the total, that's why the staff doesn't even try

Wow what a pleasant surprise. Tucked away in a large alley called Plaza Central in Los Altos is a small but remarkable restaurant. We walked in Saturday at 5:30 thinking we could just get a table but no luck. They told us the wait would be one hour so we had to eat somewhere else. I got on their website and tonight we had a reservation for four people at 5 PM. We arrived early at 4:45 PM to find at least 12 people milling around outside waiting for the restaurant to open at exactly 5 PM. When we all filed in at 5 o'clock we heard a nice voice saying "please tell me your last name for the reservations". We were promptly seated and the wait staff were quick and friendly giving us menus, water and tea. Every single item I ordered was 100% amazing. The flavors were outstanding and very unique and everything is freshly prepared. You can see the kitchen through a very large glass window. They don't do takeout because they need to serve the meals to the people seated. We had one giant salad for four of us and it was their version of the "Chinese chicken salad" albeit Japanese. Shredded lettuce, crispy wonton strips, delicious soft organic free range chicken pieces, miniature corn ears sliced very thinly and a delightful dressing. Forks on request. The second course was the crispy fried chicken pieces. I cannot remember the Japanese names for anything but I will share the photos. My son insisted on the hot spicy chicken legs and they looked really dangerous. He ate one and was immediately tearing up and sweating although he loves very spicy food. Beware of the hot spicy chicken legs . Forks on request. The second course was the crispy fried chicken pieces. I cannot remember at the Japanese names for anything but I will share the photos. We ordered several different varieties of skewers two styles of the chicken and one pork belly. Cooked to perfection with a wonderful smoky fragrance. The sauces are very delicate. My favorite dish was the rice with egg and chicken all stirred up together in a nice bowl with wooden spoon's. Absolutely heavenly. Then My 12-year-old grandson who had already eaten a couple of pieces of the fried chicken and several helpings of salad, ordered the soft shell crab. Wow it was really fantastic. He liked it so much he ordered a second order and ate every bite. I don't know where he puts it but he sure has an appetite. I had to try the sesame Pana cotta. It was very different and very good. Now a couple of negatives which would never preclude me from returning. Chairs are very uncomfortable and stiff. Tea was weak. Almost like hot water. Small screaming baby behind us. Baby would not stop and parents took the child out constantly so that was a real bummer. I remember when my grandson was a baby and we would take him out to eat with his parents anytime he started crying they would immediately wish him outside for a short walk or drive around the block in the car. They would never subject the restaurant patrons do that kind of disturbance. Would I go back? Absolutely positively. I would opt for the front room instead of the back room where the front room seems a lot more spacious. In any case it was one of the top five restaurants on my list for the mid peninsula. read more

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Sumika is a nice Japanese restaurant that (I think) specializes in yakitori. There was quite an extensive menu for this portion. We came with a group of 5 so we decided to try every meat yakitori. I think the chicken thigh ones were the best ones. The meat was more juicy and tender on these ones. I think one of our favorite ones was the regular momo (thigh). The chicken breasts were so-so but I think that is more the nature of chicken breast (kind of dry). I thought the steak one was not bad, although I think the sauce carried that one. The chicken skin was decent, although more chewy and less crunchy that I would have liked it to be. I also tried the spicy salmon roe ochazuke and thought it was nice. It's a good portion size and warms your heart. Green tea was good and we kept gettin refills. Service was very good. They were being so polite about everything! I would come back, sure. They also have a parking lot in the back but there is plenty of street parking around. read more

Yakitori and food is good. But It doesn justify the 18% service fee for takeout orders. Their reason was to encourage dine in. When I requested for dine in, they said they are full for the night. There were total 3 small parties out of at least 10 tables available while I was there (over an hour). I understand restaurants are operating in tough time, but supporting the restaurants with tip should be a choice not mandatory. read more

Sumika - 18% service fee for takeouts automatically added to the bill. You are still welcome to pay additional tip -,,-. - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

A great place for lunch! My friend took me to this place on a weekday for their lunch bentos, and I was pretty impressed. I went for the beef steak don lunch set, and it came with pickled vegetables and miso soup. The beef had great flavor, and it was perfectly cooked! They're apparently known for their chicken-egg don, and my friend ordered it and liked it a lot. He enjoyed the addition of the runny egg and the tender chicken. Overall, a strong recommendation for lunch! read more

Sumika - Beef Steak Don Lunch Special + Chicken Karaage - Japanese Near Me - Los Altos, California

Took my boyfriend here to treat him out for his birthday. We wanted to treat ourselves, but didn't want to go to a fancy restaurant--Sumika was perfect for us! Very casual vibes, but within an elegant, intimate, and authentic environment. My only criticism would be that the service was a bit slow and that you actually have to leave the restaurant and walk through a fluorescent hallway to get to the bathroom, but the friendly host and waiters and the delicious food more than made up for it! Moro-Q: Just get it!!! Fresh Japanese cucumber with miso--oh so good and a refreshing bite between all the grilled meat. I loved that the chunky miso! Karaage: we ordered this when the skewers were taking a while to come out. It was good but I would skip this next time and get more skewers. Among our absolute FAVORITE dishes from the grill: chicken hearts, momo with grilled onion, kawa, sori, wagyu with apple onion sauce, and grilled okra. read more

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