Female owned sushi business - hell yeah! O R D E R E D - Omakase Box - Chirashi Box V E R D I C T Everything is FRESH! You can tell from the presentation of everything that Jul-i puts so much effort into making everything not only look perfect, but taste great also! Her creations are perfect for date night, GNOs, family functions, work parties, and gifts. Each omakase box comes with a side of her housemade wasabi [my favorite], ginger and some soy sauce. She makes the ordering process so easy. You can go directly to her website to place your order for pick up OR order right at the kiosk machine at the San Mateo Food Mall. She's not open on Wednesdays but every day of the week she is open. She's also super responsive, if you have a question about any of her creations, you can message her and she's there to explain everything super clear. Speaking of which, now I need to place another order to drown my sorrows from tonight's playoff game, nothing delicious sushi can't fix. read more

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The salmon trio is chefs kiss. Even though we picked it up around 6 the fish was still incredibly buttery and fresh. The tuna was also delicious as well. Remember to order in advance since slots do fill up - we tried ordering on Friday for Sunday and were put on a waitlist. In the end we did end up getting it but would recommended planning ahead read more

The Backhouse - Salmon trios, tuna and salmon combo - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

This is not your ordinary sushi takeout. The quality of fish is INSANELY GOOD. I admit to being a slight snob when it comes to sushi and don't mind paying a premium price to quality stuff. This place right here is IT. Their takeout/pickup order method was confusing at first but figured it out. They have tons of time slots if you order ahead, and usually I like to customize my platter. My most favorite sushi is their marinated ikura hand cut rolls! I had zero issues emailing with Jui (the chef) and customizing what I want. My recent big order was for xmas eve and it was around $300 for 50 pieces of sushi (think about how much you'll spend at a restaurant, it's worth it), also ordered 2 big platters for my birthday and they were a huge hit. The only thing I have to say is I wish they labeled their nigiris :/ So happy to have this place near where I live! read more

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I came across Backhouse on Instagram and was immediately impressed by their presentation. I decided to order on the $75 omakase set which comes with 10 pieces of fresh sushi. After filling out the form online, I was able to make the payment through Venmo. I reached out to Backhouse on Instagram regarding a pick-up date. Ju-I was extremely accommodating and understanding with my hectic work schedule where I had to reschedule a couple times due to my work. The Omakase was mind-blowing. You can totally tell Ju-I pays attention to the smallest detail with these boxes. I enjoyed every bit and pieces of it and wished I had ordered another set. The sashimi melted in my mouth and just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Lol Backhouse & Ju-I, I will continue to order because I had such a wonderful experience throughout. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :) read more

The Backhouse - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

According to my dad, the $45 chirashi was delicious, which was good to hear. I only got an order for him, because he is in a care facility and was craving better food. Looking at the portion, I just cannot give this five stars. It's a ghost kitchen situation and for $45 plus tax etc. it's pretty small in a cardboard carton. Most sit down restaurants don't charge as much so i was kind of outraged looking at it. But again, my Japan-born father who ran a restaurant back in the day enjoyed the food so it must be pretty good. read more

For the inconvenience and stress of having to watch out for pop-ups, order head, and pick up ... Totally not worth the effort or money. Is it even food-safe and legal what they're doing? At $80+ per person, go sit down somewhere (anywhere!) nice. In fact, just spend a tiny bit more and treat yourself to a real dinner somewhere else. read more

We ordered two boxes of omakase, which each contained 10 pieces of nigiri, for $150 (i.e., $75 a box). The boxes were beautiful and delicious, but my goodness were they small. Every nigiri was around half the size we expected, including the rice. We had to have a second dinner afterward. We're glad to support local businesses but probably won't be returning because we didn't think it was a good value unfortunately. read more

The Backhouse - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

I've ordered from this place and even had catering done by them. Great food. Great communication. Preparation was divine and perfect for the gram. The head chef was very responsive to my families allergies/likes and worked with it. Highly recommend and is a fraction of the cost compared to other sushi places I've been to read more

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It's Saturday Oct-28-2023. I just arrived at the San Mateo Food Hall and Backhouse is not listed on the kiosk, not even as a Closed restaurant. Well, I figured this whole trip was an experiment for us... we're trying Umami Express instead. This food hall is weird tho, not even having an area where you can sit and eat. read more

We ordered a 40 piece platter to go, which was absolutely delicious. Pick-up process at the food hall was easy as well. I specifically loved the seared salmon nigiri yum. read more

Super delicious. I saw this on Instagram and you know that stuff is sometimes suspicious. I did my due diligence and asked around. I didn't know anyone who had tried so I would have to be the tester. I wanted to get something nice for my husbands birthday and saw they did big platters. Before I committed to a big platter, I bought a omakase to try it out. It was easy to order day of and pick up at the San Mateo Food Mall. I messaged them on IG, and it was a lovely experience. Friendly and quick to respond. Again, pick up was easy and for the omakase it was venmo or paypal or cash. The omakase box was delicious and a wonderful teaser so right away that same day I put in my online order for the big party platter. It was a simple and easy typeform to fill out and with the big party platter I was able to pay with credit card. All the fish delicious and beautifully presented. A lot of unique combos. I do wish, there was a guide to tell me what fish I was eating but it was delicious none the less. I'll definitely be ordering again in the future. Hopefully they vary the fish up seasonally as the omakase and the party platter were pretty much identical fish. read more

If you like real sushi rice, please don't order Omakase. They flavor the rice so much that it is salty and fish not that fresh for whatever price you are paying. read more

Tried the Bara/Chirashi bowl and it was great! Solidly full for $40. Fresh ingredients. The rice was good. Pickup is super easy from the ghost kitchens on El Camino read more

The food here was pretty fresh. I felt the prices were a bit on the high side for a place you can't even sit down at. I went there thinking there would be seats but it was a pick up ghost kitchen. Maybe I should have looked at reviews first on the seating and the price. Overall not bad to take out food and go home to eat. read more

Overrated. Every bite was salty. I prefer real sushi rice vs whatever that was. The platter was aesthically nice, but we were expecting than just visuals. I've been to way better sit down sushi spots with better quality and flavor for the same price. read more

This was a 10/10 experience and meal! The fish is so fresh and definitely recommend The Backhouse! We will definitely order again! The service was amazing as well! Extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff! read more

The Backhouse - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

We *love* The Backhouse and have been frequent customers for the past year. The chef and owner, Ju-I, is very friendly and has been accommodative of my wife's very restrictive diet. The sushi is always top notch, not only the single fish platters like tuna or salmon, but especially the omakase. She and her team are continually improving and innovating on each individual item and the overall presentation is great considering it is take out. Highly recommended! read more

The Best Sushi in San Mateo and Top 5 in the Bay Area. Great experience Everytime. Been ordering from Jui for several years and she never disappoints. read more

We had a good omakase takeout experience. The fish was high quality and had some great new flavor combos. My husband liked it so much that I booked the pop-up dining for his birthday. The food was amazing and the service was excellent and extremely friendly. Some of the nigiri were so fresh and delicious that we all closed our eyes and went "hmmm" a few times while eating our food. We had such a great experience that we booked the pop up dinner again for my birthday celebration. It was another fun experience. Various dishes depending on what's in season, plus their greatest hits were all delicious. We had their omakase takeout again recently and as always, it didn't disappoint. Even thought it is a bit pricy but for this high quality and delicious omakase sushi, it's worth it in the Bay Area. We will be back again! Thank you!! read more

Chef Ju-i creates such a unique taste on her sush. I can no longer eat sushi anywhere else. I am salivating as I'm writing this. A must try is her omakase stlye dining! Dining while Chef Ju-i curates a memorable experience IS chefs kiss read more

The Backhouse - I forgot to take more photos because I was too excited to eat the next piece - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Our friends brought a back house platter to a brewery and I was hooked. I ordered the omakase this week cause I was having a rough week with three sick kiddos and wasn't able to pick up and they offered to deliver it to me totally went above and beyond and I devoured it in minutes (wish I ordered two but also I can't be that bougie!) Hahaah I highly recommend this place. Quality and tastiness were top notch. Been eating sushi since I was five (now 36) and this definitely made my top list. Thank you!! read more

The Backhouse - Japanese Near Me - San Mateo, California

The 3 stars is for the system but food is 5 stars. Such a pain ordering online without getting confirmation. I ordered online and they said they will send me another email to confirm the order. I was confused because i was ordering for a dinner party, so if I didn't get confirmation then i need to plan getting other food. I tried calling them through instagram didn't work, DM them didn't reply until many hours later and they canceled the order saying they are too full. Thankfully i had enough time to get something else at a different restaurant. Anyway who does business without a phone nowadays? Then i gave another chance another time to order and pick up was very weird too, no one is in the front to talk to us. I was confused if that was the right place or not. Anyway, weird system you need to change and improve. BUT THE SUSHI WAS SUPER DELICIOUS AND PRETTY read more

Sushi bento was delicious, with top quality fish and real wasabi. Artistic presentation with obvious attention to detail. Convenient order/schedule system via their website. It's not cheap, and you need to schedule in advance, and it is only a takeout counter, and parking is a pain. But if you want takeout sushi that's as good as the $$$ restaurants, this is the spot. read more

Most of these 5 star reviews seem overtly supportive and positive, over-the-top promoting a brand new business simply to get it some traction. I am all for that sort of support, so long as the reviews aren't sugarcoating reality to the point where readers really aren't able to glean any valuable insight. As the one other true reviewer commented before, the price and portions here are what really drives down the love I could have had for Backhouse. The owner tries to do too much and still leave margin for profit. In this age of inflation, less and simple is more. She won't last too long trying to garnish every piece of nigiri with a different yuzu shaving or ponzu blob then upcharging. Sorry to be brutally honest, but I'd rather just go to a sit down omakase for the same price. Backhouse's takeout box containers (despite the owner's best intentions, I'm sure) do not keep well. Oh, and lastly, ditch the weird newspaper print paper lining. It's unappetizing to see your nigiri sitting atop newspaper scrap paper. read more

Amazing place and food! Very friendly and good service. They assisted us with everything. We will definitely come back and recommend for friends. Thanks a lot. read more

Wonderful sushi and sashimi! My husband was pleasantly surprised on how good the sushi was. The packing of the sushi and the service was great. Thank you! read more

Just tried their sushi tonight. Sushi were super fresh and price was reasonable. I changed my pickup time and the owner was very accommodating. Will definitely be back! read more