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    Tokie's

    3.9 (779 reviews)
    ModerateJapanese, Sushi Bars
    Closed 5:00 pm - 9:00 PM

    Tokie's Photos

    TOKIE'S ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Tokie's

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    Yaki onigiri was too salty
    Emily C.

    It's always busy here but there's a decent amount of seating here. Service is always great but we've had better sushi. Some fish cuts were great, whereas some where lackluster and not as fatty and melt in your mouth. The rolls have been good as are some of the cooked items such as udon. The restaurant is more Japanese American and they have plenty of hot entrees to choose from so the menu can cover even the pickiest eaters.

    Foster city roll, Bill's special roll, and beer
    Judy C.

    Good deal for HH which is 5-6pm on weekdays. I sat at the bar and the bar staff was super nice and attentive. I got a beer and two rolls. While the rolls were basic and not remarkable, they hit the spot. I don't know that I'd order these same rolls outside of HH though. I'd probably try the more elaborate rolls if I come back.

    Tempura Appetizer (upper left) Tako Karaage (upper right) Miso Black Cod (lower left)
    Kelly N.

    We've passed by this restaurant a few times visiting other spots in the area and finally decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, it didn't really hit the spot. Since this is in downtown San Mateo, there's only street parking and it does get a little tougher to find a spot during busy times, but it shouldn't be too bad. The restaurant is pretty big so there's a good amount of seating for small and large parties. They do have a full drinks bar. As some other reviews mentioned, this does give the restaurant more of an American restaurant vibe. We tried a few things off the specials menu - Miso Black Cod and Tako Karaage, and then on the regular menu - the Tempura Appetizer and a few sushi rolls - Bill's Special and Foster City. Overall, nothing was impressive. The rolls we got were on the basic side. The whole meal sort of felt like that.

    Beef Batayaki
    Alan L.

    Have also walked passed and seen a full restaurant, so always wanted to try. I was quite disappointed. The restaurant has an American diner feel, and is a bit old and dusty. The menu is also slightly outdated so the price isn't accurate - just so you're aware! At least they inform you when you order, but still feels a bit weird. I got the beef batataki and the bata really just stands for butter. The beef was overcooked and bland, and only the overabundance of butter really made it palatable. The vegetables were okay, but again drenched in butter. I hoped that the Tokie's special sushi roll would redeem the experience, but it was not it. The fish was not very fresh, and again it's drenched in space so a lot of the flavours were just covered. It's a very non authentic Japanese experience, and it's definitely geared to a more traditionally American palate for sure. If that's what you're looking for, then it's a fine restaurant. Otherwise I'm not very impressed.

    Sukiyaki with chicken
    David K.

    Tokie's is a long-standing Japanese-American restaurant in downtown San Mateo offering a short but diverse menu of Japanese-inspired eats. I tried a wide sampling of their offerings starting with edamame tossed with spicy chili oil and pan-fried pork gyoza. The sushi selection was creative, featuring items like the Foster City roll, filled with raw hamachi; Rainbow, topped with an assortment of sashimi; and Bill's Special (my favorite), a California roll topped with raw salmon, lemon, spicy mayo, tobiko, and green onion. From there, we continued on with a simple salad with sesame dressing and miso soup. The tempura selection included shrimp, sweet potato, onion, broccoli, and green beans, all covered in a loose batter that didn't cling on. The chicken katsu was a sliced fillet of dark meat chicken in a crispy panko breading, served with a side of thick, sweet, and savory katsu sauce. But the best entree was the beef teriyaki, a flat, juicy grilled steak in a sweet and savory sauce. Overall, the food here was all tasty but average for Japanese-American standards.

    Happy hour menu
    joe m.

    Friendly Japanese restaurant in a nice location. Service was very pleasant. The food is solid. Happy hour pricing is excellent. It's worth a visit.

    Salad and Miso Soup
    Alden C.

    Oh boy, my family and I were not super pleased with our experience trying out Tokie's in downtown San Mateo. The service was disappointing and not very attentive because no waiter came to our table to take our order for a solid 15-20 minutes. A waitress was standing next to our table talking to customers for a long time ignoring us even though we tried to flag her down. The quality and the value also just isn't worth it either. I wanted the Chicken Katsu Curry which on their menu was originally $23, but they had to let us know that the menu isn't accurate and they raised the price to $26. I get the location is in downtown San Mateo, but $26 for a Katsu Curry is laughable considering arguably the best Japanese Curry restaurant in the Bay Area is literally in Burlingame which is a town away for $10 cheaper. The batter was soggy from the curry too which makes no sense to pour curry on top instead of just letting the katsu sit on top. The curry lacked a lot of flavor too. It wasn't worth it. The salad that came with the side had dressing that was way too sour. The Nabeyaki Udon ($19) was supposed to have chicken, but it had one tiny piece of chicken and the the broth was very bland. There were a lot of frozen ingredients involved and the shrimp tempura might be one of the worst tempuras I have had. Way too much batter and was super oily. Most Japanese restaurants they wouldn't allow a tempura that looked like that out of the kitchen. Abysmal. California Roll, Foster City, and Bill's Special Roll, but I don't get their obsession with using such thick pieces of cucumber for the filling. At that point it overpowers the flavor of the fish to the point where you can't taste it. So I had to take the cucumbers out and eat them separately. The quality of the fish and the crab was fine. The rice had way too much vinegar. The ambiance looked fine when looking at pictures, but to be honest I feel like this restaurant doesn't fit my demographic. The service and the value for what you pay for when it comes to this kind of quality is just not there. This is a place I'm not returning to sadly.

    Shiromi Batayaki
    Jason X.

    Good food and great service! The nabeyaki udon was probably our favorite - the broth was flavorful, light, and refreshing. Everything was good though. Very clean, good vibes, had the basketball game on.

    Beef Batayaki
    Connie H.

    I had high hopes for this place given the positive reviews, but was pretty disappointed by the experience. The food honestly felt pretty westernized and overpriced for what you get. The service was not very attentive either. We ordered the Beef Batayaki, Nabeyaki Udon, and the Tokie's special roll. The Beef Batayaki was listed as $28 on the menu, but our server informed us that it's actually $31 and that the menu is outdated. The whole dish had an overwhelming amount of butter that made it unpalatable towards the end. The beef was overcooked as well. The nabeyaki udon was my favorite dish of the night, but was still just average. The soup was hearty and well-seasoned, but there were only a few tiny pieces of chicken and the shrimp tempura had way too much batter for my liking. The Tokie's special was also underwhelming - the tuna wasn't too fresh and the sauces were too heavy such that they masked the taste of the actual ingredients. I would pass on Tokie's as there are plenty of other Japanese restaurants in the downtown area that offer more authentic dishes!

    Nancy C.

    Great tasting sushi, soup, and appetizers. Highly recommend if you're in the mood for really tasty Japanese food. Service was great too!

    Nabe Yaki udon
    Dayna M.

    Visited her in a Sunday evening for dinner and it wasn't quite busy yet at 6pm. Shortly after we were seated people began walking in and the restaurant was full. My dad was recommended this restaurant since he found out it relocated and remodeled. I like the modern Japanese ambiance and the bar was beautiful. Our server was nice and took our order but it took a while to receive our food, longer than I usually anticipate even for a busy restaurant. We ordered: Nabe Yaki udon - good but very small amount of chicken, udon noodles were good but not life changing. Tempura udon - tempura was cooked perfectly! One way I determine if a Japanese restaurant is good is how they make their tempura. The shrimp should have the same batter as the vegetables if not that tells me it's frozen or used for sushi rolls. And this tempura had all the same batter and the perfect crisp! Teka maki - fresh fish with a good ratio to rice! Negihama maki - fresh fish, good amount of green onion and rice! Sake nigiri - a bit disappointed with the salmon I thought it would be more flavorful, but it was still good. Spicy scallop roll - fresh scallops! I would return for the quality food, but hoping food service delivery is a bit faster next time!

    Miso soup and salad
    Alisha S.

    I was very excited to try a new (well, new to me) sushi spot in SM and this one is conveniently located downtown. Came in around 6 PM and it wasn't that busy, but got much busier an hour later. I ordered the chirashi and it came with soup and salad. I wasn't a huge fan of this dish, but that's because I went out of my comfort zone eating raw fish. The Ronnie roll, however, was SO good. I would absolutely come back for this roll and to try more rolls. Our server was also very sweet.

    Specials board
    Steve L.

    On a busy Saturday night they were able to fit us in without a reservation. We waited about 10 mins and had a nice table toward the back. The interior is a nice balance of dark wood with high ceilings. Service was friendly though if there are a lot of take out orders the sushi chef can take longer. We like that there is both a sushi menu and some traditional dishes like katsu curry, which they say on the menu is homemade. It was all right, not sure if I would order again. Sushi was fresh. The spicy tuna was overwhelming spicy with no tuna taste. Negihama and also scallop nigiri were our favorites. With all of the restaurants in the area this is an okay chiice.

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    2 years ago

    Always great service and food. The beef sukiyaki always delicious. Also ordered the salmon shioyaki was excellent .

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    1 year ago

    Everything is delicious and you are treated perfectly by staff and owners. My favorite sushi restaurant in the Bay Area!

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    Everything is fine with this place but for the money there are much better options in the area. So much competition :(

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    Page 2 of 20

    Ask the Community - Tokie's

    Does Tokies use a delivery service? I don't see it on doordash

    Are there any seafood ingredients in your chicken kara-age or teriyaki chicken dishes? The salad dressing, the sauces, the pasta?

    We make a lot of the ingredients from scratch so most of our sauces will have dashi which is fish based. our dressing is a miso vinaigrette and there is no seafood in the pasta.

    Is the tofu steak vegan?

    the sauce we use is not.

    What happened to the Tempura Mussels?

    We still have them. Did you try to order them? Apologies if you were unable to.

    I made reservations for a birthday party. Are they ok with bringing in cake from the outside?

    Yes you are more than welcome to bring outside cake.

    Is your miso soup vegetarian, or is there bonito flakes?

    We use fish stock base.

    What's the business hour?

    Tuesday through Saturday 5 to 930. Sunday 5 to 9 PM.

    Do you know what is their corkage fee?

    $20

    Will Tokie's ever have lunch service again?

    We don't wanna say never. but it's not likely anytime soon.

    What's the easiest way to make reservations? We used to go to the Foster City location all the time and am excited to visit you in San Mateo!

    It's been a while since I went to this new location, so my information could be inaccurate. Probably the best way to make reservations is to give them a call. Unlike their… 

    Still scheduled to reopen on Thursday, April 26th in San Mateo?

    No. we will not be open at that time. i’m not sure how that date got shared. we will announce our opening date as soon as we have one. thank you again for your patience!

    Is Tokie's closed for good?

    No, we’re still under construction. We hope to have an open date soon. Thank you for your patience!

    When do they open because we went there last night and it doesn't look open yet?

    This is from their web site. Wed 11:30 am 2:00 pm… 

    Are you open on memorial day?

    Why is it taking so long?

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Kajiken

    Kajiken

    4.4
    (1.5k reviews)
    0.3 mi
    $$

    Kajiken was the perfect Michelin-recommended lunch stop before my flight out of SFO! There was a…read moreshort line when I arrived, but the staff turned tables quickly and kept everything moving efficiently, so the wait wasn't long at all. I ordered their #1 recommendation, the Homura Aburasoba, and immediately scarfed it down. Popping the perfectly runny egg yolk into the noodles was incredibly satisfying, and every bite was packed with rich, savory umami. The noodles themselves were thick, chewy, and had a great bite that held up well to the sauce. I also tried the Wagyu dish, but it arrived more cooked than it appeared in the photos, which made the texture and overall experience a bit underwhelming. The sauce also leaned on the creamier side, which isn't my favorite pairing with Wagyu, so I'd probably skip that one next time. That said, the Homura Aburasoba alone is worth coming back for and easily earns Kajiken a well-deserved 5/5.

    This was our first time coming here so we weren't familiar with the menu. I went to the restroom…read moreand came back and was immediately asked if i knew what i wanted to order. We had just arrived so we said no. My parner said that while i was in the bathroom he too was asked about 4 times if he was ready to order. Overall the food was okay, interesting noodle dish that I would try again, but the service was not it... We felt very rushed and pushed to place our orders, which didn't make sense as the restaurant wasnt very busy at that time. And they had plenty of staff just standing around the back so it wasn't like they were short staffed trying to stay afloat on orders or something. I also don't recommend ordering your appetizer and main dish together, as they all came at the same time and made it hard to eat our main dish as it gets cold quick which it also says on the instructions on how to eat these noodles. After all the rushing to place our orders we never even received one of our appetizers yet we were being charged for it.... -Long story short, food was okay -Dont order your apps and meal together unless you want it all at the same time - Service needs work... stop rushing your customers...

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    Inside
    Inside
    Oroshi Ponzu Karaage($10)
    Oroshi Ponzu Karaage($10)
    Complimentary Accoutrements ($0) Vinegar, Chili Oil, Dried Garlic, Sesame seeds, & Chili Powder

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    Udon Mugizo - San Mateo

    Udon Mugizo - San Mateo

    4.4
    (376 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$
    Kid friendly
    Locally owned & operated

    Another location for Udon Mugizo and they definitely do not disappoint. I've had positive…read moreexperiences at their Mountain View and San Francisco locations. Their udon dishes are top notch! While the menu is limited to udon, anytime is the right time for noodles. Who knew there is so many variations--cold, creamy, brothy, nabeyaki styles! It's possible to order rice bowls, but why when the restaurant name is clearly UDON! We ordered the Mentai Cream Sauce Udon and Cold Niku Spicy Udon and it was absolutely delicious. I was a bit hesitant with the "spicy" but the spicy was completely harmless, so long as you like spicy. Service was quick and friendly and I wouldn't hesitate to return--definitely a change of pace to all the other ramen places in the area.

    There was no line when we got there (party of 6) for dinner (thank gawd)…read more Strategy was for each of us to order different kinds of udon..we pretty much ordered the best sellers and yes they were all so good. Food came pretty fast and btw, pictures were a regular size!! Broth for the tonkatsu and beef were tasty and not salty. The mentai I must say was surprisingly not heavy!! It was our favorite We ordered sides of tempura (nothing to rave about). Honestly, we ended up with a lot of to go containers bec there were plenty of food left. My friend ordered the yuzi cocktail which was good but too sweet. The place was nicely decorated and very modern. Service was excellent! 4 stars bec it took forever to get our check. This is def my go to now if I'm craving udon

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    Tempura Donburi
    Tempura Donburi
    Udon Mugizo - San Mateo
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    The Backhouse

    The Backhouse

    4.3
    (67 reviews)
    1.4 mi

    I ordered a custom tray for a large group celebration and we were pleased with the quality and…read morenovelty. The fish were fresh, the rice was seasoned, and the garnishes were interesting. The owner was communicative via text and E-mail. Pick up was from a ghost kitchen. Menu was difficult to find online, but here is the link: https://twodotsco.typeform.com/to/eUm9sISf?typeform-source=linktr.ee The tray was beautifully decorated. At $6.25 per piece of sushi, the price was similar to nice sushi restaurants. I probably would not order from here frequently, but only as a special treat.

    The Backhouse was first on my radar two years ago on Valentine's Day when my husband surprised me…read morewith one of their beautifully curated omakase boxes for a cozy night in with sake. Everything was really good and thoughtfully prepared, and it made for such a fun and elevated at-home date night. This past week for my mom's 60th birthday, I decided their party platter would be perfect for celebrating. They were very responsive and easy to coordinate with, which made planning simple. You do have to pick up from a ghost kitchen in San Mateo, but the process was efficient and smooth. The platter itself was beautiful and the quality was just as good as we remembered. Fresh, flavorful, and nicely presented. Definitely a great option for special occasions or when you want something a little elevated at home.

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    The Backhouse
    Omakase box @whaevaeats
    Omakase box @whaevaeats
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    Noma Sushi

    Noma Sushi

    4.3
    (352 reviews)
    0.9 mi
    $$
    Free parking
    Sports on TV

    Overall: 5 stars…read more Came in for a very late lunch and greatly appreciated that the staff graciously allowed us to stay the duration of the meal uninterrupted, as we ordered quite a lot of food, and were very intent on savoring it to its fullest potential rather than speed running through it. The quality and variety of the fish is really good for the price, and this is a place I would be delighted to explore more of when I am in the bay. Highly recommend. Sashimi Omakase - Glistening set of thicc cut sashimi featuring the best cuts of classic beloved fish. I was very thrilled to receive both the belly of the salmon and yellowtail, which were glistening with the skin, paired with impressive knife work and delicate marbling. The pickled wasabi helped significantly to give it that uplifting kick for the white fish from sea bream to amberjack to snapper. Fat Boi Roll - Indulgent roll that starts with a delicious fried california roll to form the base, topped by an indulgent mix of sashimi, crab salad, and classic sushi sauces. I love that this roll is representative of a volcano, but nevertheless still tastes harmonious. Bluefin Lover Roll - Luxury coded roll that serves akami two ways, and is flavored with black truffle, pickled wasabi, and even more sauces to really give the roll the flavor it needs. I love the modern take on this roll, and its generosity in size. Food: +1 Presentation: +1 Price: E Atmosphere: E Service: +1 Menu: +2 Insta/Yelp/Beli: @amei_eats Insta/TikTok: @ameizing.race

    This is probably my 5th or 6th time at Noma. My experience is mixed but generally good!…read more I've only gotten sushi here and can say the variety of specialty rolls are plenty and the fish is pretty fresh. If you want a bit of everything on your sushi plus tempura crunch, get the Noma roll. That's my go-to. Their scallop inferno is also nice when you want a clean and simple roll. When you have an earlier dinner (like I did this time around; 5:30pm), the service is great with the food coming out in a timely manner. I've come during prime dinner time (7pm) and the wait can be long given how small the restaurant is. And a few times we'd put our order in and it would take a good 20-30 minutes to get anything. Even when we ordered a beer and all they have to do was go to the refrigerator, open the bottle and serve it to us, it wouldn't be done until we ask about it again. A lot of folks call in to reserve tables too so if you know you want to go there, call for a reservation to avoid the wait. They have a small parking lot for like 5-6 cars otherwise there's street parking. Overall, solid sushi spot!

    Photos
    Seasonal Beer&Sake&Wine Menu
    Seasonal Beer&Sake&Wine Menu
    Smoked  Salmon Crush
    Smoked Salmon Crush
    Mini Negitoro  Donburi (small bowl)

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    Mini Negitoro Donburi (small bowl)

    Tokie's - japanese - Updated August 2026

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