Yayoi Cupertino

Lots of flies and flying bugs here and there. The food is great. But the bugs love the food too. One bug got trapped in my drink. The thing is, you can imagine how many bugs are in the kitchen if you see how many bugs are in the dining area 🥲. I love this place. It’s always my to-go Japanese restaurant for home-style cooking, but the bug issue is just too gross 🤢

This was my first time at Yayoi as my friend recommended for authentic Japanese food. I was thinking about ordering something else but when I saw Eel Hitsumabushi, I had to try it. It was relatively expensive but I know eel becomes expensive nowadays. Eel was cooked nice and soft though it came with small seaweed salad but I wish they could add some small regular salad or something. I also ordered cold Maccha drink which wasn't very cold.

I love their rice. The Tonkotsu teishoku (set) is very great. Nice fried pork cutlet and a delicious side dish. The Oyako Tsu (chicken egg rice) is not very recommended. The sauce is too plain so the rice is rice itself. The good ones in Japan taste very different. The rice should be mixed with sauce. The egg is too dry. Dessert is good. This will be favorite place for Tonkotsu rice place.

Best Ramen place I've been in the Bay Area. We walked in thinking it might be a good place because of the reviews but it turned out to be excellent. They say us down and explain how the "order on the iPad" worked, and given that my wife has dietary restrictions they told her to wait a minute. After a little while the chef/manager comes out and goes through the menu with her explaining what she could and couldn't eat. It was really something else. After that I ordered my food and everything came out right away The place has a great atmosphere and the staff is very friendly. It's on the top3 of my restaurants to go back to.

Went around 2hrs before closing time and we were immediately seated. I hear you usually have to wait. Had two servers who were decent (esp the female server). Ordered via a tablet. It makes ordering easier. Other than the photos shared in this review, we also had tamago yaki, which was the only dish I didn't like (too firm and salty for me), and Sapporo beer. Food there is good overall, but quite overpriced. The sushi was actually decent, which is harder to find around here. They also give free rice refills, but the portion sizes are on the smaller side so idk if anyone would need additional rice. The rice isn't bad for the area as it's been hard to find good quality Japanese food in the area. But unmemorable. Those 2 sushi rolls in the photos are just under 5 bucks each, and despite being delicious, they can be eaten in one easy mouthful. That's a decent guage for the overall pricing for everything. We paid close to 100 usd for what we ordered (!!!), but I had a nice time with good company so I may go back whilst I'm holidaying in the area. Definitely not a place I'd go more than twice on my trip though due to the price. Beer came in a pretty and chilled glass. The tables and chairs were clean. They had subtle music (reminded me of new age jazz) that wasn't blaring/obnoxious/pop. The upscale atmosphere seems just right to grab a beer and some appetisers. On the downside, they use poor quality disposable wooden chopsticks that splinter everywhere. Their bowls are cheap and do not match the nice food they serve. But at the end of the day, I took a star off because the prices are steep and that's really all.