Sunnyvale, CA - Shiki Sushi - 2006 (MOVED)

RATING (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Food: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Value: ***

OVERALL: ****

Shiki Sushi Website

GENERAL: This is the old Seto Sushi, which was a good restaurant. For some reason - most likely an ownership change - its name changed to Shiki Sushi more than a year ago. Now it's a really good restaurant. It's a traditional Japanese restaurant that offers solid and basic Japanese food, but also some fancy stuff if you want to venture out of sushi and rolls.

FOOD: I was pleasantly surprised by the food during my last visit. It has significantly improved since its last Seto Sushi days. Appetizers were good before, but they are great now. Ask for "hamachi kama" (grilled fish head - this will make you sound like an expert) - so perfectly grilled!! So are other grilled items - even better than an average hibachi or robata grill restaurant! Even the grilled beef and chicken in the bento box were great!!

Its sushi and rolls are also as delicious as before, but I think there are a few more to choose from now. Sashimi was fresh and well cut (this is an often overlooked yet essential element of sashimi - it's more than just serving raw fish!), the rolls presented nicely and easy to eat. NOTE: The easiest way to tell if a roll is well-made is that a good roll should be relatively easy to pick up using any utensil).

BTW, this is one of the very few restaurant that offers a decent Kaiseki dinner in the South Bay. Maybe I'm too into this Kaiseki thing (see review of Imahan in Tokyo), but if you like Japanese food, you will love Kaiseki - a feast with ten or more small dishes, both hot and cold, could be traditional or creative, that demonstrate the best of Japanese cooking techniques, and almost guarantee to starve an average American man with servings that need to be observed under microscope.

SERVICE: If you've ever been to Japan - or actually any Japanese-owned business, you know that service is a big thing for the Japanese. It's no exception in Shiki Sushi. From the greeting by the hostess to promptness of responding to a service call (onegaishimasu!), you know they are making an effort to make their guests happy. The only issue is that they all seem to be in a rush, and some of the elderly women are obviously not professional waitresses (I mean, my mom can probably handle more plates and cups). Overall, I have no complaint about the service I received there.

AMBIENCE: This is a traditional American-Japanese restaurant, complete with a sushi bar, general sitting area, and a few tatami (floor-sitting) room. It's so standard that I don't even remember how exactly it looks like even though I go there pretty often. It's comfortable but a little crowded - but having travelled extensively in Japan, I take that as part of being an authentic Japanese experience.

VALUE: Shiki Sushi is slight more expensive than the average Japanese restaurant. Even though the quality is good and even the quantity (except the Kaiseki) is reasonable, I would say that you can find better deals for Japanese food elsewhere, like a sushi boat restaurant. It's not too bad though, considering that there are some Japanese restaurants that have much worse food and service but will charge you just as much simply because it is Japanese (or Chinese/Korean pretending to be Japanese by screaming "Irashaimasu!!").

BOTTOMLINE: Quality is the essence of everything Japanese. A typical Japanese restaurant will not make you hate the sushi chef (afterall, he's got a big fish knife) because they'll always deliver food and serve that meet your minimal standard; however, if you want something beyond just edible food and service that doesn't kill you, try Shiki Sushi.

LAST WORD: If you have more than 6 people, you might want to make a reservation. Also, try a little bit of everything and order more of what's really good on that day. This trick works particularly well with sashimi and sushi in a restaurant that doesn't specialize in them (ie not a sushi bar).