Yama at the Galleria

This place can be a little spendy for what you actually get, but the happy hour takes away some of the sting. Service is slow at best and sometimes the staff came off as rude during our visit.
With other and better options so close (Chantanee I’m talking about and missing you already) take Yama for the 2 star offerings it has or seek out other choices.

May have a delightful ambiance, but don’t come here if you don’t want any Americanized Japanese/​Vietnamese food. It was weird… I came here thinking that they only serve Japanese food, but they had some Vietnamese items on their menu as well. The Viet items ended up being the cheapest so I decided to get some short ribs with vermicelli and a couple of gyozas and it was like $ 16! Authentic Viet food don’t even cost that much! My goodness… never coming here again. We initially aimed for Maggiano’s Little Italy for dinner after a long day hiking Little Si, but we couldn’t find it and found this place instead… so we decided to give it a try. Bad choice!

*Serivce is very close to awful, friendly enough just SLOW as all gettup
*THey GOT RID OF the Yama Burger, one of the only reasons we go there
*Just too many good asian fusion/​sushi joints to deal with this one

Went back on Friday for HH again. They’ve updated their bar area – low lounge tables with comfy pillows. Very beautiful.
Sadly, it seems they’ve also raised their prices to pay for the new furniture.

I’ve been here few times before hoping my next experience would be better, but it’s not! I’ve tried pretty much all their entrees and the only dish that stands out above everyone else would probably be either the Sea Bass or the Ribs, everything else seems rather bland or just not very tasty. I am not a big fan of their sushi selection based on ingredient and price (VERY PRICEY!), maybe that’s because they are in Bellevue!
Overall I’d say their ribs and the sea bass was the only entrée I was a fan of, my opinion… not worth it to pay so much for something so practical.

Wow… where do I start…
There is a new chef in town. Chef Gordon Ramsay would call him A BLOODY DONKEY. Why? This guy took the one thing that this place had going for it — good sushi — and took it out from the menu.
Today was the last place they serve fresh sushi. Starting tomorrow, they will have pre-​frozen fish that they will defrost on a demand basis. I’ve found this out from one of the staff members who shall remain anonymous. Also, get this. They stopped serving sashimi. Sushi only. Umm. wtf is the logic behind that? Who the fuck is this new chef? GET OUT OF MY BLOODY KITCHEN YOU BLOODY DONKEY.
The sushi is limited to sushi, tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp. Seriously, W. T. F? Moreover, the wasabi is spread over rice between the fish. So, make sure you have water.
Seattle’s Puget Sound supposedly has the largest abundance of octopus in the country. Yeah… about that… THEY DON’T BLOODY SERVE IT.
A friend of mine ordered the Kobe beef burger. It was dry and overcooked. It’s a good thing we are on an expense account.
The dessert menu sucked ass. No mochi. No fried ice cream.
This guy needs to resign immediately. This restaurant will turn to shit overnight if something isn’t done about it. BLOODY DONKEY!

Ok, so, I really hate seafood, cooked or raw, so I am probably not the perfect person to review this place… BUT… I went to lunch here with a group from work and thought it was delicious!
Their lunch portion was huge! I ordered the teriyaki chicken Tapas (I think it’s called Tapas?) It’s the long plate that is like 3 plates combined. First the cup of soup comes out (I can’t remember what it was, but I did like it). Then the main dish comes out… Tapas (which I guess is the onions/​peppers/​etc that is friend in some sort of batter), white rice, salad, chicken and veggie rolls. Wow, I was full!
Prices for lunch are decent but I can imagine their dinner prices being on the higher side, but that’s typical in downtown Bellevue.

Yes… sushi again!
This time I made reservations, and I am so glad I did! Sitting in the sunken table made you feel like you had a dining event! It is surrounded with hanging paper dividers to really make you feel private.
The service really went out of their way for us, and me, as I have a broken foot and am on crutches. They opened ever door and even removed my shoe for me :)

I used to come here once a week to get my lunch specials with my co-​workers and some friends. Service is awesome and so is their food. Extremely clean and reasonably priced too.
I would highly recommend it.
Oh, even Japanese friends like it so you know what that means.

The interior of this place was definitely «modern Japanese» And I like the fact they had some hori-​gotatsu style seating (Japanese ground level tables with holes in the ground so you can «sit western» not on your knees)
The food was not Japanese. ugh. I hate fakes.
Sure its «Modern Japanese» but screwing up Katsudon (IT WAS HORRIBLE) and serving miso soup in a heavy porcelain cup is frankly a no-​no. Also. the added touch of a «soup spoon» with my Miso «soup» was like nails dragged on a chalk board.
My friends seemed to enjoy the sushi but I was to busy trying to analyze how a «hip» restaurant screwed up my katsudon. (Turns out they used home-​made chirachizushi style rice, which added too much sweet flavor)
I’ll give it one more go on Sushi Rolls if I ever go back.

A place I used to go every time i left the gym but since I have been on my «try new restaurants» kick, it has been quite hard to come to my favorite sushi place.
The ambiance is amazing it kind of reminds me of tao night club in vegas and the sushi chefs are cute lol. They pretty much have their regulars that sit at the sushi bar and ask them to create their own creations and from the look of things i am a follower. — note to self, always sit at the sushi bar and ask them to create their own masterpieces– so pretty much its like omakase but better, much better
I cant rave enough about this place, i love how the sushi chefs love what they do, and they chat with you… My sushi chef of choice is chris because he really wants to know if you really love it… So attentive so amazing :)
Do try it’ll make you smile and do the happy dance, but beware you might become a regular and fall in love with the food…
If you arent a convert i will buy you a donut lol

For a combination sushi and fusion place, Yama is good. It gives everyone in your dinner party some choices.
Anan (or is it An An?) is one of the best servers I’ve ever encountered. Her recommendation of Pacific striped marlin was right on.

My friend took me to this Fancy Japanese restaurant in Downtown Bellevue last night.
It is located next to the movie theater.
You need to go to all the way up to the top floor, and it’s in the corner.
I liked the mellow atmosphere.
Their lighting there was just right for a nice and relaxed dinner.
The interior and furniture was pretty modern but still had a hint of Japanese culture.
Food and drinks are pretty good.
We had Seared Tuna Pizza for appetizer.
Seared Tuna with creamy source on a cheesy and crispy pizza!
I thought it was very unique and tasty.
However, My friend (American) found the taste a bit weired.
I understand because it has a bit of raw fish smell.
The sushi rolls we had were decent.
I think they do have fresh fishes you can try as nigiri or sashimi.
They have a greatly selected fill bar and got a bunch of wine.
Also, there was a Sake cooler that had more than 10 kinds of sake.
They had my favorite «Otoko yama» as well.
As a bellevue kind restaurant, the price range was kind of high.
One entrée starts from $ 23~, appetizer $ 8~
If you were a student, I wouldn’t recommend this place because
appetizer+alcohol+entrée would be $ 50+.
If you are mature enough, I think you’ll like it.
Finally, Zach, thank you for treating me there.

Came here for lunch and walking in, the host and hostess had a bit of attitude. We were just trying so see where to sit. There were not a lot of tables, so we ended up sitt ing at the bar.
It’s very nice inside, but the spacing is off and there are no small tables for couples or singles. There were a couple tables for 4 with just one person sitting there.
Sashimi was okay, but not spectacular. Tuna was dense and not the high grade stuff, but it was okay. The fish was fresh and there was quite a bit for lunch.
The chefs behind the bar were friendly and service was very prompt. The place did fill up after we got there, too.
Maybe it has a different feel at night, but it was kind of cold and almost austere during the daytime. And, where was the tea?! It’s supposed to be automatic, especially when it’s 35 degrees outside!

Non-​sushi-​heads beware: there’s very little for you here at lunchtime. In fact, there’s no landlubber option at all; sure, there’s a $ 13 Bento box that comes with either chicken or steak «truffleyaki» but it comes with three crab-​filled California rolls and tempura-​battered shrimp too… which is wasted food if you can’t eat it, and leaves you with a SMALL portion of what you really wanted. And the menu says twice NO SUBSTITUTIONS so don’t even try. Whatever.
The salads and sushi that my co-​workers got were beautiful looking when they finally got them. There were 18 of us but the restaurant was still only half-​full, and it took nearly 2 hours for us to get everything we ordered. The manager (?) apologized to us saying they only had one sushi chef… on Friday, at lunch? Poor planning!
The restaurant is pretty and comfortable, I liked the room. The servers were OK though there were too few of them assigned to our party and that meant we spent a lot of time with empty water glasses, soda glasses, and dirty dishes in front of us. Again, understaffed? Given that it took forever to get our food, they should have busted ass on the drinks and soup/​salad and maybe should have even comped that stuff.
The prices seemed about normal for other fancy Japanese places I’ve been, $ 15 – 20 per person for lunch including tax and tip but no alcohol.
There are a few landlubber choices on the happy hour menu which might allow me to try them again but I won’t go again for lunch. Beware taking co-​workers here if any of them don’t do seafood. There’s just no options. I mean, sure, be culturally accurate, but offer a seafood-​free entrée, just ONE, for those of us who can’t do it. Bummer, especially because I LOVE good authentic teriyaki, but I’m not willing to spend $ 15 on a portion one-​quarter the size of what I can enjoy for $ 6 at Samurai Sam’s.

My favorite thing about Yama is the happy hour menu: you can order off it until about 9pm every night!
The Crunchy Monster sushi roll is amazing, as are the spicy calamari and wasabi… something. ;-) Good pork gyoza, yummy warm sake.
Very attentive waitstaff: we went later in the evening (closer to 9pm) and the place was dead. We were served by the owner and he was great to us, brought us hot food and made great recommendations on dinner entrees when we go back, which will be soon!
A great place to kick around some good appetizers and sake.