Bushido Izakaya Restaurant

Started with the spicy edamame. It was really good with fresh chopped jalapeño on it. It was a little oily, but still very tasty. But my absolute favorite thing was the pork buns! Oh my god, they are to die for! I got the «starter» size but the 2 buns were big enough to be my full entrée. The buns were topped with lettuce and cucumber, which doesn’t sound interesting or flavorful, but I swear it was so delicious. I can’t wait to go back!

Happy hour here is as good as it gets for Silicon valley. Cheap drinks, great food and friendly servers make this place a great spot for after work drinks and sunday funday. You can’t go wrong with the beef tongue skewers and the chicken karage buns. Also don’t miss out on the house sake!

Really wanted to like this place but I will definitely not be back. Service from the hostess and bartender/​server was great however the food just wasn’t worth the price at all. Plus my husband and I both got sick afterwards. We started with the cauliflower which was pretty good. Nothing exceptional but I liked the brothy garlic sesame sauce it was in. We ordered the kale salad which sounded good to add the grilled chicken hearts on it. The chicken hearts tasted terrible. Really bland and they seemed to not cook it really well because the texture was strange. The kale itself was really bland so I just added the sauce from the cauliflower on it. The only dish out of 5 dishes we ordered that was really good was the short rib stew dish. It was really flavorful and tender. We order the grilled onigiri and that also wasn’t anything exception. Really basic grilled rice. It didn’t taste like traditional Japanese rice. Then we ordered the sashimi … Which was the main reason we wanted to go to izakaya and it was just terrible! I literally buy fresh fish from the Japanese market for a fraction of the price and it’s so much fresher then it was here. The presentation was nice but the fish was previously frozen and had a really not fresh taste to it. We both spent a lot of time in the restroom the past day and a half. So disappointing. We should’ve not even tried to eat it. I’ll post pictures so be warned from ordered anything raw here. My husband notice the guy making the sushi smelled it first. We believe he was also uncertain about it and served it regardless.

I stopped by for the Wednesday night special on sake. I was seated immediately but no one came to take my order. I left after 20 minutes. My recommendation is to avoid if they look busy
To be fair, I was here once before with a date. I guess the date and the server were the difference. Then the food was good and the service above average which was why I came back

Yaaaaaaaaaas, HH drinks all Sunday’s!
I only been here three times and I approve. What makes this restaurant are the employees; they cater to your needs and check up on you. I don’t find it annoying like some people, it’s actually nice to know they care about how the food tastes and how your drinks are. If you don’t like something, just tell them. They won’t give you attitude or any disrespect, they’ll actually fix it for you if it’s really necessary.
The food is delish! Everything is fresh, they hardly throw anything out because it’s usually gone before they can even think about doing so! That says a lot y’all.
What I recommend is the «ocean trout». If you like the slightest hint of truffles, and beautifully presented cold fish, you’d love this. Unlike most sushi restaurants, they have toro also! My FAVE. Also if you like cheese corn you can tell them to dub certain things for cheese instead of soy… Yum! Thanks Lisa
As for drinks, get the Midori sour. Your choice of clear liquor. I recommend tequila if you want to feel alittle somethin somethin. But vodka if your trying to watch your calories. =).
I usually sit at the bar area and Lucy (waitress/​bartender who makes good drinks btw), Tetsu (sushi chef), Tommy (sushi chef), Lisa (manager/​waitress), and chef in the back –all makes sure I’m comfortable. They are they are so chill with young and older folks (if you choose to converse). I can say this because when I’m having a bad day, I come here to drink and eat. They are SO chill even though it’s busy. Which is good! They remain calm under pressure. Which is pretty inspiring since I can’t last 5 hours doing what they do.
Ask for recommendations though! They have good taste, but if your picky just tell them what you like and they can make suggestions.
Btw, I’m from San Jose. I only come here just for the food, drinks, and company =)

So I really liked this spot. The food was very good for good sushi prices.
The service was also super good. They were attentive, friendly and frequently came over to check on us.
Oh! And the have sustainable sushi and vegan options. Mhmmm!
They also had a special — $ 7 grey goose martinis (best I’ve had) and $ 6 grey goose cocktails.

Happy Hour Food & Drinks
Tuesday-​Friday: 5:00pm-6:30pm
Thursday-​Saturday: 10:00pm-12:00am
Wide selection of HH food and drinks! We ordered a few things and were so full!
Karaage buns $ 6 — Two chicken kaarage buns, which were tasty and flavorful. Loved the steam basket!
Sesame wings $ 6 — Fried chicken wings with sesame glaze. So bomb! My favorite of the night!
Harakiri roll $ 8.50 — Spicy tuna, crab, and shrimp tempura with soy paper. The menu said one piece would be extra spicy, but we couldn’t taste the difference.
California fries $ 8 — While it looked good on paper, this was my least favorite. The fries were slightly burnt and bland. There wasn’t enough crab, avocado, or aioli to go around.
Beef tongue skewer $ 2 — I’m not a fan of beef tongue, but I was told this was really good.
Kurobuta sausage skewer $ 2 — The sausages were tasty, despite small portions.
I would come back again for HH and also dinner. Their omakase looked amazing!

We stop by for lunch, the menu has many choice which is good though, Not have great deal with lunch special like,
Did not feel any differences from dinner.
I picked Bento Box for choice of 2 or 3 item, The volume and taste was good, and did not know the Bent Box coming with rice which I did not have to order Sushi Rolls.
My Friend ordered Okonomi-​Yaki, that was too much source on it and was not authentic for thickness.
Overall the price matter may come from the location.

We could make it to their Happy hour 7 minutes before their Happy hour ended. However, one waitress told us that we are supposed to come at least 10 minutes before. We made it in time but we could not get served as Happy hour deal.
Since any restaurant business depend on customers, they are supposed to be flexible about it. We lost interest to go back to this restaurant again.

I have not visited Bushido since a few years back (too many great Sushi houses in Los Altos and Palo Alto!). I came by for dinner prior to Mother’s Day. Wow, it’s changed for the worst…
I did not recall the interior of the restaurant looking so cramped and plain. Wasn’t there a painting or Japanese panel that used to be in the back room? The tables were too close together; my kids and I felt crushed. We got bumped into several times which was uncomfortable and odd. This place has really gotten run down!
Luckily, the food here is spot on. Pretty good tasting and small enough that you can sample! The mushroom and chicken skewers were very good. My kids also liked the dragon roll and spider roll. We ordered the fried rice three way and it was delicious and slightly too salty. Pork belly is sensational! Good Sapporo beer.
Why the stars: terrible service. I did not order more drinks because my server took forever to get me my beer and never checked up on us again. Our second set of food took close to half an hour to get to your table. Again, the server never bothered to check in on us. We were stealing napkins and small plates from other tables because our server disappeared. Then we overheard our server and the manager MOUTH OFF to another set of customers! How can a restaurant treat any customers like that? And the manager was so rude! We ate and watched like it was a boxing match. (Was it just me or did the staff all look like Asian high school sophomores?) Did these employees ever get their customer service training? I felt bad for the couple they mouthed off to. Such truly awful service.
The bathroom stunk. There is no other way to say it. Like sewage. The tiles on the floor also were wet which made the men’s room even damper and stinkier. It’s a swamp missing alligators and a redneck. I hate stinky restaurant bathrooms! Are you ready for the climax? The restroom floor had droplets of blood on it by the base of the septic tank! Jesus! Was this a crime scene, is there HIV in that blood, did someone tear off their ears? Where did that blood come from? Why doesn’t the Bushido restaurant staff fumigate the stinky restroom and clean up the blood on the floor!!!
I will not be returning to Bushido anytime soon. The good food does not make up for all the other disappointing and scary details of our dinner. Someone help this restaurant not be so disgusting and mean to customers! That blood … cannot get it out of my mind …

Came here on a Tuesday night to catch up with my friend– I am almost positive it was training night. Other than the hostess, the other girls looked like high schoolers… My friend and I asked the Mexican one showing her midriff (I didn’t get names so I will resort to using these offensive descriptions) did NOT know what to get. We concluded she was not old enough to drink yet. :P The waitress assigned to our table (high pitched Asian girl) was EXTREMELY unattentive, we weren’t even given the opportunity to flag her down to ask for our check because she spent around 15 minutes trying to use the computer system…
Meh… we ended up ordering the sashimi salad, a sushi roll, 2 cocktails, and the pork stomach buns. That ran us to around $ 64. Jeez.
Considering the service we received and the speed at which the food came out… I would have paid around $ 30 for it all…
we received our starters LAST, for crying out loud.

Thursday happy hours are soooo bomb at this place.
But the food was also great. Ordered the rice pancake, an udon dish and mochi ice cream. Wasn’t disappointed one bit.
Service could use a tiny bit of work with attentiveness, but very friendly. Will definitely be going more often.

I haven’t been here for a while and was craving their okonomiyaki so decided to pay a visit. I do recommend making a reservation, I went without one and they barely had any free tables for walk-​ins.
Okonomiyaki was really disappointing this time… There wasn’t enough sauce so the whole thing was dry and eh.
Tried the chicken thigh yakitori but it was raw on the inside… luckily the waitress took care of the problem. The staff were apologetic, they redid the yakitori and comped that dish… but that was still really gross.
The samurai roll was decent but omg the spider roll was probably one of the worst I’ve had… It was super bland and came out messy (end pieces came undone upon arrival). Not impressed.
The green tea crème brûlée was eh with the bottom warm and top cold. It wasn’t well mixed so some parts were bland and almost oily feeling and other parts were sweet with green tea taste… it was odd.
Overall, I have to say I’m really disappointed with the turn in the food esp for the prices they’re charging for sub-​par dishes. The staff was awesome with great and friendly service but I probably won’t be back any time soon for the food… it was just too disappointing this time.

Came here with my grandma to specifically try their okonomiyaki! I saw them on a food network show and had to try it! Also hardly any Japanese restaurants even make okonomiyaki. We ordered an appetizer as I’ve heard their buns/​slider were amazing! We orders the Braised pork belly buns and they were to die for! They were light and super tasty! My grandma and I raved about them and couldn’t believe how amazing they tasted! Like clouds of heaven in your mouth! They were even better than the okonomiyaki that we were anticipating! These are a MUST when dining here! We both ordered the traditional okonomiyaki but I added shrimp and beef, while she added squid and bacon, along with the usual vegetables inside. They serve the Japanese pancake on a skillet with the traditional sauces as toppings. They have another sauce option but we went with traditional! First off we each ordered our own thinking the wouldn’t be that big from the size we were told they were but we were surely mistaken! We both could only eat half and had to take the rest to go! They were really thick and filling! Many other customers were also ordering them! The only thing we would have preferred was mor veggies in the filling since it can be cakey or doughy taste from the pancake mix– but not in a bad way as it was cooked thoroughly but we just prefer more veggies. However, they still tasted amazing! The prices are a little on the high side but it is very good quality food, so you pay for what you get! I will definitely be back!

Very good Japanese food with some of the most reasonable prices in downtown mountain view. The service is not the best The service is inattentive and sloppy. We had to wave other servers to get ours on several occasions, they didn’t take plates away, they spilled tea and dropped dishes. It’s bad.
The two saving graces are the food quality and the prices.
Miso marinated sea bass — expertly cooked, soft in texture.
House made gyoza — limited quantity available, very delicate exterior
Chili tofu — incredible, light and flavorful
Shishimi platter — above average but not overwhelming
Three mushroom rice — a must get
Tetaki roll — okay, not the best sushi in the area
We also got a little bottle of saki.
All of this was less than $ 100!!!
I’d come back, but the service needs improvement.

Japanese sushi/​grill and drinks. Very diverse menu. Rolls, nigiri, soup, grill, sake. Happy hour now ends at 630 vs 7pm.
Okonomiyki comes w a sauce slightly similar to worchestire sauce. Too salty/​sweet for me.
Uni was best I have ever had. They use a higher quality uni than most sushi restaurants.
Kaarage bun very good.
Happy hour specials are competitive but some are sweet. Best oysters. Sauce is poco de gallo and ponzu instead of plain soy sauce and wasabi lamon
Crowded on Friday. Have to make reservations to get in around 6 – 7 pm

Came here because OpenTable had a 1,000 point deal for reservations and I was pleasantly surprised! The food was delicious and service was great.
We ended up trying the:
+ California Fries: Super good! Crunchy fries topped with crab meat, avocado and mayo sauce.
+ Okonomiyaki Hiroshima Style: Hmm it was not bad but I’m pretty picky wiht my okonomiyaki and like them more fried than mushy.
+ Three Mushroom Fried Rice: This was SO GOOD. It’s a must get. It just smells godlike delicious when it comes out and taste absolutely wonderful. Highly highly recommend.
+ Trout and Avocado Roll: I just really wanted sushi with salmon in it but. they don’t have salmon :(. The waiter said that the closest they had to salmon was trout so we ended up trying it. Honestly couldn’t tell the difference between that and salmon. The roll itself eh. I wouldn’t end up getting it again.

Had a good experience here. The place is mid size for downtown, nice looking, i’d say a good place to take someone out on a date.
Menu is pretty large, lots of things to choose from. As for us, we tried the Japanese pizza, the risotto with crab and uni, braised beef tongue, and the endamane hummus. Our favorites were probably the pizza and the risotto. Everything made very fresh and came out really quickly. They also have a good happy hour menu and as mentioned earlier, there menu is pretty large. From sushi to ramen to the ones we tried. Will definitely come back as this place is one of the few places to serve Japanese pizza.

Well, as I sit down to catch up on reviews, it’s starting to look as though I’m definitely eating too many Japanese lunches lately. I will say, though that Bushido’s choices stand out for offering many choices not often found.
The atmosphere is calm and cool in there, and though all surfaces are hard, and there was some kind of techno-​pop on in the background, it was pleasantly not too noisy for conversation.
Here’s what we got in our 2 Bento Boxes:
Vegetable tempura– nice veg, as a fungiphile I appreciate that they included a delicious slice of mushroom in there. More places should do this. Batter was crisp and not greasy
Kanpachi Sashimi– fresh, and well cut, but had no flavor
Fried Kurabota Gyoza– These were overcooked and dried out, along with the filling already being too dense. They were underseasoned
Agedashi tofu in mushroom sauce– nice silken tofu, would have liked a stronger mushroom flavor, but tasty
Miso Cod– pretty good flavor, but odd almost spongy texture
Beef tongue skewers– the meat was in large (about 1−½″) squares. Exterior dry and tough, interior was a very odd texture, kind of soft, almost like tofu. I’ve never had this dish before, so I don’t have prospective, but these were not a favorite
Because we both got bento boxes, they offered free edamame. We got the garlic kind. A little too much raw chopped garlic on top for me.
Food:27/40
service: ¹⁷⁄₂₀
Atmosphere/​intangibles: ¹⁶⁄₂₀
Value: ¹⁶⁄₂₀
Overall: 76÷100=3 stars
I wouldn’t rule it out, but with so many restos on this street, I wouldn’t hurry back

My friend had her annual birthday dinner here at Bushido and every time I come here, I’m always looking forward to the day I come back! The food is so good and I really love their menu.
California Fries — regular fries topped with real crab meat and avocado. I love French fries, regular or topped with things so this was a good appetizer to snack on! It’s on their happy hour menu.
Samurai Roll — this is my favorite roll that I tried! I should’ve ordered a second one because it was that good. The hotate that was topped on the roll was so sweet.
Tonkatsu Curry — my bf ordered this and it was good too. I personally would’ve ordered chicken katsu, but nonetheless we finished it in a quickness!
Scallop Nigiri — I wish I would’ve ordered like 10 of these because it was so sweet and it just melted in your mouth!
Not to mention, the workers here are amazing and attentive! Since we were a big party, they were quick to reply with any of our questions and other things that we needed. Will definitely be back again sometime soon :)

Bushido is a Japanese tapas-​style restaurant, where you get smaller dishes to share /​try different dishes. It was surprisingly not super busy on a Wednesday night for dinner as we were seated right away.
Between two people we ordered the okonomiyaki (which the waitress said was a house special) with shrimp, wakame (seaweed salad) and my sister ordered the grilled beef tongue and cartilage (none for me thanks) and karaage.
The wakame salad was good, but I’ve never really had bad seaweed salad? It was so refreshing after all the meat & fried okonomiyaki we ordered a 2^nd one, and to my dismay it was way more cucumber than seaweed… I don’t recall ordering a cucumber salad. the beef tongue here is cut thicker than I’m used to seeing, but my sister enjoyed her yakitori. I thought the okonomiyaki was a little mushy inside to my liking, and I didn’t like how they completed sauced the top, I thought it was just too much, too sweet to my liking. I thought the karaage was a bit on the salty side, but it paired nicely with our large hot sake (which was half off btw!).
Service was moderately paced but they were all very friendly. I think next time I’m back we’d come just for the half off sake and maybe one of the noodle entrees instead.

My boyfriend and I came downtown craving sushi, and our favorite spot was closed so we decided to give Bushido a try. My overall feelings on Bushido: great food, terrible service.
We were seated at an outdoor table in the corner, which was cozy and a little secluded, which was nice until we realized we were also secluded from the wait staff. It was a solid 10 minutes before we even received a menu, and that was after flagging down a server. After we ordered we realized we still did not have water, which we had requested. Our food actually came before we were ever given water, to me that’s such a basic thing but it should never happen. And finally, when it was time to pay, a server was nowhere to be found, we finally actually got up from our table and came inside to pay.
As for the food we found it to be rather enjoyable. We started by splitting the spicy tuna crunch and red dragon rolls. Both had great flavors and the fish tasted extremely fresh.
We then split the house specialty, Okonomiyaki. We decided to top it with shrimp and crab, and got one half with the traditional half Okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayo and the other half Shiodare which is lemon and salt sauce with green onion. This dish was so different from anything I’ve tasted and it was excellent. The savory pancake was the perfect, tasty vessel for the well prepared toppings, I would hands down get this dish again and maybe even try it with different toppings.

First time trying here today and I am impressed with the food and service!
I tried to tonkatsu curry, when I told the waitress I wanted it to spicy they added habanero and it was perfect!!! Although the meat was kinda hard and too much skin but I’ll give it 3.5÷5. I usually am more into chicken katsu than pork anyway.
I also got their salmon-​look-​alike sashimi. The waitress told me they don’t serve salmon but have something similar, whatever that means! Lol i just said okay as long as it tastes the same. And it did!
$ 14 for 9 pieces and it was fresh and yummy.
I also tried the gyoza and ramen, both were not bad too! And the waitress was very sweet and accommodating to my spicy needs! :)