Bamboo Sushi

Great place. The server Ben last night was awesome. Good recommendations and good food. Small portions for the price is my only complaint, however that’s most of Portland these days. The long wait was a bummer but the server and general service made up for it. I’ll go back for sure.
My friends love the Green Machine. I loved the tuna poke.

Listed on Eater’s 38 Essential Restaurants of Portland (and the world’s first certified-​sustainable sushi restaurant) I had to check it out. Situated right on the scenic 23^rd Ave, lined with lit trees for the winter, it keeps good company and had a wonderful ambiance. I loved the zen lighting and the rich modern wood tones.
We came for Happy Hour, which does require a drink purchase (alcoholic or otherwise — they had a selection of Smith teas with a lovely presentation), but was a deal. They provide some salted edamame to snack on while you wait, too, which is always a nice touch. My husband and I each got a Nigiri Set (4pc for $ 7) and a hand roll ($ 3) which was new to me and a challenge to eat, but had really fresh, flavorful seaweed.
Another in our party had the yakisoba, and another had the NW Philly roll and California roll. Everything was delicious and surprisingly filling. We were very pleased.
What really made the night was the impeccable service, which was a delight and really impressed our guests.
We’ll definitely be back.

Great atmosphere. Got the corner spots at the sushi bar. Awesome lowered sushi kitchen so you can see the operation. Felt Iike I was at a raw fish colosseum! Attentive staff.
Only giving 4 stars due to one or two rolls that didn’t wow me, but the Northwest Philly roll is A+!

Great service. Excellent fresh sushi with unique flavor. Be prepared to wait for your table, especially on the weekends but it’s definitely worth the wait.

***update*** Contacted by the manager and it appears the fellow was new at his position. First time for everything, I’m sure he’ll be better prepared to handle this situation next time. Updated my rating because I did have an awesome time the first go around here: cool and knowlegable server, chill atmosphere, plus the food was great. If you’re bold, try the sea urchin dessert, sounds weird but it’s tasty!
***original post***
I had a good experience with friends here the last time I went and decided to go back tonight. Customer service this time was lacking. My card declined; not that you care but I picked up my old card instead of the new card I received with the chip. The guy was rude as heck when he came back, didn’t bother trying to be discreet. Walks over, says this card has not been accepted louder than necessary and walks off without waiting for me to respond. I stood there looking like an idiot until he came back and showed him my account with money present and asked that he try again. He handed it off to someone else, luckily, her attitude was much better. Obviously, nothing they could have done but I definitely won’t go back. What a little jerk. The food is great though so I wouldn’t blame you for trying it.

Dine here on new year eve and got a table via open table. Showed up a few minutes before our 8:15pm reservation and weren’t seated until 8:30pm.
Service: fantastic. Waitresses were very friendly and took time to explaining things.
Food: great though a little bit on the high price side
Ambiance: nice!
Would I come back? Maybe, for happy hour

I’m definitely digging the vibe at Bamboo’s 23^rd location. I’ve been to their SE location a few times, which seemed a little small (but still good).
This spot has the same quality of the other spot, but it seems a little more casual. I love love love the sushi bar. It makes me feel like I can pop in for lunch/​dinner without getting super glammed up.
The sushi is really fresh and wonderful. I’m not usually a big sashimi eater, but here, I am.
Memo to self: Come back for the happy hour. Eat lots of fish. Be happy.

I’ve only been here once, but I’m happy to slap 5 stars on it.
The service was really top notch. I was impressed with our server’s knowledge, friendliness, recommendations, and patience with my inability to make a decision.
After all the fuss I put into trying to make a decision, I just went with the chirashi (chef’s choice sashimi on a bowl of sushi rice) and I was sooooo pleased with what I got. The star of the bowl was something I’ve never had before. The server referred to it as «Tasmanian Trout Salmon». Turns out they whip up some good fish down in Tasmania, because I’ve never had better sushi.
For what it’s worth, I did a little research on the fish, and it turns out that called «Tasmanian Ocean Trout» and it’s basically the same thing as what we would call Rainbow (or Steelhead) Trout. It’s the Pacific Salmon variety of the trout species of fish (or some such thing). But you can call it whatever you want, I might go back and order a plate full of just that. Seriously you guys, it was amazing… which is probably why a 2 pc nigiri or sashimi costs 8 bucks.
I look forward to going back.

What an amazing experience. The cocktails, the sushi, the service, all top notch. Was here from out of town and is was the best place I went to in Portland. I’m from LA, we have a lot of sushi spots there, I didn’t expect to be surprised, but I was…

Wonderful sushi. Such a great variety of fish. Sat at the sushi bar and just kept trying whatever the chef recommended. Nice cocktail list as well.
A friend recommended this place before the trip and I can see why — I’m happy to now be able to recommend it to you!

This was one of the best sushi experiences I’ve had. We came in on a Saturday night right when they opened, okay, maybe 2 minutes after (but whose really counting) about ¹⁄₃ of the restaurant was already seated, and there was a line leading to the door. We were pretty hungry but the line reaffirmed the positive reviews, this was a good restaurant. We were seated incredibly quickly, literally within 30 seconds of reaching the hostess stand. Service was outstanding, friendly, knowledgeable, our water was always full.
The food here is simply put, amazing. We ordered what felt like a lot but in actuality wasn’t…okay, that’s a lie. I think we ate too fast to realize how full we were getting. We ordered in no particular order okonomiyaki (pancake with shrimp and mushrooms, topped with parmesan fried oysters, drizzled with aioli and eel sauce), braised short ribs (with roasted root vegetables and asian pear jus), savory aburi nigiri (soy marinated albacore, lightly torched), wild alaskan salmon (yuan-​zuke seasoned-​soy marinated), salmon sashimi, and tuna sashimi. I was in love with the pancake on first bite and my girlfriend liked it fine (so I ate it all) and she absolutely loved her short ribs. The sashimi was literally so fresh and melt in your mouth.
The best thing about this location is that it’s right next to Salt and Straw. Literally, the whole resturant smells like a big waffle cone. There’s nothing better than leaving dinner full (and happy) and smelling like absolute deliciousness. I usually always opt for dessert and/​or ice cream but even I was too full to even consider it.

This is a must go sushi spot in town. Staff is very friendly and they help you with great tips. It was my first time trying spicy sushi and need to say — LOVED it!
We ordered a mix of house specialties and traditionals– simply followed our server and Unilocal commentsEverything was muchos delicieux!
Price is decent considering the service, atmosphere and the taste.
Cheers

Bamboo Sushi can be best characterized as a pretentious hellspace of overpriced hispterdom.
Don’t get me wrong, the food is good, but is in no way worth the prices they charge for it. I may be in a minority here, but I do not really give a damn if the food was «ethically sourced» and am absolutely unwilling to overpay for it when there are much cheaper (and arguably better) sushi restaurants within walking distance (San Sai and Mio.)
Avoid this place unless you’re an Environmental Science major or an equivalently unbearable human being.

The sushi here is quite alright. It didn’t blow me away, but it was fresh and clean in flavors. There are also more entrée items, as well as specialty appetizers, like poke bowls or carpaccio.
Like most sushi restaurants, it carries the rolls you would expect (salmon, spicy tuna, california roll), and also some more specialty rolls. Prices were average as well, not overpriced but not inexpensive either.
Service is attentive and friendly.
I greatly appreciate the idea behind Bamboo Sushi, of sustainable seafood and of sustainable restaurants in general. It is awesome that they are trying to make a change to the world of restaurants. I do believe, though, that the sustainability ethos may be going a little too far in terms of the lighting. It is a bit dim in the general restaurant area, which some may say gives it that romantic, low lighting feel. However, this process continues in the bathroom, with the sole light being the backlit mirror. Its not truly an issue, and I’ll admit it does look a little space-​age cool, but it is a bit much.

Loved Bamboo Sushi! During our first night in Portland, I did a quick search for best sushi places in Portland and came across this place. Since this place did not allow reservations for parties 7 or less, we decided to get there early in order to minimize the wait time. However, we had a super late lunch, so when we arrived, we weren’t super hungry, and thus didn’t try as many dishes as I would’ve liked! :)
MSC Albacore Carpaccio — it was good, but I am not sure four pieces of sashimi justified the price ($ 15). Under the description provided by the restaurant, this dish consists of «chopped, house smoked cipolini onion, pickled shiitake mushrooms, momiji, ponzu, chervil, and Japanese sea salt». Perhaps it is my unsophisticated palate, but I really couldn’t taste all of the ingredients that went into the dish. To be me, it was a good piece of sashimi, lightly seasoned, almost like a light ceviche
Imo Koroshi — definitely not worth ordering. I read about some of the Unilocal reviews that raved about this so-​called «potato killer», but it was just roasted sweet potato, with some butter brushed on. I could’ve easily made this at home, albeit without the amazing presentation. My recommendation? Unless you can’t live without sweet potato, skip it.
Aburi Nigiri (savory) — one of the highlights of the meal, I enjoyed this so much more than the carpaccio. I love the technique of torching sushi, and wish restaurants in the east coast will start to adopt it. To be completely honest, I thought Miku in Vancouver did it better, but this was definitely a close second.
Hoki Poke Box — again, another technique that I wish the restaurants here would adopt, i.e. «pressed» sushi. I don’t understand why, it just tastes better than rolled sushi. Any experts out there, I would love to hear from you. Back to this specific dish, I appreciate the fact that they actually used a generous slice of tuna, instead of the scraps that restaurants generally use for tuna rolls. The togarashi worked wonders for the roll, as did the few sprigs of scallion
Garden of Eden — whoever thought of putting apples in sushi was brilliant! I was worried that I would be sick of eating albacore for another dish, but it tasted so different from the other dishes. I loved the addition of apples and picked mustard seeds. Moreover, I love that the roll can stand on its own without the need for soy sauce and/​or wasabi.
Sea Urchin Crème Brûlée — I am not sure what exactly I was expecting, maybe a piece of sea urchin on top of the crème brûlée? Haha, I know that sounds ridiculous and I probably should’ve asked the server to clarified beforehand. The dish was good, a bit creamier than the regular crème brûlée. The waiter mentioned that some people are turned off by the fishiness of this dessert, but I honestly didn’t taste the sea urchin at all.
The place was packed when we sat down and each dish was brought out by a different server, which could get a bit confusing after awhile. However, our main server was great and patiently explained the intricacy of one dish after I misunderstood the server that brought the food. I wish I can go back and try other dishes. Parking could be difficult as the restaurant is on an extremely busy block. Overall, one of the best sushi places we tried during our Northwest trip.

The food here is very good. I really like how the sushi is all from sustainable fishing sources. What also makes this place really good is that it smells like a ice cream cone because of salt n straw next door.
Very very

Excellent service, great happy hour menu. We got the hanger steak the potato beaters, stuffed peppers, nigori sushi, veggie tempura (GF), Tamaki soy sauce. So delicious! Conveniently next-​door to Salt and Straw so you could go over
for dessert.

Ballin on a budget is hard when you’re faced with such great food choices on an expensive street! Craving sushi and seeing the great reviews we jumped into bamboo. The restaurant is beautifully decorated but I disliked the lighting and the temperature! The girls were shivering!
Noticing the price of the menu we decided to get two items: albacore crunchy nigiri and lucky 13. They were both so underwhelming. As appealing as the lucky 13 sounded… It wasn’t tasting as such. However, the albacore crunchy nigiri was delicious! Too bad you only get two pieces for $ 8

Came here on a weekend trip to Portland as my friend and I were both craving sushi. I find it incredibly difficult to find places that do both normal (re: fish) and vegan sushi well. (I don’t think I can eat another plain cucumber roll in my life…)
We came here on a Saturday night and the place was booming. I don’t think they take reservations so either come here early or be prepared to wait a bit. We said we’d eat at the bar so that cut our wait down a little. I actually really enjoyed sitting by the bar because you can interact with the chefs and watch them make your sushi. I ordered the PDX roll which had a really unique flavor thanks to the shishito peppers. My friend ordered a house signature roll and really enjoyed hers also.
Good food, good service, good atmosphere (great place for a date night!)

Wow! Now THIS was a great dining experience! The food and service were both top notch, and as we were leaving we were already planning our next visit. It won’t be long, I promise you that!
As we had just sauntered in on a Friday night right at the beginning of prime dinner hour, we opted to cut down on the wait and sit at the sushi bar. Typically I don’t like this arrangement, but some smart restaurant design has made it an experience not to be missed! Instead of essentially facing a glass case full of fish, at Bamboo Sushi the chefs are in a sunken kitchen so that you can better witness them practice their craft. The personal sushi chefs made great recommendations and demonstrated their consider knife skills while a regular server made sure that we were kept in beverages. With both of them attending to our needs, we felt very well taken care of.
And the food… man it was awesome! We started with some hotate (scallop) sashimi, which was a generous portion and a perfect flavor and texture. Our spicy scallop roll (I like scallops!) was actually spicy, which is a welcome change from what I’m used to eating. We had some sort of special, which I can’t recall the specifics of but really enjoyed. But here’s the kicker: I asked if they were serving tako (octopus) my husband’s favorite. They said that it had just came in that day but was not ready to be served. We were a tad disappointed but understanding and moved on. THEN about 10 minutes later another chef came up from the back, full octopus in hand. After showing off just how fresh the octopus was, they prepared it for us and served up some of the best tako sashimi we’ve ever had! They really went above and beyond.
There are still a ton of things on their menu that I want to try, and I can’t wait to do so. I was very impressed with my experience at Bamboo Sushi. They do it right. Good job folks.