Gombei

Deeelicious food. My family and I go whenever I’m home… and they continue to make me jealous when they go without me. I love sashimi and the beef teriyaki. I also thoroughly enjoy eating everyone else’s food too. The Oyakudon is killer, tomago rolls, miso salmom, and chicken katsu were all fantastic. See picture

After passing by one night when we were going to Misoya, we ended up going here instead as there were a lot of people and must be worth the try. We ordered Katsu Donburi, Chicken Teriyaki, Spider Roll, and some sashimi. The food was fine, but nothing really memorable. Service is ok too — the waitress checked on us a few times. But since there are other better sushi places around with better value, we won’t be coming back anytime soon.

Decided to go to Gombei for a birthday dinner with my wife and kids. Been here several times before. They offer both table seating and bar seating near a sushi conveyor belt that has fresh made sushi.
It was a Saturday evening and were told a 20 to 30 minute wait. No big deal since it was Saturday.
We were seating near the sushi conveyor where it is easy to pick what you want, but, there was no sushi to be found. Nothing. No sign or explanation why. When I asked I was told they were short 1 chef. OK, no big deal. We can order from the menu.
When the server came with our water, we barely had our menus and were asked what we wanted. It felt very rushed, like they were trying to turn as many tables as fast as possible. So much for a relaxing meal.
My daughter had Ramen, which came in less than 5 minutes. My son’s teriyaki beef came soon after. Then nothing. No food for my wife and I. My wife ordered seaweed salad and some simple veggie rolls. I ordered the tuna sashimi dinner. 10 minutes…15 minutes… nothing. My kids were done and we have not eaten. I asked the server and they apologized, then brought my miso soup (very salty) and a watery salad and rice. Then a few minutes later my wife’s salad and rolls came. I picked thru my salad and left the soup. My wifed wanted to wait for me but I had her eat. 10 more minutes go by. Finally my tuna came. I asked for more rice since the bowl they brought 20 minutes earlier was cold. Everyone was done and I was just starting. 12 small, thin pieces of tuna. Nice presentation, but, not much food. I ate it with my rice, finished with my now warm beer, didn’t take very long since there was not much food. Asked for the check and promptly left.
Got home and had a bowl of Cheerios since I was still hungry and my wallet lighter by about $ 70.
Not worth the money. Food getting worse. Service poor. Felt like a fast food joint.
Sorry Gombei, but I will not return. Will be looking for another sushi restaurant where I can eat leisurely with the family and not feel ripped off. I don’t mind spending $$ for quality food and a good ambiance, but, Gombei offers neither.

WTH. We are here on a Saturday night, and the restaurant is way understaff. We were seated after 35 min wait and it took another 15 min for the waitress to take orders. Now the real wait began. After 30 minutes, only one tiny plate of four little pieces of sushi came. We have been waiting for another 20 minutes and none of our 8 orders have arrived yet. This will be my last time here.

I used to like this restaurant which serves decent Japanese food quickly with a smile. Hence I recommended it to my group of mommy friends recently. Unfortunately we were told that babies in strollers were not welcomed.

We always go to the one by Taylor, but decided to try this one.
We were seated right away. Ordered
— beef yakiniku with gomma (chicken and tofu mixed together and fried dipped in a agadashi tofu sauce) — delicious!
— beef udon. My daughter slurped up the whole bowl
— California roll — very fresh tasting
— spicy hamachi roll — decent, had better
Definitely will go back to this location as there was no wait and the service is good.

My favorite go-​to place for healthy-​but-​still-​hits-​the-​spot Japanese food! I typically try eating at the sushi bar when i go here, so that i can have easy access to rainbow and California rolls while waiting for my food to come out.
While most of the sushi boat selection doesn’t include Americanized options such as shrimp tempura or orange sauce, you can definitely ask for any variety of those options and they’ll deliver with a smile!
Chicken katsu, fried tofu, and tempura udon is also really good here!

Stopped by for lunch and ordered the beef teriyaki don which is basically medium rare strips of beef on rice with a side of miso soup and salad. All tasty delicious.
Parking was easy in a large lot and there was no wait. Staff was prompt and friendly.

When my family and I eat Japanese food, it’s either (good) sushi, ramen, or special combos. Never would we order a chicken teriyaki rice plate or udon, except at the airport where the alternatives are beer or sandwiches. Our go-​to used to be Azuma for their unique lunch specials but after they changed owners, the options got more boring and the food got salty and sweet. Then we tried Yoshida, but after the novelty of the presentation in little bowls wears off quickly. Now our staple is Gombei for their special combos.
They usually have around 3 special combo choices of ~$ 9-​$ 14. I tend to splurge, which is a terrible and high-​maintenance habit, but I often find myself liking the less costly ones the same if not more, because they’re generally more vegetarian and lighter. I like the poke and katsu combo; there is a good portion of the poke and doesn’t use excessive sauces to mask fish quality (see below for my eulogy on Gombei’s katsu). There’s also a hamachi kama and egg tofu pancake that was really good. The hamachi kama was similar to saba except less salty, and the egg tofu pancake was amazing! The texture was so fluffy it tasted like a piece of cloud from heaven… add the assorted veggies and it’s a wonderful home-​style side (one of those delicious dishes that make me feel like I survive vegetarianism). The downside? I forget what it’s called D: Now I can’t sound very knowledgeable about Japanese food.
Specials aside, their menu is large so you have more choices than deciding between chicken, beef, and salmon teriyaki. Their sushi is decent quality, and their katsu curry is one of my favorite comfort foods in the area. It tastes similar to the Japanese box curry (not a cooked-​for-​many-​hours secret family recipe like Murraci’s), but the katsu couldn’t be more on point – crunchy, juicy, and cuts with good pork flavor and mild fattiness. It’s a tad bit saltier than I like, but I guess that just makes it tastier.
Nice clean ambiance, fast service, and usually no wait for a table because it’s a big place. After dealing with Orenchi, no wait for good food feels next to a miracle.

What. The. Eff. Man.
I came here with a few coworkers to splurge on our sushi craving. To have this place conveniently and strategically placed across the street from Kaiser would have been a done deal… until I got bad abdominal pain.
I had a couple of sushi plates that were running across their sushi boat and a bowl of udon. The sushi was great and I didn’t think for a second that it wasn’t fresh. The udon was super salty and I didn’t even finish my whole bowl. After heading back to work, I felt a sudden grumble and drop in my stomach, as if my stomach screamed, «Damn you! Too much MSG!!!»
Could it have been the sushi? Or maybe the Udon? I don’t know but my stomach wasn’t too happy about it. Whomp, whomp, whomp…

Haven’t had some good sushi for a while. Today’s my hubby day off, so we head to Gombei. I like their daily menu as it seems everyday’s combination are not the same. That’s how customers won’t get bored with your menu, smart!
I decided to go with the sushi platter. The sashimi were so fresh! Specially my favorite hamachi. Even the CA rolls were so good, not like mashy in other places. Hopefully we can come everyday!

One star to hopefully get the owners attention only.
I love the food here and have been here several times. But today the waitress missed my order. When asked about what happened, she got defensive and stated that I told her I didn’t want it and when I said I didn’t say that, she got more defensive. It really made me sad that a place I enjoy I had a server who was that mean.
As a result, I got my food when everyone else had finished, but not one word of «I apologize» or «my bad» … No offers as an apology or anything …
Other than the waitresses everything this trip was On par as other visits.

Went in for lunch last Friday around 11:45 and got seated immediately. I ordered 3 sushi plates that came from the rotating belt: dragon roll and rainbow roll, each was about $ 4 – 5 with 4 large sized pieces. My coworkers got the hot lunch combos. Service was quick, generous portions, decent prices, lots of selections on the lunch special menu. I will go back again for lunch for sure.

Almost a 4 for having some solid dishes, but not quite because it was lacking in other areas. While I had the teriyaki salmon and tonkatsu combo, it wasn’t really my optimal choice, but I was forced into it because of their combination bentos are preset instead of choosing 2 of a variety of options. While they offer you some combinations, there really wasn’t too much to choose from unless one of your options was teriyaki chicken or teriyaki beef which were featured in most of the combos. While this did reduce the price for the combos in the sense that you pay for what you get, honestly I’d rather be able to get what I wanted.
For $ 14, I was able to get my teriyaki salmon and tonkatsu combo which came with 2 large pieces of salmon and a pretty good helping of tonkatsu, The food was good but nothing memorable. My rice was a bit dried out as some bites were hard. I was also a bit annoyed that the tonkatsu came on the same plate as the salad. This resulted in some dressing on my tonkatsu and causing it to get soggy more quickly.
They do have a rotating sushi boat bar here, and while it did seem enticing, the fish quality did not look like it was justified by the price per plate. I also wasn’t very convinced that many of the items were that fresh as it doesn’t seem like people come here solely for the sushi boats so items don’t seem to rotate out that quickly.
Service here is average, the employees here were friendly, but didn’t necessarily check on our table that often.
Overall, the bento boxes seem pretty solid, but the selection of their menu isn’t so great. It’s hard to get exactly what you want here unfortunately as the menu is pretty restricting.

This place is just OK. I found most of the fish rubbery and entrees lacking in flavor. The only items worth nothing are the Agedashi and the Unagi Don. Both were your standard items with good flavor and portion size.
The place gets really busy for lunch so I recommend trying out Gombei for dinner. I have eaten here for lunch and dinner and noticed a drastic difference in service. The dinner shift is nicer and more attentive.

Gombei was our choice tonight because a friend from out of town who can’t get good Japanese food where he is was craving Japanese, and our go-​to spot is closed on Mondays. This was my first time eating at any Gombei location, and it might well be my last.
So let’s get the good out of the way. The people here are super friendly and welcoming, and they are pretty good about checking in on you. And the veggie tempura I got was admittedly quite good, I’ll give them that.
Unfortunately, that’s about all the good I have to speak of. The rest of the food was at best passable… edible, certainly, but not particularly enjoyable. Veggie tempura is only available as an appetizer or 1-​item dinner, but not in a combo dinner… strange if you ask me. My teriyaki sauce was thin and watery, and meat not particularly browned. My fiancée’s udon was… not udon, not if you are judging by the noodles which were not like any udon noodles I’ve ever had in my life… flat noodles which were soggy.
I can’t in good conscience recommend Gombei. While the employees here were very polite and courteous, the food is forgettable.

Tried this place on a whim because Misoya, the ramen house next door, was full and my husband didn’t want to wait.
I was actually excited to eat some sushi, and when our rolls came out, I noticed how small and, as another fellow Unilocaler pointed out, generic looking they were. The rolls looked like the pre-​packaged stuff you can get at any supermarket. They were decent and did the trick for me, but oh boy the waitress who did our bill overcharged us 3 extra rolls that we did not order. Luckily, I can add pretty well and took a look at the bill before my husband paid. Sure enough glaring right in front of me was the waitress’ mistake.
For those who decide to come here, I would triple check your bill before paying.

There was a massive line for Orenchi Ramen, so my boyfriend and I decided to go across the street and eat at Gombei on a Friday afternoon.
When we arrived, the hostess let us know that they were out of teriyaki before seating us. My boyfriend ordered the unagi and egg lunch combo special, which included unagi, egg, miso soup, a salad, and vegetable tempura. I noticed there was vegetable udon and shrimp tempura udon on the menu, so I asked if I could order vegetable tempura udon. Waitress said no problem.
Our orders came out and they ended up giving me vegetable udon instead. I was a bit crestfallen and didn’t want to say anything at first, but the manager and server were very receptive and were quick to fix my order.
Although I didn’t ask for it, I liked how they separated the vegetable tempura from the soup, which prevents the tempura from getting all soggy. As for the soup, I liked how clean it tasted (not too oily) and all the noodles and fish cakes were cooked thoroughly. My boyfriend’s unagi and egg lunch combo was also very delicious.
Although it wasn’t my first choice, I enjoyed my meal at Gombei and look forward to visiting again.

Came here because Misoya was packed, and we weren’t disappointed. Ordered the beef udon and it came out pretty fast which is good. They gave me a huge bowl, big enough for two people to share. So if you plan on ordering this, make sure you’re super hungry, or brought an extra stomach. We also ordered the pork Katsu over rice, nothing special but still good.
My favorite part is the conveyor belt of sushi and other small plates of goodies. It’s so tempting to just grab whatever looks good, so if you’re on a tight budget, don’t sit there. Plates of sushi ranges from $ 2.50 to around $ 5 from what I remember. I had better sushi before, but theirs is decent.
This place doesn’t look packed most of the time, so if you’re super hungry and do not have the energy or patience to wait for the long line across the street for orenchi Ramen, this is the perfect place to go.

I was in Silicon Valley for a meeting at the nearby Panasonic facility and a couple of us went for lunch afterward. We wanted Japanese food, but Iroriya was a bit too fancy for a quick business lunch and Orenchi Ramen had too much of a wait, so Gombei it was.
We were seated at a booth quickly and the service was friendly and efficient.
We ordered a couple of appetizers and a couple of platters. The gyoza appetizer was fried a little too much, but I found the house tofu (recommended by the server) «melt-​in-​your-​mouth» outstanding!
Both platters were good — the sashimi was fresh and the vegetable tempura cooked perfectly. Did not enjoy the salad or the miso soup which came with the platters, however. Get your basics right please!