San Mateo Onigilly

"My first time here and I always wanted to try it. I finally had the opportunity and it was great! It’s located in a tiny lot, surrounded by 7-11 and zen noodle (which is great too, if you want to try them). There was plenty of parking when we went. The restaurant was clean, they had a lot of seating and I thought it was pretty spacious inside for their size. The restaurant has bar stools, a few seats outside, and tables inside. There is a large menu above and 2 tablets to place your order. The employees were busy making food. We took a while to order because there were so many good options. We finally ordered two flavors of onigilly, to try: one miso nasu which is fried eggplant with miso sesame and green onion, and hijiki which is braised seaweed, carrot, tofu and edamame. I got a salad bowl with mixed greens, seaweed, red cabbage, shredded carrot, edamame, and onion. It includes three proteins: I chose unagi, krab salad and spicy miso beef. My sister ordered a poke bowl: ahi tuna, mixed greens, seaweed, krab salad, cucumber, corn, shredded carrot and red cabbage. We both chose the sesame dressing, however, we didn’t use it. There was so much flavor in our bowls already that it really didn’t need it. Everything was delicious and so flavorful. Definitely worth it and I can’t wait to come back and try other items."

"I was skeptical of this place thinking it’d be extremely gimmicky but was overall pleasantly surprised. The onigiris were pretty good and had a great amount of filling. The poke bowl was also good for its price. My only disappointment was in the quality of the salmon, it seemed to be a cheaper cut or something."

"Ordered take-out: chicken katsu curry and karaage as a side dish. The karaage was sublime, truly very good. The curry is not so great; you get a crazy amount of rice, with some shredded cabbage. The chicken cutlet was good, not issue there. But other than that it's just not good. No potato, carrot, or any veggie to be seen. Negligible red pickled ginger. Most of all, the curry sauce is way too harshly/strongly flavored and not particularly tasty, doesn't appear to be homemade."

"Very fresh and tasty Japanese food, reasonable prices, travels well so excellent choice for delivery. We get the rice bowls from here all the time via UberEATS and they are always outstanding. There are so many choices and a variety of fresh veggies stuffed into each bowl. Rice bowls have a base of partially killed brown rice and mixed greens. On top is washable salad, red cabbage, carrot, edamame, takuan, onion, and THREE choices from a huge list of seasoned meats, seafood, and veggie dishes. I really like the miso nasu eggplant, spicy beef, and spicy shrimp, my partner likes the shrimp tempura, teriyaki chicken and teriyaki tofu. We both love the creamy sesame dressing which is like kewpie roasted sesame dressing (there are other options) We also like the takuan (pickled radish) so much that we order a full side order. It is SO satisfyingly crunchy and the sound of the crunch penetrates your brain in the best way."

"I believe this place is operating as a "ghost kitchen" or side gig of another business -- a quick search shows that there's also a "Curry Ninja" and "Tokyo Poke" located at the same address, with the same food photos. In addition to a catering company. I got a "build your own" poke bowl with salmon, Shio Koji poke sauce, and "Original-Non-Oil" dressing. This bowl is definitely a step above the normal ones. Flavor was different than what I was expecting, but delicious. Good variety of toppings, good balance of flavors, not overly sweet or salty. Love that it's real seaweed salad, not the Yellow #5 Blue #1 stuff that most poke places offer. Highly recommend the Shio Koji sauce. I didn't know what "Original-Non-Oil" dressing was, the ordering system doesn't say, but I was feeling brave so I got it. It's some sort of vinegar/vinegarette. Everything in the bowl was fresh. It comes default with half brown rice and half mixed greens. Very filling portion size too. Only complaint is that I like a little bit of a spicy kick which wasn't present here. To be fair, maybe there was an option in the ordering system that I missed. The place faces a back alley road and looks like some sort of warehouse. Amazing poke bowl tho, highly recommend!"