| Long-established Japanese restaurant specializing in sushi and lunch bentos |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 9/11/2007
Rating: 7
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Komatsu restaurant is located off to the side of Water Tower Plaza building. There's no signs in english, just have to look for the japanese wooden sign in the front. Upon entry, there's a sushi bar in the front, main dining room to the left and 3-4 tatami style rooms on the right side.
With our lunch time arrival, many of the tables were already taken or contained leftover lunches of 30 minutes ago. With 1 lone waitress running around the restaurant taking orders, delivering food, I think she did quite well. She made time to drop off english/japanese menu and an awesome pot of tea. I was so impressed with the tea, I removed the cover (image 4) and viewed the magical tea mix.
Sushi was more expensive similar places in the area. I owed Terry for 3 lunches, so I offered an open menu for a lunch blowout. I told him to order whatever the hell he wanted. He order about $30 worth of food....not bad ehh?
While he was off ordering maki rolls, I made my nigiri order of
hamachi (amberjack $4.75) - pretty preeeettty good, broke apart easily in my mouth, no fishy flavor, rates between 7.5-8.
tako (octopus $3.75) - I understand the chewy texture but, the tako must have been boiled to long, took too much chewing and believe me, I order tako ALL THE TIME. eehhhh. rated 6.5
amaebi (sweet shrimp $7) - It looked fresh, it had shininess, chopped green onions, just didn't have the wow factor, wasn't sweet, kinda fishy tasting too. rated 6.
shiro maguro (white tuna $4.25) - the texture resembled something that had been refrigerated for awhile. It didn't have a glistening shine, the wet look. It was just ok, nothing to brag about. rated 6.5
tamago (egg $3.50) - wasn't delicate, not too many layers, parts of the egg had a burnt flavor. No repeat order. rated 6
hotate (scallops $5) - the best of the bunch. by far the freshest and favorite of the nigiri. Sweet tasting. Easy repeat order. rated 9
I don't know if it's a regional thing for sushi chefs but my guy forgot to put the dab of wasabi under the fish? What gives, I'm disappointed. For the price and quality, I found the nigiri to be sub-par with the exception of the hotate.
The California and Crazy rolls were super good. I'm surprised Terry wasn't so thrilled on the CA rolls? They were perfect size, rolled tightly and heavy serving of avocado. Crazy roll had excellent broiled anagi with a sweet soy glaze. Tempura shrimp in each bite with more avocado. Crazy Roll was by far my favorite sushi of the day.
I'd make a return to Komatsu if I was in the area. Prices are kinda high with our lunch pushing the $70+ range. I'd probably stick to the maki rolls over the less than stellar nigiri.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 9/11/2007
Rating: 7.5
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Jason owed me for a few lunches, so figured he would pay me back all in one sushi blowout. I hadn't had sushi in a LONG time, so figured it was worthy taking him up on his offer. He pulled out this enthusiastic email that someone submitted to us back in May, and indeed the words were bold and encouraging enough - Komatsu would be the place.
We arrive and its buried behind this shopping center in Campbell. No english signage - its all in Japanese. Promising. You step in and duck your head and walk down a little incline. You really gotta pay attention to what you are doing as you enter. Kinda cool.
The place is maybe half full this tuesday and the single waitress in the place manages to show us a table quickly. We scan the menu. Holy moly. I am glad I am not paying today. Prices were definitely on the high side. Jason speaks a lot of words like "blowout", "splurge", "credit card", etc. This gives me courage to go for the gold. No walking away hungry today - I was gonna get stuffed!
After much deliberation, I settle on a Volcano Roll (over $8), California Rolls ($5), and the recommended Crazy Roll (over $12!) - and a bowl of miso to start. We also split a pot of green tea. It is also worth noting that they had a decent selection of vegetarian sushi. Nice, indeed.
The tea and my miso arrive quickly. The tea has a unique flavor. Upon opening the pot, we see they have some grilled(?) brown rice in with the tea leaves. Gives it a mustier, bolder flavor. Nice.
The miso is equally a tad different - a little on the sweet side. Interesting. My hopes are getting high. I am imagining rolls bigger than my head and taking home a doggie bag for snacking on later in the afternoon back in the office (if the forthcoming mighty food coma doesn't take over).
Sadly I was let down from here on out. The rolls arrive - they are average size, noting overly large. And this wouldn't be a problem if the food was truly stellar. As it was, I found the quality to be overall merely pretty good.
Don't get me wrong. I don't hate this place. I just feel a little ripped off with the high pricetag and the fact I didn't leave as full as I was expecting.
California Rolls - small, imitation crab, good mayo mixture and avocado flavorful. These were good, but because they weren't stellar, I probably won't order them again.
Volcano Roll - greasy, nice mixture of grilled cheese, mayo, tuna, salmon, rice. This was probably my favorite one, as far as flavoring goes. I did feel guilty eating it though.
Crazy Roll - indeed this was crazy. Lots of different stuff mashed into here. I don't think I can remember it all from memory (it is listed on the menu linked above). It had a slightly crunchy texture and was rich without being overly greasy. I found the flavoring muted, so had to add a lot of wasabi to spice things up a bit. It was good, but at the price, I think I will try something else next time.
If everything was 20 or 30% less expensive, I would probably be more excited about this place. After our food was brought to the table, we were forgotten by the waitress (granted she was the only one working the whole place). If we didn't order enough food, it would have been tough catching her to put another order in to fortify our stomachs.
Maybe they are more known for their bentos? I can't say it was a total failure, as the tea and miso were good. And I would order the Volcano roll again. Maybe some agents or guests will have some further advice for me.
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