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Suzu-You (Closed) (Japanese cuisine) $

505 2nd Ave, San Mateo, 94401 (Directions)

650.347.8626

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Japanese homestyle cooking at this charming mom and pop restaurant
Reviewer: Jason Total Reviews: 1040 Reviewed: 8/20/2005 Rating: 9 My photo gallery	We initially thought Suzu-You was going to be the 500th restaurant for jatbar as it had all the characteristics for something special; family atmosphere, authentic, cheap, tasty food, and excellent service. You can say Suzu-You is off the beaten path and also on other side of the caltrain tracks. Its in downtown San Mateo and not located near the other restaurants, kinda in this forgotten strip mall located off 2nd. The restaurant has a family feel to it, nothing exotic but something in the realms of picnic tables with table cloths and padded fold up seats. My seat was facing the maneki neko shrine (thanks to adam for explaining). If you've ever seen those cat statues in japanese restaurants, they are a good luck charm for business owners. One glance around and Terry was the only white person here and they had japanese high school baseball playing on the tv. I thought it was professional baseball game, you would not believe the crowds for this game, even the camera angles are what you see on ESPN. Anyways, Suzu-You seems like the real deal to me, even the waitress was saying 'hai' after our orders. She was a sweet person reminding me of my grandmother. For dinner, I ordered the yakitori and yosenabe. yakitori - grilled chicken skewers with a light marinade. I could have just stopped here and ate these all night. It was super good and I was too embarrassed to order another round. Give me 5+ skewers and white rice and Im good to go. I loved it. yosenabe - noodles, tofu, fish, tempura shrimp, veggies, in a giant iron pot. Its a good think I didnt order another skewer as this meal was going to do me in for the night. I can usually eyeball what my stomach can fit and there's no way I can eat the entire pot. The broth had a heavily seafood taste to it yet not overpowering your veggie flavoring. I had a vegetable garden in this pot, mushrooms, onions, cabbage, carrots. For the seafood, there was a plentiful amount of fish with 1 tempura shrimp in there. The noodles were the glass ones and buried underneath the toppings, texture was somewhat firm. Overall, I enjoyed the dish. This isnt something Ive ordered often and maybe have had twice in my life. Would I order it again? Sure...you bet, the food tasted fresh and I found the value very fitting to what you receive. Prices are reasonable, food was good but Im a sucker for great service. I think we walked about spending $15 each with our stomachs filled to capacity. I'd probably rate tonights food somewhere between 8 - 8.5 range but I want to kick the score to a 9 just because I thought the service was genuine. She didnt know Terry and I were reviewing their restaurant but she seemed very concerned if we liked our food or not. Service like this is hard to come by and it shows that Suzu-You takes pride on what they serve. I love Suzu-You and highly recommend making a visit to San Mateo's friendliest japanese restaurant. * Update 08.02.06 * I drove by today and it looks like Suzu-You is no longer around. If anyone knows the story, shoot us an email. *Update 08.28.06 * Thanks to our readers for providing information on on Suzu-You (Yoko's) Dan writes.... The new restaurant at this location is called Yoko's, the new owner was one of the previous waitress who worked there before. The menu is almost identical to before, they still have a rotating daily lunch special, the interior has been upgraded slightly and the service feels about the same as before. However the lunch special now seem to consist mostly of cooked items, i've been back several times and have not had any sashimi offering in the lunch special. Kristen writes... Suzu-you recently changed owners and now one of the waitresses owns it. It is now called Yoko's Japanese Restaurant. The chef remains the same though, atleast for now, and they still have their daily lunch box. It's not quite as "homey" inside anymore, but has less clutter, and new tables and chairs (no more gingham picnic tablecloths). ...still the same tasty food though, and atleast some of the same friendly ladies.

Reviewer: Terry Total Reviews: 739 Reviewed: 8/20/2005 Rating: 9 My photo gallery	Suzu-You was a long-standing wishlist request that Jatbar was happy to fulfill. We were even considering it for #500. Alas, it missed the mark by 1 restaurant. We walk in, and it feels like a Japanese home - in Japan. Everyone that walks in is treated like family. In many ways, it reminded me of Lucys Tea House in Mountain View (now closed). The lady working the room was VERY friendly and accomodating. I went with an order of California Rolls and Tempura Udon. The California rolls were just average, and the Tempura Udon was definitely above average. Good stuff. The thing that sold me, however, was the location and the friendly lady. I'm sure I could have spit out my food and said I wasn't satisfied with it, and she would have given me whatever I wanted. Well, I don't know this, but I'm sure she would do her best to make my visit as nice as possible. When talking with us, she was never distracted or thinking of something else. We had her utmost attention. She always asked us if we liked the food. Of course we did - and if we didn't we still would have told her it was fantastic. The building itself had limited parking, and looked kind of an afterthought in the area, but inside it is like their living room with folding tables and chairs setup for their guests. Overall I found Suzu-You to be a GREAT experience. Not the most outstanding Japanese food I have ever had, but probably the most outstanding experience eating Japanese food. I would glady return again.


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