Sushi Solano

Honestly, I’m not sorry about the place closing. They absolutely overcooked my salmon teriyaki, saying they had «no choice». WTH???

I got a text message from my friend that this place was closed, and to my dismay… it truly was. I used to come here a lot when I lived in the East Bay and I’m definitely going to miss it. They had great sushi, the staff was always pleasant and I always sat at the bar and he was always fast in getting me food. I’m sad to hear that they’ve closed their business and that the space is now empty. Best of luck to them!

I’m going to miss sushi Solano. To these one star shills writing stupid reviews based on no information whatsoever. Get a life.

I called this place in advance to see if they could seat me and a group of 8 people about an hour in advanced. They said they could, but without taking my name. When we get there, they start to push tables together and sat us 10 minutes later. The service was very slow, as the place was rather busy when we got there on a saturday night at 8pm. The food prices were decent and you get a lot for a little. The place isn’t bad but I felt the service was lacking attentiveness. There are better sushi places out there

I really wanted to give Sushi Solano 3 stars, but I can’t justify it based on the food. I walked in for takeout and the waitress could not have been nicer — she was friendly, helpful, and gave me a hot green tea without me even having to ask. I ordered veggie gyoza, a salmon avocado roll, and a cucumber roll. The gyoza wasn’t that great, I like my goza more in the crispier side and although this was pan fried the consistency just didn’t do it for me, nor did the veggie filling. The rolls were fine, but the avocado they used didn’t look particularly great. I wanted to give at least 3 stars for the service, but I just couldn’t based on the food.

I am somewhat of sushi snob, and was optimistic about this place since I was hungry and had just gotten my nails done up the street. My friend and I were not greeted promptly when we walked in, it took a while for server to seat us, that was somewhat uncomfortable considering there were two employees are the sushi bar who didn’t acknowledge us.
Anyways, the food was not the best. The crab is imitation and they don’t shred it and mix it with white creamy paste.
The unagi sauce was a bit off, it tasted more salty than sweet. Tasted more like soy sauce. I didn’t enjoy my food as I should have. Even the CA Roll I ordered deep fried wasn’t tasty. There are so many other great sushi restauants in the Bay Area.
Try Nanayiro in Berkeley, on Shattuck. One of my faves. Or Sushi House in Alameda. OR Kansai in Oakland, Temescal area.
I won’t go back.

Hands down one of the worse places for Sushi I have been to. We ordered Cherry Blossom and Unagi rolls. The rice was comparable to the supermarket California roll grade. The value was poor as the amount and quality of the food were much lower than the $$ we paid for them. The miso soup was way too salty. The «Specials» of seafood tempura and barbecue short ribs were worse than cafeteria quality. The broccoli that came with the short ribs was raw and bitter.
This is a place you should stay away.

Yum yum yum. This was our first meal in San Fran/​Berk. area, and after a long day of traveling, we were starving. We were pointed in this direction via Unilocal,and we were able to make it there before it closed at nine-​thirty.
I ordered an absurd amount of sushi (for myself) four rolls, one was topped with broiled salmon. Service was really friendly. Fiancé got te sushi special, our friend got three rolls. Including drinks (they serve alcohol), our bill came out to 84.00, not bad for the amount of food we got (we also got soups, salads, etc).

Every friday, my work has a policy to buy lunch for it’s employees. This time around, we choose to get some Japanese. Sushi Solano was a random choice. We pretty much just typed in «Japanese» into Unilocal,and this restaurant was the closest to us.
As usual, being the lowest rung in the office, it was my duty to go pick up the food. My first thought when walking into the restaurant, was that this does not look like a Japanese restaurant. It looks like a generic Mediterranean place with a bunch of random Japanese stuff scattered around. I guess it’s a bit of a change from the typical Japanese restaurant look. Not really a fan of it myself, but hey, the décor doesn’t effect the food right?
I ordered one of their lunch specials to go. California Roll + BBQ Short Ribs, and all that included rice, miso soup, and a salad. Not a bad meal for around 9 dollars, not that I was paying. Everything tasted just fine to me. Nitpicking a little bit though, the salad dressing was way too carroty for me, and there could have been a little more taste to the short ribs.
I wouldn’t mind dining in here at some point. Seemed like a pretty classy place to eat at.

Came here randomly on a Saturday for dinner since we just randomly drove to Solano for food. Pretty roomy inside, you have this huge aisle in the middle of the restaurant, sushi bar in the back. A bit too roomy for a Japanese restaurant though, because generally they give me this homely comfort which this place didn’t have. Restroom was fairly clean and roomy.
They have some fairly cheap rolls, nothing too crazy, just the normal stuff like your dragon, rainbow, lion king, etc. They have quite a lot of appetizers, but were a bit overpriced. $ 6 – 7 for a few pieces, that’s more expensive than an order of nigiri!
I ordered a combination with sashimi, BBQ short ribs, yakitori and my friend just ordered a dragon roll. I was expecting a bento box, but instead they served the salad and soup in separate bowls, then came a huge plate that divides into four sections, one for each appetizer/​side and one for the rice. The sashimi was alright, I like the way they cut them to maintain the smooth texture and avoided the tendons, pretty fresh. Yakitori was way too bland and dried, my friend thought it was just old, I just couldn’t taste anything out of it. The short ribs were okay, a bit tough/​overcooked where I had to use my hands instead of just my chopsticks. Sooooo ladylike but oh well. ²⁄₃ side were good. The dragon roll wasn’t too spectacular. The pieces were cube like cuz the rolled it into a more rectangular form than round. The tempura inside was a bit soggy though, I was expecting it to be crunchy and stuff.

Came here early on a Saturday night. must say, wasn’t blown away. The prices were more than I anticipated, the service very slow, even with the sparsely filled dining area, and the sushi mediocre.

My boyfriend and I go to Sushi Solano once a month to eat some great tasting sushi. We have become regulars, so the head waitress provides us with free desserts and appetizers. Such a wonderful treat!
This is a peaceful restaurant, so it’s great for a date or dinner with friends. I usually see local Albany families eating there as well.

So it was Wednesday evening over visiting my friend Allan at his ancestral home (well for the past 60, nearly 70 years). We strolled on over to Sushi Solano about two blocks from where Allan grew up. The childhood I was walking through was not my own, but it sure felt like it. Allan has such a welcoming personality as well as a wonderfully detailed knowledge of the joys and indiocyncrasies of Albany life.
Allan knew the owner Julie and asked about her son and daughter. We were seated at a table by the front window to keep an eye on the flow of foot traffic on the street. The entry way felt somewhere between an Persian or Roman temple and Mediterranean cathedral. Many indirectly lighted niches and indirect lighting around the upper molding to illuminate the lateral curves of the ceiling. Julie and her husband run the establishment and Julie served us directly as both the waitress and the hostess.
Julie and her family are a very traditional one from Taipei which has a close relationship with Japan. Many of my Taiwanese friends have Taiwanese as their first language, Japanese as their second language and Guo Yu (Mandarin) as their third language. From what I’ve gleaned in my travels, Chinese people can be more fastidious and invested in their food preparation and selection than in any other aspect of life. This establishment was no exception. The need to provide truly artistic cuisine with a quick and attentive manner was evident in all ways. These people know their work as art and are sensuous lovers of food.
I managed to have a five star experience by reading the menu before going to the restaurant and also speaking for awhile with Julie the owner’s wife. Sushi Solano has truly high quality Japanese cuisine with a complex Chinese edge interpreted for the hearty Americans of the East Bay. So I’m not one of the «hearty» American types and actually feel more at ease with an overdose of green veggies … I weigh in after a big meal at 128 lb … hearty for a 5′ 2″ person. However, I did find numerous items to fall in love with on the menu and tasted this and that from our many appetizers and Allan’s combination plate. All very high quality, truly excellent work.
My favorites in order:
Fluke sashimi (I grew up catching this flounder-​like fish with my dad
every summer)
Excellent miso soup
Excellent oshitashi (spinach appetizer in sesame sauce with bonita)
Excellent house salad
Hearty version of beef sukiyaki (too much beef for me … but most
Americans would probably not have that view)
Green tea mochi as a gift dessert was great.
Very reasonably priced given that we had Allan’s combo sashimi-​tempura plate and other appetizers along with tea and complimentary bottle of saki. With the tip it came to just under $ 50. Allan and I both had bento boxes to take home.
Needless to say, I’ll be back. I’ll try a seat at the sushi bar where Julie’s husband holds court and will report again from that perspective.

I’ve never been in this place, but I have had Kenny’s sushi, and he’s the real deal. Trained the hard way in Japan, with real integrity.
Avocado roll. Beef Negi Maki. Sushi ala carte. Kenny made me fall in love with fresh sardines and uni. In all my travels up and down the coast after moving here from Japan, no one else comes close.
No one.

I should have known that an empty sushi place was a poor idea, however after waiting 20 minutes with no end in sight for the Koren place down the way, we finally trekked down here to try Sushi Solano out.
Can anyone say mistake?
Food wise, the crab in my Spider roll was either undercooked, or they ran out of tempura and simply half covered it. I really couldn’t tell. Either way, it was barely edible.
The salad was tasty as were my avocado rolls, however the Philly rolls made two people at the table sick later that night.
The final cap on the evening was the service, which was extremely slow for such an empty restaurant and even though we’d asked for separate checks, when it came time for the bill it took us 10 minutes to sort out who’d had what on an un-​split check.
Yea, never again.

I decided to try Sushi Solano because my favorite sushi place (Kasuga) down the street is closed for remodeling… i was happy i did try it out because it wasn’t bad at all. The fish tasted fresh and the employees were as nice as can be. What more can you ask for? The prices were slightly higher than my favorite spot but i can see myself returning here for dinner some time.
*Try the Lunch SPECIAL*

First thought when we arrived yesterday for lunch, «Why are all 3 members of the staff speaking Mandarin? We *are* at the right restaurant, right?» okok. so it’s a global world, and God knows, there are enough Chinese folk who speak Japanese due to the sad occupational history of the Pacific Rim… but I was on edge from the get-​go.
Lunch hours close at 1430. We got there just before 2PM. Simple order:
one chirashi
one combo with sashimi and salmon teriyaki.
The server gave me chicken instead of salmon (whose grill execution wasn’t too stellar either), and every singluar piece of sashimi on both dishes were very chunkily cut… maguro was definitely not too fresh. I kept on poking it with my chopstick as if I were doing chest compressions on the pink meat… squishy. (wag wag of finger). no no for sashimi. To the seasoned tongue, fresh sashimi has a very smooth and firm feel.
What a letdown… was so looking forward to great sashimi… think I was a bit thrown off from the reviews as well.
Hamachi on the chirashi bowl was also not as fresh as could be, The sake was quite good though… savored every bite of that smooth, pink meat.
The sumeshi sucked because underneath the chirashi lay *plain* ol’ COLD rice due to all of the altogether too cold slices of sashimi. I have eaten many bowls of chirashi, and that was just another disappointing cue that the fish was previously frozen. and was I blind, because where in the world are the vegetables? (Waldo would be easier to find…)
Too bad; my first time here… I hope that it isn’t my last…
I will say, however, to its credit, the amount of food that one gets is quite astonishing for the chirashi. At $ 10/​pop for the combo, I have had much more food without the ‘slight of hand’ large, porcelain serving platter.
Overall, ‘okay’ experience. Large restaurant, clean décor. Nothing ‘zowie’ for me here.

I started working in this area in July of last year. One day, around that time, I had decided that I wanted a sushi treat. My first instinct determined my sushi fate — do a Unilocal search and go! Sushi Solano came up and has been my place ever since.
This family-​owned establishment has an environment that makes you wanna come back for more. The service is prompt and the food is consistently delicious.
I often come in for my dinner break and Kenny is always there with a smile on his face and sushi mastery ready to satisfy your appetite. Surely you can walk in and sit at any sushi bar and make small talk with the chef, but there is no one like Kenny to keep you company whilst fixing your selection. This place rocks!

My last dining experience was disappointing and I probably won’t be dining here again.
They put soy sauce on all their rolls… making everything UBER salty. WHY??? If I wanted soy sauce on it, I would do it myself. ewww… I felt like throwing up near the end of my meal. Their rolls don’t taste the same anymore.
They didn’t bring out part of our order… but we wanted to cancel it if it hadnt been placed… but our waitress said it was already being prepared… but later on, she apologized for forgetting to put in that last part of our order!!! … so we could’ve cancelled it if she just told us the truth! WTF!!! sooo… full…from…eating…shitty…salty…sushi…so…confusing…
Had a $ 25 gift certificate from
and when our bill came out… it was like $ 40… but then when the second bill came out for us to sign, it changed to $ 50? After talking to our waitress, we realized she had forgotten to charge us for something and added it to the final bill… meh… while explaining, she was getting a bit passive-​aggressive… and that was enough for me.
Sushi Ko rules.

3.5 STARS
The restaurant is very clean and nice and service is great, and as far as the food goes, it was pretty good, but not exactly the best. We ordered…
Hamachi Kama — A piece of yellowtail collar with a ponzu sauce. First time having it and I loved it! The collar is one of the most tender parts of a fish. The ends were slighty burnt but everywhere else, still good.
Soft Shell Crab — You would think they would give you a little more, but it is just one tiny little crab fried, cut if half, and served with a piece of lemon. It tasted like it was fried in old oil, hella oily and soft. I do not recommend it at all.
Shrimp Tempura — Can’t really go wrong with it, taste about the same everywhere
Beef Negimaki — When it comes to Japanese food, I normally don’t like the bento box type dishes, but this one was really good! Many little tender pieces of beef wrapped around green onion with a rich teriyaki based sauce. Aside from the miso soup and salad it comes with, it also includes another side of mixed vegetables.
Lion King Roll — It ain’t Sushi House, and it’s a lot smaller, but I must say this is probably one of the best imitations of it I’ve had.
Had a gift certificate so everything came out to be around $ 40. I had a good experience, and if anyone is in the area and wants sushi, Sushi Solano is a pretty good place to try out.