Mitama Restaurant

Good sized-​portion and a grade above the average Japanese restaurant in terms of quality. We made a reservation for Friday, and it did end up filling up. The restaurant is spacious and you don’t feel like you’re sitting right up next to other people like you so often do in the Bay Area.
They have a sign letting you know it’s free to park in the Safeway lot walking distance from the restaurant since parking on College can be difficult.

Mitama has turned into a routinely safe but enjoyable choice for Japanese. The sushi isn’t exactly standout, but standards like teriyaki and tempura work out just fine. The service is a little scattered and unfocused, but they try and it’s all pretty reasonable.
The crowd is a mix, with a slight edge toward young parents with small kids, but it runs the full gamut. There are three separate eating areas, each with a different feel, but all are generally spartan and not particularly cozy.
I’m trying to muster a little more excitement or describe something unique, but Mitama is straight down the middle on all fronts…

This is the best sushi restaurant in the area. Great service and very fresh fish! We come here at least once a month because it’s our favorite sushi restaurant

Ate there Saturday early evening (before 6, when the place was only half full) with my gf, for the first time. The food was good (salmon teriyaki for me, a combo for her), the prices reasonable, and the service friendly.
You should know, though, that it took half an hour for our food to be brought, so four stars.
It was a very cold day, and our table was next to a window, so we kept all our outerwear on throughout because we were cold. I can’t really complain because we didn’t ask to be moved to a different table.

Solid lunch spot. Most of their lunch combos/​bentos are $ 13 – 15. The fish is always decently fresh. The salad incl in the combo is actually salad you want to eat: spring greens with vinaigrette instead of head lettuce with ranch. I often get the ramen or sushi combo, plus wakame salad (it’s a pricey item, but especially here), and my bill is normally ~$ 19 plus tip. It can get busy, and service can slack, so give them your payment when they bring your food.
Ps park at safeway!

Great neighborhood restaurant. Authentic traditional Japanese food. Definitely a cut above most places. Nice atmosphere and almost never a wait, so we we often end up here over Kirala and the food is on a par. Not as hip of a date restaurant as Kirala but you won’t be disappointed with the food. Excellent sushi, they almost always have Toro and the Robata Grill is excellent. Definitely try the black cod kasu zuke, it’s one of the best around and reasonably priced. Very friendly wait staff.

Can’t comment on the food because we never even sat down. The hostess said they were clearing a table for us. We waited 20 minutes without another word. To help ease the boredom, we stared at the 5 empty tables.
We also watched other annoyed patrons. The couple in front of us left after they were seated 20 minutes without service. They said «expect to wait a long time». Well, we didn’t.

Mitama serves decent sushi but it lacks a certain «wow» factor, making it easy to forget amongst all of the other Japanese restaurants around. We came for lunch and got the salmon bento box, sushi lunch special, and Tonkotsu ramen. Each of these ran around $ 12. The service was fine and the food was fresh but the portions were smaller than usual. Typically, I’m pretty set after a bowl of ramen but I was still hungry when I finished, which ended up causing me to buy an ice cream sandwich at Cream nearby and now I’m chubby.
Anyway, the next time I’m looking for quick, decent ramen/​sushi, I will probably head to Manpuku a couple blocks down instead. The prices are cheaper, portions larger, and quality comparable.

I felt welcomed here. When I walked in there was a «Right to refuse service» sign. A lot if the time this is a signal to discriminate racially. I felt like effort was made to be kind to me. Walking in public spaces exposes me to many micro aggressions. So kindness and genuine acceptance is very important to me as a customer.
I like to order Chashu ramen from different places. This place separated the broth from the noodles, meat and veges.
Usually a place puts the whole thing together in a plastic container. So i could see that care about the taste and quality of the food was taken in consideration. I appreciated that and said so.
Four stars!

Walked in on a Sunday evening about 7:45pm.
There were 2 parties ahead of us. A couple and a large family group.
There were about 5 – 7 tables open and it still took about 20 minutes for the parties in front of us to be seated.
By the time they acknowledged us, we were told it would be another 5 – 10 minutes before they could seat us even when they still had about 5 tables open.
After conferring with the gf, we decided to leave and eat next door.
If it takes that long to acknowledge and seat your customers, we assumed the service would be just as bad.
Mitama restaurant, we’ve never ate here and we most likely never will.

Epic fail… I confused Mitama with Rikyu and accidentally wrote Rikyu’s review here. I’m catching up on my yet-​to-​be reviewed restaurants and was pretty sure that Mitama was it – the décor, menu, and food are essentially identical o. o That goes to show how similar a lot of Japanese restaurants are these days, which is why my favorite is Musashi in Berkeley for their endless creativity and spin.
Anyways, I should stop writing my nonexistent review before I start describing Rikyu instead of Mitama.

Ho hum. Went in today for lunch with our Swedish house guests. I had a strong «meh» reaction. The décor is clearly showing its wear and the place could use a little TLC, starting with cleaning away the big dead bug stuck between the glass and the menu posted on the inside.
We were the first ones in and they sat us in a dingy corner with worn paint, worn tables, and a funky smell, like cleaning supplies. When they food came, it was okay but nothing to get too excited about. I think I liked my salad best.

– 3.5 STARS –
My friend and I came here for dinner and I was pleasantly surprised by the food!
I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen (comes with vegetables, corn, bamboo shoots, noodles, a SOFT BOILED EGG in a shoyu base) with an extra egg. I do have to say that their soft boiled egg is absolutely to die for– you MUST get this with your ramen!
The ramen itself was incredibly savory– I really enjoyed the broth. And I also really liked that the ingredients within the ramen were a lot healthier and lighter than the usual places I’ve been to (talking to you Noodle Theory, even though you’re delicious). I do think that there were too few noodles in the soup, however, so I would definitely recommend ordering extra noodles if you go.
Overall, 3.5 stars for a pleasantly better-​than-​average ramen bowl, but nothing that truly blew me away (except for the soft-​boiled egg, I’m coming back for you, egg).

Pretty solid sushi joint. For reference, I’m a vegetarian (no fish), so I’m only reviewing the veggie rolls in terms of the food.
I came here with some friends on our way back from Vallejo for dinner and they have a couple of rolls beyond the obligatory avocado or cucumber rolls for vegetarians to choose from, so that’s always a plus. Nothing really stood out as being particularly outstanding, but both I and my non-​vegetarian friends were satisfied with our meals, so I’d say there’s a pretty good chance the fish is fresh even if I can’t vouch for it myself!
The service was occasionally slow, even though the place wasn’t super full at the time, but the waiters and waitresses were friendly and brought us refills promptly after we flagged them down. If I’m in the area and feeling like sushi, I wouldn’t mind coming back :)

Dinner 4÷18÷15
It’s your neighborhoody Japanese joint. It gets a little busy and service can be slow.
*Gyozas ($ 6.95) steamed and pan fried, crispy bottoms, delicious meat fillings. Hit the spot.
*Skewered Scallops ($ 6.95) from the robata grill comes two big round scallops. They were barely cooked, which I like. I wish they didn’t splatter so much sauce on them.
*Chicken Katsu entrée ($ 15.95) was a skimpyportion of six pieces of breaded fried chicken. Good but not very fulfilling. The steamed vegetable was just some shredded onions and carrots. Really?
*Chirashi ($ 19.95) was pretty good, served in a lacquer bento box packed with tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, shrimp, octopus and tomato egg. Fish is not if the highest grade but fresh enough. The sushi rice is what I find fault with. Not seasoned/​vinegared enough.
Overall pretty average. Service can be slow. Their timing was also off because neither the appetizers not the mains arrive at the same time. My partner was half way through his katsu when my chirashi came.

3-​Stars for the service! The waitress and staff are all really nice and make sure that you are satisfied with your food!
However, the food itself was mediocre. Nothing special and the portions seem to be a bit smaller compared to other sushi places.
Nice atmosphere but not sure if I would ever return for sushi.
They have happy hour and the cool thing was that they let you pick your own sake glass x)

The nigiri is fresh with just the most delicate dab of wasabi. I haven’t had much luck with tuna and don’t usually order it due to the strange aftertaste and almost gummy consistency it’s taken on at multiple sushi restaurants I’ve tried in the past, but I like the tuna here. Fresh, I tell ya.
The ramen is good. It’s the most bang for my buck that I’ve found in the east bay thus far, meaning it is a decidedly memorable bowl of long-​simmered brothy goodness that you don’t have to sell your soul for. (I hear The Ramen Shop down the street has blow-​your-​mind ramen, but I refuse to pay $ 15 for it, especially after eating legit ramen for less than $ 10 on the regular in LA.) The ramen at Mitama has «THE EGG», which is in quotes and all caps because it can be rather challenging to find this perfectly soft boiled delight nestled amongst the noodles of other Japanese restaurants. It’s like a unicorn – there is no substitute and it is hard to find around these parts, and no other cuisine in my knowledge does a soft boiled egg quite like this. How do they make the yolk taste like that?! Magic.
The service is frequently slow, but always friendly. Plus it’s not that hard to flag someone down because it’s on the cozy side. I’ve never ordered sake here as I usually come here solo and those who have the alcohol tolerance of a squirrel should probably not drink when they have to drive themselves home… but they seem to have a pretty good sake selection and you get to choose your own cup from a big basket.
After a long week, come here for a comforting dinner with a friend or two, stumble in and out of College Ave. bars afterward, and call it a night.

I thought it was pretty good. I have been here once and ordered to-​go once. The sushi was fresh and good, nothing special though. I got a nigiri combo when I dined in. The service was good even though it was pretty busy, but its a decently small place. The second time I ordered Ramen to go. The ramen was pretty good considering its a new item and not their specialty, but there are a handful of places I’d go before here for ramen.
Overall, a good choice in Berkeley, where the pickins are slim for good Japanese cuisine.

Why do I have such a hard time putting together a review for a place that I’ve been to so many times?! I consider myself virtually a regular. I normally come for lunch time. They recently added ramen to the menu as a few Unilocalers have noted. I was really excited for my first restaurant experience with ramen. I ordered the miso broth. So good!
But I have been coming here for several years and have always enjoyed the sushi and the vegetarian bento. The rolls are particularly good as well.
I would highly recommend this place for someone in the area wanting delicious (and fresh) but reasonably priced meal!

Mitama, a Japanese cuisine located in Berkeley bordering Oakland Rockridge area at the corner of College and Alcatraz. What seems to be a very standard décor that has it’s own style and elegance, with various paintings and pictures on the walls, it all combines together to create a very unique look to this restaurant.
The food:
Various selections of fresh fish and seafood makes their Sushi and Sashimi selections. Specials listed on a whiteboard of whichever they’ve got that is additional to their main menu, direct from Japan.
In addition to the seafood, they’ve got a wide selection of «cooked» food including tempura, kara-​age, to noodles like udon and soba.
What’s new however is that they’ve recently added a new selection to their noodle of which I had previously wondered why they never had it on the menu, Ramen.
My impression of most Japanese restaurants serving Sushi and Sashimi, always would have some sort of Ramen, even if it is one that is plain Ramen without any additional toppings. First time I came here when I found out they didn’t have Ramen I was somewhat disappointed, but now I understood why!
Their Ramen broth preparation takes about 20 hours! They use a mixture of pork and chicken bones to create the soup base of what a Japanese Ramen is known for. The Ramen noodles are tender, yet retains it chewiness and not over-​cooked. The toppings include 2 pieces of Chashu (sliced pork belly), seaweed, sprouts, corn, nori, and 2 half-​pieces of soft-​boiled egg. The Chashu is nicely portioned, not thin and not too thick, fall-​off-​the-​bone type of texture. What really impressed me in addition to the broth was the egg, the yolk was raw in the center that oozes as it is brought to the table.
The service:
Friendly staff, servers are attentive and the sushi chefs will make sure you get what you asked for if you sit at the sushi bar. A definite plus to all the great food that they serve here!
The price:
Depends on what you order, your usual ticket will range anywhere from $ 15-​$ 40 per person with tax and tips included. They have so many different combinations that you will not leave hungry.
Overall, i would definitely recommend coming here whatever the occasion is. 5-​stars! :)