Tomo’s Japanese Cuisine

Sad to hear they closed. Some of the food was sensational and with a little flashy marketing and more attention to their ambiance, could have showcased those great dishes and stood out. Instead, they decided to go the safe route– looking like every other boilerplate dingy chinese restaurant with the life sucked out of it and serving the most commonplace, American idea of Japanese food. The result was that few people got to taste what Tomo’s was all about– the authentic and delightful saba misoni and the pork kakuni. and on special occasions, the mountain potato stew– those comfort foods that would warm your body and your spirit on a rainy day (or on any day!) and transport you to a small wooden house overlooking a mountain.
A proud cook is a good cook, but in the industry, you must be so proud it borders on frantic narcissism. You must showcase your assets mightily and loudly from atop a hill. If you stand around, curbside, hoping to get discovered,.well, probability says you wont.

Service is great and more veggie options than most Japanese restaurants. We will keep coming back.

Tomo’s was an underrated hole in the wall. The chef and owner busted his ass ²⁴⁄₇ and received only a fraction of the recognition he deserved. I am proud to have been a member of the staff an will truly value my experience there. Tomo has a work ethic that is inspirational. The thing that makes me most sad was to watch a man devote his entire life to a business and still be swallowed whole by variables he could not anticipate.
I will miss my customers and wish I had been given a chance to say goodbye. You all were very special to me and probably have no idea that you all have changed me as a person and have made me a better, more well rounded communicator. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I hope to see you all again.
— Dani

I was quite sad the other night, having come for a first-​time dinner visit. Saved my appetite and was looking forward to some great sushi…
instead, we got just OK sushi. Sparse number of tables inside, and one person manning all of the tables front of house. We went for the chirashi sushi, a 2 piece order of sake nigiri, and one specialty roll. Rice was just too wet, and the cut on the fish pieces was skinny and thin… especially on the specialty roll which had tempura shrimp and unagi on top (yes, the one dotted with siracha).
Even the miso soup tasted off to us… MSG drinks it like it’s going out of style, so though I’m the East Asian one, I concurred after sipping his bowl.
I wanted this to be a great new find in which we could easily frequent; alas, it was not for us. Leaves a lot to be desired, and I’m very sorry to report that i don’t think we would be returning soon.
Dinner ran about $ 38
PS Proprietor formerly with Yoshi’s Fillmore

Ok, so I’ve been here twice. Both times, the food took quite awhile to come out. I understand, the waitress was by herself to help everyone & I also understand the 2^nd time I came in, they hired a newbie cook that was on training. It just so happened, twice it was slow service though.
Both times I’ve been here, both waitresses were very nice. This place is GROUPON FRIENDLY! Unilocal FRIENDLY too! Its a very cute spot & just be aware they only have like 6 – 8 tables, so expect to wait if its full. They have the BEST Teriyaki Chicken I’ve EVER had!!!

I was hungry and on San Pablo ave so I thought I would try Tomo japanese restaurant. Seemed like a promising place. I ordered the teriaki chicken for $ 7.99 and an order of rice. When the waiter returned with the food I was sort of appalled. It was served on a tiny little plate and there were maybe four pieces of beef on it in a very thick sauce. The
Portion I have to say was ridiculous. I ate it in four minutes and left. I have never seen such stingy portions at
A restaurant for so much money. A very disappointing experience though the waiter was very nice.

The food isn’t really good at all…
I bought a Groupon for this place and everything was lacking in flavor and freshness.
The service is extremely good though, our waitress was very attentive and the chef, very apologetic, when we found something strange in our food.
I really wish I could come back and mingle with them but for the quality of food and the freshness of the fish, I still cringe a little bit when I see their Groupon being available.
I hope them the best and hope that their bento boxes or cooked food items will make someone else much happier!

So… I’m moving and I’m going poor because of it. Trying to stretch my dollar I go on Unilocal where I find a voucher for this place (get $ 40 worth of food for $ 20).
We walked in to see just one waiter taking care of the restaurant floor. He invited us to grab any table we wanted. My companion was starving and about to pass out. The waiter stopped by and provided waters without us even having to ask. Points for that. He left us there with the menu and took off to take care of the other tables (of which there were at least 3) while we perused the menu.
He was prompt and courteous. We got our waters quickly. We ordered the seaweed salad, 49er roll, chirachi, spicy scallop roll, and the rainbow roll.
The seaweed salad came out quickly. It was good, but it tasted like every other seaweed salad I’ve ever had. Predictable. The other dishes arrived fairly quickly as well shortly thereafter.
The spicy scallop roll is fresh and yummy.
The chirashi came almost right after. It is fantastic. This dish alone should be enough to almost fill anyone up.
Finally, the 49er roll and the rainbow roll.
Word to the wise: the 49er roll and rainbow roll have almost the same ingredients (the 49er has lemon, the rainbow has a variety of fish). Both good, but if ordering, just get one because it’s almost redundant.
Our night ended with our bellies full. The waiter came on over to our tables and dropped off the check. The check was $ 52 total. He asked if we had a groupon or Unilocal deal (he knew!). He took care of us and we left happy.
Cliff notes: Tasty. Good service. Would return.

At a glance this place looks suspiciously like a Chinese restaurant due to its furniture. The padded blue chairs, white tablecloths, and the glass boards on top of the tables really don’t give off a Japanese vibe, but whatever I’m not a huge stickler when it comes to environment.
The sushi here is mediocre, definitely not worth the price in terms of quantity and quality. We ordered the sashimi (sake, hamachi, and shiro maguro), a dragon roll, and miso soup.
Overall my favorite was the salmon sashimi, the other types were mushy and felt like they had been frozen. The dragon roll was pretty good, nice crunch on the tempura, good amount of sauce, and an interesting touch of sriracha on each piece. But it was too small and definitely not worth the $ 11. The miso soup was okay with the first sip, but got way too salty at the end.
The servers were also really nice and helpful, very much unlike your typical Asian restaurant.
I’m glad I got the $ 20 for $ 40 Unilocal deal otherwise I would be pretty pissed for how much I spent. They have tons of online coupons though so definitely grab one before coming here and then I’d say it’s definitely worth it.

Tomo’s was surprisingly good. Neighborhood restaurant with simple décor hides pretty good sushi — fresh, thick cut slices over a lil rice (many places serve nigiri pieces with 2x the rice). Chef Tomo even came out to greet customers! Good — fair prices & nice service makes the spot worth a return when in Berkeley.
A prior review mentioned soggy tempura. We had the tempura assortment and it came out near perfect — lightly battered, hot, and crispy, though portion size a little small for the price. The Spicy Tuna roll and the Spyder roll are delicious!
Some reviews also mentioned ‘tiny’ portions. We ordered 7 dishes (assorted tempura, agedashi tofu, gyu-​don, sushi special dinner, spicy tuna roll, spyder roll, and caterpillar roll) and the only one that seemed smaller than average compared to other Japanese restaurants was the assorted tempura plate. Maybe folks calling portion size «tiny» aren’t use to typical portion sizes at Japanese restaurants.
A few nits — the miso soup was a little too salty, otherwise good. The rice on the nigiri and rolls were a bit on the wet side. The Agedashi tofu was good except that the tofu used was either medium or firm, rather than soft — I much prefer soft tofu for this dish. Big pluses for the restaurant are the personable and friendly service by Chef Tomo and his staff; the fresh and thick cut sashimi slices. Great to see Tomo’s in the neighborhood.

Restaurant is only 2 months old. Neighborhood is a little dicey so if you’re not familiar with the area, go to the restaurant when it’s still light outside. The area has a potential in a year or two to be a restaurant row similar to Dwight Way and San Pablo where you can find Sea Salt, Paisan, Café Trieste, etc… The Northern corners of University and San Pablo have a Wells Fargo Bank and a small commercial mall with Pet Express, Everett & Jones BBQ, Subways, Caesar’s Pizza and the 99 cent only store. The Southern corners are less developed. Tomo’s is on the Southwest corner and is flanked on one side by a small discount store and a laundromat and on the corner of University and San Pablo by an empty storefront that use to be an Indian music store with an AC Transit bus stop.
The restaurant location has changed hands many times in the last three years. It used to be an Indian restaurant, then a Chinese restaurant and now Tomo’s Japanese Cuisine.
Restaurant interior is basic. I don’t care much about ambience. I’d rather have good food. If you need something to look at, bring your cell or tablet or laptop. They offer free WIFI – just ask the wait staff for the PW.
I purchased the Unilocal deal ($ 20 for $ 40). Regular menu items are served in small portions. If possible, order from the Lunch or Dinner specials on their whiteboard. You’ll get more bang for your dollar.
Here’s what I ordered for my $ 40 deal: Two orders of a dinner special (miso soup + 8 pc California Roll + 5 pc Chef’s Choice Nigiri – $ 12.99/each) plus two appetizers: Gyu-​Tataki (tender marinated beef tartare topped with onion, garlic and soy reduction – $ 7.99) and Negiham (yellow tail and green onion roll – $ 4.99).
The dinner specials were good but the appetizers were disappointing. The Gyu-​Tataki doesn’t look anything like the original pic posted on Unilocal. It was simply 6 – 8 thin slices from a one inch steak on a bed of dressed iceberg lettuce with match stick thin radishes and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds with a soy/​onion reduction. Portion was definitely not worth $ 7.99. I posted a pic of my order and the dipping sauce container was almost as big as the beef and bed of salad. The yellow tail roll ($ 4.99) was 6 pcs – very tightly rolled and small (see pic posted). A positive is that the fish was very fresh.
When I was in the restaurant (8 PM on a Saturday night), there was more staff than patrons – six customers including me and many of the patrons were like me, trying the restaurant for the first time with a coupon from Unilocal or GROUP-​ON. While the staff was very nice, they seemed a little nervous and inexperienced.
I hope the restaurant survives since I think the owner is trying very hard to get the word out about his restaurant. I’ve seen articles about Tomo’s and Chef Tomo Owada back in May, 2013 when the restaurant first opened and recently I’ve seen their coupons on Unilocal and GROUP-​ON. I wish them the best and will probably try them for lunch the next time I’m off work during the work week – they are not open for lunch on the weekend.

Tomo Owada has been working for s.f.‘s Yoshi’s for years. now he’s on his own.
was interested in trying his food. dropped in at 1:58, asked the server: «are you open?»
she looked at a clock and said: «sorry, we’re closed»
i left disappointed but didn’t agrue with her. didn’t want a meal prepared by a chef who may be disgrunted. never know what one may get…
before i went in i noticed the «open» sign and a 2 o’clock. end for lunch.
checked the website again. lunch ends at 2:30.

I hate to give such a low rating, but I was fairly disappointed. The place is new, so hopefully they work out their kinks.
Just a preface: in a sushi place I’m usually looking for good, fresh fish, not extravagant rolls drenched in sauce.
Here’s the skinny:
— 2 people
— No sashimi dinner combo on menu
— No chirashi on menu
— We got the following sashimi: yellowtail, tuna, salmon
— Much of the sashimi came out warm, though the fish otherwise tasted relatively fresh
— While the cuts were relatively fat, they were small. Overall in size they were significantly smaller than average
— We ordered a tuna roll and spicy tuna roll
— The rolls were pretty small, only 6 tiny pieces for the tuna roll, 8 tiny pieces for the spicy tuna
— The tuna roll came with wasabi inside. If you don’t want it, you should probably ask
— The bill came out to about $ 40 (no drinks). For this amount elsewhere I would be decently full. We were both still hungry here
— I don’t think I’ll be back