Sushi Ichimoto

First, I’ll start off with the environment. The setting is nice. The place is clean, and quiet.
There is no fishy smell, which is a must for a sushi restaurant.
The sushi was fresh. We ordered a philly roll, spider roll, California crunch roll, and a vegetable and shrimp tempura platter. All tasted fresh, and was good, not great. And, everything came out very fast.
The service is the reason why I give this place a two. The wait staff is not very friendly, or attentive. Our waitress walked by our table numerous times, without even checking on us. We had to wait forever for refills on my hot tea, and my son’s soda. This place was not busy at all, there were only three other tables. They were quick to drop the bill off, but after that, they were completely done with us. After waiting for 15 minutes for someone to pick up our check, we decided to take it up front ourselves. Also, the man sitting at the table near us, was very upset, and we overheard him saying that they charged him for items that he didn’t even order.
I will never return to this place again. If you want to go to a GREAT sushi place, I suggest going to Tomadochi sushi bistro. That place is awesome. I wish we would have went there tonight instead.

Came for a bento lunch, $ 13.95 is pretty pricey. I ordered the kalbi with sashimi. It includes 3 pretty small pieces of kalbi, 4 pieces of sashimi, and 3 Cali rolls. Taste was good but this is $ 3-​$ 4 higher than most places.

Only got the Chirashi to go from here. It was ok. Nothing special. The inside of this place looked nice. Will have to come back to try their rolls.

I’ve gone to Sushi Ichimoto for many years now. It goes up and down but I always come back. Fremont to Hayward is a long drive for sushi but it’s worth it when they make it right.
+The sushi itself is very fresh. The portion of the fish is big! They don’t over do it on the rice.
+The rolls they offer span a large variety. Like the sushi they’re made right.
+The sushi lunch cannot be beat for quantity and price.
+Customer Service is good. Winnie and Shirley are always good to me and our family. Very accommodating to those with children.
There is one sushi chef left from the old staff and that is the one I ask make my sushi whenever I am there. He makes it first class and I go there now when I know he is working.
They’ve been on a roll for me the last 3 mo. Best sushi place in the area bar none. I’ve tried all the other sushi places in Fremont, Newark, UC, and this place in Hayward is the best.

Very good sushi! Very good ramen! The chicken teriyaki is to die for!
Excellent customer service! I would definitely go here again.

This place has a lot of lunch specials, it gets pretty busy. our food was very good and super affordable. Even with it being busy, the food comes out in a timely manner and the waitresses are on top of everything to et everyone out in time (since its lunch)

The way sushi was meant that be. Big fat juicy fresh chunks of hamachi and salmon with green onion and tobiko! Yummy! Thank you Ichimoto for not skimping on the good stuff!

Had a lunch date with my husband here since my mom got us a gift card. We got the lion king roll, other rolls and a ramen. Lion king roll was good. Other rolls were also good. Ramen was blahhh. Watered down broth and it seemed like they just added milk to give the broth some color.
Ray’s Sushi was better.

Just moved around here was exploring saw it and thought I would give a try. Was a good find. Good variety on sushi and sashimi, even had amaebi which most places don’t even prep.
Sushi quality was good but not the best I had. I would come here again. Caution to those who order tempura ice cream… it’s a huge helping. 5 star for what it’s worth.

I went to this place two times. The first time I went I ordered the wrong item. my own fault. I ordered sushi with spicy tuna. oh, it was really spicy. Not. a big fan of spicy. The second time I went I chose correctly. Amazing!!!
the sushi is fresh. It taste so fresh. the customer service is really great. I tipped well beyond 20%. That type of service in Hayward is hard to come by. They deserve great tips for their great customer service.

2.5stars for the food, upbump for the lovely service and really good grilled hamachi kama.
This location, back when it was Ray’s, was one of my first ventures into sushi. I’ve been told that I’m now a sushi snob, but this place brings back memories of when I thought all sushi was absolutely amazing. I hadn’t been here in years, and I wanted to try it now that it is apparently under new management and a different name. The parking lot is still cramped and somewhat of a nightmare when it gets busy, but the interior is spacious and clean. There are booth seats as well as freestanding tables, not to mention a little sushi bar strip.
Service was really good, and I was pleasantly surprised, especially with how it got progressively busier and busier from 7pm onwards. The hostess, servers, and waitresses were all pleasant in demeanor and very attentive, and it’s one of the few places I didn’t have to constantly ask for hot tea refills. The food, specifically the sushi rolls, was another story.
Hamachi kama (medium):
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Sushi Ichimoto offers two sizes of grilled hamachi kama, a carryover from back in the day when there was a large and a small version. These days, it’s medium and small, and I opted for the medium. It is larger than your typical portion, but I don’t know if it correlates to twice as large for almost twice the asking price. The meat was baked to perfection, and I believe a blowtorch was used on the skin to make it extra crispy, which yielded nicely seasoned deliciousness. It also comes with a side dipping sauce, but I didn’t utilize it as I didn’t feel the flaky fish needed any additional elements. This dish does take about 20 minutes to prepare, so order slightly in advance of other dishes if possible.
Lion King:
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A general crowd favorite, I’ve been disappointed with this roll again and again at other sushi restaurants. it just doesn’t feel like anything that special since it’s a simple California roll bottom and baked salmon on top. Sushi Ichimoto retained Ray’s preparation of this roll, where the unagi sauce is slightly saltier than normal varieties and the salmon on top is charred after the entire roll is baked. This gives the salmon a nice smoky flavor and takes away some of the wetness from baked salmon. I did think there was a tad too much sauce on the bottom, and the roll itself wasn’t well made so that it fell apart easily, but I did enjoy the preparation of the salmon on top and the overall flavoring.
Fujisan:
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My least favorite roll of the night, I was hard-​pressed to find something I actually liked about this dish. The description of the roll stated that the interior was deep fried white tuna with garlic, but I did not taste a hint of the garlic and the white tuna tasted much more like ground up mystery meat similar to the texture of market-​purchased fish balls. The rice was rolled so thick that there was more rice than filling, and the tempura fry on the exterior of the roll wasn’t in any semblance crispy. The pieces themselves were cut into variable sizes, as seen in the picture, and this to me is just downright sloppy. The «seafood salad» on top consisted of a few measly pieces of dry fish tossed with cucumber, and the temperature of the salad on top was ice-​cold, suggesting it had just come out of the refrigerator. When paired with the hot roll on the bottom, the temperature contrast was very unpleasant, especially as it made some of the rolls below soggy.
Oakland As:
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This roll sounded absolutely amazing on paper, but unfortunately fell rather flat on presentation. The soft-​shell crab inside was freshly fried, and I appreciated the hot temperature, but it was overly breaded and over-​fried so that the oil oozed out of the smaller, crunchier pieces. I appreciated that there was a proportional amount of lettuce used inside so that the lettuce didn’t overwhelm the other flavors, but then there was an over-​dousing of sauce on top that made it hard to taste anything else anyway. The avocado on top was also overripe, and there was interestingly imitation crab rolled on the top, which the description on the menu did not mention. The entire roll was once again rather poorly made and fell apart easily at the touch of chopsticks. At one of the pricier rolls on the menu because of the ingredients, I expected a bit more from the execution.
I might come back infrequently for the hamachi kama (it was that good), but I’d definitely pass on the rolls.

Im not a keen review writer but im extremely angry from start to end yesterday night. We were a group of 6 adults and 3 babies. When my husband ordered the $ 67 sashimi combo, he asked if we could take out tai and replace with other kind of fish, the cantonese speaking waitress bluntly said if you dont want tai, then let others eat it”. What response was that?! Either she told us they cant change the combination or they can.
Then my husband ordered 2 orders of uni nigiri but we werent told or reminded that each order contains only 1 piece and its $ 9 a piece! And there was no where on the menu said each order is 1 piece!
We also ordered 2 sets of nigiri — 9 pieces ($ 19) and 12 pieces ($ 25) together with the sashimi combo. We thought they came with miso soup so we asked. That same waitress said our order didnt include soup but she tapped on my husband’s shoulder and said she could give us some and asked him how many did we want. We asked for 5 soups and so they came. But we never expected they charged us 3 soups for $ 5.25! Why didnt they charge us 5 soups if they were not complimentary?! Its totally fine if its not included OR they told us we would be charged for $ 1.75 per soup. Its just so ridiculous that in the end we were billed 3 soups when they gave us 5!
We will never set foot in this place again!

I love this place because of Winnie, she’s awesome. The food is good, I’m not a fan of the fact they won’t let you customize rolls to your liking, but I come here because it’s close to home and Winnie is always fun she sets up our saki bombs and likes to see us pound them! She’s one or the happier ones there we love to be helped by her since she has us smiling always. They also have traditional Japanese floor seating available if that’s your thing.

3.5 stars
This is a place where you get all the sushi rolls — decent price and big portion kind of sushi roll. If you are looking for traditional japanese sushi place then this might not be the place.
I like how sushi ichimoto is spacious, and if you have a large party they do have private room.
Even thou the main thing I got there was sushi rolls, they were all pretty well done. They have a huge variety of rolls. Fish was pretty fresh and the portion was pretty big. I also like their cooked food, especially hamachi kama.
If you are around the area and looking for some sushi roll, I would recommend sushi ichimoto.

This is my best pick for sushi. The sashimi here is really fresh. Good costumer service also:)

This is a place I will never come back to. Their double salmon rolls are not bad actually (I picked up a couple of times for lunch.) But the cook’s attitude sucks!
This is how it went on my last ever time in that place. I ordered a couple of boxes of sushi to go. I was waiting for more than 15 min, while the cook jerked back and forth behind the bar. At some point the hostess approached him and said: Double salmon? — she was actually nice and simpathitic, noticing that I had been waiting quite long already. The cook went like Oh, yeah… It happened that he had not started yet. I approached the bar and asked if he had not started rolling my order yet. He said Oh, I would do it in a couple of mins! What?! I requested a refund which was given immediately, and left for the next block competitor’s sushi bar.

2.5−3 stars
This place has replaced Ray’s and honestly, it isn’t that much better. Been hearing the rave that this place is delicious but was kinda disappointed… Décor that has improved a bit to look a bit more cluttered.
Prices have gone up along with the name change too.
Ordered:
2 Sake don: $ 15 each
1 bayview roll: $ 12
2 Amaebi nigiri (4 pieces) $ 18
3 Hotate nigiri (6pieces) $ 21
1 Uni nigiri (1 piece): $ 8
2 slices Hamachi belly sashimi:$ 6
Total before tips, including tax: $ 104+
I mean for the price that I paid, I expected a bit better quality.
Complimentary edamame was very little, find it funny that theyre so stingy on beans but what ever. Miso soup is a bit on the saltier side.
Wasabi tasted really weird too. it was way too smooshy for what it was. as if they used the incorrect water to powder ratio [assuming they mixed it from powder since the consistency is off]. You should be able to easily pick up wasabi. not have it almost slide out from your chopsticks. [yes i know how to use chopsticks properly lol got that beat into me as a kid]
Sake don was mediocre. tasted alright initially. but could not eat too much of the fish because then it starts tasting a bit funny
Bayview roll: pretty much a cali roll with slices of maguro and sake on it. avocado was kinda smooshed on. it was a really large chunk of avo. would have ideally preferred if they sliced it and layered it on. It claims it is real crab inside but it didn’t taste like genuine crab– more so like hardened imitation crab. ick
amaebi was aiight. shrimp did not taste sweet, in fact just kind of bland. Ive had amaebi at a different restaurant and it had a sweet and creamy crunch to it. this was no where close.
Hotate also was very bland. The fresh seafood taste was not there. Fresh scallops should taste extremely fresh and melt in your mouth kinda feel– these did not have that. They did not taste as if they were soaked in water, but there was no concentrated sweetness either.
Uni, was actually delicious but felt they were very stingy on how much uni they gave. also ridiculously expensive. usually an order of nigiri is 2 pieces but this place only gives one at least for uni.$ 8 for one? no thanks. it was pretty good but not good enough for $ 8.
Hamachi belly was not delicious either. kinda tasted watered down as if sitting in ice for too long. Did not melt in the mouth nor did it have a mellow fatty taste that hamachi belly should have and honestly felt like I was just eating regular hamachi. hamachi belly should have a light peach or pink color to it. this was dark pink. Either they chef does not know what he is serving. or they need to seriously question the person who is selling them fish.
Service was alright but at some times felt they were just trying to rush you out even if the place was empty. I understand they want to be helpful but it’s hard to enjoy your food when theyre constantly interrupting to ask if everything is ok
Overall the place is very mediocre but if you have slightly higher standards, i would not recommend this place.

Sad to see rays sushi go, but ichimoti has been a great replacement. Rough at first but I have grown to love it with great food and service they keep you wanting to come back. The menu has an array of food to choose from with sons of the freshest fish for their sashimi. I usually go for the raw food but today ordered a bento box with shrimp tempura and sashimi. Cooked perfectly and tempura wasn’t overly breaded. Kids ate rice and miso soup, while the teen ate the chirashi bowl. All equally fantastic in their own. Service is a plus and they are patient with my crazy 4 year old. In all very pleased with my lunch and can’t wait to come back.

Food: 3.5÷5 but service was so nice so gotta round up.
I’m decently picky about sushi and didn’t expect to find anything even halfway decent in Hayward but was pleasantly surprised. It’s not a super fancy place but they have good prices, large portions (for a sushi place at least), and best part was, I didn’t feel too awkward eating alone since it seems like other people pop in here alone too (at least for a weekday lunch). The fish quality itself is fairly average. The fish flavor wasn’t extremely clean and crisp like really fresh places but it wasn’t extremely soggy and bland like a bad place. So, between the half-​way decent quality, large portions, and nice service I decided to round up on my rating.
I got the chirashi and the grilled Squid. Squid was seasoned well and was pretty good, even without the sauce. The lunch chirashi was also good, especially for the price. I think it was about $ 15 and it had a good amount of your normal chirashi selection and (what I think is) sea bream (which I don’t usually see in normal chirashi so it was a nice addition). The rice flavor was decent but they add some furikake on top which I didn’t find necessary but it wasn’t bad either. Service was professional and attentive. Overall, this may become my go-​to casual sushi joint while I’m in the area.

I like this place. It’s warm and inviting on the inside and the staff is very friendly and attentive.
I ordered the sashimi lunch — miso soup, six pieces of sashimi (advertised as only five) and a choice of one roll out of four offered. I ordered the spicy hamachi roll. My friend ordered the Titanic roll.
You know, either miso soup is yummy and it hits the spot or it’s horrible. Here the miso soup was very good.
I was pleased to get six pieces of sashimi. The pieces were large. The flavor was good, but I prefer sashimi that fits on my tongue and more or less melts in my mouth. These large pieces of sashimi required chewing. It was fresh and flavorful, but the need to chew it detracted from my enjoyment. I felt like a squirrel with cheeks full of nuts, only my cheeks were full of sashimi.
The spicy hamachi roll was delicious! Truly fantastic flavor in six little bites. The roll was the star of the plate.
Now the Titanic roll. Holy Moly what a Roll! Shrimp Tempura wrapped w/​Salmon & Tuna topped w/​Spicy crab meat, avocado & green onion — this thing was HUGE. I only tasted a bit of the spicy crab. Now I could be wrong, but I’m reasonably certain it was shredded crab stick, but no matter. There was a lot of it and it was mixed with a spicy sauce that blended so well with the ‘crab’ — it really was delicious. And that was just the topping of the roll! I didn’t eat any of the pieces, but my friend said it was wonderful, not to mention filling.
The menu is huge and the prices are reasonable. I can safely say we will be back.