Shooting Star Grill and Sushi

Totally not impressed!
Service = NOT!!! Plan on being there a while unless you are the type of customer to constantly chase after service.
Food = I’ve definitely had better! My chicken dish tasted like the smell of walking into an Asian grocery store. I know that sounds interesting, but let it sink in a little and you’ll probably understand what I am getting at.
Price = In terms of portion size, it is okay. In terms of quality, it could definitely be better!
I would have gave it one star, but I thought the décor and ambiance deserved one more star.

The only sushi place in Chinatown — surprising! The sushi rolls are very cheap during happy hour! Not bad for Chinese folks making sushi nowadays, not busy at most times — I say their other restaurant is more popular.

Came here a few times for happy hour, I didn’t order until today because I’m usually late. We sat down at 543pm. Mind you the happy hour times are supposed to be from 3−6pm. The server (guy with glasses) said we only had 3 minutes to order. He said something that was confusing about having to order within 3 minutes and then something happy hour ends at 6. Wtf? I wanted to order the chicken skewer, but he said it ended. Again, wtf?! Whatever they have in mind, that ish is bad for business. I’m done with my review and its not even 6 yet. But I am not able to order anything else. Blehhhhh!
Edit:
Also, as we were leaving, the server (guy with glasses) made a comment in Cantonese about eating 十既 (ten something) dollars and expect good service out something like that.

Well I won’t go again. Foods are not fresh ! Japanese raw fishes are NOT fresh!!! Sushi rice is way too sour !!! Disgusting !!!

The original Shooting Star Café (now two doors down) was one of the best things to have ever hit Chinatown. With that said, I felt that their Grill and Sushi was only established because they had the extra space. The layout and décor was recycled and exactly the same as the original Café.
I’m a chump for ramen and when I saw a sign for it outside, I just had to try it out. But I might as well have stayed home and made top ramen instead. I ordered their miso ramen. It was incredibly small, flavorless, and the noodles were well over done. All for 9 dollars. I’ll continue to frequent Shooting Star Café, but their newest venture is not what I was expecting by any means, even if the owners are Chinese.

Surprise of the year… NOT BAD!
Since its inception I’ve avoided this place like the plague. You don’t associate Shooting Star with sushi. You just don’t. So I was iffy when friends suggested coming here but I rolled (luls) with it. Of course I don’t expect authenticity considering they are Chinese owners but the food I had tonight was decent.
Here’s a better idea of what the night looked like:
6:30 pm. Walk in. DEAD EMPTY AND SILENT (worrisome if you ask me)
6:33 pm. Group of 9 seated.
6:35 pm. We are served tea and asked if we were ready to order. (we weren’t)
6:37 pm. We are asked if ready to order.
6:38 pm. We are asked if ready to order.
6:39 pm. We are asked if ready to order.
6:42 pm. We order.
6:49 pm. Our waitress suddenly bails and says some other guy will be taking over. Uhh… aight
After that our food comes out, almost like clockwork, in 10 minute waves.
I sampled:
–Cherry Blossom (I think this is, in general, the most boring roll ever. Not the freshest fish but it was pretty standard.)
–Dragon (Same as above)
–Aquarius (A bit more creative than the others — seared hamachi with jalapeño, shrimp tempura, avocado and a miso glaze. Flavor wise was pretty good but there were some textural issues: hamachi was extremely DRY and seemed to be kinda… baked instead of seared with a torch. Also the glaze was on the side instead of drizzled over the top so it just awkwardly forced you to take a piece and scrape it off the dish with your food.)
–Snake Eyes (can’t really remember but maybe raw salmon, cucumber, and spicy tuna? not that memorable but it was decent.)
–Fried ice cream (A scoop of ice cream, sitting on a piece of romaine lettuce (why???) stuffed with little squares of pound cake??? (again, WHY.) dipped in batter and deep fried. It was whatever. A bit too dry, actually.)
On a side note service was HORRENDOUS. After our OG waitress left the guy serving us never checked on us once except to bring us our food; we had to flag him down for a good ten minutes to get tea refills AND the check. Again, the restaurant was DESERTED except for us so we should have gotten stellar service and attention ESPECIALLY if they want more customers… but whatever… I guess they’re happy with forced gratuity and lack of future business (not being passive aggressive at all…)
But overall… not the freshest fish but rolls taste good. Very large portions and ok cuts of fish, BUT nothing will knock your socks off. Honestly for the price of each one ($ 9.95+) you could do way better, but if you’re too lazy to get out of Chinatown for a sushi fix it will do.

This is a 2.5 star place that I’ll round up to 3 stars. There is some quality here but nothing memorable. i will say that the service was fast and reliable and I even enjoyed the atmosphere and seating of this place.
For lunch, you’ll get a choice of two items for $ 8.95. The first column of items includes sashimi, mackeral, and other items and the second column includes other sides like tempura, california roll, and a few other choices.
The sashimi came with just 3 pieces and that seemed too small to me.
All in all, again, I bump it up to 3 stars because it got the job done. If you’re desperate for Japanese, and you need it pronto, this place will suffice.

We’ve been going to J sushi at least over 10 times in order give a decent fair review of the place. I’ve also been reading the comments others have wrote.
First thing first, the food items
Appetizers — Flavors are pretty good some of the item portion size is a bit small to say. Overall, it’s good.
Donburi — Decent portion size, flavors is above average, have my 5 years old picky
eater’s approval rating. My wife love the Chirashi Don, a must try item.
Ramen/​Udon — On ramen, it’s a very good, I like it better than the other ramen place at PRP or the other nasty place at East Pacific plaza or sushi house in alameda. (It even taste good day after microwave, the noodle quality is good)
Nigiri/​Sushi — The nigiri quality is good, we like their Tako and Scallop nigiri a lot
Uni is always good too. Saba is a bit too much vinegar taste. On the rolls Spicy Tuna is for sure a must have !!! A couple of the other rolls are attractive like Samsan and Titanic. We’ve eaten alaska roll each time we went in, did not taste the msg as someone as claimed but did taste the sesame seed that has a mild resemblance of msg flavor. Rainbow roll for sure is a bit on the bland side need some jazzing up. The Zodiac’s signature rolls are bigger in size and I do see the chefs put a lot of effort in their creation. You have to remember it’s very hard to have own a Japanese restaurant within Oakland China town. They can’t really go wide as they have to take care of their customer’s taste. Their fish quality is on a high end side, you can tell they do spend the money in ordering better quality fish. Much better than Sushi house or a few other Chinese or Korean owned sushi establishment. This place ain’t no Amakara in Dublin but I will go there to get my sushi fix. One thing I like to see is more variety of rolls like Okazuya in Sunset district in SF. It’s a growing business so it does takes time to make adjustment.
Hotpot — The all you can eat hotpot was a plus for us, we enjoy their unlimited supply of quality fatty beef and pork. Sushi add on is a plus even though mostly vegie sushi still a plus.
Service — Waitress is friendly but sometimes they could use one more during rush hour to keep the wait time less for tea or water refills.
Overall a solid 4 stars there are still room for improvement for sure but a very good job and especially in Chinatown Oakland to have a Japanese restaurant is very rare !!! Definitely come to their happy hour where rolls are $ 2.25 and negiri are $ 1.25 very affordable.

I loved the original Shooting Star location, and still love the new one next door, but the sushi place that’s replaced old shooting star is not very good. Service is still nice and they have a decent happy hour, but it was pretty much the most bland sushi I’ve ever eaten in my life. I think maybe it might improve over time, but they should really stick with stuff they know (desserts and HK style food) unless they’re really confident they can deliver with other kinds of food.
I had some sashimi and spicy tuna rolls, as well as the nika don, and all of them were really bland. The fish didn’t seem very fresh either, and they over garnished it, maybe to hide the sub par sushi flavor.
I’ll continue going next door to Shooting star for desserts, but I’m going to stay away from this place.

Updating review as i tried the chicken and vegetable tempura bento.
Generous serving of chicken and tempura: $ 8.95
Flavorful teriyaki, tender chicken but not necessarily a fan of the dipping sauce for the tempura… just a little too gingery for my taste.
Still a fan of the vegetable dragon roll too!

I’ve dined here twice for lunch and the service was superb. Though, they weren’t super busy. I would definitely recommend the Domo roll, ramen, and amaebi. The quality of the uni was a bit inconsistent but I would order it again.

I came here last Sunday for late lunch with two friends. We came in for the bentos and ramen. Frankly, I really liked my experience. The bentos were pretty big and fairly priced compared to other Japanese restaurants. Each bento comes with the standard miso soup, salad, and you can choose one meat and a side. My friend ordered beef and California roll and I had chicken katsu and combo tempera. The ramen came with complementary California roll too. pretty cool. I forgot to mention they start you off with some edamame beans, a nice touch. Everything was delicious. Waiter was attentive and friendly. I am really glad they opened this sushi place, and I recommend it especially for the bentos! Will probably come again soon.

I seriously do not know why this place is rated so low! I came here for dinner with my family and it was amazing. No one was here the whole time, but we got spectacular service. The owner recommended what we should get depending on if we liked raw or cooked foods. We liked both so we got both! The fish is so fresh! No fishy taste at all and everything was melting in my mouth! Such good sashimi and very well presented. We also ordered udon and bento boxes which were both very well cooked and taste fantastic. Definitely a go to place for sushi in Chinatown! Price is normal for a Japanese place, so don’t expect it to be cheap Chinatown prices. Worth every penny!

Don’t jude a place by it’s stars! Seriously, people… I respect honest reviews but I like to think that most people when they are unhappy they tend to take it out on Unilocal with out the realization that these reviews can hurt a growing business. That’s the thing about Unilocal! It either flourish or kills your business, unfortunately all these struggling small businesses are being killed by reviewers like you! THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE WRITING IT.
My personal experience was GREAT! If not fantastic, I mean come on, what are you gonna expect from Chinatown? I was already a huge fan of the Shooting star Café which moved over one store down. And was super excited that they opened a Sushi place, yes given it’s not the BEST but certainly NOT THE WORST! I really enjoyed their Tuna tataki, so yummy, I like their Miso ramen which hit the spot for me. And I also got their Aquarius roll with cream Cheese. I am a cream cheese fanatic!
Also, everyday they have differnt ONE DOLLA DEALS! ONE DOLLA!
I go shiro maguro nigiri and fresh oysters for 2 bucks?! You can’t beat that deal!
And on sunday I went back and got their PHILADELPHIA ROLL FOR ONE BUCK!
My experience was A++
Like I said, don’t judge a business by it’s reviews, you never know until you try.
May I mention that I went next door to the original SHOOTING STAR CAFE for their oh so delicious PEANUT BUTTER CONDENSED MILK WAFFLE, HOLY!

This is my second favorite sushi Restaurant my favorite Sushi Roll’s are
1.Dancing Shrimp
2.Spider Roll
3. Capricorn
4.Aries
Theres many more that is just really delicious. The Veggie Udon is very good on cold days. They have wonderful customer service. Always caring about there customers and refilling water and hot tea constantly. Overall i am very satisfied with this place.
I really recommend others to come and try it out.

Shooting Star is finally open! the décor is all about hallowen. foreshadowing of tricks to come, no treats here. no ambience re japanese eatery.
happy hour (3 – 6) entrees can be ordered if one buys $ 6+ from regular menu.
eats:
–albacore sashimi (6.5)
4 generous slices of mushy, cold fish
fail…
–alaskan roll (2.5)
ok, taste of msg
–calif roll (2.25)
mushy taste, msg aftereffects
–chicken kabob (1)
overglazed, overcooked, no chicken taste
–pork kabob (10
they forgot it. didn’t mention
(probably was worth eating)
leftovers:
–portions ok to generous, taste bland to msg flavored
2.5 stars
wouldn’t repeat.
–dining area feels like a freeway with people walking in and out.
–msg/​funny taste afterwards.
–menu pricey expcept for happy hour pricing.
–same low quality sashimi/​ramen is available cheaper down the block.

Not worth the money and they overpriced their items. Portions are small and they ise cheap ingredients for the rolls. Dont get the niku donburi. Its in a small rectangle box with chewy beef and soggy egg all over. Very disappointed.

MSG CITY — MISO THIRSTY. Wanting to see how their ramen compared to SOBO Ramen the next block over, I went to Shooting Star with my coworker and we ordered up the Tonkatsu and Shoyu ramen. The noodles were cooked well but the broth was way too salty. Even though I didn’t consume most of the broth from my ramen I was super thirsty the rest of the afternoon — must have been loaded with MSG. I prefer the ramen over at SOBO Ramen. Also ordered an Aquarius roll — it was a good size roll but lacking flavor — if you’re in the area and want sushi go to Kai’s.
The waitress was pretty attentive, kept refilling our tea and asked if we worked near by. We told her we worked across the street and she said we could call ahead of time to reserve a table and give our order so it would be ready by the time we got there. We asked for a to go menu but she said they have not finalized their menu yet so they didn’t have any printed. Given the friendly staff I’ll be back to try the bento boxes, I hope they make some adjustments to their broth and add some other varieties to their ramen menu. I’ll probably wait a few months and try the ramen again to see if there’s any improvement.

This portion was recently opened. It’s an expansion of Shooting star café. The orginial café moved over into a bigger location (right next to the grill and sushi). The décor and organization of the resturant hasn’t changed much, but the menu got a huge makeover to a japanese menu!
Service:
The service was better than I expected. They were polite, friendly, and professional. (They actually admitted to their own mistakes — unlike before where they blame anyone else). The only thing they could improve on is their attentiveness to the customers. Other than that, I’m quite pleased with their customer service. I was expecting the typical chinatown service, but they really pulled it together! Nice!
Food:
Ok. So maybe they just opened so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t have half the items on the menu yet. We wanted to order a bunch of sashimi, but they only had your basic salmon, tuna, etc… They didn’t have hamachi, uni, or the less popular sashimi items. But they had your bento boxes, udons, and other popular japanese dishes. =)
So the stuff that we got to eat…
Sashimi — It was decent. Not as fresh as I would have liked, but it was edible.
Raw Oysters/​Clams — I wouldn’t order this. There was still sand in my clam/​oyster so it ruined the dish completely. Yikes!
Lamb Chop — It was seasoned quite well and cooked nicely. Yum.
Hamachi Collar — This was quite good actually.
Udon — The soup was bland and noodles were too soft for my perferences.
Tempura — Your average tempura. Nothing too speical about it.
Speciality Sushi Rolls — The rolls itselt were quite creative. You can tell the avocados in the rolls were starting to go bad. Otherwise, I thought the rolls had a great ratio of rice to stuffing. The seaweed on the other hand was really chewy and tough. Not so great =/​.
Overall, I think this place has some great potential. I would give it a little bit of time before trying this place. They are still in the process of getting their liquor license as well.

I thought that the first review was a bit harsh, until I dined at the ‘new’ Shooting Star Grill and Sushi myself. Spot on, Christina L., spot on.
The place was 95% empty when we went in, which it remained for the evening. The place looks so depressing, really, when you compare it to the original Shooting Star (that relocated down the street).
The menu is fairly extensive, but the quality of the food isn’t great. It tastes heavily MSG-​laced, which led to an unpleasant stomachache afterwards.
We started with the takoyaki, which was a little undercooked, and oddly served on a bed of what appeared to be iceberg lettuce.
Sushi-​wise, we tried the aquarius role. The tuna (?) was extremely thinly sliced on top, and the roll had way too much rice, in lieu of actual ingredients/​fillings. My biggest issue was the immense lack of flavor.
The tonkotsu ramen was equally disappointing — overcooked ramen, hardly any broth, the soft-​boiled egg was cold, and the dish itself was vastly lacking in flavor. I found myself wishing there was sriracha on the table to enhance/​improve each dish we had.
It might be worth checking out again in a month’s time, when they’re more together, but for now, yikes.
UPDATED: morning after, still feeling queasy and not great at all from dinner, I regret eating here.