Sarku Japan

I’ve always liked their enthusiasm as they prepare the food. Always quick, always friendly, and always tastes the same. Today I noticed they now have bento boxes. Not sure if this is new or I just never noticed it on their menu, but many people ordered it including a friend.
Not sure why the bad reviews? Tastes like good teriyaki chicken to me and reasonably priced. There is a double meat option (as they advertise) if you feel like you want more meat, and California rolls if you aren’t in the mood for that.

I’m a big fan of reasonably priced chains where you get hot-​off-​the-​grill meat & fresh cooked veggies.
This Sarku (as well as the Chipotle) is a good place for a substantive lunch before taking San Bruno BART to SF.
Service can be slow sometimes, but that’s because this place is justifiably popular and fresh-​cooked food takes time.

We were able to grab a quick meal that was tasty even during the lunch rush. We love Sarku because we know exactly what we’re going to get.

1 star for location 1 star for good service and 1 star for very tasty food. I ordered the teriyaki beef bowl combo, comes with rice and vegetables. All the ingredients were fresh and prepared well. The rice is also good. Its a sure win when you want to get in and out. My only issue is always the proportion of meat to rice. A lot of rice compared to the meat.

Surprisingly, the chicken teriyaki and fried rice were funky fresh. This considering we were the first ones in line and the cooked chicken can be in a pile at the end of the grill. Not sure if this is one of those hit or miss deals but today was a hit!

The customer service was too terrible. That is the rule of the world classic customer service that who come first should get service first.
In the lunch time, I came before bunches of people to place in order, and all of those of people already got their order, and I have wait longer than 30 minutes still don’t have my order seems they missed my order. Even when I complained to the chef they still put me to wait and tell me it was too busy. Even it was busy but customer service is more important to make it who come first who get service first.

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that mall sushi isn’t much to brag about. I ordered a shrimp tempura roll and was expecting to get what I usually get at a Japanese restaurant, a nice big sliced roll that will make me full. First of all, after I ordered I stood there and stood there watching the young employees trying to do Benihana moves with the spatula but failing miserably, i started to wonder where my food was. So I stared at the cashier and finally he looked at me with a forgotten look and he said something to the guy next to him, who goes Ooooh and puts my boxed roll in front of me. Great, at least I have my… what ended up being a «Fun Size» roll which had what appeared to be a Bay Shrimp stuffed into the rice and the whole thing was bland, tasteless and not at all filling. Also, the people working there have personalities of robots. Are they robots?

The food is good but the service is awful!!! I ordered my food and I walk to where you pick it up and the two guys making my food start laughing at me. Then they start making fun of me and making comments about me being Chinese. I don’t speak fluent Chinese but I could understand a little bit. I stand waiting for my food for 5 more minutes listening to them laugh and give rude comments. Then when they served the chicken, the man literally gave me one piece of chicken! I want my chicken! Then he continues to give everyone else their chicken and he gives them the normal amount of chicken. I ask for more sauce waiting for him to give me some chicken. And he starts yelling and giving attitude. Then after asking over and over he finally gave me some chicken. I was so annoyed! They food was good those specific two workers are awful!

The Chinese staff (speaking Cantonese) at this place is a bit courteous than ones in its Santa Clara location.
This place offer bentos. BUT be aware it may take much longer to pick up your food. It happened to me when I waited in line to pick up my mom’s chicken teriyaki bento… Took a while to see the bento box with rice showed up on the counter (possibly waiting for salad & fried veggies), then the veggies, even the chicken took a good while.
There must be a better way to the flow.
After the wait, my mom wasn’t’ impressed with the food… I think the taste of teriyaki is good considering it’s in the revamped Tanforan Mall, but I know improvement is needed

I was so tired and didn’t feel like cooking lunch today so I ended up stoping by here! It’s located in the mall and has super fast service! I got the teriyaki chicken with noodle and double meat came out to about 8bucks! It never disappoints they give a huge portion and I have enough to eat for dinner as we’ll!

I tried Sarku twice and it was delicious in respect to other Chicken Teriyaki I had before. They cooked it really fast and the vegetable was a plus for me. The only problem for it is it quite oily. It has a pro as the oil keep the meat juicy, however, for me, it was too much oil.
Pros: cheap price, good taste, vegetable
Cons: oily, no drive through.

I really love Sarku. I always order the Chicken Teriyaki.
I give this place 2 stars because I love the food but had a bad experience.
It’s Tuesday, June 24 at 12:30pm. I ordered two chx teriyaki w half white rice and half noodles, one w veg one without.
I repeated my order several times to cashier. When they were done, my order was all wrong (one w fried rice and the other w veg and all noodles). I tried to have them fix it but the cook was literally yelling at me and wouldn’t, making it seem like it was what I ordered.
Dude, customer service skills. Just fix the order, whether your guest is right or wrong. And don’t yell at them if your cashier made a mistake.
I’m not giving up on you, Sarku. I hope this finds the right people so that your service improves.

If you walk the food court of Tanforan, you’re bound to try a few places Costco style. The plan was to get Jake’s BBQ which is very similar to Sarku Japan but I folded after trying Sarku’s teriyaki chicken. The draw to most of these places is almost always their teriyaki entrees and Sarku is no different. I went with their teryaki chicken and shrimp dish which comes with a mountain of rice. I was persuaded by their sign to get extra meat for additional $ 2. A guy needs his protein.
The damage was about $ 10 for a more than generous serving of chicken, shrimp, rice, and a soft drink. For a mere 2 bucks I was given just as much meat as rice. We’re talking a serious portion that I probably shouldn’t have finished, but once you add that teriyaki sauce, grilled shrimp and veggies and rice, you can’t stop. It’s by no means outstanding food, but it’s always comforting and it sounds healthy-​ish. I’m sure the sodium is off the roof. Nevertheless I’ll take a Sarku dish over any of burgers or pizza’s nearby.
Ambiance/​Décor: N/​A
Food: ³⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Price: $
Overall: ³⁄₅
Pros:
+ Teriyaki dishes; chicken; beef; shrimp
+ Tasty teriyaki meat served with a heap of veggies and rice (or noodles)
+ Generous portions
+ $ 2 for extra meat (well worth it if you’re especially hungry)
+ Cooked to order
+ Fast service
+ Free samples
+ Pretty good for «mall food»
Cons:
— Brown rice not available

Pros: reasonable price and one of the best tasting Teriyaki I have ever tasted. Chicken Teriyaki, double meat and Soba instead of white rice is my favorite.
Cons: they often run out of noodles during rush hour or maybe they just don’t want to serve it during peak hours.

If I was rating this place off of the taste alone, I would give 5 stars.
3 reasons I want to give 0 starts
1) The «double meat» of today is less than a regular order was 5 years ago when the food cost less.
2) They recently started skimping on the teryaki sauce in addition to the chicken, so your order is 90% plain steamed rice.
3) When you try to ask for more sauce (I don’t even waste my time asking for more chicken anymore) they stare at you like they can’t hear you or they act like they don’t speak English, and they reluctantly give you the smallest amount possible while talking angrily in what I assume is Japanese.
I know this is just cheap mall food, but that doesn’t mean customer service is irrelevant.

Located inside the mall. This place is way cheaper than the korean place next door. And they cook the food in front of you. Hard to understand the cashier.
Order the chicken and shrimp teriyaki combo with soba noodle. If you decided to get noodle instead of rice, they’ll charge extra 0.50 for the noodle. I like their food here. Had a lot of flavor. You can order extra meat but it’ll cost more.

First and foremost, whatever you do don’t get the sushi. It sounds like a nice add-​on, but it’s not. I didn’t think California Rolls prepared with fake crab could be so messed up, but they can. On the other hand, there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the Chicken Teriyaki, except that it was bland. I considered it a transport for Sriracha, not an entirely a bad thing! The veggies were fresh and the chicken was choice white meat.

When i was younger i use to date a girl in San Jose and we use to go valley fair and oakridge mall to eat Sarku Japan. We ate there because it was good and cheap. We eat there 3 times a week for six months. We ordered the same thing every single time. This place is not my favorite japanese place nor is it the place to get the BEST teriyaki chicken, but for $ 5 you get a lot of chicken and rice. The sauce is really sweat and the chicken is always hot and tender.
All though i find it strange that the workers start shouting out japanese words whenever they are cooking to make it feel more authentic lol.
Out of all the other food court restaurants it is always one of the most crowded just like panda express. If i had no choice but to eat at mall i would look for a Sarku Japan.

I went here a long time ago when the Tanforan first reopened. I remembered you get a choice or noodle or rice at the time. Well I guess they don’t offer that choice any more because I was nickeled and dimed 50 cents more for noodles. It wasn’t even a heaping serving of noodles either. It barely covered the large component in the take out box. My mother said the noodles weren’t udon. It tasted like spaghetti.
Chicken was blah. I ended up with the smaller portion because they divvied it up into thirds and the first two guys got more meat than I did. That was a crap shoot but what can you do.
I did not like the cabbage veggie mix. Reminds me of all that cabbage they feed you on the China tours.
The potstickers were hard. Stale hard not fried hard.
The only thing they did right was the Coke. That came from a dispenser.
I should have listened to the Kid when he pointed at Panda Express instead of coming here!
Oh yeah, the staff isn’t Japanese. They were speaking Cantonese to each other. I understood everything!

At Tanforan, this is my go-​to place for food if I’m not feeling hella cheap. Yes, the wait in kind of long. Yes, lots of people are in line. Yes, it does take a while for the food to cook, HOWEVER, in my opinion– it’s totally worth it.
The chicken teriyaki thing is the only thing I have tried on the menu (besides a small coke ;D) and I have yet to stray from it. If you feel like your chicken looks too dry, tell the man to add some sauce to it. It really helps with the leftover rice in the end. Gives it a little flavor.
My little tip for you guys: ORDER THE EXTRA MEAT. Trust me, you’ll definitely need it. If you just stick to the regular order without it, you’re gonna feel like you been ripped off. At least with the extra meat, the meal will look better. It’s about a $ 1.09 for the extra meat, though.