Liquid Sushi Bar

Really it’s 2.5 stars but not enough to get it a 3.
Bad: many of the rolls are around $ 10 and many are more expensive than that, the sushi is of mediocre quality (especially the nigiri — I love nigiri and this place does not do it right), and the service is pretty darn terrible.
Good: the all you can eat deal is off the chain ($ 25 — you just need to order 3 things and you’re already saving money) and some of the rolls are pretty tasty.
WORD TO THE WISE: Get the all you can eat sushi deal. It’s way worth it. They give you this laminated menu and ask you to circle any 3 things you want for your first order — then they IHOP you. What I mean is they start you out with a good amount of food then they only allow you to order one thing at a time and it comes out at a snail’s pace. Me and my buddy demolished the first 3 things in record pace and asked for more. The waitress literally walked right by us, made eye contact, and kept going. At that point we decided to order the most expensive stuff they had and we kept eating until we felt sick. I have to get my money’s worth. We finished we each ate approximately $ 60 worth of their rolls but it took about an hour because the service was so slow.
So if you’re in the mood to stuff your face with average sushi at a reasonable price then this place is for you. I’d go back, just not any time soon.

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and asked yourself «why am I here and who put this restaurant concept together» but you continue on and sit down anyways?
Well this sushi bar was that place for me. The restaurant is huge and they have an all you can eat menu (should have been red flags for me but I continued on).
We ordered and after 25 minutes or so before our sushi came out — that would have been alright if the place was packed but the place was dead and we were the only people there (another red flag).
The sushi didn’t taste fresh so I left several pieces of fish on my plate (not common for me). After review the bill we find that the wait staff had drastically overcharged us and instead of putting down our order he simply put down two all you can eat orders. So after he changed the bill we happily left.
The only problem that I face now is that after this experience every time I see the restaurant while driving home my stomach turns over.
I would never go back to Liquid until they made drastic changes to the menu, the quality of the fish, and changed the inside of the restaurant to make it more intimate.

Well, as far as all you can eat sushi it was pretty good. I think sushi was pretty good all you can eat sushi. The service was good. Staff was very kind and sweet to my kids.
I eat a lot of nigiri and i felt I got a good value.

I seem to always pass this restaurant when I drive so I decided to try it with my dad just so I can stop wondering if it’s good since I love sushi and Japanese food.
[ P R I C E + HOW IT WORKS ]
If you’ve been to Maru Maru on 2^nd Ave in San Mateo then you’ll know what to do here. I went for dinner and you can basically order off their menu… OR do their All-​You-​Can-​Eat sushi for about $ 24.95 per person. So we decided to go with the All-​You-​Can-​Eat. You basically can choose any three items off the menu per person and after you finish all three items then you can order another item. After you finish that you can order another one. And it goes on until you’re full or bloated or both.
[ M E N U ]
For dinner you get choose from their Lunch and Dinner All-​You-​Can-​Eat menu. I haven’t been here for Lunch but I would imagine for Lunch you can only do the Lunch portion of the menu which consists of Nigiri and Maki rolls and some of the cheaper end of the Special rolls such as Super California roll and such. So what does the dinner menu have that lunch doesn’t? Basically all the Chef’s Signature rolls and the Special rolls which was the portion of the menu that we ordered. Wanting to get the most bang for our buck, we decided to choose rolls that was over $ 10 which was what most of the dinner menu consisted of. We ordered the Dragon roll, Double Salmon roll, Double Unagi roll, Lion King roll, Liquid roll, and Golden Gate roll. While we were waiting for the food I calculated the total of the rolls together if we were to order them separately and it would be over $ 70 so it’s not too bad a deal.
[ A M B I E N C E ]
The décor was a bit modern and mainstream looking with clean table, pretty ceiling, and a cool sushi bar. We arrived at 8pm and it was pretty quiet and although there were a decent amount of people, it wasn’t full as the sushi bar was practically empty except for like two people.
[ S E R V I C E + A D V I C E]
The waitress was a middle aged Korean lady who was friendly and nice. What was kinda nice but at the same time pointless was after you order they give you a bowl of miso soup and a bowl of salad. It was nice because it was free of charge I believe but when you’re doing the All-​You-​Can-​Eat would you really fill up before the sushi? As with Maru Maru and many All-​You-​Can-​Eat sushi restaurants, they try not to explain too much in detail what you should do because they want you to think you can order a lot. So some simple things you should know about is that you have to finish everything on the sushi plate (s) you ordered before you can order more. You cannot order more if you even have one piece left (unless it’s on your plate). Another thing is that because it is an All-​You-​Can-​Eat, they will most likely than not make the rolls with more rice than normal to get you full. And most often than not they will not let you pick the rice off. I did it a little (sneakily and hid the rice) just because I didn’t want to get too full. Also, you cannot take home the leftover sushi if you don’t finish unless you paid for the sushi individually.
[ S U S H I ]
The sushi here is a lot better than Maru Maru in terms of size, variety, and taste. Here at Liquid, the sushi actually looks nice and not like a rush job where they just slapped the sushi on the plate as they make swirls on the sushi and plate with sauce. But, as with most All-​You-​Can-​Eat sushi, the sushi looks like it is made with more rice (especially the Liquid roll and the Golden Gate roll where the rice took up about 60~78% of the roll) than it should and the salmon sashimi on the double salmon roll was kinda thin. However, it does taste good but not super delicious. Because of the size, amount, and rice my dad and I couldn’t even finish two of the rolls as we basically KO and didn’t even bother to force ourselves to eat or order more than 6 dishes for the two of us.
[ C O N C L U S I O N ]
All in all, Liquid is not too shabby for an All-​You-​Can-​Eat sushi restaurant but I personally probably wouldn’t come here again for this deal. I might, however, come back just to order their normal menu items or a roll which many other patrons actually did or do their lunch All-​You-​Can-​Eat because of the cheaper price. From what I saw, only half of the people that were in the restaurant actually did the All-​You-​Can-​Eat so maybe their individually priced items are made with less rice or better??? So if you are super hungry for sushi and think you can eat a lot of rolls that are alright quality for a good deal then Liquid might be perfect for you.

This used to be a reasonably good place, nothing special, but we had some company lunches here a few years ago. Alas, it must not have been doing well since it has now gone «all you can eat» (non-​buffet) plus the regular menu. Even from the menu, the sashimi and sushi are just not very good, with less than top quality fresh fish. The specialty rolls are not awful, though they are sloppily made, and are better than buffet quality, but not by that much.
Service is friendly and pleasant, but very slow, even when the place is pretty empty; clearly they’re understaffed.
I ended up here sort of by accident, having originally planned to go to one of the downtown San Mateo places, but figured what the heck since I was driving by. The place was nearly empty (3 parties) at 7:30 on a Friday night, which is a very bad sign. It’s a cavernously large place, formerly a Lyon’s coffee shop, and used to have a hipster/​saketini vibe back in the old days. But now it just seems sad.

Came in for lunch — have all you can eat sushi for $ 16.99. They have some weird rules about it — have to order 3 dishes first, then 2, then 1… not sure what it was all about. Waiter couldn’t explain it too well either.
But the food was good, nothing spectacular but good enough to please your appetite.

«super fresh sushi» read the sign in front of liquid sushi bar. i went in to check the place. beautiful place. no one in sight: no customers, no sushiman. no waitress. i looked at «all you can eat» double-​sided laminated menu but it had no price on it.
i finally saw a waitress and asked her the price. she said: «24.95″.
“i can’t afford that» i said and proceeded to walk out.
«we have a lunch menu. 16.95. just the first side.»
i looked at the items. it was acceptable. «ok» i said and took a booth.
lunch menu acye (16.95): maki rolls, selected nigiri, lower end rolls, some deep fried rolls, cali rolls. philly rolls, simple ones.
acye (24.95)hamachi, octopus nigiri, name rolls, (spider, rainbow, etc
décor: oval sushi bar with tables all around the bar. tall bare branches are situated in the rear and the front door (only see this in korean owned restaurants).
drill: can only order 3 items at a time. l item at a time when they get busy.

sampling: all nigiri (3 – 4.95 list price)
–saba
–albacore
–ebi
–maguro
–suzuki
–ika
–unagi (3)
–tamago
–sake
*after a few orders, didn’t get any more wasabi.
temaki:
–rice portion was huge, double the usual portion. nigiri good sized, kind of thin but not so fresh.
–only unagi and ebi, already cooked, tasted satisfactory. the others lacked freshness.
–crewed cut sushi chef looked like a former korean marine
–waitress a little slow but gave me a smiling bow when i left. guess she was satisfied with the tip.
*courteous, friendly service, lousy food.
–joey and the black widow can never get full here, the service is that slow.

The all you can eat is somewhat misleading … Expected a buffet of sushi and what we got was not that at all. The server did terrible took awhile to just give menus and gave them to us and walked away. I thought we can pick whatever and we HAD to ask the guy to explain, because it was our first time. Every time we needed something, more water, utensils, menu, anything we had to call on the server.
Terrible Service. don’t waste your time. We should have went to Kome in Daly City instead.

I was quite excited at their prospect of «all-​you-​can-​eat» sushi. This could easily go either way, and it did. The servers seemed to be more concerned with talking to each other, than they were in making sure myself and others were okay at their tables.
My table was missing all of the typical things that the other tables had: flatware, soy sauces, etc. When they brought my soup, they failed to also deliver a spoon. It took me at least 5 minutes to wave down someone to bring me one.
I ordered my first order (3 pcs) and waited. One of the rolls came back almost immediately. I waited quite a while since they were a little busy, but I watched their (young) sushi chefs make mine, and the server tried to deliver those two rolls to another table. Both the people at the table, and the sushi chefs were clearly telling the server that it was the wrong table. The sushi chef kept telling the server to bring it to me. The server literally argued with both the people at the table, and sushi chef for at least 2 minutes. Upon being convinced he was wrong, they had to remake my rolls.
The sushi itself tasted just fine, and the soy sauce and wasabi was delicious too. However, the sushi itself was all loosely wrapped, and the rice was falling off of the rolls. This is something that I should take for granted to not happen. Upon watching the (YOUNG) sushi chefs, it was pretty clear that they were trying to work too fast without enough experience.
In leaving, I wanted to use the restroom, but I was GREATLY disappointed to smell it being dirty upon opening the door. When I got to the urinal, there was urine on the walls and floor. The toilet itself look like it had backed up. There was waste over-​flowing all over the place.
When I reported the bathroom, the staff literally ran to investigate, but this is something they should have found out for themselves.

Sushi C–
Service D–
Awful. Sushi was mayo-​ish and not great, but I didn’t throw up so it could have been worse.
Service was SLOW and they were often confused. Annoying.
The all you can eat for $ 25 is probably ok if you are starving and order the right things. We didn’t bother and thank god.

Have you seen the cover of this months vanity Fair? Elizabeth Taylor was one hot tamale! I mean jaw dropping gorgeous! And did she sport some sexy curves!
Fast forward to 2010. What the hec happened to Liz?
I believe whatever was in Liquid’s space before has suffered the same fate.
The minute we pulled up and saw the banner reading «All You Can Eat Sushi» I knew we were in trouble. This is never a good sign that the food you are about to consume is not going to be remotely good (or fresh). Also plenty of available tables at the peak of lunch hour again is not a positive indicator that you are about to enjoy some knock your socks off sushi.
The menu is quite extensive and takes some time to get through. We realized we would need some time getting through the lunch and ordered a starter to split (good thing too as it was going to be the only thing that I would even like). How about the Asian beef carpaccio. A thinly sliced NY Steak served with along side a miso aioli. The portion was enough for both me and my lunch partner and both enjoyed it. The aioli was slightly spicy and I wonder if they snuck some wasabi in there? If they didn’t then I don’t want to know what that secret ingredient was.
I was not super hungry as I had chowed down on a bagel and hot cocoa just a few hours before and ordered a six piece shashimi sampler of ahi, salmon and snapper. My friend had just flown in and had eaten on the plane but still managed to work up and appetite and ordered the 14 piece shashimi sampler and a bowl of udon noodles with chicken. They brought out his noodles first and the chicken on top looked rather albino. I guess Foster Farms is being extra cautious these days and is using SPF 50 on their chickens. One bite and he was pretty much through.
It gets worse people.
The sashimi was not at all appealing. The texture was bouncy like a rubberized running surface and there was a strange scent. Yes, it smelled and not of fish. Three bites and I pretty much decided that it was probably best to protect my stomach lining and just sipped on my water for the rest of lunch.
My friend is heading off to the Monterey Peninsula and commented that he will search for a decent seafood meal when he arrives. As for me, I am going to hold off and make sure that there are no side affects and will wait until later before placing any food items in my tummy.
I’ll add a star for the appetizer and even though we did sample the drinks, the cocktails look to be pretty decent.

ohh dear… all you can eat sushi. hmm. Co-worker’s treat, so why not go out on a limb here. $ 14.95 for lunch. This includes 3 choices of sushi, then one roll thereafter. Have I mentioned it’s all you can eat? Well, between the co-​workers and me, we stopped at 3 rolls which is below average. They definitely pack on the rice and fills you up. Now if you don’t think you can hang with the all you can eat, you can also pick ala carte or from their menu. Would I come back? Yes, I would break my cardinal rule of not eating sushi at a buffet, but this one doesn’t count! The rolls are made to order and fresh.

Warning: I am not a sushi fan but I ate with a group of gals that are!
Ambiance — Excellent! Beautiful!
Food — Overall, excellent!
We ate:
Chicken Teriyaki with Tempura Bento — Chicken was very tasty and it seemes crispy versus grilled! I loved that. I hate eating soft goowy chicken with skin attached. This was so perfect since it was skinless and fried before they poured the teriyaki sauce. The Tempuras… Heavens! I loved them. The shrimp was so fantastic, I could eat it all day! The sweet potato tempura could have been cooked more but it was still good! The eggplant was also thin enough and excellent!
The miso soup… yumm yummmmmmm!!!
Beef Teriyaki with Tempura Bento — Was not great but ok. Could be better. The meat was grilled and they did not give us enough.
Sushi: The yellow tail — not good
You have to get the Toro Bomb… so delish!
The sweet potato was also good.
Down side: I drank four glasses of water and I had to ask for them each time.

Don’t be enticed by the all you can eat sushi. Perhaps we dined on a wrong day, but I thought sushi was supposed to melt in your mouth.
The sushi here was chewy and didn’t taste fresh at all, I was forcing myself to finish the rolls I ordered so I wouldn’t get charged a wastage fee.
I will go here again if I feel constipated, so that I can get the runs.

I am bummed that this place has become an all you can eat sushi place. I mean, I’ll admit that I thought it had a funky layout… I think it used to be a Lyon’s. So, there’s a bar in the middle, but there’s never anyone sitting there. It’s almost a waste of space. The place is never full, no matter what day we go there.
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I have always enjoyed the sushi here. My husband is into the low carb thing and he really likes their low carb sushi roll… I like their dragon and spicy tuna rolls.
Service has always been good. However, as along as it advertises itself as «all you can eat» I’m going to have to put it in the same category as Hokkaido.
Bring back the old Liquid!

Came here with a group of coworkers to check out their all you can eat sushi for $ 15. There is a catch in that you can only order 3 rolls at a time, and you can’t order more until you finish your rolls. Add on top of that, according to your menu, you will be penalized for any sushi that you don’t eat.
I found the rolls to be a little dry, the fish to rice ratio was a little on the low side, but what do you expect for a $ 15 all you can eat sushi place. There were people that would take 2 pieces of sushi, double up the fish, and then take the leftover rice and stuff it into a napkin. I wouldn’t be surprised if people didn’t stuff more food into napkins just to avoid the penalty for not eating everything.
I also got the impression that it was the service staff that were preparing the sushi. Usually I am used to walking into a sushi place and seeing an older chef in a white apron and hat carefully putting together their sushi rolls.
The restaurant did have great service, the waiters came by the table regularly to give us empty menu cards, drink refills, and I believe the manager or owner came by a couple of times to check up on us to see how we were doing.
Overall, the place was just okay. There are better places out there, but if you are hungry and looking for a cheap sushi fix, then you may like this place.

Somehow I was convinced to come here for dinner — perhaps a moment of weakness/​hunger/​bad commute
The interior is actually pretty nice and clean but that could never make up for the food. The sushi did not look fresh or appealing at all. The miso soup was subpar.
If this was in the boonies and I had no japanese options, I would still not come here.

I came here when they first opened and its also a teppanyaki bar, but it was pretty empty. Someone said this place was good so I decided to give it a try. Between two people a few of the dishes ordered included raw beef carpaccio as well as some tataki’s and finally a few rolls.
The raw items here are usually very chewy which leads to feelings of unfreshness so I wasn’t really a huge fan. They had way too much mayo on the raw beef for it to be good and I thought the tataki could have been more flavorful. Their rolls were just normal. I think if I were to come here just to get rolls it would probably be okay. Otherwise its not really a notable sushi place in San Mateo given so many other great alternatives that cost less.

One of the more tolerable Americanized J-​food joints in the area… a decent place for a group lunch or dinner if your group consists of teriyaki and california roll-​lovers.
FOOD:
* The menu is very standard, including sushi, teriyaki-​whatever, tempura, sukiyaki, nabeyaki udon, donburi, etc. On the dinner menu are «small plate» items, such as hamachi kama, yudofu, kaki-​fry.
* Like most other pseudo’s, they carry those funky, but typical rolls that are unseen and unheard of in Japan (e.g., Philly, Dynamite, Kamikaze, Spider, Dragon, Rainbow), but they are what they are and we’ve liked some of them. They don’t go too crazy with the sauce. I’m not a fan of their sushi rice (shari), though.
* Aside from the sushi, I’ve been regularly getting the «Liquid Chanko» for lunch as it’s warm and comforting… and I don’t entirely trust their raw items especially when they’re delivered. Forget the udon. The soup/​broth has absolutely no depth.
OTHERS:
I’m giving a star for its fairly convenient location, right at El Camino and 92. The lunch staff has been very helpful with our orders.
SUM:
Clearly not the most authentic Japanese, but would make a good place depending on your group’s preferences.

Décor = Awesome.
Came here with a large party so we had our own room, and the tables looked like an upscale Benihana! But to my surprise, the middle section (where it looks like a grill) was used as a walk-​thru for the waitress… so I guess I’ll never know if that section was really used to fire up food. Curiosity is definitely just gonna leave me hanging.
Food = Appetizingly delicious.
It really depends on what you order. I know some of my friends didn’t like their meal as much. THANK GOODNESS I KNOW HOW TO ORDER!!! Sooo more props to me! hahaha. My food was delicious. I ordered the Italian Mob Sushi Roll which consist of smoked salmon, bacon, avocados, tomatoes, and parmesan… for $ 10.50! I’d say the norm price. YUM! Oh, and I nibbled on my friend’s Kamikaze roll… which was also good by the way.
Service = Weak.
One waitress basically for a party of 25+ heads. WTH. Annnnnd, the same waitress acting as a bartender!!! OMG, definitely low on staff for a FRIDAY night. I guess that explains an empty restaurant. But the waitress was nice. so I’m not trying to hate on that.
Payment = WEAK.
I guess everyone, including me, all busted out with a Bill that night to pay for our separate meal/​sake bombs. At least have extra change if you know there’s a PARTY attending ahead of time. Geez. Who does small bills anyways. LOL, jp.
Overall, ayt.