Dozo Japanese Cuisine

Edit, Robert-​san and Risa-​san have opened their new location, called Dozo Izakaya, located at 440 W. Warner Rd #104, Tempe AZ.
Facebook page:
Webpage:
They opened Friday August 1^st, unfortunately I have not been able to make it there yet.
Posting this review of Dozo after it has closed it’s doors just to share that the owners Robert-​san and Risa-​San are opening a new location in Tempe (close to Chandler). I loved Dozo and was a regular there. The sushi was always excellent, the staff friendly and Robert and Risa took pride in their place and the food they served. When the new location opens you can count on seeing me there. I will post an update with the new address and a grand opening date when I know more (I gave Robert-​san my email to let me know)

Sometimes there are some great places right under your nose and you’ve missed it for a long time! But the good part is that discovering it is fantastic!
We ordered some traditional Japanese dishes like takoyaki, ramen, etc… and I thought they were all pretty delicious. My g/​f ordered something that was apparently not common in menus for Japanese restaurants in the States.
Service was a bit slow but they were super friendly and welcoming~ I would definitely go again!

Lovely, fresh fish and tons of wonderful options in a nice, quiet atmosphere with reasonable prices. Not a trendy or fancy spot, this is a sushi lover’s happy place :-)
We’ve been here several times, and everything we’ve ever tried has been delcious. The sashimi (which is the true test of quality) is fresh and lovely. They have a wide variety sushi and non-​sushi options, and all have been impressive.
The only possible negative is that, although the service is generally great, we’ve had incredibly (and inexplicably) slow service, once.

Service is sloow, even though it’s never too busy inside. That being said, I come here for the QUAIL EGGS. They serve them three at a time, I think, in the shell, with a little ponzu and sriracha inside, and it’s just so much better than anywhere else I’ve had quail eggs.
–Surprisingly outstanding Cha Shu Ramen.
–Rest of the sushi here is mediocre as far as I can tell, but I’d definitely give it another try.

Hey Yall… i attempted to try the pork broth ramen.
It was a FAIL the broth was lacking so much flavor… The pork that was included looked like a piece of ham steak, but again lacked flavor okay I’m lying it had no flavor at all and was very fatty… At this moment I’m wishing that I would have stuck in a the FLAVOR PACKET from the Top Ramen Noodles. Enough of that cause I dont like to bash… 1 star for fast service 1 star for the chicken thighs skewers… had to ask for water, have to ask for fork, had to ask for straw. Will I be back: Nah… Will I recommend this place: Nah… Like my mom always say things they look good anit always good for you or to you

The Badera Roll will haunt my dreams. The chef was very social and talked to me throughout my dinner. Go Here!

After tackling the Cholla Trail, we arrived in slightly dusty workout gear, exhausted and… HUNGRY.
Dozo welcomed us with open arms…
Pork Ramen
Gyoza
Squid & Chicken Thigh skewers
Veggie Tempura
Ankimo (monkfish liver): tasted dubiously fishy so our server took it off our bill
A nice casual place, menu items with nods to the authentic. I was kind of sad that they didn’t offer katsu curry for dinner, but had a satisfying post-​workout dinner nonetheless.

The bf and I have come here twice in one month. Both of these times the sashimi is fresh and the rolls are spectacular! Our go to roll is the Dozo roll. Reason for 4 stars is that sometimes the service is just too slow. We usually sit belly up at the sushi bar for faster service… But it is still not lightening speed. All in all, great sushi, local spot, zero pretentiousness, decent prices. You cannot go wrong!

Love love love dozo, I go here and splurge every time I can. The sushi is amazing and the quality remains the same every time. They are very welcoming. Hopefully soon they will accept bitcoin, at least for tips!
The owner just added the fried clams back to the menu, which she made sure to inform us of, because we love them and request them as an appetizer all the time! Try them next time!
Go during happy hour for special deals.
Enjoy Unilocalers.

There are only three letters which could possibly describe how I feel about the 3 rolls I ate an hour ago…
Meh
I am far from impressed, and while it’s true that I’ve had worse, this is not a sushi restaurant I’d recommend or go back to. The rolls were small and just didn’t taste that good. After eating 3 rolls I’m usually filled to the brim, right now I’m pretty hungry and thinking about what I want to eat.
3 out of 5 stars, and that’d be generous.

Had a craving for donburi! So I came in here with my son. The menu was extensive good chocies between sushi and non sushi items. We were not that hungry so I ordered one dish to be shared between my son and I. I felt bad for the waitress and she couldn’t help but give us a stare. Luckily, my son was so charming and loving and funny that by the end of the meal he had totally won her over and I left a tip amount as though we had ordered two entrees.
The only disappointment was of course the donburi. The donburi I crave for and remember is a donburi from long ago when I was a student at Ann Arbor where they would pile on the rice in a big bowl and pile on top a big pile of gooey mixture of onion, egg, and chicken. It was soooo good! I haven’t been able to find the remembered donburi anywhere else since then.
I think I need to recreate it in my own kitchen to satisfy not necessarily my stomach but my memory. Not kidding.

We waited about 50 minutes for our food of a sweet beef bowl and 2 veg rolls.
Too pricey for the portions.
Our waitress was either on the verge of a nervous breakdown or on a lot of speed. Not really part of the review, just. man if I could put a warm blanket around her and tell her everything will be okay, I would have.

I need to preface this by acknowledging one bad experience turned me off pretty fast. Before my last experience I liked that it was good sushi– not amazing, but a place where I’d go if I didn’t feel like driving 30 minutes to Tokyo Lobby in Glendale.
Most of the servers are quick and attentive. Last time our server was slow as snails, and I tried to be forgiving because maybe she was new. Nope– it took 40 minutes for her to get our order to the sushi chef. 40 MINUTES. Which again never happened.
Then when we actually got our sushi, I realized it wasn’t just the waitress, it was the chef, too. We ordered a spider roll and for whatever reason it was drenched in some kind of wasabi sauce. Soaked. I couldn’t taste anything else but wasabi. I’d wished I ate Fry’s sushi instead.
Probably not coming back for a while.

I have to agree with the other Unilocalers complaints, mainly the portion size for the price being extremely stingy. If you want a far superior value I recommend picking up from AJ’s fine foods and having their sushi and bring it home or eat in the store. I am serious, this like many phoenix reasturants is extremely stingy with their product. I am looking at this rainbow roll right now and its like, «wtf», it is as if I had been respeawned into a world half of the size I knew judging on this roll, its almost comical, they are not trying to hide it with more rice and paper thin fish as many places do, they are proud to serve this anorexic sushi rolls! amazing!_ly bad never will be back every where else i go is just as fresh and not as tight wad stingy with the fish…
If sashimi grade fish were the price of gold I may well have gotten more…

Quick background: Asian guy who loves sushi in Phoenix for the Dodgers Spring Training.
I was weary of venturing into Giants’ territory (Scottsdale) for sushi of all things. But upon Unilocaling the entire city for a half decent Japanese restaurant… our group was directed to Dozo. Big mistake in trusting the «star-​rating» over the actual reviews; will explain.
First impression:
We walk into Dozo which is located a few blocks from the Giants’ Spring Training facility and inside of a plaza with a TJ Maxx. The restaurant was dark and about 75% of the tables were occupied. Good so far. We get seated right away. No Giants’ fans to be spotted, even better.
Menu:
Nothing out of the ordinary. You got your rolls found in every Japanese restaurant; your California Rolls, your Spider rolls, nigari etc. etc. They also have bento boxes @ $ 11 and up.
:We ordered 3 specialty rolls and 3 orders of Nigiri to start off almost as soon as we were handed the menu. You would assume placing your order means that you get your food shortly right? Nope. Begin the clock. With nothing to do besides talk and drink the water we were given. Minutes fly by and before I knew it, it was already 40 minutes after our order and a group of 10 Giants fans walk in. As I curse quietly to myself I log onto my Unilocal app to actually read reviews about the place. At this point it is more than 45 minutes after we ordered and I stumble upon Jamie M.‘s review where she mentioned that it took the the staff over 35 minutes for them to inform her that something she ordered was unavailable. As I read it to my group we are FINALLY served after 50 minutes.
Food:
Spider roll: Made of 6 average sized pieces of sushi (costed $ 12.50 btw). The fried soft shell crab was missing a key ingredient… the soft shell crab. Also this roll was poorly rolled… by that I mean just using my chop sticks to even attempt to place it in my mouth was a chore. The rice was not even sticking to the sushi «filling» and was breaking apart before I even got to chew it. I was too hungry to really complain I just ate 2 pieces and onto the next.
Salmon/​Albacore Nigiri: Each piece was about 2“x1″ inches and the fish was wafer thin. Not worth it.
Four Seasons Roll: Another $ 12 roll. The roll was so unmemorable I don’t even recall what was in it. Would I again pay $ 12 for this? You probably already know the answer.
Red Dragon Roll: … I would review this if we actually got to eat it. Back to Jamie M’s review. It is now 55 minutes after we ordered. And after indiscriminately devouring what we were finally served… the waitress trouts out and says basically, «Oh hey, remember that Red Dragon Roll? We don’t have any more soft shell crab. Would you like to get the Eel instead?» I have no ill feelings towards her but we were pretty pissed off. You know when you hear of someone’s bad experience that you hope it doesn’t happen to you as well? Yup, happened to us.
: Back to those pesky Giants’ fans. I watched them get their drinks about half an hour and their edamame about 40 minutes after ordering. In fact, as they smugly smiled at us walking out they STILL did not get any actual food yet. It’s already been a few days and I bet they’re still sitting around. Now under any normal circumstances, I would not feel bad for a Giants’ fan, but this might have been the one time… NOT.
Observations:
1) After we ordered I looked around at all the other tables. Of the 5 tables in our area, only ONE table had food.
2) The majority of the positive reviews for Dozo are from a really long time ago and/​or are not even relevant to food or the service (re: Jon P’s «review»). I can only assume that the quality of food and service has taken a steep decline in the past few years.
3) The sushi «chef» could be heard running his mouth throughout the entire restaurant. I guess he forgot that he’s supposed to actually do his job and I don’t know… feed the customers who walk into the establishment?
4) When you hear that this place is the «best» sushi in all of PHOENIX, you should be wary of the reviews.
Conclusion:
If you are a Giants’ fan, this restaurant is perfect for you and you should definitely give them your business. Just kidding. This place is terrible and the only thing I enjoyed here was the water. No really. It didn’t even taste like tap water. If you’re from out of town, you would be better suited to get another kind of cuisine. If you’re a local, definitely don’t come here for sushi. There’s got to be somewhere better than this.

If there was an option for 3 ½ stars, I would have chosen that one. I bumped it up to 4 due to sushi and prices. I love, love, love this place for sushi. It is my favorite in the valley. Have I had better sushi, yes, but not in Phoenix.
My biggest issue is the service. It can range from downright friendly, to «hello…I swear I am sitting here and I exist». So word of warning, if you go on the right day (which to be honest can vary), you get great service and sushi, with reasonable prices. You go on an off-​day (which seems more frequent), be prepared to wait, and wait…
Dozo, I do love you though you make me wait:)

Yesterday, our sushi quest brought us to downtown Scottsdale, where Dozo seemed like the most promising option. I didn’t think it would be top tier sushi on the way over, and the unassuming exterior of the building certainly didn’t raise any expectations. But some of the best sushi bars have humble exteriors, so this didn’t deter us.
We started with the miso soup, which was average, and made our order: pork belly, salmon kama, albacore tataki sashimi, escolar sashimi, mackerel sushi, amaebi sushi, and salmon roe.
The pork belly was pretty good. Not my favorite, but definitely tasty enough. The salmon kama was decent; the kama is always my favorite part of the fish, and this did not disappoint. Turns out I slightly prefer yellowtail kama, however (which they had), but that’s because I like cooked yellowtail more than cooked salmon.
The escolar sashimi was disappointing — they garnished it with pickled jalapenos and tobiko, with a touch of ponzu; I would have much rather had it ungarnished, or at least sans jalapeño. I like the flavor of escolar, and if I’m going to risk the diarrheaic side effects of escolar, I want to really taste it. The albacore tataki, on the other hand, was superb.
As far as the sushi goes, the shrimps were good, along with their fried heads. The mackerel and salmon roe were pretty average, which I guess is not a bad thing.
Finally, we finished with the tempura ice cream, which was the best tempura ice cream I have had in Phoenix. I probably said that two weeks ago after having it at Hiro Sushi, but this one was even better. Solid B+ on the tempura ice cream.
It also turns out this place is reasonably priced. I have paid over twice as much for sushi on several occasions, and rarely spend less. Hard not to appreciate this place, when they give you reasonably good sushi for such a reasonable price.

Neighborhood spot with great prices, but hit and miss fish. I prefer a sure thing.
–excellent yellowtail tells me the potential is there, perhaps i have to be a regular to get the good stuff because
# ikura made me want to vomit
# tuna, salmon sashimi fishy, not fresh (this is why people don’t like sushi… ’cause they haven’t had good fresh fish)
# masago not fresh
# Tamago not tightly folded, seaweed wrapper not crispy and dry
if only i could have had more pieces like that yellowtail!

More like Do-​press-​Zo.
So, I was exhausted last night. I’d worked all day and generally wanted to pass out at soon as I walked through my door. My fridge is always in a general state of empty lately so I took to trusty ol’ Unilocal and immediately decided I wanted sushi.
I spied Dozo and got excited at how it was about 1.4 seconds away from my place. I rang in my order of an assorted veggie roll, avocado roll, seaweed salad and fried tofu. Yes, it was a metric shit-​ton of food but I figured I’d probably have a few leftovers and make a tasty tried tofu/​salad concoction today for lunch or something. The whole shebang, including tip because I’m not an asshole and yes, take-​out orders should get tipped, set me back $ 22.
Everything was boxed up and ready to go as soon as I walked in and I ravenously went through the styrofoam (boo) containers once I was back in my kitchen. My first thought upon opening the seaweed salad box: «I paid $ 4 for THAT?!» There was less than half a cup of the stuff thrown into the box. Second thought: «There is nothing of that color in nature.» It was BRIGHT, ELECTRIC bluey-​greeny. It was kind of breathtaking, to be honest. I have a personal rule that I don’t eat any blue food because it simply doesn’t naturally exist (even blueberries are purple) and this was just… I’ve used more natural-​colored toothpaste, let’s put it that way. The taste was fine; it was definitely not good enough or enough food to warrant $ 4. It was almost laughable.
I’ve been spoiled by Blue Koi in Kansas City’s fried tofu and their amaze-​delish, cliantro-​laden thai chili awesome sauce… silly me expected something of that caliber. Nope. The slabs of tofu were barely fried and bland… this is why people hate tofu. They think it all tastes like this. I ate not even half the amount because… why waste the calories?
The avocado and veggie rolls were slapped together haphazardly… At only $ 4.00 and $ 4.50 I didn’t expect pristine sushi construction and huge portions but… the size of each piece of avocado roll was that of a thimble. And they fell apart upon chopstick pick up. To their credit, the veggies were freshfreshfresh and delicious. The wasabi? I’m not sure if it was old or WHAT but it was MILD. I wanted something, anything to pep up the plate of food in front of me. At least the ginger was fresh?
Weak sauce, Dozo.

We arrived shortly before the conclusion of happy hour, so we ordered a couple spicy tuna rolls ($ 4/​ea) and some Kirin ($ 2) as soon as we sat down.
Having read reviews about the slow service, we wanted to make sure to get something to nosh on relatively quickly.
After about fifteen minutes, the first rolls showed up, which was odd because when we got to the restaurant there was only one other table there and they were just about finished eating. The pieces were small and the fish was a little fishy. Not a good sign, Dozo.
As far as I could tell, there was only one waitress in the place. The reason I noticed was that she was VERY slow to get back to our table to take our order and deliver our food.
When the waitress did show up, I ordered the Hamachi Kama, which is typically one of my favorite dishes and a miso soup (love that salty goodness). The Hamachi Kama was just meh. Nothing to write home about and certainly not worth ordering again. It was actually pretty plain compared to all of the Hamachi Kama I have ever had. Even the sauce (which came on the side) was marginally boring. The portion size was adequate, but given this is a part of the fish that usually gets wasted, most restaurants usually give you a substantial portion. The miso soup was in a larger bowl than I am used to seeing. Bonus.
My friend ordered the Rainbow Roll, which looked pretty delicious. He said it was alright. The tuna was very dark in color, always a good sign.
He also ordered a California Roll. Again, small pieces here.
Other than exceptionally slow service (it took us an additional forty minutes to get our food) and the general inattention paid to us by our waitress (um, we did want more drinks, but okaaaaayyyy), the main thing that irked me was that I had no idea how much anything I was ordering was going to cost. I was provided with a paper sushi menu which had many of the menu items on it (including the Hamachi Kama) and a laminated menu. On all the items I ordered, there were two sets of prices. Really?
In any case, after an exceptionally long meal (which we didn’t mind much seeing as though we were catching up, but would have been infuriating were we in any kind of hurry), we didn’t even check the bill. We just paid and took off.
Would I eat here again if I was in the area? Sure. It wasn’t awful. But I just can’t believe that this is the best «cheap sushi» place in the area. It failed for me even by Phoenix standards.