Hamachi Restaurant and Lounge

Hot Sake! Sake Bomb! These are a few of my favorite things about this place. The sushi is fresh and if you like California Roll then this would be the right place for you. The hamachi tuna of course is the best and freshest around. The spicy tuna roll was very spicy yet not too spicy. A must stop place for sushi and sake.

We go to this restaurant once a month and can’t figure out why there aren’t more people here. The food is fantastic, the service is always friendly, the prices are great for large portions. We always leave feeling satisfied and looking forward to our next visit. There are also lots of options for non-​sushi eaters… Tempura, teriyaki, and chicken nuggets for the kiddies!

I have to hand it to Hamachi because I gave them a tall order and they fulfilled it. I chose to celebrate my wife’s birthday here with 25 – 30 of our friends and they allowed us to reserve the lounge area with some high tables by the bar for the evening. A few days before the party I emailed the owner a list of the food that I wanted to pre-​order and have brought out in 2 waves and they executed this request just as I asked. Once we were running low on food I put in another order and they brought that out in good time as well, even thought there was a half-​filled dining area at the time as well.
The food was all of high quality and all of the guests mentioned how impressed they were with it, but I was mostly impressed with the way they delivered for a large party exactly to my expectations and let us stay a bit past closing while our group was the last in the restaurant. Well done by Geoffrey and his team!
Another bonus about Hamachi is that they have a full bar with a descent selection of beer and wine and all the spirits necessary to mix up nearly any drink, which isn’t typically the case at a Japanese cuisine restaurant.

Couldn’t of been happier. The sushi is great! Very surprised they weren’t more busy! All of the food was served in very different (in a good way) dishes! Can’t wait to go back!

Not good, cream cheese in the philly roll tasted like the refrigerator that it was stored in. Also got charged for a roll that my wife nor I could eat because of a food allergy that we explained to the server.

I came here with a few of my friends, and we sat down and honestly I don’t know how long it took for the woman to take our orders but it took forever. She came once to get our drinks, another to get appetizers, and once more for entrees. In between every time she came was like 15 minutes.
The edamame that we ordered was SO GOOD. It was the garlic edamame and I kept licking off the garlic sauce. Yumm.
about 30 minutes later we got our food. By «we» I mean, ONE OF US! 5 mintutes later when that one friend finished, ONE MORE CAME OUT!!! then 5 minutes later the other 2 dishes came out. I was soooo annoyed.
The food was pretty good though :)
Oh and it was very very dim inside. I could barely see. I get that setting the mood is a thing but i felt blind :/

I love Japanese food, but this place was just awful. The server may have been brand new; she knew nothing about the menu and had nothing to recommend. She had apparently never even looked at the Chef’s Specials… when we asked about what the chicken coconut fafa was, she just said she didn’t know. No offer to go ask or anything.
The service in general was slow, but it was the unpleasant tasting food that really brought the whole experience down. We had the Polynesian chicken special. The rice was flavorless, the egg was overcooked, and the chicken tasted the way a wet dog smells.
We also had the spicy California roll, which had way too much mayo and was otherwise pretty flavorless.
One of our water glasses smelled like a rotten egg had been sitting in it for days. That was gross.
The good stuff: the garlic edamame was super delicious, and the gyoza were also really good (they’re deep fried. Kind of hard to make a deep fried dish taste bad).

Stopped by for a post-​shopping dinner and was able to catch the last part of happy hour. I ordered a Philly Roll, some pot stickers and a Chef Special roll, which were pretty good. The mango sauce on the special roll was unique but didn’t overwhelm the rest of the flavor of the roll. I was disappointed not to get any ginger with any of the rolls that I ordered, perhaps they don’t serve it.
Drinks are a little lackluster. I ordered a moscow mule which their version had a hint of ginger. The drink tasted more like a flat sprite with ginger and some alcohol in it.
Cool little place to check out, has decent food but it was a bit empty and the drinks were lacking.

Giving this place two stars because the food was decent. However this is not s place to try and redeem a groupon or a
certificate. We had a voucher from
with no restrictions. After our meal we are told that the happy hour rolls purchased would not be part of the deal. This was not disclosed anywhere in our cert. the manager tried to point something out in the fine print included by
, which was a total joke.
Ok good but watch out for the «fine print»

After S and I finished our dinner I was undecided how I should review this restaurant. We were both disappointed with the plates we shared. Even with our Groupon the meal was pricey, and the service left something to be desired. We decided that we would not come back; there are too many other places that sound intriguing. Yet, the cocktails and the goyzo, which I did not share, were wonderful. I would stop in by myself to have them.
We share several dishes. First up was udon with mixed tempura. The broth was good; the few pieces of tempura that were served on the side were okay. The spicy tuna roll had more cucumber than tuna and it was small. The roll was not attractive; it looked like it was made by someone who never had made a roll before. I could make a roll that looked better. The chef choice mixed sashimi was the best dish we shared and the most expensive.
What I did not share: I had a jalapeño lemon drop; it was perfect. The infused vodka and the lemon were nicely balanced. It was so good, and the service was so slow, that I had two while waiting for our various plates to arrive at our table. Thankfully S does not eat pork, and I had the goyzo plate all to myself. These small morsels were perfectly fried and not the least bit greasy. The filling was very flavorful. There were 5 on the plate, but they were small, and I was still able to try the rest of our meal. Both the cocktail and goyzo were 5 stars and the the reason this is not a 2 star review
I really did not like the idea that they took my credit card before they brought the check. Our server said it was because that is how they have to take the discount.

Surprisingly enough I did enjoy the sushi more at Hiro. Here, my father and I enjoyed their prefix menu for $ 30 (we shared it considering we had Hiro a few minutes prior).
Appetizer: Gyoza
Probably the second best thing of our meal. So savory and and delicious when dipped in soy sauce.
Main course 1: 49er Roll
First time having raw sushi in years (I prefer deep fried rolls, raw rolls are for OGs, which apparently I am not), but I liked this one. It’s probably super ghetto, but I ended up dipping the roll in the sauce from the second course. Sue me.
Main course 2: Coconut Curry Shrimp
ORDER RICE WITH IT! I deeply regret not ordering rice because there was only 6 shrimp in I’m the sauce and a whole bunch of sauce that we couldn’t sop up with some starch. I mean, it was just BEGGING for rice. That sauce is amazing…
Dessert: Mochi
Mochi. Because Mochi.

It was a nice environment and nice place to have dinner and sushi. But the service was not that good. The bar tender Tim was great, and good personality. But for being empty and slow for a Sunday night there shouldn’t of been a reason for them to forget the miso soup we ordered. Had to ask twice about it, they brought it out after we were already halfway done with the main entrée. Sushi quality was below average only one roll came out good. Will not be returning

The multiple happy hour options for food and drinks (weeknights before 630) are a plus but there are a few things on the menu, and the table itself, that could use an upgrade.
Most notably the presentation of the food. The sushi rolls come with a lot of unagi sauce or spicy mayo, and a little six-​slice order of sushi roll comes on a huge square plate (9″ x 9″ sounds about right). The only other thing on the plate is a big pile of spread-​out daikon to fill the plate up. The sashimi plates only offer 7 – 8 pieces, though they are thick cut pieces. They are also a bit stingy with the ginger and wasabi, you might have to ask for extras. The menu also features a variety of small plates which include a good chicken teriyaki, but an overcooked braised pork belly. And once again, they sit on a bed of shredded daikon that makes it not really all that eye-​catching. Prices are reasonable though.
And they do participate in
promotions, so perhaps it is worth another try as long as they go a little lighter on the sauces, garnishes and other things that take away from the dishes themselves.

We have been eyeing this restaurant because it looked really nice & fancy outside and thought the meals would reflect its nice appearance. Nothing bad about the place. The outside looks so much better than the inside. The service wasn’t bad either.
As far as food choices, I definitely have tried better sushi in Walnut Creek. Nothing really stood out as far as the food I tried. Unfortunately, I would not be returning.

Nice modern lounge for Japanese tapas and sushi in Downtown Walnut Creek. The food is prepared creatively and everything our party ordered was delicious! The highlights:
LION KING ROLL (crab, avocado, salmon, baked with a parmesan aioli, tobiko, $ 12) — filling and delicate in taste
HAMACHI SPECIAL ROLL (tempura shrimp, avocado, tuna, white tuna, salmon, hamachi, crab, tempura crunch, $ 16) — loaded with fish and the crunchy tempura on top. An eye catcher for sure and… filling!
SPICY COLD NOODLE SALAD (oba noodles topped with vegetables, grilled shrimp and a homemade signature spicy sauce, $ 13) — great starter in a big bowl, easy to share.
There’s also a happy hour until 6.30pm with $ 5 sushi rolls and drinks. Woah can’t beat that!

This place is a joke!
I swear, I think I’m officially done giving places the benefit of the doubt despite their less than stellar reviews, done!
My fiancé and I wanted to grab a bite to eat before doing some Christmas shopping. He initially wanted to go to house of sake (a place we both love) however, being I had been curious about checking out Hamachi despite the less than 4 star reviews ;not to mention the fact that I was intrigued by the misleadingly trendy exterior, I suggested that we give them a shot… oh man, if I only knew what we would be in for.
First of all, the place reminds me a cheap, L. A night club; dark, choppy, and completely disorganized. Upon entering we were greeted by a nice young hostess and told we could choose wherever to seat. After being seating and handed the menu, it near took 10 minutes for the hostess (now server) to come back and ask what we would want for drinks or perhaps food? We finally had to notion her that we were ready. She was sweet, just very inexperienced and inattentive. Apparently they were extremely short staffed. And there was only two other tables occupied? 2! Anyhow, I was in the mood for a cocktail. They have a misleadingly appealing cocktail menu to choose from. I ended up getting a Jalepeno Lemon Drop which struck my interest. We also ordered our food. I got the Chicken teriyaki ($ 12.00) it comes with a salad… that’s it. My honey ordered the Chicken Katsu ($ 9. something) only comes with salad. I also ordered a bowl of miso soup as well.
So, noticing they were short staffed, it seems they must had grabbed one of the cooks to take over the bar to make the drinks. He brought it over and told me he was just learning to make the drinks and apologized if it was not great and told me he could make it again (he was absolutely awesome, and the main reason they didn’t get 1 star) the drink did turn out way to spicy. He said I could order something different which I did, I ended up going with their cucumber gimlet. It did turn out way too sweet and he thought it might had. I was going to just pass on it but he made it again and it turned out fine. Soup than arrived which turned out good. Now might I say, it was now going on over a half an hour that no food showed up…35 min… pushing 40… we are getting pretty pissed. Just when I was about to get up and say something, the owner/​manager brought out my «Chicken Teriyaki» and what a poor excuse for it! And, the salad it comes with? Three little lettuce leaves with two little straws of carrots! Really??? I felt like we were on a stage set playing a show, pretending to eat food. Is this «Night at the Roxbury? Or «One flew over the cuckoos nest»? It was laughable. It took near 40 min to make this? And my honey still hadn’t got his food. Might I also add, that another family dining behind us was complaining about stuff they had not received either. That was it, we were gone. I got up and told the host/​waitress, that we will be leaving and just paying for our drinks and soup. The friendly bartender did not charge us for my cocktail, just my guys coke and the soup. I ended up giving the bartender a nice little tip for all his effort and told him he was great.
Overall, unless your blessed with an unreal amount of patience to wait for less than mediocre food, or are as completely oblivious to disorganization like the owner, maybe you won’t find it as bad; but if you care, and prefer owners to care about satisfaction, keep walking downtown, I’m sure any other restaurant will do.

If you don’t have a groupon don’t go! The shiz is Waaay overpriced. The customer service is mediocre at best. Don’t even think about chicken karaake– Popeyes popcorn chicken is way better.
The rolls were «meh». The only good thing was the ridiculously overpriced hamachi carpaccio… Probly will never return here.

I wanna like this place. fun music, full bar, big space. but it was so meh.
mediocre quality fish.
BAD martini.
we each ordered a roll as our personal entrée which we told our waitress but i had to wait 30 min to get mine when everyone had already finished– and it had tempura which was cold and mushy (i.e. been sitting there for a whiiiile).
and it was expensive.
PASS.

I made good promise to return to Hamachi if I were in the East Bay. Today was that day. Hump day happy hour at Hamachi! Friend asked me to meet him there and I gladly accepted the invitation.
This time I tried the Orange Blossom cocktail ($ 4) which consists of sake, orange juice and cranberry juice. It was nice and refreshing without being too sweet. Friend had the fuji apple martini ($ 5).
We ordered a good amount of food from the happy hour menu:
$ 5 Sushi Rolls:
–Spicy tuna Roll — standard.
–Tootsie Roll (tempura white fish) — lots of texture… I liked the panko topping they put on the roll.
–Philadelphia Roll — standard.
$ 7 Sashimi Plate:
–4 Pieces of Nigiri (1 Hamachi, 1 Maguro, 1 Sake, 1 Ebi) — friend ate, so I can’t comment on taste. It looked ok though.
$ 4 Small Dishes:
–Spicy Cold Noodle Salad — soba noodles with some lettuce and chili oil, good and could have been spicer.
–Pork Yakitori — the two skewers of pork were measly and burnt to a crisp.
–Chicken Karaage — too much batter and over fried.
I’m not going to dock any stars for the food but I will say that the sushi rolls are much better than the cooked small plates. Im still a fan of the drink specials and would stick to rolls in the future.
Service was great as our waitress checked on us frequently and another server also kept out waters filled literally to the brim. Another server even gave us some fruit snacks after we paid our tab.

Looking at all the local paper ads for this place, as well as browsing through all the fancy sushi roll pics on Unilocal; The gf and decided to give this place a try. Smashed between Walnut Creek Honda, next to Skipolini’s Pizza, and behind Dan’s Irish Bar lies this little lounge called Hamachi. You’ll have to find metered street parking, fyi.
Upon arrival, we were greeted and seated. The place was low-​lit, but bright enough to see your menu. We ordered off both the regular menu and the happy hour menu:
~Hot Sake, ($ 4 hh price): At first it seems strong, then mellows out as it goes down. Not bad for house sake.
~Sashimi, ($ 7 hh price): 3 small pieces. I thought they were fresh. The gf didn’t, but who cares what she thinks. This is my review. Anyways, for $ 7 it was a wasted choice.
~Godzilla Roll, ($ 5 hh price): Deep fried spicy fish roll in tempura. Now, this roll was worth the price. Again, the gf was in a weird mood and didn’t care for it. Topped with a teriyaki type sauce, I liked it. It was well done!
~Spicy Salmon Crunch, ($ 5 hh price): This was near perfect, but nothing spectacular. The rice around it was ‘just right’!
~Tempura Udon Mix w/​shrimp and veggies ($ 8): Loved the tempura. The broth was ok, not too salty. The noodles were good, but not freshly made. You can just tell.
~Ahi Tartare, ($ 11): We still had room in our tummies, so we ordered this. Now, this is something would recommend! Nice big chunks of avocado, with tuna chunks, fish roe, chili strands, and a few soft crispy chips.
~Strawberry Burst cocktail for dessert, ($ 8): Tasted like grapefruit juice to me, but it’s refreshing.
We wanted to try the Green Tea Tiramisu, but they no longer carry it. I also tried ordering the Carmel Sea Salt gelato, but they were out of that as well. :(
Overall, this place was very pleasant looking with cool décor all around. Clean and comfortable. It looks like versus other reviews, service was lacking, only ours wasn’t so bad. Lauren did a good job serving us with a smile, and our water glasses were filled without asking. The real test was with the sushi rice. It was not mushy at all, and that stands for good quality. This isn’t the worst place for sushi, but it’s also NOT my favorite.