Kobe’s spider roll and tuna maki were not particularly noteworthy.
Kobe Japanese Cuisine & Bar, formerly Taka Sushi Restaurant, faces the Foster City lagoon and is nearby other places to eat or snack, like Quickly and Cooking Papa. The restaurant is easy to find and finding parking in the Edgewater Plaza was not an issue as well.
When you walk into the dimly lit restaurant, you are warmly welcomed in Japanese by a few staff members with smiling faces. The restaurant has many tall windows, which allows you to see the lagoon nearby. It has a small sushi bar at the front and tables both inside and outside the restaurant. Along with the friendly greeting and dim lighting, the tables and furniture are black and red themed, which added to the overall calm and friendly atmosphere of the restaurant.
Kobe’s menu has an impressive variety, ranging from udon to nigiri to sushi rolls to donburi (rice) dishes. The restaurant also adapts to certain dietary restrictions and has vegan and vegetarian options available on its menu, too. Among all this variety, the restaurant also has some slightly odd choices normally not found in a Japanese restaurant, such as Korean food and french fries. This combination of fusion food seemed to slightly clash with the traditional Japanese image that the restaurant conveys.
While visiting Kobe, I ordered beef udon, American styled sushi rolls, tamagoyaki (egg) nigiri, roasted squid and tuna maki. I found that the food was neither especially good nor bad. The fish quality was average for restaurants in this area. Furthermore, the pricing was pretty good since restaurant gave rather large portions.
On the other hand, some aspects of the dishes I ordered lacked in aesthetics and consistency. The tamagoyaki were cut unevenly, and the rice easily fell off the egg in my tamagoyaki nigiri; some of my other sushi dishes were also cut slightly uneven. I also found that the squid dish was slightly overcooked in the tentacles, while the head of the squid was undercooked. Furthermore, the udon was slightly too salty and had a few ingredients I had never seen in an udon dish before, such as bell pepper.
On the other hand, even though eel is an ingredient that can be easily overcooked, I found the eel in the American sushi roll was cooked very well.
Overall, an aspect I enjoyed in the restaurant was the friendly and nice service. I found that the restaurant staff greeted everyone warmly and consistently throughout my whole time there. They seemed to recognize many of their customers there and would have chats with them as well. The staff was never rude, and would check up on customers often, but not so often that it become annoying or distracting.
“If you’re looking for a distinctive Japanese restaurant, Kobe might not be the best place to visit”
Aside from the service, Kobe lacks any particularly special elements to make it stand out from the abundance of Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area; it would be unfair to compare this restaurant with the higher end ones you might find in other areas of the Bay Area, though. Because of its average quality, if you’re looking for a distinctive Japanese restaurant, Kobe might not be the best place to visit. The restaurant’s dishes are not unique, but the service is friendlier than most restaurants.
Kobe Japanese Restaurant adjusted for its customer demographic, as it has adapted well for the American palette. In general I would categorize it as a classic Japanese-American restaurant with a wide menu selection which would suit local tastes, which is shown with their Korean selections, as well as their vegan and vegetarian options.
