Blowfish Sushi - Santana Row

Interesting sushi choices and the decor is pretty cool, but the prices are on the high side for what they offer.

Posted 12/09/08

Fun sushi spot on the ROW! Fresh fish, great DJ, awesome vibe, and good drinks. Best of all its on the ROW. You can stop in for a late lunch or dinner and continue on shopping. Great service and presentation is great! I highly recommend the " Dynamite Roll" !!

Pros: Service, Ambience

Cons: Parking , especially during the holidays

Posted 12/08/08

Bar none the worst restaurant/night club I've been to. The atmosphere is dark, boring, and pretentious. In regards to cougars: u go table dancing cougar.....whether they love you or hate you, you're still gonna shine baby!!!

Pros: Can't think of any except good location.

Cons: Bad vibe place

Posted 11/04/08

Nothing good to say about this place.....too expensive, trendy, and terrible customer service. Would not recommend.

Pros: Nothing

Cons: Everything

Posted 10/27/08

I was there the night of blowfishblowme's alleged near death drama. I thought the resturaunt handled themselves rather professionally considering they had a wild cougar dancing on the table and acting crazy when they asked her to get down. Get off the juice! Blowfish is a great place to have fun.

Pros: Great food, music and normally people

Cons: Occasionally they throw out a drunk

Posted 10/27/08

This place was great for California rolls, fish, and tempura lovers. I was so bummed that such a perfect restarant existed because I can't compare it to anything in Southern California as far as I have found.

I'd heard, over and over again, from some friends, that I'd have to visit blowfish when I went to that area and decided to make a go of it last weekend. The food was rather good, the type of thing one would expect from a high end establishment (so I thought it odd that the servers were dressed down), that part I wasn't terribly impressed.

I did try the three rolls, however, and can understand why people flock to this place. I will absolutely return for another helping of tempura (especially the shrimp, which I only had a bite of).

Posted 06/15/08

Interesting ambience with the anime on several televisions, red lights, and modern furniture. Exotic combinations for the sushi rolls - Baked Alaskan Salmon is an excellent and safe pick but they offer an array of other rolls with fun ingredients. I have been here several times and have noticed the longer it has been there, the more likely the food may not live up to the standards of when the restaurant first opened. But on a good day, their sushi is excellent, tempura is fresh, and service is good. On a bad day, rolls are thrown together, waiters only come by when they need to give you something but don't follow up on you, and it could be up to an hour + wait for a table.

Pros: Neat ambience, Exotic sushi combinations

Cons: price, service

Posted 12/30/07

This place is a great hangout place. Very trendy! Very Fun! THe food was okay. Presentation was great-food taste was okay..not bad but not stand out good either. A good place to start out a friday nite.

Posted 11/07/07

I went here on a date and was sooo very disappointed. We had a reservation and still had to wait 20 minutes to sit down. The food was good, but not for what you pay for it. The place was so loud we couldn't hear each other and had to yell all dinner long. Very uncomfortable situation and I wouldn't go back. There are too many other good Sushi places around to waste my money and time on this one.

Pros: Food is good

Cons: Too expensive and way too loud

Posted 08/30/07

We came to Blowfish at around 8:30pm on a Sunday night. There were several (4-5) free tables yet we were told that we needed to wait 20-40 minutes. OK, so we waited. After 20 minutes, we saw even more free tables, and I went over and asked if we could get a table. They did not want to sit us. The girl in charge of setting the table told us to wait some more. It was then that I became really upset and told her that there are free tables, and no other guests on the list and we'd like to sit down. It was then that she sensed that we were all pretty upset and agreed to sit us.

I remember ordering a $20 sushi dish and still went home hungry. Note that I'm a 5'1" female and weigh 95 lbs. I would've ordered more but didn't want to give them business. I would never consider going in this restaurant ever again.

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ALONG WITH OVERPRICED SUSHI! Anyone consider going in should try elsewhere in Santana Row, there are a lot great restaurants around that area. Put your money on where it's worth!

Pros: No pros for me

Posted 08/25/07

have never eaten a full meal here so there isn't much to say about that. But to come here for drinks...it isn't too bad. Yea the music isn't all that great and it can get a little too bustle hustle...but I would have to say some of their drinks are quite tasty and some of the bartenders can be quite entertaining. One of my favorite drink here is the Mango Mojito. Fresh and sweet. Now how can you not like that?....(o_O) Let's talk about why I gave this place 3 stars and not 4 or 5:

First, it's just too crowded. It takes 15-20 minutes to get drinks and at times the only place to drink it is the little rail way between the bar and the restaurant or outside. A Little inconvenient isn't it? Minus 1 star.

Second, when there is a DJ and flow of drinks, shaking some bum bum seems the right move....but here, it's impossible to do that. There are some who dance near where the DJ spins but it looks awkward and uncool. Especially when there are people staring at you on the couch 1 foot away. Do you know what I mean? Minus 1 star.

Posted 07/30/07

My husband and I love Blowfish. The sushi is always delicious, drinks are on point, prices are resonable, service is great and love the ambiance. Yes, it's a place to "be seen" or what others have said- where the "pretty people" go...but what's wrong with that...good food, good looking people and good service- this is why it is our favorite place to grab some sushi and drinks! Best drinks I've had in a long time! I highly recommend- EVERYTHING on the menu! If you go on a Friday night or weekend- make reservations! It's a fun place- but not romantic- it can be loud with the DJ later on weekends (late evening). Def. worth checking out. Lunch time crowd is older crowds- which is better for those who want a quiet meal.

Pros: location, food, fun, drinks

Cons: none...just make sure to make reservations!

Posted 03/16/07

I am a frequent diner at Blowfish and had great service in the past but this weekend, my wife and I ate for the first time at the Sushi Bar instead of at the tables. We placed our order and it appears to be a "who you know to get sushi" at the bar.
After 45 minutes of not getting our miso soup or sushi order, I asked the host to bring us miso soup and to check on our order. The soup arrived but no sushi. About 10 minutes later, our order for spicy tuna was handed to us by the chef that took our order. Our other five dishes did not come over. We finished the spicy tuna (four) quickly and waited..... Keep in mind we are at the sushi bar and the sushi chef that took our order is providing plates of sushi to his friends who are sitting right of us and came about 15minutes after we sat down.

So I asked if our sushi plates were ready...to our amazement he had forgotten to make our order and worse he told us he had forgotten. He had gotten too preoccupied with hooking up his friends that he didn't make our order and he was upfront about it. I asked to speak to the manager who was conversing with the friend sitting next to us, providing special drinks to them. They were all friends so it was no surprise when He didn't show sincerity that we didn't get our order and had been waiting for over an hour.
My recommendation is to not eat at the sushi bar at Blowfish. It is reserved for the Blowfish team to hookup their friends.

Pros: Good Ambience

Cons: You had to be regulars to get service

Posted 02/18/07

Just like the headline says, the happy hour drinks were great, but the sushi didnt live up to the name. Didnt seem too fresh and was overpriced for what was delivered.

I will say it had a great crowd though and lots of good music blaring. Definetly a place to drink and mingle more so than have dinner.

Pros: happy hour drinks

Cons: Sushi didnt live up to the name

Posted 02/06/07

Service staff is very friendly and nice, but food is overpriced and not very fresh. Bar area is nice with good atmosphere for hanging out. I wouldn't go there to eat, but to go there for drinks is ok.

Pros: Ambience, Service

Cons: Price, Food

Posted 12/31/06

this place is more of a place to see and be seen. I've had much better sushi at a better price. The ambience is very trendy but is not a good place to have a decent conversation. I found myself having to yell across the table multiple times, not cute. the service was fairly decent but not exceptional. The tables were somewhat cramped. Just an okay place.

Posted 12/09/06

While I'm not the worlds biggest sushi fan, other sushi restaurants I've visited in this price range have amazed me. However, I enjoy the sushi at multiple cheaper suchi restaurants more than I did at Blowfish.

I didn't like paying such a high bill for food that was disappointing.

I did find all the presentation and glitz interesting, but unfortunately, the taste didn't match.

Pros: Ambience

Cons: prices

Posted 11/02/06

You have to go at least once and decide for yourself. There are definitely items on the menu that are unique, non-traditional yet outstanding.

Price: More than what you would usually pay for Sushi.

Menu: Fancy and non-traditional. Ritsu rolls and Godzilla rolls were very good.

The green tea cheesecake: YUMMY, you must have it.

All and all it was a great experience, the fish was fresh and well prepared.

Why the rating not up there? Well, I prefer the traditional Sushi places. No surprises.

Pros: Great experience

Cons: Non-traditional

Posted 10/29/06

Call me a traditionalist, but when I go to a sushi restaurant my primary interest is the quality and diversity of sushi available. While Blowfish has a pretty wide selection, the sushi doesn't really stand out from any other local sushi restaurant in the area, and the prices are much higher than other places that equal its quality. I would recommend 4 or 5 other restaurants as being better for sushi than here. The interior is interesting, with video screens and a large bar, but the ambience is on the loud side, so I struggled to have any kind of conversation with people at my table. Wait staff were friendly, and suggested various specialities of the restaurant.

Posted 10/05/06

I meet my friends here once every two weeks and the happy hour is a deal!!! I did dine-in but it was expensive so I head to the bar 5-7 and enjoy $5 sushi and $5 cocktails (at STraits it cost me $11 for the same lychee martini, and it tasted better at Blowfish!) They also give free edamone beans while you're drinking.

Posted 08/28/06

EXPENSIVE!!! My friend and I ate here and out bill came out to $102.00. My friend didn't eat the raw stuff. I order a couple of rolls and it's wasn't all that. I wasn't really impress with their food.
The service was really good. She was really nice and friendly.
I'll probably come to just have a drink but not for their food. They play house music which is a plus for me.

Pros: Music

Cons: $$$, Food not worth the price

Posted 07/30/06

Lets set the record straight: Blowfish Sushi is not really a restaurant; its a money-extraction device. A place to blow money . on fish. Hmmmm. Now the name makes sense. On my visit, everything possible was done to ensure that we left with an empty wallet.

My friend and I walked in on a Wednesday night and spotted two empty seats at the sushi bar. Could we take those? No, we were told, there would be 15-minute wait. Why dont you have a seat in the bar? But of course. After consuming $14 worth of alcohol (consisting of one beer and one mixed drink), we were escorted to the very same two open spots at the sushi bar we had originally asked about.

Others have commented on the wall of noise that passes for ambiance at Blowfish. It turns the otherwise sublime experience of eating sushi into a shoutfest with your dinner mate. And the portions? No super-size-me here. The $11 appetizers we ordered would have left Ghandi hungry. When the first one came, I thought it was one of those tiny chefs caprices some restaurants serve before your food comes. Actual conversation -- Server: How did you find your appetizer? Me: I just looked under that sprig of parsley, and there it was! Server: Awesome.

Did I say sushi? It really isnt sushi. Its fusion food. Remove some of that objectionable fish stuff, and replace it with cleverly prepared vegetables, and charge double for it. And thats the great thing about fusion cuisine, at least for the chef; it does not have to satisfy the persnickity taste of those who seek the real thing. It has all the appearance of being foreign and exotic, without actually being so. Indeed, there was very little we found that would offend the discriminating tastes of the Mid-Western American (example: filet mignon sushi with spinach and potato crust.) Sushi this is not. Its gimmick food, which is not to say its bad. But for those reviewers who claim, Its the best sushi I ever had, I suspect they dont really like real sushi, and what they ate was not really like real sushi.

Blowfish deserves credit for being creative with its presentations. Most of the dishes truly looked gorgeous. They might have tasted gorgeous too, but somehow the auditory overload overwhelmed my other senses (like the one that usually says dont spend so much money on food). I can remember how everything looked, but not how it tasted. Perhaps that was the whole idea.

It would be unfair to criticize Blowfish for simply being what it strives to be: A meet-market for 20-somethings who are more interested in impressing the dish they came with than enjoying the one they ordered. We left still hungry after blowing $137 on skimpy but attractive sushi-inspired food and a few beers. Which leads me to ask: Why spend money on Jenny Craig or Weight-Watchers, when you can get the same diet-sized portions at Blowfish, and only have to exercise your vocal chords?

Bottom line: Blowfish Sushi is a wonderful spot if for those at a particular point in life; single, young, money to blow and dying to impress, or to be impressed, by image. If you want real sushi, or a conversation, go somewhere else.

Pros: Attractively presented food; lots of pretty people

Cons: Too loud and too expensive.

Posted 06/07/06

Service was HORRIBLE. We barely saw our waiter. We had to go find someone when we were ready to leave. He spilled some food off of one of the plates, and just walked off. The music was so loud and pulsing, we couldnt hear anyone at our table (we had a party of 4). We had to shout or lean in. The food wasnt that great. The presentation was actually a little unappetizing. It was not worth the $ we spent. Very expensive. There is better sushi elsewhere for less $. We will never go back.

Pros: Trendy, salad was good, ? nothing else

Cons: bad service, bad food, very loud music

Posted 06/04/06

I frequent the San Francisco Blowfish and it is much better. San Jose has a cool space, but does not have it together at all. The service was horrible. Our party of 6 was largely ignored, orders took a long while to get, the waiter spilled my glass of sake and did not offer to replace, etc. In the end, there was an automatic 20% tip on the bill, which is not normal for under 8 people. Plus at best the service mertited 5%. I will not return to the San Jose Blowfish and stick to San Francisco.

Pros: Dark, cool space

Cons: Noisy, poor service, average food

Posted 05/20/06

Sushi very below average. Slow service. By the time the waiter got aroung to bringing Spider and Animal Style Rolls they were cold, so was the Unagi (tasted like something you'd buy in a grocery store).

Want really good sushi for about the same price, go to "Sushi Totoro" on Saratoga Ave in West San Jose.

Posted 04/23/06

with decent but not terriffic sushi. Still worth a trip.

Posted 03/20/06

I was so happy to find out that one of our favorite sushi restaurants was opening closer to home, but don't confuse their San Francisco location with this one. The restaurant is beautiful, the drinks are great and so is the music, but the food is BAD and expensive. Another typical restaurant at Santana Row where it's all look and no substance. If you want to be seen, be seen at the bar and drink away. The cocktails are great, but the food is a terrible excuse for sushi.

Pros: Cocktails, Decor, Music

Cons: Food, Food, Food

Posted 01/04/06

I love the fusion of hipster scene and restuarant, but just don't expect great food. The bar/restaurant is more bar than restaurant. The place is hip-hoping with a lively young crowd that makes the ambiance fun. A great place to grab a happy hour drink. But if you're craving for great sushi, I would find another place.

As for the food, the sushi is just average. Menu is nothing out of the ordinary, although I hear from the waitress the restaurant serves a distant cousin of the deadly blow fish. Maybe she's just blowing hot air, who knows.

Pros: Lively environment, young crowd, fun

Cons: average sushi, crowded

Posted 10/12/05

I went to Blowfish Sushi in Santana Row this past weekend. I had always heard that Blowfish was supposed to have great sushi. However, I was really suprised to find that their sushi was awful! It was not fresh at all, and tasted very artificial. Further, the service was really slow and the prices are way too high for bad food.

The restaurant itself very fun and 'hip'. I suggest coming here for drinks, then going elsewhere for dinner.

Posted 09/25/05

Blowfish is a great sushi restaurant to either go on a date or a palce to be seen. The sushi tastes great and the portions are decent. The ambiance is fun with the DJ spinning good tunes and attractive ladies passing by. After dinner, there are a few good places to just stumble over to!

Pros: Good looking women, Nice cuts of sashimi, Free parking

Posted 08/29/05

The scene was great. It was very trendy, good food, and a fun place to be. I've been to more authentic Japanese sushi houses, but this place is worth the try if you have never been here before.

Posted 02/11/05

Blowfish Sushi is a welcome addition to the other typical, shopping center Sushi restaurants in the area. Sushi is fresh, but nothing spectacular. But what it lacks in food, it makes up for in style. The restaurant is very trendy and great for people watching.

Posted 02/03/05

After hearing how great this place was - we tried it out for lunch. We ordered the spring rolls for an appetizer - bland is a great word to describe them - soy sauce didn't even help. The rolls were pretty but the flavor just wasn't there - the mango wasn't in season, the avocados has no flavor... we were quite dissappointed and won't return.

Pros: Staff, Presentation

Cons: , Flavor

Posted 11/10/04

The sushi and dishs are inventive, but some have more style than substance. Do try the sashimi combo. Good quality food and execellent presentation. Pass on the spider roll. Not crispy. The ambiance is not for everyone, but I find it quite enjoyable, especially after a beer or two. Good place to people watch.

Pros: presentation, ambiance

Cons: , inoncsistent quality, crowded

Posted 09/02/04

I recommend to my friends and I'll tell them to recommend it to their friends! That is how good I feel about this place. It is very trendy; their walls are filled with anime cartoons. You walk into a place where you will feel as if your taken into to modern day tokyo. Each of their dish is very artistic and their flavors just makes you want more!

Pros: service, food, ambiance

Posted 06/17/04

My friend and I had to try Blowfish Sushi as we had been told it was the best. We just ate lunch there (6/11/2004) and we both thought it was delicious. The service was knowledgeable and very efficient. We tried 2 types of sushi, tempura, and the box lunch. Everything was special. Had 2 non-alcoholic drinks which were refreshing. Price was good at lunch and the music was fine. At night, the music is much louder which might drive the older set away.

Pros: service, ambiance at lunch, variety/creativity

Posted 06/10/04