The food is definitely good. The sea bean tempura was a highlight and I'd highly recommend it. The basque cheesecake was great too The issues were more with timing of dishes and overall service.We ordered a bunch of stuff, and the whole fish, which takes 30-40 minutes. We got almost everything in like 8 minutes, to the point that we had to start combining dishes to make room for the newest dish (on a table for 2). Then we waited around for 30 minutes for the fish. Just poor planning. Coincidentally the dessert took much longer than any of the appy/entree dishes.We also got the sashimi platter but nobody told us what the fish was when it was dropped off. Which made for confusion when we wanted more of something we had eaten and nobody knew what it was.That said, the staff was very friendly and great to chat with, congrats to the guy we talked to who is getting married soon!Overall a really great place to go eat but would benefit from some service training.
wait staff are friendly, and the dishes we received were excellent. regrettably, the staff did not bring one dish despite several reminders - as the adjacent table got plate after plate delivered. finally, the server told us that the kitchen was too busy to make the item, and we left. i hope your luck is better than ours was.
I've been here about 4 times now and it's a place I love bringing friends to experience. The atmosphere, cocktails, and menu plus the fact everything is delicious keeps me coming back. My favorite cocktail is the On Your Toes. Oh, and the bartenders are awesome so don't miss a chance to sit at the bar.
Lack of class… Terrible mismanagement. Had a very bad experience; and the staff were unapologetic; once I told I would leave a poor review, finally we heard a sorry. Very unorganized. Over rated and not worth it. I even reached out before leaving to see if they would make up for their mistakes, but they didn’t. I gave them every chance to make it right, and they didn’t. It’d be comedic for the manager to reach out here and offer an investigation or tell me how much they value every client, because they quite clearly don’t.
Made reservation, and came here on a weekend during Berkeley restaurant week and had dinner, outdoor dining. All dishes are served family style. I really like the green beans fritters served with curry sansho salt. The sashimi was fresh and tasty. The salad and the smoked fish, a special dish that was not on the menu, was yummy. I will definitely go back and try other dishes.
Had a great time with a large group outdoor seating. It can get chilly, so better to bring your jacket. I enjoyed Mozuku, saba shiyoyaki, which I forgot to take a photo. Overall I was pleased with authenticity of the izakaya style menu and I’d like to come back again!Outdoor seating: Yes
Went here on a Saturday around noon. It wasn’t too busy and we had a reservation. We ordered the fries with curry salt, sea bean, shrimp Sando and the Katsu curry. Each dish was good but I would skip the fries next time. Curry was more tangy than I’m used to but still good. Portion of rice was very small. The lunch menu is very limited which was disappointing
A couple of great first violinists do not make an orchestra..I really wanted to like Fish and Bird, really. Great press, shortage of good special occasion restaurants in Berkeley, highly recommended by a friend, good reviews.We made a reservation for a special occasion for the two of us. Early too, 5:30 PM to avoid the crowds. We got seated right away, the restaurant was almost empty.Had a couple of drinks (more on the drinks later) and an appetizer to start and told our waiter how excited we were to be there. Very friendly wait staff.We mentioned that we saw the beautiful pictures of whole fish dishes they had and asked about it. The waiter informed us that today they only had one whole fish, the dried and grilled Petrale Sole. Disappointment, but not the end of the world.We specifically asked if we should order all at once, or small plate style, one dish at the time. He informed us that we should order everything at once and not to worry, they will bring dishes in order.We asked for, to be brought out in order, the Chef’s Sashimi special (Moriawase), the Sole and ,at the recommendation of the waiter, the soup (Kurbuta Nabe) which he said and is noted on the menu, to be enjoyed lastWine decision time!We are both wine people, so when we heard there is Japanese wine to try out, we looked forward to trying it out.Disappointment again. No Japanese white wine by the glass. Only a bottle of Gris de Koshu for $60 and the two other by-the-glass whites are from Texas and a 2021 Toronettes from Argentina! A 6 months old wine that goes for $10 a bottle at BevMo? ! So much for ‘Local’.We settled on the Sparkling burgundy Rose. Might as well go French.While we were contemplating which wine to have with our food, out came the fish!!! First.The Solel was very good, however, moist and smokey.As the waiter came by to apologize for the delay in the Sashimi (supposed to be the first dish). While we waited, we saw another waiter delivering a couple of whole different fish dishes (not Sole) to another table. We motioned to our waiter and he apologized again .Turns out they had another type of fish (steamed trout?) but they reserved it to a VIP table. Hmm.Done with the fish, table cleaned and another food runner came by and setup Soup Spoons.Again, the waiter comes by and assures us that the soup will come last and Sashimi on it’s way.Before he is done speaking, the soup shows up (a third food runner). At this point we gave up and just went with the flow.Soup was very good, not sure it is worth $32.10 minutes later, the dish we wanted first, the Sashimi, finally shows up. Very good sashimi. We ordered the Fukushima Sake flight to go with it. That was the highlight of the night.Since I was still hungry, we ordered the Chicken Katsu to close up the meal. Good Katsu.Unsolicited advice: the wine list is very showy but unfocused. Pair it down to a manageable list with more local or Japanese by the glass whites to go with the fish and Sashimis.All in all. 4 starts for the food, 2 for service orchestration.Total bill north of $250 including tax and tip. For that price, we wanted a great special occasion experience, not just good food in the wrong order.
Very fun experience. A5 wagyu melts in your mouth and the thickness of the meat was just right. Enjoyed all their other small dishes too.
This place is so freaking good! The food is so fresh and well prepared, we could tell the chefs have lots of experience cooking Japanese food, I believe they are Japanese.We've come here a few times with our friends. Our friends from out of town always want to make a stop here to get their delicious curry!