Ocean Garden Sushi & Gourmet, Redwood City

Food: Way below par. FIsh smells fishy, which means it is STARTING TO ROT. Rice is nasty and flavorless. Tempura is always undercooked, cold, and soggy. Cooked fish dishes are always overdone, no exception. And, everything is super-expensive. Ambience: Clean, but I'm guessing this is only because they don't do any business. Service: Horrible. Extremely inattentive. Of the 3 times I've been there, they have never been polite or welcoming. The lady at the counter usually has a scowl on her face. Overall: Who are these people giving this place a good rating? Members of the family that own the place? This place sucks, there's nothing good about it. Why would I want to pay $10 for an order of maguro (tuna) that tastes like it was bought last week, when I can get the same dish, with infinitely better fish, at 100 other Japanese places in the Bay Area, for under $7? If you are reading this, please disregard the good reviews this place has gotten. The food is bad, the service is bad, and it's expensive. It is the trifecta of what makes eating sushi a bad experience.

Terrible service. i tried it twice. they must be so rich they don't care if i come . so i go to bonsai again and again.

I agree with most reviews...good Japanese cuisine. The most disappointing quality about this restaurant is the service. I have noticed when the restaurant has more than three tables with inside diners it takes a while to get your food.(whether your eating there or taking food to go.) When picking up your to go order, sometimes your ignored until the owners (two women and one man) are ready to help you. I remind myself why I go back...good food. After the last visit...( our to go order took 1 1/2 hrs.-Friday night) I wondered if the food was worth the poor customer service and pricey menu. If the customer service improved it would be one of my favorite places to eat and worth the price. Until then, I will continue to pop in twice a year to see if things have changed.

We've tried most of the Japanese restaurants on the peninsula and find that this little gem is always worth coming back to. Yes, the prices here are not cheap, but the food and service are excellent. The ambiance is pretty good too - fairly quiet with light, classical music playing in the background. This is definitely a traditional Japanese mom & pop operation that is frequented by local Japanese families (always a good sign). Right off the bat, the miso soup and salad are 5 stars. The sushi is always fresh and the servings, in general, are fairly generous. The Teriyaki chicken has none of the fat that many other Japanese restaurants can't seem to do without. The Tempura is just right too. If you don't mind paying a little bit more, this is a great place to satisfy your Japanese craving while being treated as honored guests.

I am from Japan and understand what Japanese cuisine should be. Ocean Garden Sushi offers authentic Japanese foods. The owners/chiefs are from Japanese and have specialized in providing fresh fish to customers. Ocean Garden Sushi is my most favorite Japanese restaurant in the bay area. Sushi is excellent, but if you want more than sushi, try grilled fish dinner or tempura dish. My favorite is Unagi (Eel) Donburi (over rice) which bring my memories having this dish in Japan. For eel donburi, I recommend to use “Shanshoo-no-mi” seasoning. Other dish I like is udon (noodle) which is a genuine Japanese soup. Side dishes such as Oshitashi, Gyoza, agedashi-tofu and grilled Ika are great. I often order couple of side dishes to make my meal rather than having items from the dinner menu. Miso soup that comes with the dinner is excellent. I think you will enjoy the Japanese cuisine experience and highly recommend Ocean Garden Sushi for Japanese authentic cuisine.

Service was very slow. I've never paid so much $ for so little food. Very disappointing .

Agree w/the other poster. I want these guys around. Great tasting food! But-expensive. Also, they never have Toro. That being said, I'm amazed they can stay in business. The location isn't great.

I don't usually write reviews -- but I'd like to see this restaurant get more business -- why? for a purely selfish reason -- I want to be able to keep going there! The atmosphere is calm and serene, with lovely classical music, peaceful colors, and everything very clean. The Japanese lady that serves you treats you as an honored guest and does everything she can to make you feel welcomed. And the sushi -- it's fresh and lovely and wonderfully presented. The California rolls have real dungeness crab in them. The spicy tuna rolls are just the right amount of spicy. The scallop (my personal favorite) is soft and tender, not chewy. The fish is probably the freshest I've had anywhere. We've also ordered a sashimi platter, which was presented with care and very fresh. The salad was baby greens with a wonderful vinagrette. The miso soup was thick and rich and delicious (not that white watery stuff with a few tofu cubes floating around in it). This restaurant is truly a treasure -- especially given it's in Woodside plaza!