Yammy Sushi - El Cerrito

195 El Cerrito Plaza, El Cerrito CA 94530
(510) 525-9570
Parking: In shopping center parking lot
Hours: Mon-Thur 11am to 9:30pm, Fri-Sat 11am to 10pm, Sun 3pm to 9pm
Lunch between 11am to 2:30pm

Last Visited: April 9, 2005

Food: 2 to 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$$

Yammy Sushi is located near Trader Joe’s in El Cerrito Plaza. It’s one of the few dining establishments in the shopping center. From the outside, you can see the black cloth hanging from the top of the windows. There’s a lot of natural light and when entering, there are about twelve to fifteen tables in the restaurant that surround the open kitchen. The colorful menu posted in the window attracted me to Yammy’s.

The tables contain chopsticks wrapped in paper displaying the accolades Yammy Sushi has received from City Guide which called it the Best Japanese Food in El Cerrito and Bay Area Dinner Guide which proclaimed it Restaurant of the Year.

- Combination Bento Box: In the combination box, you are served miso soup, house salad, steamed rice, and a choice of two items from this list: chicken teriyaki, salmon teriyaki, California roll, tempura, gyoza, and for a dollar more, tuna sashimi. Each of us got a bento box and tried out the chicken teriyaki, salmon teriyaki, shrimp tempura, and California roll. The miso soup is served first and it contains small cubes of tofu. The bento box actually isn’t a box at all, but in this case, it’s just a style of serving. All of the salad and other items are served on a large plate. For those of you who don’t like your food touching, this is not the place for you. The sauces intermingle. The salad is made mostly of romaine leaves and a few cucumber halves. The vegetables were very fresh. A light dressing is drizzled over the greens. A hearty portion of rice is served with the other items. The chicken teriyaki was tender and made from dark meat. The sauce is sweet and light, but the quality of chicken is fair. The chicken tasted like it was previously frozen and just didn’t have that freshness about it. The same was true for the salmon. A very small piece of boneless salmon with its skin was served in the light teriyaki sauce. The portion of the chicken was much better than the salmon which amounted to between two and three bites worth. The salmon also tasted previously frozen, lacking the freshness of the sea. Both teriyaki dishes were served over fresh cabbage. The tempura was comprised of one shrimp, one piece of cucumber, one piece of potato, and one piece of yam. Although nicely fried, and accompanied with tempura dipping sauce, again, the portion could have been more generous. One additional piece of shrimp would have been a big improvement. The California roll was accompanied with wasabe and pickled ginger. The roll contained avocado and imitation crab. It had been refrigerated, and the rice surrounding the roll was cold. Freshly made sushi doesn’t taste this way. The portions of the chicken teriyaki and the California roll were standard, but the salmon roll and tempura need to be more generous. $7.95

- Unagi Nigiri Sushi – The unagi was almost up to par. The unagi portion was great, but half of the rice that I bit into was cold and the rest was okay temperature. The unagi had been brushed with sauce and it was served warm. A light sprinkle of sesame dusted the top of the sushi. $4.25

The unagi nigiri sushi rescued the food rating from being a meager two stars. However, all the dishes could still be improved. The portions were a bit stingy for the seafood items, but the vegetables were nice and fresh. The service was good – they checked in with us about three times throughout the meal. The only bad thing was how the soup cup was served with one finger into the cup, rather than all fingers outside. Nothing touched the liquid, but since miso soup doesn’t use a spoon, it just didn’t leave the best impression. I would be willing to try Yammy again, but I wouldn’t go for the teriyaki dishes. Not the worst, but also not the best of those that I’ve tried before. The unagi left a decent impression and they offer more than forty rolls, so that might be the better thing to focus on.