San Mateo Onigilly

Parking: Nice being in a small shopping center for ease of parking Kid-friendliness: My kids LOVE Onigilly!!! Wheelchair accessibility: Close friends need motorized scooter access and I believe it is possible to enter with one

My first time here and I always wanted to try it. I finally had the opportunity and it was great! It’s located in a tiny lot, surrounded by 7-11 and zen noodle (which is great too, if you want to try them). There was plenty of parking when we went. The restaurant was clean, they had a lot of seating and I thought it was pretty spacious inside for their size. The restaurant has bar stools, a few seats outside, and tables inside. There is a large menu above and 2 tablets to place your order. The employees were busy making food. We took a while to order because there were so many good options. We finally ordered two flavors of onigilly, to try: one miso nasu which is fried eggplant with miso sesame and green onion, and hijiki which is braised seaweed, carrot, tofu and edamame. I got a salad bowl with mixed greens, seaweed, red cabbage, shredded carrot, edamame, and onion. It includes three proteins: I chose unagi, krab salad and spicy miso beef. My sister ordered a poke bowl: ahi tuna, mixed greens, seaweed, krab salad, cucumber, corn, shredded carrot and red cabbage. We both chose the sesame dressing, however, we didn’t use it. There was so much flavor in our bowls already that it really didn’t need it. Everything was delicious and so flavorful. Definitely worth it and I can’t wait to come back and try other items. Vegetarian options: Poke, rice, tofu and salad bowls, eggplant, and so much more. Parking: Tiny lot shared with other businesses. Kid-friendliness: Brought my 2.5yo niece just for take out but it is family friendly. Wheelchair accessibility: There are no stairs, or steps, so you can easily access the restaurant. There is also accessible parking.

Cute little spot tucked away in San Mateo that has a great selection of delicious japanese food.

Ordered take-out: chicken katsu curry and karaage as a side dish. The karaage was sublime, truly very good. The curry is not so great; you get a crazy amount of rice, with some shredded cabbage. The chicken cutlet was good, not issue there. But other than that it's just not good. No potato, carrot, or any veggie to be seen. Negligible red pickled ginger. Most of all, the curry sauce is way too harshly/strongly flavored and not particularly tasty, doesn't appear to be homemade.

I was skeptical of this place thinking it’d be extremely gimmicky but was overall pleasantly surprised. The onigiris were pretty good and had a great amount of filling. The poke bowl was also good for its price. My only disappointment was in the quality of the salmon, it seemed to be a cheaper cut or something.