Dan Izakaya Restaurant in San Jose

We were supposed to try sweethome next door but ended up here for lunch, what a pleasant surprise as both food and service were great!Came in probably a bit late around 1245 ish without realizing they close at 145pm, but they welcomed us with warmth and grace. They also gave us the tatami table in the back and I appreciated its privacy and quiet environment. Their interior decor was simple. The vibe of chaotic organization made me feel vibrant.The food came quickly and it was stellar! My deluxe meshi with seared salmon tasted tender and delicious with all contrasting elements. Loved the spoonful combination of sour crunchy cucumber pickle, soft fish roe and salmon and hard rice. This dish is to die for!My kids enjoyed their meal and like the food. Husbands large bowl had tender grilled beef and tongue, all good. The only thing he complained was the pork being somewhat dry. Overall everything tasted excellent.Service was friendly, patient and polite. They didnt rush us, even brought water jar in case we need it.Tip: They open for lunch at 11:15am and close at 1:45pm, check schedule on website.

Love the unique dishes at this place, such as the clam chowder croquettes! Always amazing service and atmosphere. Go early or make a reservation to avoid a lengthy wait.

Quick service, not very typical Japanese taste but still delicious. Expect a wait for walk-ins during weekend dinner without reservation. The entrance is tight, leading to some confusion in the line which is annoying, especially the staff appeared quite busy and didn’t even come up for hosting. However, once inside, you’ll find spacious seating.

I just don’t understand the good reviews. We came here for lunch, ordered a seafood ramen, a salmon over rice and a combo with Sukiyaki and vegetables udon. The veggie udon has to be the most pathetic looking noodle soup I’ve ever had! They tossed some cabbage in it and called it Vegetable Udon. My father in law’s seafood ramen is no better will all the noodle bundled together and 6 calms buried underneath. My salmon meshi?, the salmon over rice has no flavor, the thin sliced salmon are cooked halfway through, I hope these are sushi grade salmon. As for the combo dish, the sukiyaki came in a tiny stone bowl with rice at the bottom, really just one tiny scoop of meat and they add kimchi to it. They actually have good business which I don’t get. Never again for me.

The foods are well prepared and tasty, the seating area is comfortable, the dining time limit is little annoying and may not be enough for a group more than 4 people!

Even though we didnt have a reservation, we were able to be seated at opening as long as we finished before the next reservation came through. Easy peasy. 😈We ordered:- Grilled beef tongue: pretty good flavor, but little sear or char flavor. 4/5- Niku tofu: this was really great, with a generous amount of meat. This would go greater with some rice or noodles, but the soup isnt overly salty without it. 5/5- Yakionigiri: I dont think I like cooked salmon in my onigiri, but the toast and flavor of the outside was amazing! 4.5/5- Matcha karaage: the matcha salt didnt stand out for me here. Tasted like regular karaage. 3/5- Unagi Meshi: I was too full to enjoy this a lot, but if you like crispy rice, this dish has it! Soft chunks of unagi, savory sauce, and crispy, crispy rice. 5/5FYI- They dont serve tap water here and its currently a dollar a bottle.The service was lightning fast! Parking was pretty easy during the early evening.

Highly recommend salmon avacado carpaccio, salmon sashimi and niku don. Its really fresh. Unagi don is also good, despite a bit too much rice. Overall great Japanese food with decent price.Note that they didnt provide free water. They charged $1 for bottled water.

Great place for Japanese cuisine. Every dish is beyond my expectations. The service is also very good. Would definitely go there again.

This is my most favorite izakaya in the Bay Area. Why? The food is reasonably priced and the food tastes awesome. It is not a fancy taste but it is such a taste that you can come back again and again. There used to be three eggs stone pot featuring crackling rice with ikura, uni, and poached eggs. As of May 2023, they no longer served those. Still, we have good stone pot like mixed fish and you can add uni on top. The stamina bowl (Im not sure if I remember the name correctly) amazes me with a large portion and variety of meat like beef tongue, grilled beef, and braised pork. Dont underestimate simple dish like chicken karaage. It is crunchy outside, juicy inside, alongside with fried peppers. I didnt order the clam udon this time but that always sooth and complete your meal. Highly recommended this place!

I have mixed feeling about this restaurant. My husband and I came for lunch because of the high review of this restaurant.They used digital menu but the signal there was a bit hard to connect. You could ask for help if you have trouble with opening the menu.We ordered Sashimi salad and Seafood Raman. The food came fast and they looked great on their presentation. I loved how they have sashimi salad choice. For someone like me that didn’t want to have too much rice. It was a perfect choice.Seafood Raman came first and it was absolutely amazing. We loved the soup and seafood tasted very fresh.The presentation on Sashimi salad was very nice. Everything tasted great except the tuna we had that day. It just tasted really fishy and not fresh. We decided to tell the staff, so the next customer wouldn’t feel the same thing and here was our conversation.Me: The tuna doesn’t tasted freshStaff: The tuna is fresh!Me: But it doesn’t taste like thatStaff: A lot of customer said tuna tasted fishy because we changed our supplier recently. But if you are worried, don’t worry the tuna is fresh.——-Well this threw me off a little bit because I loved sashimi and the quality of the tuna was way off. Maybe they were not using sashimi grade of fish or any reason. For $19.5, I was super disappointed with the food and the service.I am not sure if I would come back again, but their Seafood Raman was really good, so maybe I would give it another try sometime.