Moved to this new location with more space and less smoke. Still tasty and a great happy hour
Michelle Chan
Atmosphere is vibey and their service was great. Everyone was nice and welcoming. Every dish we ordered was also delicious! Would definitely come back here.
Kary treated us so well!! She was our server, she was attentive and gave us GREAT recs for the food based on our preferences
Sina -
I had been meaning to try Nono for a while， they've opened in a new spot called Nono Baru.
The new place is much more spacious and comfortable, with a more modern design compared to the small, old-school vibe of the original.
It's similar to many trendy izakayas that have popped up around the Bay Area in recent years--nothing mind-blowing.
The better dishes: * Kaisen don: fresh and loaded with uni, ikura, and scallop. Comes with seaweed, and works well as a hand roll too. * Special oysters: topped with uni and ikura--this combo never fails. * Scallop sashimi skewer: scallops on a stick soaked in yuzu, tangy and tasty. * Grilled beef tongue: thick cuts with a nice chewy and slightly crispy texture.
Just okay: * Chicken karaage: all drumsticks. Not bad, but not my thing. * Creamy udon: super basic and tiny portion, kinda greasy. This style is trendy now, but few places actually do it well. * Yakitori skewers: overpriced and bland, mostly just salty with no real grill flavor. * Taco: meh. Sauce had no personality and presentation was mediocre. * Creamy grilled corn: tastes exactly like what it sounds--just butter and corn.
Total misses: * Happy hour sashimi: pictured below--honestly insulting. $5 for two paper-thin slices that aren't even half the size of normal sashimi. More overpriced than any sushi I've had. * Dessert toast: menu says it's made with the chef's love--I think the chef has beef with us instead. Tiny portion, cheap vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, strawberries, and Pocky sticks tossed on like an afterthought. The toast itself was barely edible. I've had better dessert toppings at hotpot sauce bars. * Risotto: is this a joke? Basically just spicy rice with zero flavor beyond sriracha. No butter, no cream, no aroma from any of the ingredients mentioned. The rice was soggy and mushy--not even close to risotto. The only decent thing was the scallop on top. * Hamachi skewer: just tasted like sriracha. Most of the sashimi skewers were bad concepts--looked fancy but the flavors were totally off.
Overall: A lot of the food felt rushed and low-effort, like something you'd get at a Vegas all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. Even with the happy hour discounts, our bill came out to over $500 for six people. Honestly, there are so many better ways to spend that money. A friend mentioned the quality used to be better--seems like it's gone way downhill.
So yeah, like the name says: Nono. No next time.
Kes Novi
Loved the atmosphere! The sashimi were super fresh and the cocktails were awesome, while the prices were lower than downtown, esp happy hour :) Also, the service was fantastic! Would really recommend!
MinA Jang
This is what izakaya is supposed to be like. Great tasting food. Cant wait for it to reopen
gundam rg
Gosh this place is nothing but amazing. Food and service. I have been checking out their IG to see when they will reopen. I can't wait for a new and bigger space.
Lucy Chen
Food was good, but was pricy for what you got.
Deanna Woods
We ordered two sides we never got but we’re still charged for both. When I pointed both out (politely ofc, mistakes happen) the server redid our check but only removed one of the charges.
I had to go back in to correct it again. Weirdly she had just changed the name of the charge to something vague (from “garlic hot sauce” to “open product”) instead of actually removing it. Not sure what that was about but it didn’t seem super honest…happy to pay for extras and sides but we straight up never even saw it.
Also wish they would have offered us something besides panacotta for desert, when it arrived we told them we are vegetarian and unfortunately can’t eat panacotta so they just took our deserts away and gave us the check? They have other options and I was expecting since we had paid for desert with the lunch combo to receive something?
The food was not bad but the service felt like they were really giving it their least. Definitely double check everything on your bill here!
Richard Flynn
Lovely, fresh and flavorful
Greg Elshoff
Great small place, felt very authentic. Food was creative and delicious! Loved the tofu appetizer, they give you a pestle to mash the ingredients. Skewers were great and lamb chop, great simple hand rolls and the passion cocktail was awesome.
Risotto was very underwhelming unfortunately, but their yakitori and any raw seafood option were very good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Yakitori, Fried Eel
Lisa McL
It’s on the expensive side but the food and people were good.
I wish they did not put a surcharge on the bill and they also calculated tip based on after tax price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Niki Pham
Highlight dishes were the scallop risotto, kaisen Don, and himachi truffle. So glad we popped in spontaneously!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Scallop Risotto, Kaisen Don
Hilda Liu
They were very packed during dinner. The place isn’t too big so come early. We sat outside to avoid line but we were also able to get better ventilation. The food were nice but portion are pretty small. It is typical izakaya price and I would suggest getting drinks while having food so you get filled up more easily.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Sona Tigranyan
Very good spot for Japanese food. They have very tasty spicy rice and really good cooked duck. We tried also dumping, skewers and deserts everything was great.
Moved to this new location with more space and less smoke. Still tasty and a great happy hour
Atmosphere is vibey and their service was great. Everyone was nice and welcoming. Every dish we ordered was also delicious! Would definitely come back here.
Kary treated us so well!! She was our server, she was attentive and gave us GREAT recs for the food based on our preferences
I had been meaning to try Nono for a while， they've opened in a new spot called Nono Baru.
The new place is much more spacious and comfortable, with a more modern design compared to the small, old-school vibe of the original.
It's similar to many trendy izakayas that have popped up around the Bay Area in recent years--nothing mind-blowing.
The better dishes:
* Kaisen don: fresh and loaded with uni, ikura, and scallop. Comes with seaweed, and works well as a hand roll too.
* Special oysters: topped with uni and ikura--this combo never fails.
* Scallop sashimi skewer: scallops on a stick soaked in yuzu, tangy and tasty.
* Grilled beef tongue: thick cuts with a nice chewy and slightly crispy texture.
Just okay:
* Chicken karaage: all drumsticks. Not bad, but not my thing.
* Creamy udon: super basic and tiny portion, kinda greasy. This style is trendy now, but few places actually do it well.
* Yakitori skewers: overpriced and bland, mostly just salty with no real grill flavor.
* Taco: meh. Sauce had no personality and presentation was mediocre.
* Creamy grilled corn: tastes exactly like what it sounds--just butter and corn.
Total misses:
* Happy hour sashimi: pictured below--honestly insulting. $5 for two paper-thin slices that aren't even half the size of normal sashimi. More overpriced than any sushi I've had.
* Dessert toast: menu says it's made with the chef's love--I think the chef has beef with us instead. Tiny portion, cheap vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, strawberries, and Pocky sticks tossed on like an afterthought. The toast itself was barely edible. I've had better dessert toppings at hotpot sauce bars.
* Risotto: is this a joke? Basically just spicy rice with zero flavor beyond sriracha. No butter, no cream, no aroma from any of the ingredients mentioned. The rice was soggy and mushy--not even close to risotto. The only decent thing was the scallop on top.
* Hamachi skewer: just tasted like sriracha. Most of the sashimi skewers were bad concepts--looked fancy but the flavors were totally off.
Overall: A lot of the food felt rushed and low-effort, like something you'd get at a Vegas all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. Even with the happy hour discounts, our bill came out to over $500 for six people. Honestly, there are so many better ways to spend that money. A friend mentioned the quality used to be better--seems like it's gone way downhill.
So yeah, like the name says: Nono. No next time.
Loved the atmosphere! The sashimi were super fresh and the cocktails were awesome, while the prices were lower than downtown, esp happy hour :) Also, the service was fantastic! Would really recommend!
This is what izakaya is supposed to be like. Great tasting food. Cant wait for it to reopen
Gosh this place is nothing but amazing. Food and service. I have been checking out their IG to see when they will reopen. I can't wait for a new and bigger space.
Food was good, but was pricy for what you got.
We ordered two sides we never got but we’re still charged for both. When I pointed both out (politely ofc, mistakes happen) the server redid our check but only removed one of the charges.
I had to go back in to correct it again. Weirdly she had just changed the name of the charge to something vague (from “garlic hot sauce” to “open product”) instead of actually removing it. Not sure what that was about but it didn’t seem super honest…happy to pay for extras and sides but we straight up never even saw it.
Also wish they would have offered us something besides panacotta for desert, when it arrived we told them we are vegetarian and unfortunately can’t eat panacotta so they just took our deserts away and gave us the check? They have other options and I was expecting since we had paid for desert with the lunch combo to receive something?
The food was not bad but the service felt like they were really giving it their least. Definitely double check everything on your bill here!
Lovely, fresh and flavorful
Great small place, felt very authentic. Food was creative and delicious! Loved the tofu appetizer, they give you a pestle to mash the ingredients. Skewers were great and lamb chop, great simple hand rolls and the passion cocktail was awesome.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Risotto was very underwhelming unfortunately, but their yakitori and any raw seafood option were very good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Yakitori, Fried Eel
It’s on the expensive side but the food and people were good.
I wish they did not put a surcharge on the bill and they also calculated tip based on after tax price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Highlight dishes were the scallop risotto, kaisen Don, and himachi truffle. So glad we popped in spontaneously!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Scallop Risotto, Kaisen Don
They were very packed during dinner. The place isn’t too big so come early. We sat outside to avoid line but we were also able to get better ventilation. The food were nice but portion are pretty small. It is typical izakaya price and I would suggest getting drinks while having food so you get filled up more easily.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Very good spot for Japanese food. They have very tasty spicy rice and really good cooked duck. We tried also dumping, skewers and deserts everything was great.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Wings, Spicy Scallop Risotto
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