I had no work the next day so I had to go to my favorite SJ bar for their punch bowl Thursday! We got the Fountain of youth. It was a great share and the lychee was a great snack.
Amrita G.
Their drinks and the duck pizza used to be pretty good. It was think crust and flavorful.
Richard Cortez
I loved everything and the beautiful little girls?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bethany R.
The security team was so unkind :( not many places to go out downtown... security gave our group a pretty hard time for not much of a reason. Not fun when you're trying to go out with a group for a special occasion.
Michelle L.
I absolutely love the Asian-inspired cocktails at this place, especially my favorite, the lychee martini. During Christmas, they introduced some festive variations on the drinks, and they were delicious! The music is always lively, mostly playing hip-hop. The venue tends to get quite crowded, probably because it's on the smaller side. The crowd mainly consists of young Asian Americans and ABGs (if you know what I mean).
Jennifer L.
My friends and I have been to Nomikai before and wanted to stop by during our Christmas bar hop. We went around 6-7 PM so it was still pretty empty. The place was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and decorations; def a good opportunity to sit down to hang out or top stop by for a quick photo op! FOOD - Miso Mac N Cheese (3/5): It was pretty good mac n cheese, but there was no miso flavoring which was a tad disappointing and also the whole reason we wanted to try it. - Five Spiced Duck Pizza (2.5/5): Interesting concept but the hoisin sauce was overpowering all the other flavors. Probably wouldn't order it again. - Trio Mushroom Pizza (3.5/5): As an avid mushroom lover, I always come back to Nomikai for this very pizza but admittingly it is not the BEST mushroom pizza I had. Still always a solid option. DRINKS (holiday edition) - Rock N Rum Ube Milk Punch (0/5): It was not what we expected! Presented similarly to an old fashioned, it was really strong. There was no milky taste and seemed like just a shot (or even less) of pure alcohol. Do not recommend unless you are into that kind of drink... - Candy Cane Penny Lane (3.5/5): I was looking for something peppermint-y but it was actually more of a fruit based drink with a baby candy cane on the side. it was a pretty good drink regardless. - Billie Holiday (3.5/5): It was pretty good, but definitely on the sour side. Overall, Nomikai is always a chill place to go for quick dinner and drinks but nothing special with the holiday menu. I would go again but not necessarily during the holiday season but more for the chill vibes.
Rachel L.
i stopped by here on the friday night before the holiday break with 2 friends and it was a pleasant experience! the place was well-decorated for the holidays without being overly decorated to the point of sensory overload. it was hard to find seating - we ended up taking up 2 chairs at the end of the long table. i also felt that it was kinda loud. the service was attentive - a server came up to us and asked if we had been helped yet and offered to take our order. the same server also checked in on and helped me when i was looking for water. we ordered the five spice duck pizza and some of the holiday cocktails (shine bright like a diamond, smells like christmas spirit, billie holiday). we had never had duck pizza before so we were excited to try something new. it was pretty decent, but nothing standout. generally the same can be said for the cocktails.
mars gemini
Drinks was bomb, food was fantastic, service was fast at 9pm Friday night. This place is
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Gyoza
Emily L.
Small bar in DTSJ who is always playing good music. Small bar area but many tables/seats and big open dance floor space. This is a great place to start when bar hopping DTSJ.
Delong T.
Server took a long time to get to me even though there were few customers. I order the Ube milk punch and it wasn't good even though it was fifteen dollars. I returned it and got a beer instead. Then I got the chicken Pate which was decent but not enough to make the whole trip worth it. Also why does an Asian theme bar have half the food options as pizza? The place doesn't make sense and doesn't satisfy
Dropped by on a Saturday night for some drinks, it was still early so the place wasn't crowded! The place itself is dark and has chill vibes. There was a dj setting up which was pretty cool! This place is small, there's not that many tables so fyi!The drinks were pretty decent! We had the lychee martini, pandan old fashion (unique!), and some others which I can't remember. Our goal was to get the fishbowls which sound so interesting! Unfortunately fish bowls are only served on Thursday's. If you're looking for a place to vibe, and hang this is a good place!
Elsie Y.
I was looking for a place to get drinks and stumbled upon this place on yelp. Once I saw that they have happy hour it sealed the deal. We got the Tokyo Cloud and Mugi Mule to drink. Both drinks are great but I'm always disappointed in a mule that's not in a copper cup even if it's not a classic mule. For food we tried the fried chicken wings and the chicken adobo pizza. The fried chicken was pretty tasty but the dynamite sauce is not a necessary addition. When I dipped the chicken in the sauce the flavors ended up being all over the place and honestly made the chicken worse for me. I don't think I would get the wings again though if I came back.The chicken adobo pizza had amazing flavor but when my boyfriend was eating it he noticed a chicken bone that he needed to spit out. So be careful when eating it. This place is mostly a bar and not a restaurant so I'll give it 4 stars since the drinks themselves tasted great.
Yashash Gaurav
Warning: I like spicy food. I'm an Indian bois, deal with it.Pollo Adobo Pizza (wish I had the photo)Gayoza (chicken potstickers)Other food we had:Trio Mushroom PizzaMac and CheeseMazcal drink was ♥️
Every time I do my Downtown SJ bar hopping routine, Nomikai is always on the list for me.I haven't frequented Nomikai in a while but every time I do, it's never a miss for me. This time around, I decided to go during happy hour and I brought 2 of my friends with me since they've never been barhopping in DTSJ. The two happy hour appetizers we got were the nori fries and roasted brussel sprouts. The nori fries were good but whatever. We got thrown off by the red pepper in the ketchup so we just ate it plain. The brussel sprouts were so good! There was a creamy sauce under the brussel sprouts which I pleasantly enjoyed. We ordered 2 of their pizzas which were the mushroom and plain jane (just a classic cheese pizza). I really enjoyed both pizzas but my favorite out of the two was the mushroom! I ordered the classic lychee martini and it was so yummy! I feel like the last time I had a lychee martini here it was lowkey too alcohol-tasty for me so I didn't enjoy it but they made it just right this time.My friend was also vegetarian so as you can tell from my review, there were lots of veggie options for your vegetarian friends! Their happy hour ends at 7:30 PM which is actually pretty good for people getting off work at 5 PM or even 6 PM.
Makayla G.
A great place to start for a night out in Downtown San Jose! I came here recently with friends to grab a first drink on a Friday night. It was earlier in the evening around 9pm so there was plenty of seating however later in the night it is known to get pretty full. We had a couple kamikaze shots and a tequila soda while we enjoyed the live DJ there that night. Every Friday a local DJ by the name of Yurimagination is there and I enjoy his SoundCloud mixes so I was excited to stay and watch for a little bit. I haven't tried the food here but I saw they have pork belly bites and other items on the menu so I am curious to try something next time I'm in. Overall, this is a great place to start the night and have a couple drinks or if you're looking for a chill vibe. I would defiantly check out other places in the area when I'm in the mood to dance since there is not really space for that in Nomikai. However I had a great time and I'll definitely be back!
I had no work the next day so I had to go to my favorite SJ bar for their punch bowl Thursday! We got the Fountain of youth. It was a great share and the lychee was a great snack.
Their drinks and the duck pizza used to be pretty good. It was think crust and flavorful.
I loved everything and the beautiful little girls?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The security team was so unkind :( not many places to go out downtown... security gave our group a pretty hard time for not much of a reason. Not fun when you're trying to go out with a group for a special occasion.
I absolutely love the Asian-inspired cocktails at this place, especially my favorite, the lychee martini. During Christmas, they introduced some festive variations on the drinks, and they were delicious! The music is always lively, mostly playing hip-hop. The venue tends to get quite crowded, probably because it's on the smaller side. The crowd mainly consists of young Asian Americans and ABGs (if you know what I mean).
My friends and I have been to Nomikai before and wanted to stop by during our Christmas bar hop. We went around 6-7 PM so it was still pretty empty. The place was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and decorations; def a good opportunity to sit down to hang out or top stop by for a quick photo op! FOOD - Miso Mac N Cheese (3/5): It was pretty good mac n cheese, but there was no miso flavoring which was a tad disappointing and also the whole reason we wanted to try it. - Five Spiced Duck Pizza (2.5/5): Interesting concept but the hoisin sauce was overpowering all the other flavors. Probably wouldn't order it again. - Trio Mushroom Pizza (3.5/5): As an avid mushroom lover, I always come back to Nomikai for this very pizza but admittingly it is not the BEST mushroom pizza I had. Still always a solid option. DRINKS (holiday edition) - Rock N Rum Ube Milk Punch (0/5): It was not what we expected! Presented similarly to an old fashioned, it was really strong. There was no milky taste and seemed like just a shot (or even less) of pure alcohol. Do not recommend unless you are into that kind of drink... - Candy Cane Penny Lane (3.5/5): I was looking for something peppermint-y but it was actually more of a fruit based drink with a baby candy cane on the side. it was a pretty good drink regardless. - Billie Holiday (3.5/5): It was pretty good, but definitely on the sour side. Overall, Nomikai is always a chill place to go for quick dinner and drinks but nothing special with the holiday menu. I would go again but not necessarily during the holiday season but more for the chill vibes.
i stopped by here on the friday night before the holiday break with 2 friends and it was a pleasant experience! the place was well-decorated for the holidays without being overly decorated to the point of sensory overload. it was hard to find seating - we ended up taking up 2 chairs at the end of the long table. i also felt that it was kinda loud. the service was attentive - a server came up to us and asked if we had been helped yet and offered to take our order. the same server also checked in on and helped me when i was looking for water. we ordered the five spice duck pizza and some of the holiday cocktails (shine bright like a diamond, smells like christmas spirit, billie holiday). we had never had duck pizza before so we were excited to try something new. it was pretty decent, but nothing standout. generally the same can be said for the cocktails.
Drinks was bomb, food was fantastic, service was fast at 9pm Friday night. This place is
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Gyoza
Small bar in DTSJ who is always playing good music. Small bar area but many tables/seats and big open dance floor space. This is a great place to start when bar hopping DTSJ.
Server took a long time to get to me even though there were few customers. I order the Ube milk punch and it wasn't good even though it was fifteen dollars. I returned it and got a beer instead. Then I got the chicken Pate which was decent but not enough to make the whole trip worth it. Also why does an Asian theme bar have half the food options as pizza? The place doesn't make sense and doesn't satisfy
Restaurantji Recommends
Dropped by on a Saturday night for some drinks, it was still early so the place wasn't crowded! The place itself is dark and has chill vibes. There was a dj setting up which was pretty cool! This place is small, there's not that many tables so fyi!The drinks were pretty decent! We had the lychee martini, pandan old fashion (unique!), and some others which I can't remember. Our goal was to get the fishbowls which sound so interesting! Unfortunately fish bowls are only served on Thursday's. If you're looking for a place to vibe, and hang this is a good place!
I was looking for a place to get drinks and stumbled upon this place on yelp. Once I saw that they have happy hour it sealed the deal. We got the Tokyo Cloud and Mugi Mule to drink. Both drinks are great but I'm always disappointed in a mule that's not in a copper cup even if it's not a classic mule. For food we tried the fried chicken wings and the chicken adobo pizza. The fried chicken was pretty tasty but the dynamite sauce is not a necessary addition. When I dipped the chicken in the sauce the flavors ended up being all over the place and honestly made the chicken worse for me. I don't think I would get the wings again though if I came back.The chicken adobo pizza had amazing flavor but when my boyfriend was eating it he noticed a chicken bone that he needed to spit out. So be careful when eating it. This place is mostly a bar and not a restaurant so I'll give it 4 stars since the drinks themselves tasted great.
Warning: I like spicy food. I'm an Indian bois, deal with it.Pollo Adobo Pizza (wish I had the photo)Gayoza (chicken potstickers)Other food we had:Trio Mushroom PizzaMac and CheeseMazcal drink was ♥️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Kimcheese Fries Loaded with Kimchi Cheese, Chicken Adobo Pizza
Every time I do my Downtown SJ bar hopping routine, Nomikai is always on the list for me.I haven't frequented Nomikai in a while but every time I do, it's never a miss for me. This time around, I decided to go during happy hour and I brought 2 of my friends with me since they've never been barhopping in DTSJ. The two happy hour appetizers we got were the nori fries and roasted brussel sprouts. The nori fries were good but whatever. We got thrown off by the red pepper in the ketchup so we just ate it plain. The brussel sprouts were so good! There was a creamy sauce under the brussel sprouts which I pleasantly enjoyed. We ordered 2 of their pizzas which were the mushroom and plain jane (just a classic cheese pizza). I really enjoyed both pizzas but my favorite out of the two was the mushroom! I ordered the classic lychee martini and it was so yummy! I feel like the last time I had a lychee martini here it was lowkey too alcohol-tasty for me so I didn't enjoy it but they made it just right this time.My friend was also vegetarian so as you can tell from my review, there were lots of veggie options for your vegetarian friends! Their happy hour ends at 7:30 PM which is actually pretty good for people getting off work at 5 PM or even 6 PM.
A great place to start for a night out in Downtown San Jose! I came here recently with friends to grab a first drink on a Friday night. It was earlier in the evening around 9pm so there was plenty of seating however later in the night it is known to get pretty full. We had a couple kamikaze shots and a tequila soda while we enjoyed the live DJ there that night. Every Friday a local DJ by the name of Yurimagination is there and I enjoy his SoundCloud mixes so I was excited to stay and watch for a little bit. I haven't tried the food here but I saw they have pork belly bites and other items on the menu so I am curious to try something next time I'm in. Overall, this is a great place to start the night and have a couple drinks or if you're looking for a chill vibe. I would defiantly check out other places in the area when I'm in the mood to dance since there is not really space for that in Nomikai. However I had a great time and I'll definitely be back!