Musashi

This was the sushi experience I needed to make up for the bad one I had somewhere else (not here!) about a month ago.

We walked in and were seated right away. They brought water and pickled cucumber and tea almost immediately.

We had the grilled sweet potato and eggplant, both were good and reminded me I should make that stuff at home (it's expensive to eat out, for what it is).

The chirashi was fantastic, though. All the fish were very fresh, and it was a big enough portion that we were able to split that, added an extra cup of miso, and ordered 1 roll.

We tried the special spicy tuna roll, which sounded good with unagi, avocado, and spicy hamachi, IIRC, but it was just ok.

The ambiance in the front room is very authentic Japanese izakaya.

Service was a little slow, so next time I'd go there earlier so we could enjoy ourselves without feeling like we had to run out the door to make it to see Brad Mehldau at Zellerbach (which was an awesome show, btw).

Favorite japanese restaurant at Berkeley!
Has a lot of options in their menu. We ordered salmon don and saba shio yaki dinner; and everything was so good!
It was very nosy, but because of the people around, but the service was good in general.

One of my favorites restaurants in Berkeley! Worthy of a visit even after graduating. For how much salmon we got, the price was more than reasonable. The salmon was pretty fresh, and the service was quick. Very homey place.

Value option in the downtown Berkeley area. Decent selection of fish, and very filling. Their daily specials are a neat touch - certainly check those out.

Good Japanese food-- although a bit pricey. They have great sushi and the restaurant serves my favorite: wappa meshi.

Catering one of my last meetings of the year, I knew I wanted to go big! Having catered from other local Asian businesses, I wanted to find one that specialized in Japanese cuisine. Musashi is a place I frequent often not just because of their amazing dinner special (5-7 PM), but also since I've tried a lot of dishes I can't find elsewhere.

While they're sadly only open for dinner and closed on Sunday & Monday, they were happy to assist me with my catering order. I went in-person and talked with one of their staff to find items that would please a wide variety of tastes and dietary needs. I ended up choosing their yakisoba, tofu salad, chicken karaage, ginger pork, shrimp tempura, and variety of sushi. Happy to say this was a success among my guests with the chicken karaage being a huge crowd pleaser!

I haven't seen other pictures of their party trays before so if you're interested in sizing, this will give you an idea of how much food you'd get. Musashi is a small hole in the wall restaurant on a residential street with limited seating and can get quite busy, so get in earlier or make a reservation if needed. Also a huge fan of their unagi wappa and side dishes they give out before each meal

We did a sushi platter from Musashi and it was very filling! We got the Nigiri Sushi combo in Large 25/45 pcs. (4-5 persons) size and it very much fed 4 people with some to spare.

It was our first time doing a sushi platter and it had a great variety. The only note is that the fish to rice ratio is not great - lots of rice to eat fish bite (but that is to be expected I suppose for a sushi platter perhaps)?

We also had tempura appetizer and that was a yum variety.

If I want a sushi platter again, I would come here because it was acceptable (but also because I'm not sure there are a lot of party tray places)

We met friends here for dinner on a Friday night and discovered they have a GREAT happy hour menu from 5-7 PM, so you can actually get there and enjoy it on a regular work day. The service was warm and the food satisfying. It's a small place with a mom-and-pop vibe and, after ordering practically everything on the HH menu, we left happy and not feeling broke. Definitely worth a return visit!

As a big fan of Japanese cuisine, I can say that Musashi satisfied my Japanese food cravings on Sunday. The restaurant is on a quiet street in Berkeley and there were a lot of street parking spaces available, especially considering I came on a Sunday night. Inside, there are a lot of seating options (sushi bar seating and tables) so there was no queue for my party of 4.

The workers were all very friendly and helpful with navigating the menu for some of the items I wasn't super familiar with. I liked how they give you a small complimentary dish (similar to a korean banchan dish) to start off the meal.

Some highlights of the meal:

takoyaki- delicious chunks of octopus within the warm savory pancake batter, this was so yummy

chawanmushi- custardy goodness with chunks of crab, shrimp, mushroom and spinach, this seafood concoction was super comforting and delicious

chirashi bowls- the fish was super fresh and I loved the variety! I would recommend the chirashi mini set as opposed to the regular sized bowl because it was super filling for the price of only $19!

side notes:
-they gave strawberry KitKats with the check which I thought was super cute
-the staff are very attentive
-the soy sauce is the japanese soy sauce that comes in a pipet-type bottle that allows you to drop ample amounts of soy sauce on top of your sushi without having to dip your fish into a dish

I highly recommend Musashi for a more affordable and no-frills sushi dinner. I truly felt like I was in Japan and I want to explore more of their extensive menu!

This was my first time here! I went with my boyfriend's mom and his 2 sisters to celebrate International Women's Day. We ordered a bunch of stuff. Seafood skewer sampler, beef wappa, tuna poke with rice, tempura, udon and more.

My favorite is there chawanmushi aka steamed egg. It is soooo delicate and is like eating a soft soft pillow. It comes with some mushrooms, shrimp and nauruto.

My second favorite is their grilled squid. It is so fresh and taste so good with the mayo, lemon and soy sauce dip.

About $155 for everything