Koharu Japanese Cafe - Alameda

I love the food, but the new containers are a big disappointment. They ruin my meal about half the time. The old containers were perfect and allowed me to enjoy my entire meal—plus, they looked great! Now I end up losing about a quarter of my rice to the paper container.

Upon arrival, I learned that this establishment is part of a shared space called SAGA Kitchen, which aims to be a pan-Asian food hall. It features three Japanese options as well as a dim sum spot. Koharu serves Japanese street food, while the others focus on sushi and ramen. We ordered from a QR code menu and were served by a robot reminiscent of those from *The Jetsons* (see photo: bit.ly/3Yx28lS). It was striking how minimal the human interaction was, even though two people were clearly working in the kitchen. Naturally, we ordered the $19.95 Kurobuta Katsu Sando. While it felt a bit overpriced, the deep-fried pork cutlet was wonderfully juicy and had just the right amount of panko crust. The downside was that the Japanese milk bread was toasted, which is a definite no-no for a proper sando (see photo: bit.ly/3s0eKpt). Regardless, we enjoyed it thoroughly. The $18.95 Soboro Don with Ebi Fry was even more impressive—a generous bowl of ground beef donburi topped with diced scrambled eggs, a side salad with miso dressing, and white rice crowned with two deep-fried prawns (see photo: bit.ly/3OtTMqw). It was authentic and came with a satisfying bowl of miso soup (see photo: bit.ly/3s3GwkZ). Just please, no more toasting the bread. **Food: 4 stars** - Great Japanese comfort food, although that toaster needs to go. **Ambiance: 4 stars** - Plenty of space available upon our arrival. **Service: 3.5 stars** - The robot was very polite, but we were left in the dark about the human staff. **Overall: 4 stars** - I'm already longing for another sando! If you're exploring Alameda, check out my compiled list of places I've visited and reviewed: bit.ly/2Ik8mky.

The hours listed on the website and Yelp are incorrect. Please make sure to update them to avoid disappointing customers.

The food here is fantastic, and the service is excellent. The place is spotless as well. I enjoyed it so much that I returned twice after my first visit—the food is just that good! The prices are very reasonable too!

Duplicate Yelp, one for each concept/business??? Sorry, but I am so confused... Was I in the city (SF)? Or LA? Way too trendy for Alameda. SAGA Locally owned virtual food hall Slurp shop Ramen Yue club Authentic Cantonese Dim Sum Cuisine Koharu Japanese Cafe Quality/Quantity Food was 5 stars! We ordered one dish from each business concept: Kohara Chicken Karaage, hit of the meal. Deep fried, so slightly biased... If you are following, you know I love deep fried food. Good flavor, and the sauce was the bomb. Slight hint of heat, but NOT overwhelmingly spicy. SAGA White Tiger, smaller than expected, but the flavor was on point, better than expected. Slurp Shop Meyer Lemon Shio, flavors were good, including the broth. Expected serving size for the quality and price, but more than enough for a single meal. Yue Club Beef Ball Dumpling, plating could have been better, but again the flavor was spot on. Additionally, the quantity was expected for the quality. Atmosphere Food hall concept??? Virtual food hall concept??? First time here, but the lady that greeted us did not seem to care. Was told to NOT move chairs around and order through the app on the table. Normally it is pretty easy, but since there are 4 concepts/businesses here, it was not as user friendly as one would expect. Small local business or businesses, not sure how many businesses are here. Cool decor. Robot to deliver our food, which was NOT necessary??? So other than the entertainment value, no additional service. We also watched a couple other customers NOT know how to finish their service with the robot, etc. Plus one customer ordered ramen and it spilled on the robot. Street parking, no problem as we came late at night. Numerous to go orders, very consistent, congrats. Kitchen staff working hard, and plenty of kitchen staff. I saw at least 5 team members. Not sure if that is due to the 4 concepts/businesses. Open 5 days a week from 11:30am to 8:30pm, closed Mon Tue. Service N/A, self service. Had to get our own sauces, utensils, and napkins from a self service station. The phone website where we placed and paid for our order predicted our food to arrive 29 minutes after ordering. After 30 minutes, our food started to slowly arrive. We got our last dish almost an hour later. And it did not come in the order of appetizer and then entree. It came as it was made. Price $54 tip. Owner Comment Congrats on your success since 2020. We will be back for the food. Can I suggest adding some human customer service? At least say hello and smile as customers walk through the door.