Danny K.
Yelp
Over the years, I've been pretty disappointed by sushi restaurants in Palo Alto and Mountain View. Places like Tomi and Fuki are rated highly, but upon trying them they leave a lot to be desired. The number one thing I look for in trying a sushi restaurant is the temperature of the sashimi. Coming in at a close second would be the cut; the thickness, width and length. I've found that the few sushi establishments that seem to get it right are Japanese-owned and operated. At Izakaya, Chef Chiba-san always serves his sashimi, in particular the hamachi at a perfect temperature. His hamachi is almost as buttery as toro. Each cut of hamachi is the same thickness and size.
After reading all the 5 star reviews, I had high hopes that Daigo might reverse the trend. I was feeling particularly hopeful when we walked past one of my favorite new restaurants, Protégé. Daigo is a cute little store front tucked away in an alley. It certainly had the look of a legitimate Japanese omakase restaurant from the outside. Upon entering, there are two bar counters. I was surprised to find that our counter would face an empty melamine wall rather than the sushi chefs. The kicker was when the waiter asked me to move my chair in. As I was about to get up to slide my chair, he had the audacity to push my chair in! I was in disbelief. It's unacceptable to shove the chair with somebody sitting in it. I tried to focus on the food, to give it a fair shake.
First came out the hamachi shooter, which was full of roughly cut chunks of hamachi, quail egg yolk, ponzu sauce and tobiko. It was decent, but the thick hamachi cuts made it a bit unwieldy. The ankimo was soft and had some ponzu sauce like the hamachi shooter. But I've had a comparable grade of ankimo at Yakitori Kokko and Gaku with 2-3 times as much for around the same price.
Then the sashimi was placed on the counter. Sashimi is a great benchmark for sushi restaurants because it is representative of the quality of the fish and how it is handled and prepared. No spice or ingredients to hide behind as you get with poke bowls or sushi rolls. Daigo's sashimi cuts were about twice as thick as one might expect. I suspected that those thick cuts would result in an uneven temperature. Upon my first bite into the tuna, I was right. It had the mouth feel of recently defrosted fish. Cold and metallic. The salmon was very average; a taste you could find at almost any other place. The uneven cuts to the hamachi made it difficult to enjoy. The best pieces were the scallop, which had little purple flowers on them. Tender to bite into, nice texture and flavor.
The nigiri was considerably more enjoyable than the sashimi. The seared albacore had a nice torch seared flavor and texture. The aji (mackerel) and toro (fatty tuna) were both delicately sliced thin and tasted better than any of the sashimi. Temperature was not an issue presumably because the searing raised the temperature a few degrees.
The food was a 3 for me, but the unrefined service from our waiter drops down my rating by a star. On top of the tactless push on the back of my chair, the same male waiter tried to upsell us continually as if I was still pondering what to order, after I had already placed a concise order for sashimi and nigiri. It felt like having to decline enhanced insurance on a car rental at Enterprise or Hertz. It's fine to mention a couple specials but he practically read half the menu out loud, never mind the fact that I hadn't asked him a single question about anything to express any interest. The waitresses, on the other hand, were polite and regularly refilled my hot tea.
Ultimately, the Daigo experience wasn't what I had hoped. At a presumably upscale sushi establishment I expected a finer level of service. The service and food also didn't measure up to the glowing reviews and supposed value. My search for a quality authentic Japanese sushi establishment in Palo Alto continues.
