Yonsei Handrolls - Albany

TLDR: Great food, great service, quality fish, and reasonable prices! - - - I’ve been twice now, both times without a reservation (for 2 people) on Saturday evenings. The first time, there was no wait. The second time, the wait was ~10 minutes. We were advised by the server to go next door to the wine bar while we wait (Best Friends) and we wouldn’t be charged corkage if we brought a bottle over - so that’s exactly what we did! Both times that I came to this restaurant, I had a really pleasant experience. The lighting is a good ambient level and perfect for an intimate dinner. The handrolls menu is either a set 5 courses (3 levels depending on how much you want to splurge) or you can order a la carte from the handrolls menu. The first time I ate here, I chose their classic OG 5- course menu ($36) and added on the black cod with truffle butter($10) - totaling 6 handrolls. It was a bit too much food for me, but everything was fantastic. The second time I came, I ordered 4 rolls a la carte, which was more reasonable for my appetite. They bring each roll one at a time, and with so much intention. They think about which roll would be better first versus last for the full palate experience.* My favorite rolls from the OG included the negihama, the zuke maguro, and the black cod with truffle butter. My favorites from the a la carte menu were the uni (which is absolutely worth the splurge) and the salmon belly. I haven’t had cocktails, appetizers, or dessert, but I really enjoyed every handroll that I ate! I will definitely be back to try more items from the menu. *Some of the mixed reviews mention the service being slow due to each hand roll arriving one at a time. To me, that was a plus! I do /not/ want my handrolls getting soggy, and I love enjoying each one as it is freshly made. Yonsei - please don’t ever stop bringing the rolls one at a time!

Great food and service with a nice environment to match. Solano Ave is truly a food haven for the best eats in the Bay Area. Yonsei is another bright spot and we’re so happy to have them here in Albany! Food was fantastic and the atmosphere was a perfect match! Highly recommended!

OMG the Black Cod and Truffle Butter hand roll. My mouth is still watering after a delicious dinner at Yonsei Handrolls in Albany. In the new location in Albany we tried almost everything. Some great Sake as well as a Hana G+T as a a friend had the paper crane. We tried every starter and my fav was the hamachi carpaccio and the beef. By the time the hand rolls came I was too busy eating to capture pictures of all the hand rolls we had but I got the OG, subbing the salmon for the salmon belly and it was one of the best choices. The Black cod, salmon belly, spicy tuna then Negihama were my favorites in order. I cannot wait to have them again. Just come prepared to fill your bellies!

Plenty of intimate seating along with bar seating. Decor is understated and comfortable. Table service is impeccably attentive. Food plated and came out at a good pace. Uniquely tasty, not your average flavor profile when it comes to Japanese food. Portions are quite meager for the price and we felt vaguely hungry after lunch.

Absolutely delicious! Everything we had was phenomenal. Went on a Friday night at 7 PM, so it was busy and the food was a little slow to come out. But the staff was very kind about it. Would definitely go back!

Delicious and unique handrolls, will definitely be coming back!

the good: - quality of food. the saba handroll was sooo good, and the black cod too - vibe was just what the neighborhood needed - location is easy and convenient - cocktails were just ok but solid enough and glad they have a full liquor license bad: - slow pacing of rolls, took an hour to have 5 rolls that i would much rather have eaten all at once - did not get our cocktails til the 2nd roll had come out - there was a last call, which made no sense since the restaurant was full, and we hadnt even gotten everything we ordered yet. then the check was brought out too. - bartender largely ignored us we’ll be back and see if we can get better service at a table. the food is really good so hoping this place figures out their pacing. will update review in a few weeks after we return -

The food is awesome, but their organization could improve. Don’t bother making a reservation. We had one and had to leave after a 40 minute wait. May be because they’re new and learning the ropes, but it was disappointing. Lunch is probably a better choice and a better deal anyway.

My little sister has been craving handrolls, so we came here on a random Tuesday. I have never tried this place nor the other locations, but she loves it! When we first got there, all tables were taken, but the bar was empty, so we decided to sit at the bar. Everyone was very nice, and the bartender was very informative as well. I am not a huge fan of raw fish, I can eat it, but sometimes the taste is just too fishy. You can order each hand roll individually or they have sets. I got the first set, and we also order a side of their cucumbers and carpaccio. Everything, and when I say everything was delicious. The cucumber, tasted so refreshing, the carpaccio with the jalapeños and the greens, tasted so well together. It's a little dim inside, so it feels very intimate. Which I enjoyed. I enjoyed my time there and food. I definitely would come back and try other handrolls.

Great new spot with high quality food. Went here for lunch and the interior is very light and modern. The lunch specials are a pretty good deal, not cheap but fair. Tried a variety of rolls and all of them were fresh and delicious. The black cod with truffle butter was a standout for me, a very luxurious bite. The tempura was also exceptional, well seasoned and the perfect amount of batter (no soggy bits). Tip for those who are slow to learn (like me): the soy sauce is in a dropper bottle so you can drop it onto your rolls as you eat them, instead of dipping it and having all the fish fall out. Small detail that made the eating experience just a little more elevated. Servers seemed a bit inexperienced but really friendly and helpful. One of our dishes was served to another table, they were very kind in correcting and comping one of our dishes for the small inconvenience. I will definitely come back here, especially for the lunch specials. Would be great for a date or any special occasion.

This is Yonsei Handroll's second location, and I was so excited to check it out in Albany. Parking was definitely tricky--there are a lot of restaurants and bars nearby, so the area gets pretty busy. Once we got inside, though, the experience was great. The staff were incredibly welcoming and engaging. For appetizers we ordered the yonsei oysters, we enjoyed the uni + ikura but each one had a piece of shell which made it a little less enjoyable to eat. We ordered the OG Set, which includes six hand rolls for $46. The rolls came out at a steady, consistent pace, and everything was super fresh. My favorite was the zuke maguro--packed with flavor and perfectly balanced. I also tried one of their mocktails, and it was so refreshing--light and well-crafted. Yonsei Handroll is easily one of my favorite handroll spots in the Bay. I'm already looking forward to going back!

It was crowded, seems like they take reservations mainly. I was able to get a seat at the bar though. The staff are very nice and friendly. Very quick and responsive. I had the carpaccio and the og set. The rolls were very flavorful and tasty. The rolls come out separately. I would say about 7-10 minutes apart from one another. The vibe is super chill and they have dim lighting which is great for a date!

Went on their first opening day for lunch as I was craving the lunch set. Nice portions and for what the lunch sets prices are, I would do it again. I think the rice portion in hand rolls is good. Granted there is 3 other japanese places in a 2 block radius but I like the modern handroll lunch set.

Came on a sunday night and got seated right away, decent amount of people. Clean bathrooms and decent parking. Great service, decent sized handroll, great hamachi kama! Def would come back again!

Food is amazing and service is great. Fish is very fresh and hand rolls are uniquely delicious. Great value with the lunch sets. Highly recommend!!

I came in during lunch for the five roll dinner set. I selected the OG set with the additional black cod hand roll. Upon arrival, virtually every table but maybe two were occupied. Because I came in by myself I was worried that I would be forced to sit at the nearly full bar given the amount of people there, but was happy to have had the choice to sit at a table, which I did, I was welcomed in, and thanked for coming when walking out which is always nice. The roles are served in the order listed on the menu and they come out one by one instead of altogether, and the rolls come out REALLY quickly. My favorites were the spicy tuna hand roll and the black cod with truffle butter - absolutely delicious and a great first experience with hand rolls for me! Light music in the background allowed me to bop while eating which is always nice for a music lover like me! Highly recommend a visit.

We had spent the entire day clearing out two storage rooms. We were tired. It was Sunday night and most places were closing in 20 minutes. This place was open just long enough for us to get our just desserts - incredible sushi and beer and even a fabulous dessert! First we started with the Asahi Nama Beer on tap. Oh my goodness - our first sip was followed by a sigh and a feeling of letting go of a stressful day. We ordered the Agedashi Tofu and Kakiage vegetable tempura. Flawlessly prepared. This may be called Yonsei (4th generation Japanese American) but it was Issei worthy delicious. Not too sweet (my pet peeve) and savory sauces with complex flavoring - balanced and no one ingredient sticks out. That is hard to do. The very very light tempura batter was perfect on the Kakiage. The vegetables used were high end shiitake, lotus root, and burdock among others. This was worthy of being served to my late father. He would have approved. Finally we also ordered the miso soup appetizer and again, this passed my dashi flavor test (beautifully balanced - not too salty!). Big chunks of vegetables. The only thing I might have done is to do what my dad did - he cut the daikon into matchsticks - they cook better. The veggies were a bit undercooked. But oh my it was so good. Then moving on to the temaki - we ordered the. Basic set (5 pieces). My son and I split each one. We were amazed by each one. My favorite was the crab. Son liked that one too. Ambience: elegant and pleasant without being too over the top chic to wear you feel guilty for not being dressed up. But nice enough for a casual date. And nice enough to bring your parents especially if they are picky Japanese parents. Crockery: very very appealing to my artistic sense. Soy sauce - high quality - comes in a dropper bottle. These people KNOW what's proper. Dishes - All ceramic with beautiful glazes. Tasteful shapes. Did not look commercial or cheap. I bet they cry in the back of the house when one is chipped. One of them was a glaze I know because my father made my platter using it. Service: excellent service - never intrusive but very attentive. Prices: might seem high but for the quality - you could go to Masa's and pay a ton more, and not be quite as enchanted as we were. It's not cheap sushi. Go somewhere else for that. This is sushi for those who appreciate a cut above.

I met a friend for lunch here and was so excited to try it as I had never been to a handroll restaurant. The restaurant was clean and cute. I'm sure parking is tricky at times. My friend ordered the OG set with the black cod add-on and I ordered several singles to try the ones that sounded best to me. All of them were delicious but the standout was the black cod with truffle butter. We also ordered the cucumber sunomono which seemed too pricey for what you got. Service was good as well. I liked how they brought them out one at a time and tried to course them based on how fast we were eating them.

Food was really good and staff is friendly! I think as a new restaurant, they're still getting through some kinks as it did take a little while for our food to come out, but they handled everything really well. I think we'll come back in a few months to try again because we really enjoyed the food (:

We loved having dinner at this new sushi spot! We didn't have a reservation, but thankfully got seats at the bar despite the restaurant being packed. We opted to order individual hand-rolls rather than the set. We thought each roll had well portioned fish and we loved the creative twist on the roll. Highly recommend the seared albacore, which not only had a black aioli but came with pickled onion that was a nice touch.

This was 4th time eating here in Albany. The three prior times I had the OG set so I tried the Yonsei set this time. I was not disappointed, it was delicious. Service was great as I kept asking for more ginger. Ambience was nice although a little noisy.... Reservations are recommended especially after 6... I will return many more times to my favorite sushi spot.

After having great times at the Oakland Uptown location multiple times over the years, I was excited to see Yonsei was opening a new location and was looking forward to the grand opening. Once it opened, I snagged the first available reservation that fits my schedule. Unfortunately, it was underwhelming and I am disappointed in the execution of the new location. When I walked in on Sunday at 7pm, I was surprised with how empty the restaurant is, there were multiple empty tables, for a brand new opening with so much fanfare, I can't believe that it wasn't packed! Then, I noticed that the place was very warm. I saw server looking at the thermostat on the wall and trying to fan themselves with their trays. This location has big windows facing west so in the early evening it was bound to warm up, maybe the AC needs to be adjusted and upgraded, but this make the experience less than stellar to begin with. Then come the food. It was meh, compared to the Oakland location with the same pricing, the portion was smaller, the quality also seems to be lower as well. First course, Zuke Maguro, fish were cut much thinner than the Oakland location and looked dry, the texture was unpleasant because of the thinness. See attached picture. Second course, Negihama, no problem. Third course, Salmon, no problem. Fourth course, black cod, no problem. Fifth course, Toro/Caviar, I don't remember having this at the Oakland location, so no comment on that. Sixth course, Uni, the pieces look shredded and small, and with edges missing and some melting already, so not fresh, they don't look like they should be served at all. See attached image for comparison vs Oakland. In general, the flavor of the fishes are excellent, but the presentation and the mouth feel were off. Lastly, the rice is also off, they didn't stick together well causing lots of spilling of rice instead of it holding its shape. Lastly, let's chat about the service. 1. The course by course structure of the philosophy means that everyone is getting a course at the same time and then the next course and continue. However, there is an issue with adding course in the middle of the meal. Apparently, if you were to add a course in the middle of the meal, that course gets served immediately possibly in between your courses or while you are still in the middle of your previous course. This causes the flow of the meal to be all over the place and it needs to be corrected. The FOH and BOH need to be in constant communication and make adjustments on the fly more effectively. 2. During ordering, the server offered to adjust the courses order based on flavor profile so that we aren't getting a course too rich before a milder course. However, because of this, we have no idea what's next considering that 2 of us in the party ordered the same 5 courses but 1 of us ordered an extra course which gets inserted in the middle. So when the food come out, the server needs to know which person is having what, but no, the courses just get dropped off and that's it, so we at the table ended up having to sort it out ourselves. This is definitively another training moment that needs to be fixed. Again, new restaurant going through some kinks, I understand. I will try again in several months and update my review as needed.

Albany's first haute couture Japanese restaurant. Excellent atmosphere, service, presentation and flavor.

The hand rolls here are delicious. And I really like how if you order several of them they bring one out at a time after you finish the first one. They are made fresh just for you. I've been to the Oakland location several times, I'm so glad to see another location open up closer to where I live. This space is larger and also has a bar. I'm not a huge fan of the bar myself, but I know that some probably are.

This spot totally exceeded our expectations. From the moment we walked in, the staff was welcoming and friendly, making us feel comfortable right away. The space had a cozy yet modern vibe, with soft lighting and clean, minimalistic decor that made it perfect for a casual night out or even a little date night. We kicked things off with the crispy tofu appetizer, which was absolutely delicious -- crispy on the outside, soft and silky inside, and paired with a light yet flavorful sauce that complemented it so well. It was one of those starters you wish you had ordered two of because it disappeared way too fast. For our main course, I went with the OG 5 hand roll set, while my fiancé chose the Yonsei 5 hand roll set. Every roll was so fresh -- you could really taste the quality of the fish and how well the ingredients were balanced. The nori was crisp, the rice warm and seasoned perfectly, and the fillings generous. It was honestly one of the better hand roll experiences we've had in a while. The cocktails were another highlight. I tried their signature house cocktail, which had a subtle citrusy note and wasn't too sweet -- exactly how I like it. My fiancé had a sake-based drink that paired beautifully with the rolls. By the end of the meal, we were both completely full and satisfied, but still tempted by the dessert menu (next time for sure). I love when a place leaves you content but also excited to come back and try the rest of the menu. Can't wait for our next visit -- already eyeing a few new dishes I want to try.

The fish was fresh, the ambiance was also great for date night. Loved the agedashi tofu and spicy tuna. Dessert (chocolate torte( was mediocre, would skip that next time.

I just visited this restaurant with two friends. The food was good but not great. I really liked the black cod with truffle butter a lot, and one of my friends liked the uni, but most of the other rolls and appetizers were just ok. The tempura was mostly onions with almost no shiitake, and a bit greasy. The oshitashi wasn't as good as usual from other restaurants. The hamachi roll had too many onions. And the Futomaki wasn't nearly as good as elsewhere. (And the snow crab was disappointing too.) The service was very slow but good, but the ambience was very noisy. Very noisy. I don't use the word pretentious in my reviews but the menu here qualifies for that label. Many of the combinations are simply not that skillful. All in all, not worth returning. I much prefer Kuriya.

This place is spectacular! The Handrolls are just the start. The whole fish they do is also amazing!

I've been to Yonsei Handrolls twice for dinner and both times were fantastic. Great ambiance and vibes. We sat with friends once and dined/sipped at the bar the other time. Cocktails are delicious, and the food was super fresh. Some favorites: * Hamachi Carpaccio * Agedashi Tofu * Black Cod & Truffle Butter * Saba Misoyaki with Myoga Ginger * Spicy Tuna with Tenpura Crunch The Omaka-Set handroll progression is a great way to explore the menu. Yonsei is a welcome addition to Albany - I'll definitely be back soon.

The food was delicious and fresh. Well prepared and tasty. The staff is friendly and service was excellent. If you want some delicious hand rolls with a great variety of choices, I highly recommend Yonsei. Their starters are delicious. We had the hamachi, squid, beef, and tempura veggies. Also the oysters. All delicious. We will be back.

Truly delicious Japanese fusion hand rolls served sequentially in courses, which extends and enriches the experience. Good cocktails and great service. Much nicer inside than you would expect from exterior.

Went with my wife and a couple of friends for dinner, service was on point as was the food. We will definitely be back.

We went to dinner at Yonsei Handroll in Albany and had a great experience from start to finish. The space is casual and comfortable with a clean, modern look that makes it easy to settle in whether you're out with friends or on a date. We ordered the OG, Yonsei, and Baller sets, and all of them were very delicious. The rolls came out one at a time, so everything stayed fresh and crisp. The quality of the fish was excellent. Highlights for us were the salmon belly, snow crab, and black cod with truffle butter. Every roll had a nice balance of flavors and textures. I ordered the Lychee Peachy cocktail. It was sweet in a really pleasant way, light and refreshing, and it went perfectly with the food. Service was friendly and attentive without being too much. Even when it got a bit busy, the staff kept things moving and made sure we were taken care of. Overall, Yonsei is a great addition to Albany. The food, drinks, and chill vibe make it a spot we're already looking forward to visiting again.

This was my second time going since the opening a few weeks ago. I took friends and we enjoyed cocktails, and the most delicious hand rolls! Such a great place for a fun evening out.