Japanese fare, live music, and a lively atmosphere






















"Ask anyone in Oakland if they’ve been to Yoshi’s for dinner and they’ll usually say something along the lines of “Yoshi’s has food?” The decades-old music venue is best known for its nightly live shows, so if you’re heading over to sway your head to jazz for a few hours, the Japanese small plates and sushi in the attached restaurant are a solid (and very efficient) option for dinner beforehand. Stick with the special rolls, which are torched and dressed up with spicy mayo from behind the sushi counter. The dining room is massive, so you can easily roll up with a dozen friends before walking the 20 steps to your seats." - julia chen 1, lani conway, ricky rodriguez
"Ask anyone in Oakland if they’ve been to Yoshi’s for dinner and they’ll usually say something along the lines of “Yoshi’s has food?” The decades-old music venue in Jack London Square is best known for its nightly live shows, so if you’re heading over to sway your head to jazz for a few hours, the Japanese small plates and sushi in the attached restaurant are a solid (and very efficient) option for dinner beforehand. Stick with the special rolls, which are torched and dressed up with spicy mayo from behind the sushi counter. The dining room is massive, so you can easily roll up with a dozen friends before walking the 20 steps to your seats." - Julia Chen

"Kamio also earned recognition for his work at Oakland’s Yoshi’s, another stop that helped build his profile prior to opening Iyasare." - Paolo Bicchieri

"I report that Yoshi's co-founder Yoshie Akiba filed a lawsuit alleging that business partners and her ex-husband Kazuo Kajimura tried to gain control of the business through embezzlement and fraud; Akiba alleges Kajimura, who worked as bookkeeper with access to business and personal accounts, paid himself more than Akiba and late co-founder Hugh “Hiro” Hori—totaling $585,155 between 2017 and 2020—and that a third-party review of Hori’s bank statements found “unusual transactions,” while Kajimura and the partners deny the allegations." - Dianne de Guzman

"When the jazz club Yoshi’s closed in 2016, I observed that foot traffic to the Fillmore dropped precipitously, contributing to the struggles of local restaurants." - Caleb Pershan