Bamboo Sushi

I have eaten at three of the four Bamboo locations, and the new location in SW was definitely the worst of the three. Bamboo typically has good quality sushi, and I largely think it is overpriced. I find equal quality and better value at Shigezo and Masu.
We ordered the duck meatballs and got two modest sized meatballs for $ 10. I didn’t care for the flavor despite their being undercooked. Fail on quality and value.
I did like that each person got an individual plate of shaved cucumber, wasabi and ginger.
The service is overattentive and disruptive.
The space is actually pretty small and very loud. They only offer happy hour in one section and the bar has like 6 seats and the rest of the tables were occupied by a large group the night I was there. No HH at the sushi bar — kinda bites. Beers are $ 6 and I don’t think they are pints (not sure due to funky glasses, even so $ 6/​pint is above average).
The SE location seemed to have a wider, more creative menu and I recall loving my dining experience there, even though pricey. I would rate it 4 stars.
The Alberta location also had a different menu and I recall liking most of what we ordered. I felt it was a better value and I would rate it 3 stars.

I usually eat at the NW location on 23^rd but I was in Portland in the afternoon and had to try the new place. As always the food is exceptional. Sushi wise I highly recommend any of the house special rolls. I personally favor the Green Machine with crab and the Highway 35. LOVE LOVE LOVE the option to do lunch and to make reservations!

BEST EXPERIENCE EVER. Yes caps were needed to express how extremely happy I am with this place. I’m from LA so I have had my fair share of sushi places but nothing like this. This place provided us with not only great service but with mouth blowing flavor.
We decided to stop by here because we were so unhappy with our meal from Jakes (the restaurant that is in front of Bamboo). We were craving amazing seafood and thought we were going to get it there but we were sadly disappointed.
Since we were there on vacation I didn’t want to end dinner on a bad note so I recommended Bamboo. We decided to sit at the sushi bar and the service was perfect. Our sushi chef was AMAZING, so we decided to do the omakase. He said that depending on how much we want to spend per person will be what we get. We decided to spend $ 60 per person and it was the best money spent. With each piece of sushi he introduced us to the more our mouth would get start to drool. We had a tuna flight and salmon flight to name a few; both were so good they didn’t need anything.
If you get a chance please do yourself a favor and stop by. I promise you won’t be disappointed especially if you love fish as much as I do.

I wanted to head across town for some nosh when my sis stopped dead in her tracks…
Ohhhh! Bamboo Sushi!
So we stumbled in, since it’s Saturday ’cause maybe a bit of day drinking ‘is been had, and were immediately seated at the counter.
We got our sunomono, and a heaping of greeetings. Ordered a few offerings and were then a bit bewildered with the delights of the sake list. So our fantastic server brought us a few offerings. That was tremendous!
The sushi was high quality melt in your mouth… The portions are delicate and the sushi rice is perfect! Not overpowering.
I’m not a person who enjoys spicy foods. I ordered the poke. It was described as seasoned with a sweet and spicy sauce. I was thinking more sweet than spicy. Mistake!!! It was overwhelming. Our sushi chef was a superstar!!! He sent over another maguro nigiri to cleanse my palate.
Don’t expect crazy sushi boats here. Just high quality ethically fished food that’s going to make your belly happy.

You could tell the fish was very fresh. Friendly service and nice atmosphere. Their signature rolls were unique and delicious.

Extensive widely varied menu. Everything from the wagyu burger to the very fresh and perfectly executed sashimi is superb. Friendly attentive service. And a great craft cocktail menu.

Reservations!!! What? I know Portlanders love their waiting in line for food, but I have an impatient wife, so I love my reservations when I can get them.
Summary; they have some good stuff with good ingredients. Their price point is a little high, but I guess you get what you pay for. I’d go here again on a special occasion.
My favorite part by far was the Highway 35 roll. crab, beans, and something else I don’t remember but it was topped with Sake Poached pears. Why aren’t more sushi done this way. It was incredible. I guess $ 15 was fair. Probably the best roll I’ve ever had. I great combination of tastes and textures. A winner
Also a winner was the black cod. So tender that i felt like a doofus trying to eat it with chopsticks This actually felt like a decent price point at $ 15. However, two items does not a meal make.
We got the tempura which was really good, but good tempura is actually pretty easy to come by. Not worth the price.
The japanese eggplant was pretty delicious. Not overcooked, but just enough to get rid of that bitter raw eggplant taste.
I am a big fan of the egg omelet sushi. One of the best I’ve had. I’d prever a little thicker chunk for that price, but what are you gonna do.
Our server was kind of aloof and didn’t bring us some things at first, we had to ask for them. The other servers though were very helpful in their table clearing and maneuvering.
Good imaginative drinks and house made sodas too.
If prompted i would come back, and probably get off a lot cheaper too this time.

I visited this place for the first time after Masu sushi. Bamboo has a lot more menu and more Japanese home made food, not only sushi. Friendly stuff. However I didn’t like the Tukemono, it is not traditional style and hard to accept. Otherwise I liked all the food and service.

This place is fire! Stuffed myself with damn near the whole menu and still wanted more! Eveything was great; service, food, drinks, vibe, and ambience. Definitely one of my new favorite sushi joints in PDX.

One word: RESERVATIONS.
We usually visit Bamboo in SE, and occasionally visit the NW location. Including our recent visit to the new SW location, I will say this: Waitstaff is always incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, prompt, and friendly. Food is always beautiful, delicious, and even better than I remember from the last time. HOWEVER… the fact that this location takes reservations is a total game changer for me. Knowing that I can walk in and be seated right away is extremely helpful with a busy schedule. That fact, coupled with the menu items we tried that are available only at this location (Sweet & Sour Cauliflower. OMG!) will definitely make this our go-​to sushi spot from now on!

I’ve eaten here twice now. I will be back. Amazing service and a place that even remembered my name. I recommend the NW Philly and Chasing the Dragon. But you really can’t go wrong. It’s fresh and doesn’t make you feel yucky later.

Oh man. So, Bamboo seems to be establishing this pattern of reaching out and taking feedback from reviews and PMs seriously, based on what I see in previous reviews and my own experience. They contacted me privately less than 24 hours after my first meal, and offered to listen to my feedback and apply it. That is quality right there.
I didn’t head back the next day, but a coworker in my office headed over there for lunch, and had basically the polar opposite experience. Lots of attention to detail, lots of good service, and fast with the drinks and the check. She was in and out within 45 minutes.
So, I headed back today for happy hour after a frustrating day in the office, and ohyes. This is exactly what I want my izakaya experience to be like — good sake, for cheap, good happy hour specials (for cheap), and the same amazing food.
The pickle plate, the tsukemono, is fantastic — I think they had kimchi sprouts next to traditional style. Okonomiyaki was messy but super tasty, and by luck, their hand rolls were two things I love — spicy mayo and scallops.
And then their happy hour sake was this high quality filtered for $ 5.
Bamboo, everything is forgiven.

The GM here reached out after our last time at Bamboo. He was super nice and apologetic, and offered to help make us a reservation the next time we wanted to come back to ensure that the experience would be good.
We ended up going back tonight, and they just killed it.
First of all, everyone was incredibly nice to us. We didn’t have to wait for our table, the server was attentive, the guy that brought out our food was very knowledgeable and explained every item, including the origin of the fish. The food was coursed out. It seems from skimming the other recent reviews that they’ve resolved their service side issues. Indeed, we consistently receive good service at the other Bamboo locations (NE, NW).
We stuck to the sashimi and nigiri this time & it was definitely the right call. Nobody in town makes fish at this price point like Bamboo.
Here’s most of what we ordered:
Albacore carpaccio: It was smoky and there was a hit of acid from something that was pickled. Seasoned really well. Just a perfect bite.
A few orders of the ora king salmon nigiri and the salmon sunrise nirigi: My fiancé is a bigger fan of salmon than I am, and he said the ora king salmon, which I didn’t try, was really tasty. I thought the salmon sunrise was really good — this item, and the albacore special nirigi for the night, both had some fat. I believe the salmon sunrise had olive oil and the albacore special had some duck fat. Just that little bit of fat really changed the experience of eating it. Well done.
Albacore special nigiri which had some duck fat & truffle salt from the Meadow: Really interesting and tasty. Would definitely get again.
Pickled mackerel: I really like this dish. It’s my favorite preparation of mackerel nigiri, ever. But I have to say that if you don’t like fishy fish, you should probably pass. Mackerel has an aggressively fishy flavor, and pickling it heightens this flavor. We ordered two of these, and the second one was seasoned a little bit differently. It had something extra that helped round out the fishiness of the mackerel. Either way, super good. The mackerel came with a red onion salad with a little dressing — eat this. It’s not a garnish. It helps to cut through the fishiness. Eat it like the pickled ginger.
They brought out the carpaccio first and the mackerel last, which was so thoughtful. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but worked out because the mackerel was the ‘heaviest’ item we had.
After tip, $ 75ish for two with one non-​alcoholic drink.

Came here Sat ¹⁄₁₆.
Visiting Portland for the weekend with my GF I wanted to have a great first night meal with some sushi downtown. Based on multiple social media reviews (Y, 4sq, OT — through which we reserved) this place seemed like a lock.
I was sadly mistaken.
The positives: very good, attentive waitstaff; interesting edamame with a smoky salt crust that was eye opening and second round order worthy; an interesting and lively interior with a good mix of age, race, gender at the tables; a more than decent plate in the Chasing The Dragon roll (home run); some decent wines and beers listed. But there it stops.
Coming from the bay area (Saru, Sushi Ran, Kirala, Kusakabe, Maruya, Ozumo, Chaya, Akiko’s) and Bozeman (Montana Fish Co) maybe we’re sushi snobs somewhat. Maybe not. We just were not impressed and not at all happy.
The soy sauce was heavily salty. (Weren’t offered low sodium.) The rice under the nigiri and on the rolls seemed gummy and a bit old. The fish was too warm on virtually all the cuts, and for us both lacked depth of flavor. The Pinot Noir I requested felt as warm as if it had been stored next to a refrigerator motor or some other heating element. (Being in wine country Oregon, we thought ‘How could this be?’ We asked for it to be left in a refrigerator for some time to cool.) The $ 25 salmon flight was a disappointment in that the fish seemed to have sat around for a while versus being freshly cut, and though one of the six noted types was missing we were still charged full price. And though we asked if there were 2 pieces each of the differing types, and received an affirmative yes with head nod, only one per each was plated. Hence a second order of ultimately subpar salmon.
I really wanted to like this place, especially given the reviews of what I assumed to be sushi-​aware patrons, but it was a sore disappointment. The saving grace was our waitress. She was great.
Hopefully they’ll improve, but our intro to sushi in the Rip City left us, at about $ 110 or so, feeling ripped off.

This place was excellent. The okonomiyaki was so bomb, and the karaage was juicy and tasty. The seaweed salad was good, but a little bland.
The atomosphere was very nice and bright, and the restaurant itself was well laid out.
Some reviews indicated slow service, but our experience was efficient and delightful. Definitely one of the highlights of our Portland trip!

We were here for a late lunch and received sporadic service from 3 different servers. The first person told us about two drink specials and took off without asking if we wanted a drink (we did). Then we sat. With menus closed, ready to order and no one in sight. We finally flagged down another server to place our order. I requested a taste of the black ale and the server who delivered it didn’t wait for me to taste it before she split. Another server took my tasting glass and asked if I liked it. By that point I had given up on having a beer and drank water.
The sushi rolls we ordered were decent but nothing special. The consistency of them was a little mushy. We’ll go elsewhere for sushi next time we’re in Portland.

The staff was impressive, attentive and a level of kind that was extremely sincere. Over all I was extremely impressed.
They serve *real* Wasabi, and it is incredible!
The NW Philadelphia roll was delicious, it was lacking something, though I’m not sure what.
The Highway 35 was mind blowing. Saki poached pears on top gave it a little something extra, without being over powering.
For desert was quite possibly the best Crem Brulet I have ever had.
I highly recommend you try this place if you have not already.

I love bamboo! Unilocalers have been taking themselves too seriously lmao, they’re new of course there’s kinks to work out jeez it’s a restaurant, and there are kinks to work out with everything in life! The mushrooms are to die for, seaweed salad is great, cali roll is good, nw Philly, the local roll, etc. They really do it right here I love bamboo on 23^rd too! Plus the service is always spot on! Best sushi place I’ve tried in pdx so far!

I have to agree that this location needs to work out some kinks. I have been a customer of the NW location for many years and absolutely love the food and atmosphere.
This location has a much more casual feel. The music was blaring and quite obnoxious 80’s journey and the clash. Not what I want to hear when purchasing an expensive meal and intend to have a nice dinner.
Sushi was decent but I hold Bamboo to a high standard. Their «California sunset» I think it was called was EXTREMELY salty. Salty sushi?! The management needs to address this.
Staff was very friendly and attentive.
I will be back once this location is more established.

I will have to agree with Shiyuan’s review below: they are ironing out the kinks and have a long way to go. They messed up on our appetizer, messed up on the entrée for the table next to us, and on the table next to them. Heard staff and manager apologize to 3 different tables in our area. There was not a designated server to us and none of them communicated with each other which meant our drink orders were missed and were charged for food we didn’t order. According to them there was a kink in the computer systems. Everyone was running around like they had their heads chopped which made dinner experience extremely stressful for us.
Food: my boyfriend and I both ordered the Chirashi. The sashimi quality was good but there were chunks of shaved red onion in our Chirashi. Why would you do that? It completely overpowers the delicate flavors of the sashimi. We also ordered the tsukemono salad, but were given the sunomono salad instead so we got to try both. The tsukemomo salad is not your traditional tsukemono. It was a couple slices of pickled beets, kimchee style pickled radishes, and pickled cucumbers. Not quite worth $ 6. The sunomono was fine-​an unusually large portion of shaved cucumbers in rice vinegar ($ 4).
The one thing my boyfriend did like was the whiskey selection. He ordered the Yamazaki 12 year which he has found to be hard to come across in restaurants.