Amaya Japanese Restaurant and Ultra Lounge

Great food, atmosphere, and attentiveness. Ryan and CiCi are amazing. It’s always a fun an inexpensive place to eat. Their happy hour deals always have my friends, coworkers and myself coming back for more.

Nice place inside, service was slow and only one waiter for 7 tables with customers. Plates are nice and fancy but the food a one star. Gross and won’t go back, even my drink from the bar — Long Island ice tea was blue and Couldn’t drink it. The water I got was good but the second glass tasted like it game from the sink. Atmosphere was good but food NO!

Thank you for the reply
I’m not sure what you mean by attentive.
If you read my post it said «I don’t need the smart ass sushi chef behind the counter to chime in on my conversations with my wife»
Im pretty sure that’s not the definition of attentive. That means RUDE
Along with the fact the reviews are still very bad on your restaurant. And all seems to say the same thing. SERVICE !!!
Mp

3^rd time trying this place and will definitely be the last! Food that was supposed to be warm was served cold, alcohol beverages took way too long to be delivered, and by the time they were brought to our table they were watered down because the ice melted. The sushi rolls were over-​priced and not impressive, and a few times we had to even follow up on our order because it took so long; 2 orders were even incorrect so we had to wait even longer for our food. Our waitress was polite, but the overall service was terrible. …I left disappointed to say the least and felt it was a waste of hard earned money.

From the outside this place looks pretty upscale but a totally different story inside. I expected this place to have a ambiance similar to Yard House or Cheesecake Factory but décor and overall design was subpar.
The waitress who served our table was rude and she didn’t seem to have much training. When we asked what was in their rowboat (sashimi boat) she first had to look at our menu to see what we were talking about and when she came back from asking the sushi chef she said and I quote «oh so I asked the sushi chef but he’s in a bad mood so he didn’t tell me what fish it was, just the freshest» … Well that might fool other customers but I would like to know what I’m getting for $ 30.
Didn’t even get to try the food because my girlfriend was so turned off by everything

We’ve gone back several times since my last review. The food is still delicious and we now sit at the sushi bar every time so service has been speedy and great!
2÷18÷16 update:
Ok I may have spoken too soon — today not a good customer experience — I won’t remove the star rating since prior to today they’ve been consistent in food and service.
Went in solo today to just have a sushi roll, soup and salad. Walked to an empty seat at the sushi bar as usual to be told that the seat and the one next to it was reserved — whaaat, reserved? Didn’t know you could reserve a sushi seat. I’m 9 mos pregnant so I wasn’t happy with being told 2 seats were reserved and the rest of the bar being full. There wasn’t any other feasible spot at the sushi bar so I sat at the bar hoping to get faster service. I knew what I wanted to order but it appeared the bartender was the server too and busy checking in with other tables. After sitting there for 10 min, I was over it and decided to leave. Oh and the guests the seats were reserved for did not appear in the 10 min I was there. I’ll try them out another day… hopefully not a repeat.

This place is so pretty Inside, lots of potential. Seems to be out of everything you order tho.

Been here twice. I tried a few Sushi rolls, tempura, Miso, Salad and Mochi ball ice cream desert. The Sushi is unremarkable, but not bad. Tempura is delicious. Miso soup is delightful… just the right amount of salt and ingredients. The Mochi ball deserts are lovely. like Boba coated Ice Cream balls. The décor is dark. Nice place for a drink. Good value.

Literally the worst place ever!!! We sat at the bar and they wouldn’t serve us all you can eat at the bar but no one told us that they don’t serve all you can eat at the bar. We had to move all of our stuff to a table to get all you can eat. Their bottomless mimosa special is not bottomless, they have a limit but did not tell us and charged us for our last round. The place is completely empty and now we know why. DO NOT COME HERE!!! Worst service ever!!!

Great food at a reasonable price. I started with the Bento Box with chicken, great pick and then they had a wonderful low price drink which was a honeydew whiskey shot for a few dollars. Amazing to go with the food and good company. I have come here with friends and a few dates so this place is a nice lounge style zen area. Come for a great time, see you here!

Right next to work so we often come in for lunch.
The sushi is very fairly priced. Really fresh and the taste is also great. Very nice staff. Come in during happy hour so you can get an even greater deal!

Great for lunch, I wouldn’t go for dinner unless you’re going for the ayce sushi however the bentos are the perfect lunch size and the deserts are so yum

The food is okay. You get what you pay for. The Mochi ice cream was the best part of the entire meal. Wouldn’t come back for the food. It seems like more of a bar club type place

Called in for a reservation. I was a bit iffy on the manager at first but she ended up putting us in a great spot! Service was great! Very attentive and helpful especially with Sake. Food was awesome! Just an all out great place to go. Everyone is pretty friendly too! Sushi is very tasty and I’m not a seafood eater!

Rogelio and katsuson are the most amazing sushi chefs in riverside! I’m huge on sushi and this is by far the best sushi I’ve had! I will continue to recommend this place for awhile! Thanks guys

the rolls were very big, double or even triple filled with rice. Also found a little green guy crawling in my salad and was told «it just probably wasn’t washed». Date was Sunday ¹²⁄₂₇ about 1:15 pm.

First timer, and came in just in time for the extended special for black Friday and it so also happened to be HH.
Ramen-​$ 5 on special
broth was pretty bland but I added two 2 ounces of garlic ponzu sauce, a little drizzle of soy sauce, and some siracha to taste and I completely changed the soup! My friends have been here mutliple times and have ordered the Ramen in the past, and both of them (including the server) told me not to order it because it’s not flavorful. Me being who I am, knew I could change the flavor profile and besides I was freezing and wanted something Caliente to warm me up. It was super good! My friends were eating my leftovers because they were super impressed and loved it!
I also tried the veggie gyoza, which was $ 2 on happy hour and it was super tasty! The shrimp shumai was pretty good. Not the best I’ve had but you can’t beat it for only $ 2 (also on happy hour). The rest of the group had rolls and they apparently like to go to this place so I’m judging that they like it alot. The only thing I’d complain about is the service. They’ve been here multiple times, as stated before, and they said service is always slow. We waited forever for California rolls. Like what? Really? Also, there’s an Asian lady that works there that is not friendly and apparently always seems unhappy with her job everytime my friends go there. Our server was very friendly, but the service again, was slow and they were never prepared with anything. We had to keep asking for ginger, saucers, wasabi, siracha, soy sauce… it was unreal, get it together. If someone is ordering sushi, mske sure you bring saucers for the soysauce and wasabi! Other than that I’d Def be back again, but only for happy hour!

This past experience at Amaya was my 2^nd time there. We had a group of 6+babies. The restaurant was open and clean and the bar looked pretty. We were greeted (?) at the door, which was nice. (They all shouted something in another language). They had a special where if you bought 1 higher priced roll, you got a second one of a lower prices free which was great! A lot of us got sushi rolls, not the best, but also not the worst I’ve had. My husband got the filet mignon plate. For the price it was small, but he said it was good.
We definitely didn’t have a bad experience with the service, but it wasn’t extraordinary either.
Overall it was a 3 star experience.

My boyfriend and I wanted a fun date night spot before our movie and Amaya delivered! Perfect lighting and atmosphere and the service is so much better than when we ate here a few months ago. I can’t believe how reasonable their prices are… Happy Hour has KILLER DEALS. We asked a lot of questions about their sushi and we were told by the sushi chef that they are picky in terms of freshness.
Here are our recommendations:
–Sake bombs– $ 1.50 WHAAAAT?
–Naughty and Spice– fruity and delish
–Wild Berrytini-​wow– can I bathe in this?
–Chicken yakitori appetizer– yummers
–Gyoza– seriously good potstickers
–Honeymoon roll– served on FIRE!
–Teppan Yaki– we split this… getting full
Presentation is gorgeous– feels 5 star restaurantish.
Our server was Scott… gave awesome recommendations and service!
Added plus– theaters upstairs so we had time for cocktails to wear off… we are making this a regular spot to frequent. Entire dinner and drinks less than $ 40. Nice

This is our second time going to the restaurant and most likely our last.
Ate there last night a Saturday evening only a few people in the restaurant. Yet there were probably five or six employees on the floor working.
We were promptly greeted by our waiter and he took our drink order. Within a few minutes he was back with our drinks and took our order. From that point everything went downhill.
They delivered our salads and we asked for silverware and it took five or six minutes before someone returned with forks. When we also asked for knives the lady who appeared to be the manager rolled her eyes and left. About four minutes later she brought them back.
Then one of our meals arrived. About five minutes after that the other two people meals arrived and we had one person in our party still waiting for their Dinner. We asked our waiter twice about the meal. It took 14 minutes for my wife to finally get her fish dinner. How hard is it to grill a piece of fish. When it was finally brought out by a different server there was no apology only excuses.
The fish was dry, my sushi was less than one would expect. The service was also extremely poor with follow-​up to our meal. The entire time there was probably only about four other parties in the restaurant.
This so easily could have been a great experience yet it appeared the waitstaff and other employees continually disappeared off of the floor for long periods of time and we’re in the back of the kitchen. Not sure what was going on back there. We couldn’t count the number of times that there was no waiters or staff on the floor and they were all back behind some door.
To whoever the manager or owner is it appears you have enough employees working there just not taking care of the guest. You might also let them know when you goof up it’s better to apologize and take ownership and make excuses.
We won’t be returning. Very disappointed.

Poor food… I’ve been to many Japanese food places around the area and in the OC.
Service: the waiter sat us down with no menus. Yet, he asked us what we wanted to drink? Not sure how were supposed to know what’s on the menu? After that though, food was brought out timely.
Food: this is really where the failure arises. The miso soup was watery. The salad was served with a mayonnaise that was too thick for a small salad. The sushi rice was completely overcooked. I ordered a sushi combo and the rice around the rolls and the nigiri was like biting into burnt, crispy rice (not the good paella kind). My dad ordered a beef bento box, with the tempura being served with chicken stock for the tempura sauce? Not very traditional. Overall, not satisfied with the food. Sauces were muddled and food overcooked.
Perhaps, the ultra lounge is good for its liquor. Certainly not for the sushi.

I really wanted to give them 4 stars, but just couldn’t cause their service was too bad. I felt bad for the waitress though because she was the only one working there… they’re too understaffed and need to hire more people.
Anyway, I got the salmon teppanyaki which was a pretty good deal and I’d come here over Shogun. However, my sister’s order took twice as long as mine to come out. By the time I was practically finished with my meal, her food finally come out. There weren’t that many people here either, so there shouldn’t be a reason why the food was taking so long to come out, unless they only have one person working in the kitchen as well.
The shu mai appetizer was mediocre. My sister didn’t even want to eat another one after the first bite, and I only ate it because I was really hungry when I came in. Overall, slow service and okay food. Wouldn’t recommend.

The food here is average and the service here is weird. If the staff here was trained better, and had better manners, I might consider coming here again.
My friend ordered a crunch roll and I had a sashimi salad and they were both not bad. My salad was pretty basic with some oddly cut pieces of sashimi but nothing screamed «food poisoning» which I was thankful for. My friends roll looked ok, nothing spectacular. Being in Riverside, I didn’t have high expectations for the food but the service here was just bizarre.
We came here on a Sunday afternoon around noon and the place was 95% empty but the host, waitresses/​serves acted like it was a full house. When our food came out one of the servers (didn’t catch her name) asked me to grab my own food from her arms because she was «too tired» to place my food down for me. UHM WUT?! Following that incident the waitress kept hinting at my friend and I to wrap up our meal and leave. If the restaurant was packed and people were waiting outside I would totally get this but the restaurant was basically empty and she kept trying to get rid of us. Weird.
I was hoping this would be a decent place to eat with my friends when I was home in Riverside but the service totally killed this place for me.

Ehh, I mean, the food comes out quickly? Service is really good here, but the sushi just isn’t. The fish doesn’t taste fresh, and there’s limited offerings of sashimi. You can tell it’s not really a great sushi because there’s no real way to order sashimi a la carte. If you want sashimi, you have to get a giant boat of it. Also, the menu is huge, and it focuses heavily on rolls.
Got some udon here, a roll with smoked salmon, salmon skin maki, and a poke salad. Udon portions were large for the price (under $ 10), and salmon skin maki came out in a large size as well (there wasn’t a lot of skin in the actual maki, but what was there was grilled well). The poke salad had scant pieces of fish that was so overly dressed, you could not taste the actual salmon or tuna. There was also way more fake crab meat in this dish than salad greens or fish.
Ambiance gets a C-​. It’s pretty sticky, and the interior already looks a little worn, especially the booth seats. I think it’s meant to be romantic, but the place kind of needs a deep clean. For Riverside sushi, it’s not bad, but as sushi in general, it’s not so great.

Always have great service and the food is bomb! The bar is nice and clean.
Restaurant is really clean and the music is nice.
The manager Beka is the sweetest and is always taking care of us.
They have good lunch deals right now. Buy one sushi roll get one half off or free if one of your rolls is a Amaya Special !!
I had a few left overs and I took them to my mom who has never been to Amaya and the first thing she said was OMG this sushi is so good I need to try this place