Yu Shang Mandarin Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Marin County Health Dept. gave them conditional pass based on
«Vermin: 30 – 40 live cockroaches on 1÷6÷2016. This resulted in closure of the restaurant until the pests were eradicated. (The issue was resolved by 1÷8÷2016 inspection.)
Hand washing
Hot & cold holding of food
Use of gloves
All violations were reduced to minor by the second inspection. There were 13 minor violations during each of the two inspections.»
That is appalling and is so unacceptable it’s disgusting.

My family has been going here for 20 years and the service and food have been consistently high quality, never once disappointing. Great people, great service. Amazing food. I figured it was time to write a Unilocal review. I always get the Henry Special and the cucumber salad with mayo and crab. Doesn’t get better. 5 stars and counting.

Alrighty, I always come here for lunch, but today was just plain bad service. I was seated around the sushi chef and waited for 17mins. no one came to even give me a menu. I noticed that people who had came in way after me were helped right away. That’s when I had to go up to the back area to ask to please be helped… and they weren’t even that busy! Especially for being lunch time. Anywho, I gave two stars because I usually love coming here… and I like eating lunch here. I hope they can be more attentive…

Our favorite sushi house in the bay area. We ADORE Henry, but all the chefs are wonderful, the fish fresh, and the selection perfect for the picky and the adventurous. ENJOY!

My boyfriend took me here like 5 years ago to try the sushi (I didn’t like sushi at all) so we sat at the sushi bar, started talking with the sushi chef «Cesar», after a couple of minutes I was eating a dragon roll, California roll, and a cucumber salad!!! Cesar is the best, now I loved sushi, and I had been eating in a few sushi restaurants, but We always go back to this place specially if Cesar is there…
I want to give 5 stars, but the only thing that I had try here is the sushi, and believe me is the best sushi in town go and ask for Cesar!!! ;o)

Such great food. I am never disappointed. Great to come with a friend or a group of people. The phở is amazing! And the sushi is great too. They have a lot of options

The vietnamese part of the restaurant seems to be the most legit. The Chinese part is pretty shady with Japanese super shady. Basically 3 restaurants connected together.
Limited phở options here in Marin, especially any that is decent. For San Rafael Yu Shang Phở Dac Biet is passable. I’m not in the city and definitely not in San Jose. Broth had a hint of star anise, low beef flavor and minimal on the msg. Large phở is a small at places in the city like Kevin’s. Very small for large and noodles not enough. The dac biet portion of flank, brisket, tendon and tripe were quite good to my surprise, very tender and clean. The tai could of been a few more slices and quality not so good, its pinkish color and not much blood.
Cha Gio is not vietnamese, it was chinese egg rolls, huge size and very potato doughy. They probably think the white folks don’t know the difference but many white folks are very savvy especially from the city.
Garnishes — lemon not lime. thai basil not vietnamese/​chinese basil. beansprouts oxidizing brown shows customers do not use and turnover is slow.
Overall better than Phở Viet. Need to try the only one left, Saigon Village which was closed today on Tuesday thus Yu Shang.
4 stars for the phở only not the Chinese or Japanese. I will not be having that for sure. Also, 4 stars because they are in San Rafael, if they were in the city it will be 2 and if in San Jose, zero.

We tried to go here last week and there was a sign on the front door saying the Marin County health department had closed it for rodent /​vermin infestation. I pulled up the report on the Marin County site and there were a number of violations.
Too bad, because I think it’s the best of the three options in Marin for Vietnamese food… their Phở and their Bun is amazing. But they need to clean up their act — literally — before I will return here. I tried to overlook the dirty table and tableware (the condiments looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in months) but clearly the whole place needs a complete overhaul.
If you want to read the health report, you san see more here:

One of our favorite places to go in Marin. My husband grew up at this restaurant and it never disappoints. The Crab special is crave-​worthy. The sushi chefs always remember us and take care of us. They are super cute with my toddler and work quickly and efficiently. The sushi is fresh and unique pairings.

I’ve been coming here for over 20 years. I have never had bad service or bad food. I just looked at some of the reviews posted here that were one and two stars and it seems that some people no matter what will be unhappy, and let one small thing ruin their whole week. Song the owner, Henry and Caesar at the sushi bar and Vinny the sushi bar attendant are all very hardworking great guys. If you go to this place they go out of their way to make sure you have a great experience. Most people I bring with me more than once they remember my guests names when they return for their second visit! They write nothing down but you can rattle off about 10 things when you sit down to the sushi bar and they make them all quickly and remember all modifications. A few things I would like to share about the food: The Cucumber salad is very large and I have been to a lot of sushi places and nowhere compares to the size of their salad. You can even add crab special to it for an additional few dollars. A few great rolls you should try that you won’t find on any menu but you can order them are 1. The Carburetor roll this one it’s a large roll topped with crab special and 2. The Lucky Star roll this one is wrapped in Avocado! I believe both rolls have shrimp tempura in them also but I forget the rest of the ingredients one of the guys can fill you in. They are $ 20 a piece and quite large. I hope you enjoy this place as much as I do!

2 stars at best… Nothing here is fresh. I have tried to eat here at all 3 places. Phở is ok at best, sushi and Chinese are all awful. Just skip it, trust me…

I love how this place is a 3 in 1 restaurant. You have so many options to choose from — Japanese, Chinese & Vietnamese food. Prices are also reasonable.

YU Shang should be called YU Should Not…
Now I know why I stopped going there 13 years ago! I’ll stick to Pings

What a shame, this restaurant is really just intended on making a PROFIT.
The quality, art, and style is really just thrown out the window. I don’t ever see myself coming back to this restaurant.
Eating a meal is not a mindless thing to me.
They have average pricing for food that feels like it’s thrown together on a plate and served. I may have high standards and expectations, but I am able to look past that.
There is no craft or time devoted to the food, it’s disrespected.
Upon eating here, my friend got an expired can of soda (4 months expired), they did not have 3 of the items I requested. The quality of the food was not good, you specially need a high quality for raw fish. I got Tempura shrimp & veggies (I got 2 shrimp), TOO much oil. I left most of the food there. What a shame that food goes to waste.
These thoughts are all over the place, but I strongly disapprove of this restaurant. I wish I could of given it no stars.
I am not easily dissatisfied, but I know better. I don’t know why it has 4 stars, maybe just because of the pricing.
IF YOU MUST, go ahead and experience it personally. But I discourage others from coming here.

Can’t decide between chinese, vietnamese, or japanese cuisine? No worries, it’s all here in one spot! Order all! That’s what we did! Yumm!
Go to place in San Rafael!

Just, wow! The phở is amazing. The broth is delicious and the large is worth every penny. Fortunately, pricing isn’t so bad. It was something like $ 9.75 for the large? I definitely had enough to take home for a second meal. The service was quick, being that it was during the lunch hour, so that’s always a plus for me. I also ordered the vietnamese iced coffee on my way out and while it’s among the stronger coffees, theirs didn’t give me a migraine.
This place is a gem. I’ll be back to try their Chinese and Japanese dishes. But I can safely say that their Vietnamese food is on point!

I know what you are thinking… Mandarin/​Japanese/​Vietnamese, really? Yeah, but at least its not like American/​Mexican/​Chinese place I’ve seen in the very very east bay (Concord?). No, its definitely NOT like that place.
This place is so good. Granted my review is based on the sushi rolls (two, to be exact) I am really excited to go back and try their other food!
The rolls I tried: PUNK ROCK & ROLL. Stop. its freaking grilled Hamachi in it and lemon drizzled on top of it. IT. IS. HEAVEN! but wait, then there’s the Crazy Henry Roll. it is everything. Crunchy, spicy and then oh… what? this cabbage/​lettuce salad with mayonnaise (!!! bleh) dressing that looks really really scary especially to me since I can’t really stomach the stuff but I tried it and am SOLD.
The owner was our sushi chef. This place has been around for YEARS. My friend introduced me to this place gotta say I love it.
Too bad its so far away from me — located on a weird corner in San Rafael. (The canal neighborhood.) .
Parking is lot and big plus is a tiny Mexican grocery next door! Go now!

Our favorite Phở joint (Saigon Village) was closed, so we tried our luck at Yu Shang.
We were seated, with 3 separate menus to peruse: Sushi, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
We were hankering for phở, and ordered the Phở Ga (tasty chicken noodle soup, with lots of quality chicken pieces) and Seafood Phở (also good). The shrimp/​pork Spring Rolls were delicious, fresh, and not loaded with noodles.
We prefer the more flavorful broths at Saigon Village, but we will return to Yu Shang to try the Chinese menu.

Absolutely excellent food. Got take-​out here for the first time tonight and couldn’t be happier. Everything was delicious, the gentleman who took my order over the phone was courteous and helpful, and everything was ready when promised.
This restaurant has great food at a very reasonable price. I’ll definitely be back.
Highly recommended.

My mother’s admonishment rings in my ears: «if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all». This will help you to understand the brevity of this review.
Others have mentioned that the raw fish is previously frozen. They’ve also mentioned that it is inexpensive (almost every 2-​piece nigiri order is under $ 5). I can’t confirm whether the fish was previously frozen; I know only that the cuts of fish are small, the quality of fish is adequate (no more/​no less), and paying any more for this quality of sushi would be overpaying.
As for the faux-​crab topped cucumber salad ($ 6.95), the seed-​heavy (and more faux crab) California Roll ($ 3.60), the take-​it-​or-​leave-​it service, and the 1950’s grandmother’s house décor? Remember what my mother said.
Yu Shang has three different menus: A Japanese menu (raw fish only), a Chinese menu, and a Vietnamese menu. Different parties at your table can order off of different menus. I ordered solely from the Japanese menu. Perhaps you’ll experience greater luck ordering Chinese or Vietnamese food. Perhaps, though I imagine not.