Jusco

Photo by AndrewChen Some food. Hey, look — more food!

Jusco is a sushi buffet restaurant that probably has the most polarized reviews of all the restaurants in Davis. The good news for Jusco is most of the bad reviews were in years past, while the recent reviews overall are much more positive and note improvement in food, atmosphere and service — you may wish to scroll to the bottom of the reviews first. Everyone seems to agree that it is conveniently located downtown across the street from Fuji's, and that there is never a problem finding a table, but the agreements end there. Many people think that the quality is highly questionable. These people complain about overly salted food, sushi that smells really fishy, and poor service. Others seem to like the variety, especially the cooked items. People especially recommend their tasty selection of fried snackables (eg. salt & pepper prawns, calamari). They tend to serve their sushi rice warm and very light on the vinegar; some customers like this as a sign of authenticity, while others think it makes the sushi taste less fresh.

As for the service, although the old man is quite nice, some of the servers are known to forget orders, and allegedly say offensive things about their customers in Cantonese. A few patrons often feel like they are being watched to make sure they eat every grain of sushi rice from their nigiri, since leaving behind a lot of rice will result in extra charges (This is meant to prevent people from making sashimi out of the nigiri) . You will also be charged extra if you pay with a credit card. Over all this is the place to go if you find yourself downtown and want a sushi buffet without having to wait in line for a table, don't want to have to pick your food up from sushi boats, or don't want your food to have been sitting under heat lamps.

Also, you get a free meal on your birthday if you can drag another paying adult along with you. By way of comparison, you need three paying adults to get a free meal on your birthday at Davis Sushi Buffet.

This place used to be the Davis Saloon Vietnamese Restaurant.

These are the picture menus they put up on the wall in their booths.

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• Reviews from 2005 - 11 comments.
  

• Reviews from 2006 - 13 comments.
  

• Reviews from 2007 - 16 comments.

2008-02-04 00:55:47   AMAZING RESTAURANT! Amazing service, really good music, and of course, the food was stupendous. I have been to Japanese restaurants from California to New York, and find this food to be the best tasting. I love that the rice is warm, and I love the sociability of the waiters. Whenever I have enough money to eat at restaurants, I almost always choose Jusco. —wunder1

2008-02-15 14:49:14   First off, the Pro's and Con's are very contridictive.... Now I just ate here last night for the umpteenth time, and I still love it. The size and temp of the rolls are perfect, call me crazy but I don't want my sushi to be freezing. I truly recommend the Shredded Crab rolls. I haven't eaten at Fuji's, because I like to be seated when I'm ready to eat, and the fact that its small and not always busy gives that feeling that you stumbled upon a hidden Gold Mine. And since when is ethnicity play a part in food prep? I know Mexican and Italian Restaurants that are owned by Jewish people... All in All, eat here, you'll like it —nc69chicano

2008-02-17 22:02:41   The quality of the sushis have gone up over the past six months, I have to admit. They've added some new dishes to the menu that are pretty tasty. I mostly like this restaurant for their calamari. :D —BigRedGum

2008-02-21 23:35:09   This place is great. The elderly man speaks little english but is extremely nice. After only two times of coming in (on busy days) he remembered my drink preference and brings me a soup without having me fill out the little paper. Even after not going in for a few weeks he still remembers. The other staff are all also very nice, and treat repeat customers like family. Sometimes they forget orders(if it is busy, or you order a lot), but you can always order anything again. They are always very flexible on leaving things off, or adding things i.e. not putting sauce on the crab cheese wontons. I have been to sushi places not only all over Davis, but San Francisco, and this is the cheapest, most convenient, sushi and hot snacks around. P.S. If you go in for dinner try the calamari. I never would have thought I would eat such a thing, but theirs is great! —lindseyloo9210

2008-03-11 18:47:11   I just visited Jusco again last week after about 8 months. The menu has changed dramatically with more rolls! The hot food menu, which requires, in my opinion, no change whatsoever was excellent as usual. They have different items for lunch and dinner and some extra items for weekends... so people should check it out for lunch and for dinner!

the one thing that impresses me is that the food quality has seem to gone up from when I first tried it in 2005. They still remember me and are still very courteous. And like the other people have said here, the old gentleman is perhaps one of the most attentive people in the restaurant and is extremely polite, though he only knows a little english. I always like to leave a fat tip.

Overall, I'm glad they have approved in food quality and selection and I'm happy to recommend this place to friends and to daviswiki! —CalvinCheng

2008-03-20 13:34:11   I don't know what it is about this place, but I keep coming back here for dinner. Quality wise, Nobu may be the best for dinner, hands down. But for variety, and the option to eat a whole bunch of fried things, Jusco does it best. I heard Fuji's offers dinner now, so I'm pretty sure I'm never going here again. Still, Jusco has new rolls, and they are lively and pretty tasty! Give it a chance. —CoreyPham

2008-04-13 20:17:45   I went last week for a friend's birthday with 13 people, and they accommodated us so well! They were great for serving so many people: they didn't forget anything we wrote down. Evidently they give you a free meal if it's your birthday! —wunder1

2008-04-20 18:58:13   I love this place. The people are very friendly and accommodate. Granted, the sushi isn't that great, but for its cheap price (considering its sushi) and nice atmosphere i say its definitely worth going. —ASQWIK

2008-05-02 19:30:57   I went to Jusco last week wondering what had happened after reading a negative review in the Aggie. Just before going, however, I read the recent reviews here and the reviews overall were very positive. I am pleased to report that I had a very good meal meal, one of the best I've had here. The quality indeed has gone up. It's not the five star sushi that I can get in San Francisco or Santa Barbara, but it is good. I don't understand the person complaining about the price. I usually get about 12-15 items and you can leave with tip Mon-Thu for $20. That's about $1.35-$1.50/per — how can anyone complain?!?!! (A tiny bit more on weekends.) Some of the rolls are quite interesting, and I find the fish tasty (esp. like the makerel and eel.) The service was great! The older guy is one of the nicest servers in Davis without fail. The young guy was doing a great job too, and was very apologetic for missing my filled-out order, but it was only a few minutes and no problem. I usually get two rounds and they have never failed to ask me if I want a third round. They do always seem to push the hot food, I suspect if it is cheaper and fills people up, but they have never complained if I'm only getting Sushi. It is a business; I have no problem with them trying to make a profit as long as they keep a customer-first attitude. In past visits I was annoyed on occasion by drunk patrons from G Street opening the pass-through door and leaving it open with lots of noise and an unwelcome draft coming in to Jusco. But on this visit when this happened the employees promptly shut the door. I've tried all three Sushi places on G Street, and this is by far the best of the three to my taste. There's something about the place I like that I can't quite put my finger on — it's not your typical sushi place, but something about the atmosphere, price, a-y-c-eat, service combo makes it a place I like to frequent.

(I can't even believe the review from the guy who peeled his sushi rice off the fish and put it in a bag and accused them of trying to stuff people with rice - yeah, right - what do you think the margin of profit for such a place is? - certainly not enough to provide all-you-can-eat sashimi.) —AlanMiller

2008-05-27 17:39:07   Jusco's! Makes me extremely happy. A little pricey, but it is all you can eat sushi. Very nice service, and food comes out relatively quickly. If your'e eever in a huge sushi mood, then this is probably one of the best places, if not the best place in davis to go to. —film

2008-06-04 20:42:38   I consider myself a sushi snob. I have eaten at alot of high class sushi places and paid $200+ just for my own bill at these places. The sushi at those places was great but it hurt my wallet. I eat at Jusco alot and for the price it is pretty damn good. I've been eating there ever since it opened and it has continually gotten better. The service is prompt, the food is great and you can't beat the price. If there's something you like that's not on the menu just ask and they'll make it for you. I know the owner and consider him a good friend and if I'm there and witness any of you negative people(ex. plastic bag riceball idiot) on here disrespect this place in any way the owner won't be the one you'll have to worry about I'll toss you out myself. You still need to use your manners at restaurants people!! —Kicker

2008-06-05 11:50:12   Every sushi place has its positives and negatives, but on the whole this is the best place to get a sushi lunch in Davis. —PeteWillits

2008-06-10 01:55:32   Pricy.... D: —xcutioners

2008-06-28 19:00:20   That guy said pricy??? What an idiot! Where else can you get all-u-can-eat sushi for $15. Drive to Reno or Vegas in a casino maybe. —Kicker

• You could try Sushi Nobu... —JoePomidor
  

• Or Fuji Chef or Davis Sushi Buffet —JonathanLawton
  

2008-06-30 20:04:41   I like Nobu too, but they only have all-u-can-eat at lunch and then only at the sushi bar. :( —Kicker

• Actually you might find that they do a decent dinner buffet too, for $14.99. Also, I have had the buffet for lunch at a table before with no problems, besides an inability to order rolls directly from the chefs. I would assume the same applies to dinners, but I cannot definitively back that up. — JoePomidor
  

2008-07-01 12:17:36   This is my most favoirte Sushi place in downtown Davis. I wish I could afford to go here more often. The Sushi is always fresh, quick and good. As are the hot all you can eat items. —JamesLDownie

2008-07-09 18:39:38   Personally I think Fuji sucks. Nobu is good, but Jusco has a better selection of maki and nigiri —Kicker

2008-10-06 18:05:42   This place isnt Mukinis but for the price it is soooooooo GOOD!!!! You always get great customer service, and since it is unlimited you can eat your weight in sushi if you want. —SaraTarro

2008-10-29 21:25:32   I've gone here for quite some time now, and really like this place. The owner's really nice and polite with us, and they've been adding lots of rolls all the time. My favorite roll has to be the Dragon Roll/Green Dragon Roll - normally we get a ton of these every time. Their fried calamari is really good, and especially their crab meat cheese wontons. I prefer Jusco's over Fuji's because there's never a long line to get in, and because I don't really like the boat style sushi, because you never know just how long the fish has been floating there. It's a lot more convenient to just pick and choose what you want from the pictures/descriptions and write down specific numbers of each order, and have them delivered to you. —JaimeG

2008-11-22 20:31:22   I go here all the time! They have great sushi here, it beats waiting in line all day at Fuji and the wait staff that lies about their menu over at Davis Sushi Buffet. The wait staff are nice but if it is busy you may need to check up on your order. The have updated their menu in the last few months so if you haven't been in a while you should try it again. The service is always great for me here with out having to know a second language. I'm also a Vegan and this place is very veggie friendly. They have many veggie rolls on the menu already but if you ask they will offer to make you other types of veggie rolls, and you can ask to have many of the hot dishes made with tofu instead of chicken. The dinner prices are a little steep but lunch is a great deal, and if it isn't too busy and you keep ordering food (with out wasting) you can sit there and study! —amber15

2008-12-07 01:53:34   BEST SUSHI BEUFFET RESTURANT EVER!

Okay so as me and my 3 friends walk in, we were like man wtf lets go to fuji or davis since shashimi is limited and most of the better stuff is during dinner. MAN was I to rash, after getting my appetizers my opinion started to change. Fried Prawn god damn so delecious. The Shashimi which was the best i ever eaten at any sushi buffet, though it was limited i just ordered the nigiri. And yes with the quality of shashimi NO ONE CAN AFFORD ALL YOU CAN EAT.
i also base this on how every weekend i go to a sushi buffet.

Well go try it yourself, i bet youll get a different opinion and a new favorite shushi buffet. And yes fuji and davis sushi quality is incomparable,seriously, once you bite into one of the green dragon roll, with its delicious texture you be wowed. All we did was talk about how it was too good to be all you can eat.

O yea, the old guy who works there, i have to agree with everyone he makes you smile, kinda feels like a grandpa for some reason o.0. —aznstryder712

2008-12-12 00:10:47   I went there tonight and it was good as always. This is by far my favorite sushi place in Davis. The selection and freshness is unbeatable. AND is all you can eat! —moonmonkey18

2008-12-13 11:55:50   My friend old me about this place, and honestly I was really sketchy about it BUT it turned out to be BETTER than my expectations. I went with 3 of my housemates last night and you order by marking a sheet with what you want and they have PICTURES of what the roll looks like by the table.

They have a good variety of sushi (kitty roll <3 & huricane rol) and hot foods (mm cream cheese wontons & calamari & shrimp ..anything deep fried!!). We left the place stuffed...& unbuttoned jeans ._. Oh and you'll meet the old guy, who's sooo adorable & friendly!! ^_ He reminded me of my grandpa —MissAmyQ

2009-01-30 17:15:08   Oh my god, I love this place, they have amazing sushi rolls, compares to FUJI, Jusco has more variety of rolls, and sashimis, and other hot food as well. People who work there are very friendly. —meiwu

2009-02-08 18:46:58   So today was my first time eating at Suhi Nobu. After going to Juscos about 100 times with friends and family(and absolutely loving it), and reading reviews of the all you can eat sushi places in Davis, I was surprised to see that Juscos was at the bottom of the list. I thought to myself, "How can this be possible? Is their really a place better than Juscos?" Seeing that Sushi Nobu was considered the best sushi place in Davis, I decided to try it out. So today, I got up with a couple of my friends who have been to Juscos, and went to Sushi Nobu for lunch. At Juscos you sit at a booth and order whatever you want, here you just went up and got sushi from the bar. After my friends and I sat down with our Sushi and took our first bites, we all looked up at each other with that "Are you kidding me?" face. The sushi was bland, and flavorless. It was room temperature, and tasted like it had been sitting out for a while. The rice was mushy, and the sushi looked sloppily put together. After several trips to get more sushi from the bar, we were all very very disappointed. There was no comparison, Juscos blew this place out of the water in every way(besides the fact that this place had a big screen t.v.) I feel like I just wasted my money. If you have never gone to Juscos, or haven't been their in a while, I sincerely recommend going there sometime soon and giving it a try. I've heard that Juscos didn't get the greatest reviews back in the day, but is getting better ones now. Maybe thats why they're not packed 24/7. But everyone I've taken there (about 30 different people, including a friend from Japan), have all agreed that Juscos is the best all you can eat sushi they have ever had. GO TRY JUSCOS! I'm about to go right now and spend money I don't have to go get some, as this morning was horrible... Lol. —Austen

2009-02-10 10:39:20   I love Jusco! I've converted many to the cause, and since I'm an equal opportunity eater, I've tried nearly every other sushi place in Davis. They all pale in comparison to the sheer awesomeness of this place. Great selection, great food, great service. They have frequent buyer cards now; they're trying to keep them a secret, but if you ask for one they'll produce it. —HannahReff

2009-02-28 01:04:01   Me and my friends went here for the first time tonight. The staff was courteous, and most of their dishes were very fresh. I actually like all of the sesame seeds they put on the sushi rolls. The downside is that some of our orders came slowly so we ended up ordering much more than we needed and ended up with a lot of extras. The management was nice and allowed us to take it to go for an extra charge... and good because I hate wasting food. So it was good, but the wait for the food isn't. Also... their wonton soup broth was particularly salty for some reason. —MichVan

2009-02-28 08:53:02   I've been here twice. The first time, the service was slow. It took an hour to get our last order, at which point we said screw it and left. The second time, we got everything we ordered in under 5 minutes, every time. In terms of the sushi, everything is tasty.

In short, the service is sometimes horrendous. When it isn't, it's a pretty decent place to go. —WilliamLewis

2009-03-02 23:17:09   They don't seem to be able to accommodate large crowds of customers. They seat lots of people, which is great, but that's simply to get people seated, I went February 28th with my cousin, and I've been here so many times and I keep returning, despite the fact that all my friends love every OTHER sushi place in Davis other than Jusco's, but the service was GOD AWFUL. They hired some new girl and my cousin and I gave her our sheet after filling it out. 20 minutes later she returned with a new sheet asking us if we wanted to order more, even though our previous order NEVER CAME???? We told her that we already put in an order, and she "went to go check", and returned saying she had lost our order????? That would explain why I saw a huge plate of nigiri go to another table (perhaps they did order it.... but where was my order?), but then she became immediately ultra attentive, sadly, I felt it was way too late. I spent a grand total of just shy of 2 and a half hours with my cousin there, most of it waiting for food. Fried stuff comes out MODERATELY quick, but I'm there to eat sushi. I understand that there were lots of customers, but others were not being serviced very well either, so no one was winning, and besides Jusco getting our money, they get this bad review. They have one sushi chef, the old man apparently is left to clean tables and serve fried foods, and they have that new hired girl who takes your orders (and potentially loses them and forgets things, we never got our order of squid and a whole bunch of rolls) and brings you the sushi. Awful awful awful experience, and the food was pretty mediocre at best; my cousin was under the impression that I was grossed out like he was about their salmon, and was shocked when I ordered more. Hey, I'm paying the money, might as well try to enjoy myself... even if it taste kind of bad... Why have us write down what we want if you are going to forget stuff? Should we just tell you? Save money on some markers? —CoreyPham

2009-03-19 18:20:47   Been here three times for the sushi buffet. First time I was here, I went here with friends... service was horrendous. We did not get all of our food; we left Jusco feeling very unsatisfied. But the second and third time, service was great. The food came relatively quickly and without incident (we weren't left hanging, waiting for the rest of our food). The sushi here is decent, though I wish they weren't so stingy about the sashimi (only one order per person per meal). I will probably come back here for lunch sometime soon, however; it's reasonably priced! —sugarpop

The trick for the sashimi thing is to drag along sushi n00bs who aren't daring enough to try sashimi. Then you get to eat their order... om nom nom. Although truth be told, 50¢ for four extra slices isn't that bad. I've been known to pay extra for more if their sashimi is especially good that day. —wl

2009-04-24 11:33:49   Best restaurant ever. Best thing to do is not eat for a day or two, then go to Jusco and have an eating competition with some friends. You might be really full, but its totally worth it. The food is great, the service is great, and the prices are unbelievable for the amount of fantastic food (if I do say so myself). If you like sushi, this is the place to go. Even if you're not the biggest fan of sushi, they have good hot food on their buffet list. I love this place. I defiantly recommend it to anyone =) —SarahYablon

2009-08-15 22:18:24   I am 16 and i went to jusco's with a party of 5 other 16 years olds... all i had to do was show my permit and the owner was nice enough to give me a free meal on my birthday :D
I have tried other sushi places in davis: mikuni's , fujii boat ,davis sushi buffet, even safeway sushi!
but those places are either overpriced for what they have to offer or just plain gross.
I always get the spider roll and dragon roll when i am on the go and want lunch, the first time i ordered pick up from them i thought it would be a little bit of sushi so i ordered both rolls, turns out i ended up sharing with like 4 people, they give a lot of sushi when you order the rolls (at least like 25 pieces) and the sauces that go on top of the sushi are excellent. I also love their miso soup. I recommend Jusco's —lajolla4joya