Hotaru

33 3rd Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
Phone: (650) 343-1152

Hotaru is a small Japanese place with about a dozen tables, and often there's a short wait for a table. There's about six seats at the sushi bar as well.

The sushi here is pretty consistent - not the absolute best in the world, but it's good and reasonably priced. I've enjoyed some wonderful maguro (tuna) here, and they have some tasty rolls. A variety of specials cover one wall. My favorite thing here is to come during lunch and get one of their combos - hot udon, chicken teriyaki, and tekyu roll for under $8. This is a lot of food, and sometimes we order that special for dinner and split it with a variety of sushi.

Food:	6 - consistently good sushi, great udon, not too expensive (comparatively, for sushi!)
Ambience:	3 - tables are close and it's often crowded
Service:	3 - wait staff seems to always be in motion, and you need to be proactive in ordering
Overall:	6 - good sushi and udon and value

review written 11/03/2002 by stjarna - latest restaurant visit 1/1/2003 for celebratory dinner ;)

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