Yuki Japanese Restaurant
Published December 12, 2021
I decided to explore some restaurants during my Thanksgiving break from work. After some research, I found Yuki Japanese Restaurant in Oakland, New Jersey. I enjoyed Yuki so much on my first visit, I went back for dinner a few weeks later. This blog is a combination review of my first lunch impression and subsequent dinner.
I visited Yuki by myself during lunch on a Tuesday afternoon. I figured this would be a mellow time of day to take my time and explore the menu.
Yuki is a storefront I had missed many times when visiting the busy parking lot of this strip mall. Not only is the DMV in this same lot, but you have a dollar store and Farmer’s Market.
I parked and entered Yuki, pausing in the doorway of the foyer. The doorway faced a waitress station, where one waitress stood with her back to the door, ringing up an order.
I stepped farther into the doorway and peeked to the right. The restaurant was small and narrow. A table full of takeout orders sat immediately to my right. A few customers already took up the left-hand wall of booths — sitting in pairs or by themselves. I felt relieved that there were already a few single-diners in the restaurant.
Finally, the waitress noticed me and asked if I was with the table that ordered ahead. I said no and asked if I could sit for lunch. She told me to sit anywhere. Most of the room was already filled, and I didn’t want to sit too close to the sushi bar because I was planning on taking pictures. I took the booth closest to the door, on the left-hand side of the room.
Not long after sitting, 3 women and one guy came in and took the booth across the aisle from me. They ordered their soup and sushi ahead of time for lunch and were able to sit right away and have their food arrive.
Interior Design
The men behind me were quiet as they ate their lunch. One girl at the table across from me talked incessantly about work. I regretted the table I selected because every time a customer arrived for takeout, I felt the breeze from the door opening.
The walls of Yuki on my side of the room were faux stone with dark tiles. The black leather booths had tall backs which gave some privacy. A neon blue light shaped like a wave ran the left-hand wall from where I sat in my booth. On my right, a decorative wallpaper went to the ceiling.
When I first sat at my table I thought it was dirty, but it turned out that the dark tabletop had some scuffs which showed the light colored wood underneath. The tables were preset with woven placemats, chopsticks, and a soy sauce dish. My water arrived in a mason jar glass, which I enjoyed.
The waitress brought my menu — it was black leather with three silver bolts down the binding. There were several laminated pages broken down into categories. I liked the colors, spacing, and pictures. I took a while reading through it.
Appetizers
Kaki Fried | $10.00
Yuki’s menu offers several categories of appetizers — soups, salads, sushi-bar appetizers, and appetizers from the kitchen. I noted familiar appetizers and dumplings, and saw several new dishes I’ve never had, such as these Japanese-style oysters. I enjoy fresh oysters, so I was curious what fried oysters would be like.
The appetizer arrived quickly. There were six oysters to an order with sauce. I picked up an oyster and took a bite — expecting the outside to be thick and crisp, but my teeth cut through it like butter.
The oysters were steaming hot, freshly fried. The coating was crispy and light. The oyster itself was juicy and fresh. I’m not sure what the sauce was, but it was a little vinegary and it added some extra flavor to the oysters.
This was a good-sized order for me, and would be good to share with another person.
Miso Soup | $2.00
It was cold outside and I wanted to warm up, so I ordered the miso soup. For $2.00 you can’t beat the portion. The soup was tasty, not too salty, with a fair amount of seaweed and tofu. It was the perfect way to start the meal. In the future, I would be curious to try some of the other soups that are on the menu like the seafood or lobster soup.
Crab Rangoon | $6.95
There were six pieces of the crab rangoon appetizer. They came with an orange dipping sauce.
I was impressed with how filled these crab rangoon were. Given that I have made my own homemade version, I know how difficult it is to fry them if they are overfilled. These were generously filled and not greasy. I liked how crisp they were.
Pan-Fried Pork Gyoza | $6.00
One could order vegetable, pork, or shrimp gyoza and select whether they’re steamed or pan-fried. We went with the pan-fried pork gyoza when we visited Yuki for dinner. They’re a classic appetizer and also came with a dipping sauce.
This was a good portion for $6.00. I enjoyed the crispy exterior and ate my dumplings without the sauce.
Entrees
When I visited Yuki Japanese Restaurant for lunch, I ordered two of the cooked specialty rolls. Then, two weeks later, I took my boyfriend to Yuki to try the sushi, so I’ll share those sushi rolls as well.
Tiger Roll | $13.95
The Tiger Roll had salmon, tuna, yellowtail and eel with tempura crunchies, tobiko, scallion, and a chef’s special sauce. I tried this roll first, it was so tender and fresh. Plus the plating and colors were beautiful.
Coconut Lobster Roll | $12.95
The Coconut Lobster Roll had shrimp tempura, cucumber topped with avocado, lobster salad, and coconut sauce. There were 8 rolls each and they were good portions with lots of toppings.
The coconut flavor in this was light and mellow. The tempura shrimp was crunchy and the lobster salad on top was fresh and light. These rolls complimented one another and I was happy with what I selected.
I wasn’t sure how full I would be, but I was surprised to find that I took home some of my sushi rolls.
Sushi
When my boyfriend and I visited Yuki for dinner, we each selected 2 rolls. I stuck with the sushi rolls from the cooked specialty menu — which meant most of them were fried in tempura. My boyfriend selected one from each menu so we had a good selection of flavors and textures.
Paradise Roll | $14.95
The first roll I selected was the Paradise Roll. It had lobster salad, fried banana, and shrimp tempura wrapped by sesame seed soybean paper served with yuzu miso.
As you can see in the above image, the Paradise Roll is on the far left. It was huge! I picked it because I had never tried fried bananas in a sushi roll. I was also interested to see the different texture of the soybean wrapper, which I tend to avoid ordering.
The Paradise Roll’s flavor was naturally sweet because of the banana, which also added a creamy texture to the middle of the roll. The soybean paper was tender and I enjoyed the flavor of the yuzu miso. I think the shrimp tempura was the star compared to the lobster in this roll, but I would still order it again.
Hawaii Roll | $12.95
The bright orange roll pictured above is the Hawaii Roll. It had shrimp tempura, avocado topped with mango, and served with a mango sauce. We both love mango, so I thought this would be appropriate to try, even though the main protein in this roll is also shrimp tempura. The mango was bright and juicy and complimented the texture of the rice and the tempura shrimp well.
The Best Roll | $15.00
This was the first roll that my boyfriend picked out. It had tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado topped with seared yellowtail, salmon, tuna, and spicy mayo-eel sauce. This roll reminds me of the toppings and flavors of the rolls at Double Ai.
As you can see with how much fish is included in the roll, it was a little denser with more to chew. I enjoyed the textures though, especially the sauce on top.
Tuki Roll | $12.00
The Tuki Roll was the last roll we tried when we went to Yuki Japanese Restaurant for dinner. It had smoked salmon, cream cheese, and scallions, topped with spicy tuna tempura crunch.
This was not my favorite roll, which I already expected because I am not a fan of cream cheese in sushi. I find that it makes the textures too dense and pasty. The flavor of this roll was good besides that. I enjoyed the spicy tuna on top.
My Recommendations
I would give my first impression lunch visit and subsequent dinner at Yuki Japanese Restaurant an 8/10 for the following:
Decor and Design
Yuki Japanese Restaurant is a small space that feels modern and clean. I like the different decorations and textures on the walls and the bright sushi station. However, I would recommend some organization of the space to improve the dining experience. For example, turning the hostess station so you are greeted when you walk in the door, organizing and consolidating any spare tables and chairs to one section of the room to optimize seating, and touching up any scratches in the tables. Besides these minor details, I felt the space was clean and pretty.
Service
The waitress I had at lunch was patient and allowed me time to browse through the large menu without rushing me, which I appreciated. Our dinner waitress was good as well. Both women were quiet and checked in once during the meal to ask how everything was.
Food
I loved all of the elements of our meal. The variety of appetizers appeals to me as a foodie. Everything arrived fresh and hot. Though we’ve only tried the sushi rolls so far for entrees, they have been fairly priced (better than Double Ai), fresh, and offered unique flavor combinations.
Have you been to Yuki Japanese Restaurant?
Or tried anything for takeout? Leave a comment below and tell me about your favorite dish.
If you’re looking for more New Jersey restaurants to visit, click here to browse all of my restaurant reviews.
