Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya

Delicious food and atmosphere. Definitely check out this fantastic restaurant. Great service too so helpful.

We had a lovely meal here on a rainy Saturday evening. Enjoyed most of the items we ordered, but there were some kinks and inconsistencies that need to be ironed out:

1. The food took a long time to come so we wallowed in hunger pangs while watching plates destined for other tables.

2. The portion sizes are not normalized and sometimes unexpected small, making it difficult to gauge how much to order. For example, the monkfish liver literally had about 2 bites while the chicken karaage was a heaping pile bearing KFC-bucket proportions.

Highlight:
Tempura sea beans and corn - a delightful combination and unique take on classic tempura

My girlfriend and I decided to check out Fish and Bird for Berkeley Restaurant Week, and Fish & Bird initially charmed us. From the street, the classic Japanese izakaya vibe was undeniable with a big red neon sign. Stepping inside, however, it was a complete transformation. The modern, sleek decor with clean lines and an open kitchen created a cool, upscale atmosphere.

The service was excellent - the staff was friendly and attentive throughout the night.
But....

Here's where things went south. Initially, we had thought of trying their restaurant week menu, but after looking at it closely, we didn't really feel that it was worth the price. And so we decided to order from their regular menu.

The Deluxe Sashimi Moriawase (not worth the price), at $59, was a big disappointment. The cuts of fish were uneven, some alarmingly thin. The star of the show, the uni, was a total miss. It wasn't fresh, had a somewhat fishy odor, and lacked any real flavor (not sweet and buttery at all). The chicken karaage was alright - crispy on the outside but not particularly juicy. The smoked saba shioyaki was probably the best dish of the night, with a nice smoky flavor. But it was riddled with bones, making it a bit of a struggle to eat.

Overall, Fish & Bird felt like a place with a lot of potential but not quite hitting the mark. The upscale ambiance and attentive service were there, but the uneven execution of the food, particularly the sashimi, left me wanting more. For the price point, I expect a more consistent and impressive culinary experience.

Fish & Bird had been on my to-try list for a very long time, but I finally had a chance to try it out yesterday evening thanks a close friend who surprised me and my wife with a double-date dinner reservation.

The food here is delicious. Between the four in my party, the six dishes we ordered ended up being the perfect amount of food. The menu can feel a bit overwhelming but the highlight of my meal was the soft tofu. If you've only ever had boxed tofu, the soft tofu here will blow your mind. The texture is almost pudding like, and there's a little bit of graininess with the soybean texture that's very pleasant to enjoy. I would recommend getting one soft tofu for every two diners in your group so everyone's able to have a generous serving of it.

Another dish I really enjoyed was the sea bean and corn tempura. I've never had sea beans before but the dish is light, has a wonderful texture, and the matcha powder is a unique accompaniment I haven't tried before with tempura. The other fried dish we ordered - the chicken karaage was also well-prepared: not oily, seasoned lightly and complemented well with curry salt, which I could not get enough of.

Of the items we ordered, the only dish I would probably pass on is the sashimi platter. Fish was fresh, and there was a good variety, but I felt like there are better options on the menu for the price.

Overall, I would happily stop by again. Great for a date night spot. The atmosphere here is intimate and the spot doesn't get overwhelming loud, so you're in a good place to converse without shouting. Lastly, parking can be difficult to find on Shattuck so allow yourself adequate time if you have a reservation.

Somehow I missed to write a review back in September 2021on this nice restaurant.

Make reservations! We came, party of four, when they just opened for business that day. We were greeted right away and quickly seated. Servers are very nice and helpful.

There weren't that many customers yet, so we ordered our food and the wait wasn't too long. I forgot what we ordered, but everything was delicious. The fish was a little salty, but we ordered lots of steam rice and drank lots of water to wash it down.

The decor is laid back, contemporary, warehouse-y, dark and modern. I wished the tables weren't so close to each other. You can literally hear other people's conversations easily.

All in all, we enjoyed our dining experience here.

Food: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

TL;DR: A great izakaya restaurant in Berkeley with traditional Japanese food. Food here is meant to be shared with your friends, and while some of the portions are small or may look small, it's surprisingly more than enough food. The cocktails are really good and if you like sweeter drinks like me, the bartender is more than accommodating. The service was pretty slow despite it not being packed but that's okay. A little pricey but you definitely get what you pay for. You're able to check-in online so there really isn't any wait. Love this place and will definitely be coming back.

Sea Beans & Corn Tempura: *5/5*: Fried super super well and seasoned perfectly. I'd say it's more sea beans than corn but still delicious. The matcha powder they serve with it sounded interesting at first but it actually went great with it and cut the "saltiness" of it

Seasonal Salad: *5/5*: Loved the fruit they had with it -- went really well with the dressing. Wished they served it in a bigger bowl though since it's hard to mix and it kept falling out of the bowl.

Sashimi Moriawase: *4/5*: We got tuna, salmon, hamachi, octopus, mackerel, and one fish I'm not sure what it was. Every piece was quite big and super fresh and melts in your mouth. Only piece we didn't like was the mackerel as there was this weird smoky and saltiness to it.

Kurobuta Nabe: *5/5*: BEST THING EVER!!! This was so so so delicious. The broth was perfectly flavorful and balanced. The pork belly was thinly sliced and super tender. The mushrooms soaked up the broth nicely. Each bite was just perfection, highly recommend. When it comes out, it looks like it's not a lot, but there's definitely more than enough (especially if you ordered other items as well). It comes with this paste on the side that was good -- I would put it in your individual bowl rather than the whole pot though. Really recommend getting an onsen egg on the side, mixing it with your rice, then pouring the broth on top -- this was stupidly amazing!

French Fries: *5/5*: Perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Goes really well with the curry salt. We also liked dipping it in their in-house hot sauce.

Just like its name Fish & Bird offers a unique experience featuring tapas style dining. The food was unique fresh and full of flavor to tease your taste buds. The menu selection was not your typical Japanese restaurant

We made reservations for 4 on a Sunday night. There's a spacious bar area on right and the dining area on the left. We were promptly seated and ordered drinks and 1st round: sea bean and corn fritters, karaage. The fritters were light and crunchy not greasy. (Must try) The karaage had a thick crust but the tender. We appreciated the potion size. (Could pass on this) This also gave us time to study the menu.

2nd round: fried oysters (my fav of the night) Wagyu tataki, sashimi mini don (they really mean MINI but the fish was melt-in-your-mouth fresh. You're gonna want more) kurobuta nabu (broth was amazingly deep and delicious)

3rd round: basque cheesecake was fluffy and not too sweet (a must if you like Japanese cheesecake)

Service was nice and efficient. Food delivery was nicely paced.

-1 star for the price to portion ratio. Definitely on the small side

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5

This is still one of my absolute favorite spots in Berkeley. The food is always consistently delicious and the service is great. The ambiance is relaxing and chill. The prices are a bit higher than most restaurants, but the quality of the food is worth it in my opinion.

Coincidentally, just my previous review, I mentioned my love for Saha and now I am returning to their old Berkeley location that now houses another hit, Fish and Bird Izakaya.

Sitting in my bookmarks since they shortly opened, with the exception of the vegetable category, my tapas sharing friend and I got to try something from each category of the menu.

Bites - Sea Beans and Corn Tempura - I was surprised how much I loved this that if she wasn't treating me for my birthday, I would have ordered a second.

Specials - Iwashi Fry - I thought I would like this more than I did but it was a bit fishy for me

Raw - Sashimi Moriawasi - super fresh sashimi that just melts in your mouth

Seafood and Poultry - Chicken Karaage - you can never go wrong with chicken karaage and this one delivered

Shime - Korobuta Nabe - I was sold when I saw korobuta but I didn't think this was worth the price

Dessert - Basque Cheesecake - I was hesitant on trying Basque Cheesecake as my previous experience elsewhere was way too salty. This one however, hopefully is more indicative of what it is supposed to taste like

Overall, a solid 4 star experience though and I would return to try more of their menu as well as for more sea beans and corn tempura and that delicious sashimi.

I wanted to like this place so bad but everything was overpriced and underwhelming. Lackluster food and drinks at a high price = I will probably not ever come back. I ordered the green bean fritters and it tasted like funnel cake. The dusting of matcha over it didn't make much sense at all and didn't compliment eachother. We also got the housemade tofu which was good and creamy but not what I was expecting it was almost a pudding texture. The yuzu spritz tasted like straight up lemon and wasn't balanced at all. My favorite thing was probably the shishito peppers but that doesnt say much since those are hard to mess up.

Service was on top of it, and the ambiance was cute. Overall I come to a restaurant for the food so if that's a miss there's no need to come back here.