Matoi is one of my favorite sushi restaurants in the bay area. It’s not a trendy sushi spot, but a reliable source for quality, fresh sushi made by chefs who know their business. As with most sushi... More

Matoi is one of my favorite sushi restaurants in the bay area. It’s not a trendy sushi spot, but a reliable source for quality, fresh sushi made by chefs who know their business. As with most sushi restaurants, I would recommend eating at the bar. From the sushi bar you can see all of the ingredients right in front of you. There’s no question about what looks good—you can see it all for yourself. If you spot a particularly nice looking bit of tuna or octopus, ask the chef to make something special for you from that ingredient. I’ve been impressed time and time again with the chefs’ creative concoctions. Another benefit to sitting at the Matoi bar is the little extras. Don’t be surprised if the chef offers you a complementary salmon rose or makes an excellent sake recommendation. The only drawback to the Matoi experience would be their servers. While this doesn’t bother me personally, some may find the wait staff a bit offish. They aren’t overly gracious, or fake-nice, but for the most part they do the job—I do enjoy the warm, moist towels they offer. There is a possibility that you may need to flag down your server if you want your drink refilled or any extras. As Matoi is primarily a sushi restaurant, and that’s what I order, I can’t personally recommend them for their other meals. While I have friends who have tried other items from the menu without complaint, I think it’s the sushi fans that will get the most out of it.
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We had visited this restaurant in November 2005 and although our initial visit was somewhat spotty in regards to their service the food was not too bad and we decided to go again on January 15th.... More

We had visited this restaurant in November 2005 and although our initial visit was somewhat spotty in regards to their service the food was not too bad and we decided to go again on January 15th. Well, this was our last visit. Why, the service was atrocious and the food was - at best - mediocre. Our waiter who was friendly but totally devoid of any skills and took 10 minutes to come to our table. Then we waited for another 20 minutes before our drinks arrived. Then after another 20 minutes both my appetizer and main course arrived but nothing for my wife. Since the main course was Udon soup with tempura I did not want this to get cold as I ate my appetizer and asked for it to be returned. Well, as expected, the main course arrived later with a soggy tempura which had obviously been simply reheated and the Udon soup was only noodles and broth with no other ingredients. When my wife's main meal, salmon, finally came it was about half the size of that given to a diner at the next table and half the size of what it had been when we visited previously. The waitress continued to be very confused and "dittzy" even though the restaurant was not very busy. In other words we were very disappointed and will definitely not recommend this restaurant - there are too many other good ones in Tampa.
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