Nobu Palo Alto

Food was good.but just "ok" for what you pay. Definitely rushed us to get some other people in the restaurant and turnover the table. Literally made us pay while eating dessert. I get that the need to get as many people in as possible.but should have given us a time limit at the beginning or at least not offer us dessert if they weren't going to let us eat it.

My boyfriend and I dined here this past Saturday (November 19th). If you asked us what we'd rate Nobu as we walked out of the restaurant, we would have both given at least 4 out of 5 stars.

We ordered mocktails, oysters, shishito peppers, jidori chicken, honey truffle lobster, crispy rice soup, a tuna roll, salmon and octopus nigiri, and the bento box and namelaka for dessert. All were wonderful. Our waitress was attentive. The ambiance was alright - a bit loud, but it was a Saturday night after all. Pricing was as expected (~ $400 after tax + tip). We went home satisfied with this splurge.

It wasn't until about 5 hours later when we began to re-experience Nobu Palo Alto. What was first mild stomach discomfort became major gastrointestinal issues. I vomited the entire night. My boyfriend and I were both on the floor with stomach pain so intense we were unable to sleep the whole night. We both hadn't eaten much earlier in the day and we didn't eat the same food prior to Nobu - so it was highly unlikely that whatever transpired was a result of anything but what we consumed at Nobu.

Overall I am disappointed. My boyfriend and I dined at Nobu with an expectation of quality. The implied tradeoff for tiny portions and steep prices is safe, high quality seafood, and Nobu seemed to neglect their end of the bargain.

I posted this same review on Yelp, but wanted to add it to Google as well so more people could be made aware of potential food safety issues with the food at Nobu Palo Alto. We have never had this issues at any other Nobu restaurants.

Wonderful food for a great occasion. The menu is awesome and the drinks are to die for. We had an incredible dining experience. What a lovely place.

Place is loud, casual, and expensive. Food is tapa style. Taste is ok. Perfect for business happy hour. Anything else you will be disappointed.

So good! Black cod miso definitely worth the hype.

The team was very attentive and offered many options for dietary restrictions.

Omakase was great! Would definitely recommend to anyone visiting the area.

Great atmosphere and great quality sushi.
Lots of nice cocktails, like the piña martini.

Avoid the veggie tempura. But the rest is really good

We came here to celebrate my husband's birthday and the food was not only delicious but also an absolute treat for the eyes! We enjoyed the omakase course very much. Our server was very attentive and kind, and made every effort to make sure that we were all taken care of (my husband, me, and our 6 year old daughter). I used to live in Japan and I feel so fortunate that food of the same quality can be found here on the West Coast.

Does not live up to the name. Had to sit under the speakers & very loud music the entire time. Requested a seat change to be more comfortable but was denied. Honestly, food not great at all.

I’ve been to multiple Nobus and all have been pleasant, until this one. The restaurant here is in complete disorder and reservations are unreliable. I had one for which I specified an outdoor seat, and I called eight hours before, day-of, to double check. The machine (I don’t recall there being a machine two weeks ago, by the way) redirected to the same menu every time after saying “please hold” and it was completely impossible to reach the restaurant. Eventually I reached the hotel concierge instead who assured me it would be reserved. Interestingly, the concierge could not reach the restaurant either.

After arriving, we of course found they can’t actually do that and there were no openings. I would have appreciated a call to that effect as my preference was noted on the reservation itself and I specifically called to check.

I wouldn’t really care if they had communicated this, but driving there and having to leave is not a great use of time. It also left us scrambling to find another dining option.

Place had been on the bucket list for a while - and maybe the hype marred the experience a bit for me!

Firstly, positives. Great staff.
The server was great in explaining the whole menu to us, including their specialities and off the menu stuff. Great recommendations by them.
Vespertine - the drink recommended by our server was great.
Also - I'd put in celebrating "special occasion" when prompted on the reservation. The server followed up on it - asked us about our special occasion, which by itself was a nice touch.
But they went above and beyond, by sending over some desserts. And desserts themselves were the highlight in terms of taste for us.

The food was where I was left a tad disappointed.
Order a few rolls, tasted good - nothing exquisite. Shrimp tempura was on the other hand was nice and light.

Overall an average eat, but great drinks and desserts!

Phenomenal drinks and food:) Good for small groups of 2-4 people. Needs reservations. Sitting at the sushi bar is fun:)

If you're looking for some different Japanese food then this is seriously for you. Japanese-Peruvian fusion is the theme and control is the game, while result is pretty good. Sea bass is excellent, squid pasta (squid cut like very broad pasta) is super tasty, the Toro tartar is divine, oyster is great, sushi is not bad, Jidori Chicken is just so so, Rock Shrimp Ceviche is awesome. In overall, the food is good especially is you want a new twist to avoid the same ol manu, but price is too steep to dine here often.

Ambiance is quite ok, but I felt like the service is trying to hurry you up both on ordering your food and drinks. I gotta say this; the restroom is very sleek.

I had better expectations for Nobu given the fact that the Miami location is great, but the service was so bad. To begin with, we had reserved for outdoor seating, and when we arrived somehow on their system it had switched us to indoors. After waiting about 10 minutes, the manager was able place us at a table on the very edge of the indoor seating close to the patio. Moving forward, his way of making it up to us was providing us with their fried okra; honestly I expected a little more than that. Next, the waitress took forever to take our order. We kept having to ask for her, and ended up asking some of the other servers to assist us. The appetizers and hot plates were good, but the sushi was mediocre.

As for our drinks, the establishment served my husband an expired beer, and again the manager's way of making it up for us was just removing it off the bill.

When the bill came, the waitress had accidentally added another beer to our bill and kept the expired beer. So while waiting for that correction to be made, we waited another ten minutes while the waitress said she would be right back. She continued assisting other tables until we asked another server to bring us our updated bill. When the bill came back there was a $50 charge, so they had to cancel the payment and recharge us the right amount.

I am honestly shocked that such an upscale establishment had such poor service. The service is half the experience when going to a restaurant of that caliber, and it is such a shame to have a manager at Nobu that doesn't care to "make it up to us". It's not a cheap restaurant to give its customers this type of experience.

Won't be going back, that's for sure, although the food was good.

Super fun cocktails! Sat at the sushi bar & enjoyed watching the sushi chefs. Service was great overall but just a little slow. They stashed my suitcase for me as I was on the way to the airport. The sushi was very fresh & excellent.

This location takes a step back compared to their other locations, specifically Malibu, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, or Honolulu. Food flavors are good but not great, service is good but feels rushed. Ambience is understated, maybe too much so. May come back or look for other options.

Omakase was excellent. Each dish was unique and tasty. Our main server was also fantastic. The ambiance is awesome.

Some minor things that could be improved:
- We had a mix of waitress/bussers throughout the night and they lost track of where we were in the courses. Would be nice to have only one server manage our table.
- Can be loud inside and difficult to hear the waitress, especially through a mask.

Great dining experience overall:)