Shiro

Wife and I discovered this place back when it was called 'Sushi Groove'. If you don't like the idea of a non-traditional Sushi place with a DJ Booth and anime colors, don't come here. Personally, I love it.

The ownership has changed along with the head chef. The current chef came from 'Blowfish Sushi', and if you have been there, you know that they have cuisine that's different than the norm.

We popped in here last night to check the happy hour menu and it's been expanded big time. They've tripled the amount of food and added several drinks.

Disclaimer: There is a $4 salad on the menu that I didn't really understand and neglected to ask about it. Trust me, when you read this you'll ask 'Ok, what is that?!'

As it stands now, this is my favorite place in Walnut Creek when I am with a group that's ravenously hungry (this is assuming, of course, that no one in your group is scared of fish.). We got some sushi rolls and the quality continues to be top notch.

We also got the Mahi Mahi Taco w/Yuzu Sour Cream out of curiosity. Most all restaurants in Silicon Valley have at least a few staff from Mexico - and their cuisine sneaks onto the menu sometimes. The taco was delicious, if unexpected, so we chatted with the chef about it.

My theory was that all the ingredients (except the tortilla) were in stock in back and a lunchtime favorite of the staff got promoted to the menu after rave reviews from whoever tried it. The chef chuckled at this and kept the true origin mysterious noting that "We like to try new things in all kinds of directions."


All their drinks during happy hour are $3 and include wine, beer, sake and a few cocktails.

Bonus (at the time of this writing): If you use OpenTable.com, you can make reservations online and accumulate points for restaurant gift certificates. Off-hours will occasionally give you 1,000 points to get bodies in the seats. 2,000 points gets you a $20 certificate, so it's worth working the system.

Check the Wiki here for the details.