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| - Ah, Oishii Bento. It's a pretty decent place to eat - in fact I think they've improved over the years. I say this since I ate here as a student a couple times, and I remember not being super impressed by the sushi and thinking that one of the bowls I ordered wasn't that great. There just wasn't a lot of flavor or freshness in any of the meals I got back then.
These days the sushi at least is massively improved in my book. I picked up their Caterpillar roll and Red Heat roll to go recently and really liked both. The fish was of a reasonable quality even if it wasn't the freshest fish ever, and the topping and sauce combinations in both rolls were pretty tasty too. So while Oishii wouldn't make my admittedly snobbish list of the top 5 best sushi places, I do think they now offer reasonable and fairly tasty sushi options.
Something I appreciate now that hasn't changed since I was a student is the prices. My latest meal cost a bit more than usual here but hey, I ordered two of their pricier rolls - what do you expect? It's reasonable to assume that a student ordering one roll or some sashimi and soup could get a good deal for their sushi fix. And I did get pretty large pieces of sushi in my last order, so at least I got what I paid for quantity wise.
Granted, it took a long time to get the food, but I did stop in during their dinner rush. Eating and picking up food anywhere in Oakland during the student dinner rush takes a long time. Oishii is admittedly one of the smaller places you could hit up for some grub, so during the dinner rush in particular there's practically no room for the crowd that gathers downstairs that's ordering and getting their food. I remember that there's an upstairs dining area that was pretty "meh" - it's a place to sit but it's not exactly a fine dining area.
I'm giving them 3 stars since I can't quite say "yay I'm a fan!" and I wouldn't go out of my way just to eat at Oishii - but hey, the food is decent and I'd consider stopping in again in a pinch, so that's worth an a-ok in my book!
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