I generally balk at a sushi place that’s so… well… gaijin-friendly. No offense to my round-eye friends, but most of y’all wouldn’t know good sushi if it came up and slashed your pinky off as an offering to the local Yakuza underboss.

But apparently, Yuki Sushi’s name filters out the ignoramuses (it’s pronounced “yooki” not “yucky”), and they keep a largely mixed clientele coming back for more. After all, you don’t sport a waitlist in the Japanese-saturated West San Jose area for 20 years if you’re not doing something right.

And what they do right is sushi. While everything else is pretty alright (the kara-age chicken, while tasty, won’t blow you away or anything), take your time spent waiting to figure out which sushi you want to eat. Or just go for the $12.95 chef’s choice, a ridiculous bargain for a platter of nigiri (and a few temaki) made from some excellent fish. In fact, I’d venture to say that they serve some of the best saba (mackerel) I’ve had in America.

You might wait a while to score a table at lunchtime, but the service is lightning fast, balancing things out. And the beer and sake are very reasonably priced, easing the pain of sitting next to someone who, say, talks about how great their meal at the hideous Applebee’s chain was the other night.

Ok, that’s hardly a good endorsement for a place, and I nearly busted my chopsticks in half upon overhearing that conversation, but trust my half Japanese ass: Yuki Sushi is legit.