Shimogamo Is the Best Japanese Spot in the East Valley (Maybe the Whole Valley?)
4.5 Yumpoints | Tied for #51 in Phoenix | #13 in the East Valley
The East Valley—Gilbert in particular— has plenty of good restaurants, but it’s definitely lacking ones that are nice. Date night nice. Let’s spend a lot of money on your birthday nice. Shimogamo is that. When you go to Shimogamo, you kind of feel like you’re somewhere important. It’s not the fanciest place in town, but it’s very elegant. And the food is the same—the nigiri is always perfect, the yakitori and wagyu are always perfectly cooked, and the cocktails are so refreshing. Now, I probably wouldn’t take someone who’s not going to appreciate sushi, or will side-eye a 4oz, thinly sliced wagyu going for slightly eye-watering prices, but for fans of high-end Japanese cuisine, Shimogamo is the best.
Website: shimogamoaz.com
Reservations: OpenTable (Gilbert), OpenTable (Chandler)
Reviews, Articles, and Awards
+1 Yumpoint | FEB 1, 2024
Phoenix New Times: The Top 100 Restaurants
Chandler’s hottest sushi restaurant offers a whole spread of sashimi, nigiri and maki, including sometimes hard-to-find options such as escolar, sweet shrimp and sea urchin. Crazy, modern rolls aren't really the name of the game here, though you can get delicious and sometimes unexpected sushi rolls, such as the Zen Roll made with spicy yellowtail, shishito peppers and yamagobo or pickled burdock root and topped with albacore tuna and spicy soy.
+1 Yumpoint | APR 24, 2023
Foodists Awards: 2023
Best World Flavors - Finalist
+1 Yumpoint | Jan 11, 2023 / NIKKI BUCHANAN
Phoenix Magazine: Dining Review: Shimogamo
Since the pandemic, this reliable neighborhood stalwart has grown both in size and stature, quietly morphing into a sophisticated destination restaurant replete with artful cocktails, premium sake and traditional dishes seldom found on Japanese restaurant menus in Phoenix, all set in a warren of handsome, intimate dining rooms. Modern and fusion-y at times, the food isn’t merely good, it’s categorically great.
+.5 Yumpoints | MAY 29, 2024 / TIRION BOAN AND SARA CROCKER
Phoenix New Times: The 10 best sushi restaurants in Phoenix
The original Shimogamo Japanese Restaurant opened in 2003 after Sanae and Yoshio Otomo moved to Arizona from Japan and couldn't find a taste of home in their neighborhood. Their daughter and son-in-law have since taken the reins and continue the restaurant's tradition of serving thick cuts of fresh fish in delicious preparations.
+.5 Yumpoints | MAY 8, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN
Eater: The 16 Hottest New Restaurants in Phoenix Right Now
This smaller, sexier-looking sibling to the original Shimogamo in Chandler is not just a second location but rather a different and slightly more casual version, offering creative sushi rolls, bite-size, taco-like hand rolls, okonomiyaki, robatayaki, and yakitori in many splendored permutations, including skewered chicken thighs, wings, meatballs, hearts, and soft bones.
