I had been trying to get a reservation here for 6 months (not diligently; just casually trying) and I could never get one. The reason is that the restaurant only had 9 seats at the sushi bar and 2 seatings a night, thus only serving 18 customers per night. You have to make a reservation AT EXACTLY MIDNIGHT 2 months beforehand. So 2 months ago, I gave it 100% effort and scored 2 seats.
We promptly got to the restaurant at around 6:45PM on a Saturday night for our 7PM seating. When we got there, we saw 5 other people already waiting in line. At around 6:50, they let us in and had already picked out seats for us with namecards. The last 2 people showed up shortly after.
We were given a Ziploc bag for our face mask and a wet towel to start. Then they showed us the drink menu. We decided to do the ultimate sake pairing, which was about 4 pours of their junmai daiginjo. After the first pour, they asked if we preferred sweeter or dryer; I chose dryer and thus got a different sake than my wife for the subsequent ones. The only gripe is they didn’t really tell us how many courses each pour was meant for (e.g. “this is for the next 3 courses or so.”)
After that, we got about 10-15 courses of food show below. The meal wasn’t cheap – omakase was $165 per person plus 20% gratuity and 10% tax. Also at the end, they asked if we would like another round of tastings – I stupidly assumed this was like a Michelin star restaurant where the sommelier sort of hooks you up with an additional pour of something you liked earlier on in the meal. No, we were charged for the additional pour. The girls next to us asked for another piece of sushi, which I’m sure they were charged for as well.
All in all though, this is my favorite sushi place in Seattle. It reminds me very much of a sushi bar in Tokyo with the small space and personal service. The sushi itself was good even though I thought the portion sizes were on the small side. We’ll definitely go back but due to the price, it may be a once a year type of meal.
Pictures
