Conveyor belt sushi; relatively large menu for a la carte hot dishes; good and friendly service…read more(though we had to ask for chopsticks); cozy decor. Choice available for table seating or for "bar" seating (at the conveyor belt). The wait staff spoke mainland Chinese. Menu is in English and Chinese (but not Japanese). There are reasons to think this place is owned by Chinese. Dishes are ok but not authentically Japanese.

I visited Sakura, a Japanese restaurant located in Botanic Avenue over the weekend. This was only…read moremy second visit and since starting a vegetarian lifestyle this year I wanted to find out how their food fared for vegetarians. Being a sushi bar the vegetarian options did initially appear a little limited and sadly Sakura do not have a separate, dedicated vegetarian menu which is unfortunate. However, our waiter did advise us that the Chefs could do any dish on the menu as vegetarian, so that was a huge bonus. Nonetheless, clearer 'suitable for vegetarian' labelling on the menu would help. We opted for deep fried avocado and tofu tempura roll starters and mains of stir fried ramen noodles with mixed vegetables. The food as absolutely delicious and fresh tasting, wine (pinot grigio) lovely and service impeccable. I did notice a 'Chinese Kitchen' section towards the back of the main menu which included options of mixed vegetables with black bean, Szechuan, satay and salt and chilli sauces. I'm looking forward to a return visit and to trying out Sakura's lunch and take away menus as the food was scrumptious. Plus the restaurant itself is beautiful with Japanese décor, relaxed atmosphere and reasonable prices.

Came by myself on a Wednesday night without a reservation. I had to wait a little bit but was able…read moreto get seated. It is very loud, both from people talking and then with music once that started. This is more of a vibe place than a good food place. Misoshiru has too much miso. The mackerel was a bit disappointing, the vinegar flavoring is light and it has that thawed from frozen texture. The rice is good, much better than I typically see stateside. The tuna was oddly sweet and didn't have firmness. The hamachi was spot on though, not sure why the other two were misses. The signature dish is fried monkfish in something similar to sweet and sour sauce, honestly not that impressed. Cheesecake is not as dense as American cheesecake and not fluffy like a soufflé, I think it was a good middle ground. Not too sweet.

Very different (in a good way) dining experience. Dimmed lights, extravagant Japanese-style design…read moreand glorious decor on your way to the toilet upstairs are definitely memorable! The food was simply amazing and arranged like a work of art! We were quite a big group and the food arrived at the same time. The menu is quite varied - from more traditional Japanese style dishes to quite modern cuisine - I for one had a meal called 'Mad crab' which was a selection of seafood with a delicious cheese sauce and poached oak Choi with oyster sauce. The service was very attentive.

I've been here a few times recently to take way. It has an upstairs sit in but I've not yet been…read more What I find really good about this place is that the food is always tasty, it is usually made to your order, as you wait, and this time for me it was 3 choices: goma ae, 6 maki rolls (tofu) and a temaki hand roll filled with spicy salmon and vegetables (£10.90). The maki and temaki come with kikkoman soy sauce sachets, pickled ginger and a generous splodge of wasabi. The goma ae is always superb tasting with white miso and sesame oil enhancing the taste. The tofu is a small piece served cold but has been pre fried so it looks like and has a texture like pieces of omelette. The salmon in the hand-held roll is chunky and it too is delicious. The fact is that here you can get really tasty food and just along the street you can go to grim take out only Yangtze, for very poor food that sits in Bain Maries for certainly over an hour, yet prices are fairly comparable. This place has a very small ground floor area with a few steps down to go in; you couldn't lie a phone box horizontal inside, length or width wise, so once you pay on order (cash only) the lady serving ushers you out to the street to wait with undue haste. The sort of shove of 'there's a fire' so what's keeping you. She seemed not to realise that having had to go to my bag for cash to suit their convenience I had to take some time to put my cash away again. Rally worth trying as long as you don't mind a gentle nudge on to the street, which I found funny on a summer day. I'd imagine winter I might have a different view.

I visited Obento Japanese Express today, Sunday 29 May 2016 for a quick lunch. It's a tiny spot…read morewith limited seating upstairs. I ordered the Tofu Bento Box and was not impressed. The tofu was jellylike and bland with a slimy batter. Mushy sticky rice, a couple of tasteless vegetable Spring rolls and a handful of bland salad topped with salad cream completed the box. Even lashings of soy and sweet chilli sauce didn't help much. Sadly it really wasn't good and I will not return. Extremely disappointing poor quality food and definitely not worth the £7.50 I paid.

Attention to details! They made sure my egg allergy wasn't a problem. Delicious fish!read more

Best ramen we have ever had and we have been to countless ramen restaurants. The sushi was also…read moreexcellent This place is a hidden gem.

Ordered a collection online, so hadn't used this place before. Arrived and was slightly…read moreapprehensive from the look of outside it was a bit grubby looking, inside was the same. My order wasn't ready but there was a waiting area by the door. I ordered a bento box which came with Japanese curry, sticky rice, 2 mini Spring rolls, salad, sushi and a miso soup all for £11 which was nicely priced for what you got. My daughter also had the cucumber rolls which where delicious. The only downside was by the time me got it home (around 15 minutes away) it was quite cold especially the curry. Oh the the wasabi could be a bit better. All in all not a bad experience but don't know if I'll be back.

Tonight I took one of my friends for their first sushi adventure. The service at Sushi House is…read morephenomenal. The quality of the freshly made sushi is quite good. The sushi chef is incredibly skilled and if given the freshest ingredients they would easily be one of the best sushi restaurants in Belfast. We ordered Takoyaki from the kitchen which was cold on the inside, and the octopus inside was still somewhat icy but that is my only complaint and even still the taste was very good. The Chef was so incredibly polite and offered to tailor make sushi for our next visit to get rid of the flavour (nori/seaweed) that my friend did not like. I will definitely eat at this restaurant again.

Came here while in Belfast, and was left expecting more, but not terribly disappointed…read more After arriving they were able to seat us quick as it was just me and one other. However, there was a line nearly out the door after we showed up, and people were waiting a while for seating, even though there was a good number of tables open. The food itself was subpar, with a lot of cost for very little Sushi. The pictures they advertised were much larger but for £8 you get a plate smaller than your hand. Additionally, we ordered water with our dish and never received it. Finally, they have a "Treat Yo Self" conveyor belt of sushi that you can take and be charged depending on the color of the bowl; however, there were only about 5 plates on the entire belt, none of which were reasonably priced. The staff were alright, but the facility was understaffed. Not enough cooks or hosts to accommodate the size of the place. I don't blame them, but rather management. Was also hard to find a waitress to take our order. The atmosphere was nice, but definitely felt rushed and hard to enjoy my meal. Will probably not come back to the establishment unless they fully staff the venue.

The sushi here is absolutely delicious and so was the squid. The one server they had on shift was…read morevery polite and was rushed off of their feet but they could've definitely of done with having more staff. The food was all made fresh and came to the table quick. The only issue I had was the booths are very very small and uncomfortable to sit in.

Oh dear, oh dear, I got a tempura King Prawn bento box (at £7.8) and this is one of those unusual…read morefood places; what makes it so for me is that it rather stupidly shoots itself in the foot. It's just about 2 stars, chiefly because the food was mostly served cold. I mean it should be totally perfect as the food portion was reasonable for the price paid, and the ingredients were mostly excellent. Imagine serving crap, cold food from top notch ingredients and thinking it's acceptable. The oriental place right next door sells cheap food, cheaply and it had a queue of not fussy customers, yet I was only one of two customers who bought here the whole time I was dining. The king prawns (3) were great quality and the tempura batter was light, properly seasoned, crisp and free from oil. They should have been cooked to order, like all fish. The rice and sushi on the side too were darn good quality as was the pickled ginger and wasabi. I chose fried rice so it was well laced with fried, whisked egg but, like the tempura prawns, both were far too cold to be great tasting. The price also included a vegetable spring roll that, despite being burnt on cooking (see photo) was also stone cold and pretty much devoid of filling. I'll not return, but as a tip, if you go and you intend ordering hot food, be sure to say that you do expect your food to be hot. There's a recession on the way and if this is the standard they aspire to it'll all end in tears.

Yikes! I think the first thing to mention about this place are the prices. It is probably the…read moremost expensive restaurant I have been to in Belfast. Consider this - starters costing up to £13 and main courses at around £26 for something like monkfish which is what I had. Yes, really. In Belfast. I go to London a couple of times a year and would expect to pay those prices in an upscale place there, but not in Belfast. Even the set menus are priced at £40 and £60 per person and don't include drinks. The wine list is expensive too - where else would you pay £16 for a bottle of Jacob's Creek? Having said that, the setting is impressive (although with a view of the River Lagain rather than a habour) and if you go for the Teppenyaki style of cooking, the food is nothing short of spectacular. With the Teppenyaki menu, the chef will prepare and cook the food right at your table which is like a little show in itself. I was stupidly excited by that and also by the choices of meat and fish - all top notch stuff like seabass, scallops and venison. My advice? Do go, it's amazing, but either be prepared to pay a lot for your meal, or go for the much more purse friendly set lunch at just £9.95 each. Better still, visit when someone else's business is footing the bill as I did!

I am a huge fan of Japanese food but this is the first such restaurant I have ever been to in…read moreNorthern Ireland and I am comparing it with others I have been to elsewhere. The food is fantastic and the menu has something for everyone including a good choice for vegetarians, most of it is prepared in front of you (in the teppanyaki style) and that is great entertainment, especially if you are in a large group as you are seated around the hot-plate ready for the chef to start firing food your way. The staff are also very attentive and are keen to help with any queries you may have but a star is missing for 2 reasons. Firstly, the restaurant is positioned right on the Lagan River which looks great but means there are limited parking spaces which can be a big problem unless you are getting a taxi there. The other issue is the price, this is a very expensive restaurant and although the food is great and the show in front of you is also great to watch it doesn't justify the price. To be honest I would rather take a star off for both of these issues but I don't want to take too much away from the food which was excellent.

You know your onto a good thing when you walk in the rain to get there. I have been told so many…read moregood things about this delightful little restaurant that I simply had to give my new-found Japanese craving a bit of a go. The ambience is excellent. The place is chilled out. The menu has everything and anything. The sushi is quality. Everything was going exactly how I wanted until I was asked a question that changed the night... "Would you like to adopt?"... Nah I'm only messing. I was actually asked "Is this as good as Zen?" and then everything came into focus. The place simply isn't as good as Zen. Zen is arguably the finest eatery in Belfast, if not certainly one of the finest. Ginger Tree has a similar atmosphere, similar menu, similar style. And from reading John M's review, Zen may have come after, but it still is better. I'm all for breaking into the unknown and Ginger Tree is great for that. But we went to Zen a few weeks before, and I raved about it to everyone. The Ginger Tree, if you have never eaten Japanese, is stunning. But it can and has been beaten by a restaurant a mile down the road. Really very good and great prices. But not the best in Belfast.

The Ginger Tree Japanese Restaurant on Donegall place is amazing! Their sushi really is awesome and…read moreon par with that of Zen. They do a special offer on a thurseday evening where you can eat all the sushi you want for £20!! This is an absolute bargain considering the quality of food and then the sheer amount of different sushi on offer on the night! We went there as a group of 8 and the staff were great and more than able to cope. The sishi was fab as always and we were there for quite some time trying out everything! It's agreat idea for thoses new to sushi who want to find out what they like! And you can be really adventerous because there'e plenty more there if you select wrong! Amust go to for sushi fans!

Let me preface this review by saying the food is like, 10 star food. Eat here!! This was our best…read moremeal in the whole of Ireland, and we were there for 11 days. We sampled the fried dumplings, the wok fried green beans (YUM), truffle duck fried rice, and yellowtail nigiri. The yellowtail nigiri was insanely good. It didn't specify on the menu that it would be anything different than traditional nigiri, but it did have a non traditional sauce on it... and WOW it worked. The duck fried rice was delightful, but a bit too truffle forward (for us) to the point where it was too rich to eat much of. The 4 star review is purely because of the ambiance. The lighting is crazy. It's super dark in there, but the lights over the tables are like spotlights. It felt like we were on display to the other patrons. Additionally, the music is quite loud. Otherwise, food was fantastic and the service was also great! Highly recommend if you can exist in that sort of environment. Really cool concept very well executed.

YuGo was a breath of fresh air in Belfast! We were surprised to find contemporary Asian inspired…read morecuisine in the area and were so excited to have dinner at YuGo. The dining area is very chic with lots of sleek lines. Very elegant but modern style. Loved all the tableware as well - everything seemed earthy and hand thrown. Our favorites of the night were hands down the duck and truffle fried rice - we all fought for this dish toward the end. It was one of the most unctuous bites of food that I've ever had. The fried rice was PERFECT - each grain of rice was coated in beautiful fat and was the homiest and warmest kind of dish. Would come back for this alone. I highly recommend coming to YuGo, especially if you have a large group and want to try a variety of dishes. All the flavors and cook were spot on, and we really enjoyed our time. Thank you YuGo!