The food here was so fantastic - we went twice during our stay! I am an avid Japanese food lover…read moreand was extremely impressed with the food quality. The T-bar roll is a MUST. The shrimp is out of this world. Restaurants on the street are typically expensive because of the fabulous view. With Takara you get a fantastic and reasonably priced meal, while enjoying the beautiful ambiance of being near the water. Lovely staff paired with excellent food - a recipe for success.

Great sushi, but the service could use an upgrade. It was so slow. Too slow. Pretty good taste and…read morepresentation though. I would recommend to a friend.

Ordered via Uber Eats. Food was tasty & fresh. Portion size was appropriate. Would definitely…read moreorder again. Only comment is they did Not include Utensils.

I recently visited the Tanpopo branch in Howick for the first time. It's been a while since I'd…read morevisited the one in town, but I feel like the two branches, menu aside, couldn't be anymore different. Tanpopo Howick seats quite a few more people and has more of a Saturday hangout feel as opposed to a family restaurant. There are bar seats aswell if you're just there for drinks or would prefer to have your meal there. Our table for two was massive, and suitably so because it ended up being covered in food. The tables and ottomans are very close together and its s tight squeeze to get in and out of your seat. I didn't find this to be a huge problem, but this really depends on personal preference. The service here was awesome. We were greeted immediately by one staff member and they were great throughout the night. Our food came out quickly and it took us a while to get through it all. Their miso soup is just delicious and for $3 you get a massive bowl- it will certainly make you realise that you're being ripped off everywhere else. This is also the best miso I've had in recent times and one is enough to share between two people. We also ended up grabbing a loyalty card to get a few dollars off on our next visit. We even got a couple of extra stamps on ours because it was our first visit! Excellent and consistent service and food, I would highly recommend Tanpopo for a great meal.

Eccentric but awesome dining evening!!…read more We booked the day before, online over Facebook, explaining that one of our diners was soy intolerant (but still loved Japanese food.) The owner was cool about it and we organised to be there at 6pm. We arrived at the venu, just a doorway with an unassuming sign between two shops. This instantly reminded me of some of the places we ate when we were in Japan in 09. Walking upstairs it opens up to a two table dining room with a small kitchen at one end. The decor is quirky, with Japanese memorabilia adorning the walls and mismatched Japanese cutlery on the table. There is a Japanese cooking gameshow on the TV in the corner. The elderly Japanese cook greets you from behind the kitchen and motions for you to sit. Since we are the only table to book, Ochiai San is all the staff tonight. There is no menu. We sat down and ordered some Asahi super dry and prepared ourselves. Degustation/ omakase style, heaps of small plates with delicious Japanese food start appearing. The chef was quiet at first, busy behind the grilles, but warmed up with jokes and banter as the night went on. Food was fresh and delicious, made from whatever could be sourced locally and turned into savory creations. 12 different "dishes" served over about 10 plates ranging from Japanese pickles to brothy soups to dumplings to wagyu beef to choco-nanas. All very tasty. I don't normally like degustation style dining but I was happily full at the end of it all. After dinner Ochiai San came and chatted with us about all sorts of stuff, Japanese dining etiquette, what we liked about the meal, took goofy photos with us with some pre prepared photo frames, he really does feel like he runs the place because he genuinely loves cooking. Really great experience, looking forward to going back there again.

We had been planning to visit Sakura Kitchen for ages. We stumbled upon it years ago when going to…read morethe adjacent supermarket and called in to ask about a booking. However, from memory they were booked up weeks in advance at the time so we put it on the back burner. Since then we've heard so many good reports that we made a date to go with some old mates. The unassuming entrance to this restaurant is sandwiched between a pizza shop and a butchery and is actually easy to miss if you are focussed on the pizza or the meat shopping. There is no menu. The Japanese owner cooks for you, seemingly whatever takes his fancy on the day. It's a small and intimate setting and you can chat to the chef from your table while he cooks. There were only three people working there: the chef, and two others who helped prep in the kitchen and wait on the table. We were a group of 12 and we were the only customers, all seated at one table which filled the whole restaurant. The chef will also open the restaurant and cook for just one couple, as he did for some friends' anniversary recently. I don't think the waiting staff were there so he just served them himself. If you are a fussy or picky eater, don't bother going to Sakura because you won't enjoy or appreciate the effort that goes into the food. If you must go, please be well-mannered and don't pout or turn up your nose at things you don't recognise. It's really immature and insulting to the chef. And don't announce to your fellow diners why you don't want to eat it - they don't want to know! But really... just don't go. We had about 10 courses I think. Each course comes on small serving plates, like a Japanese degustation without the wine to match. There's everything from vegetable to meat (Wagu), chicken and seafoods. It's all very good. Not being Japanese and not having a menu to refer to I don't know what the dishes were called but everything was delicious and presented beautifully with accompanying dipping sauces and condiments. There was so much food that we were all struggling at the end, but had room for the unusual green tea ice cream at the end. They are fully licensed but the selection is very small. I was offered a red or a white wine! They also do sake which some of our party imbibed a little too freely.. A trip to the bathroom is amusing, there is a heated Japanese toilet seat which does other things, (see photo). Our bill came to approximately $70 per head but would be less without alcohol. It was a great experience, unique and special and we'll be going back again.

Very good Authentic Japanese Food. Food was great…read morePrices reasonable Service was great Family run restaurant. We enjoyed our dinner here very much Thank You Arigato

Good food. Looks like a mom and pop owned business. Chef worked hard to cook as well as prepare…read moresushi and sashimi. All of the food was decent and tasty. The only issue was service. Expect food to be served over a longer period of time since wait help was limited. But we all know the difficulty of labor shortages so just be patient with this homely restaurant.

Musashi and I go a long way back, when it was called Eiji and a man named Eiji used to be all over…read morethe place checking on customers. Back then it was only one restaurant, and we had to book a table a week in advance. Today they have two more branches in Milford and Grey Lynn and waiting times are better but I still recommend booking especially over the weekend and for groups. I have caught myself few times now talking about this Musashi (not the greatest Japanese warrior of all times) while eating Japanese in other parts or the world. To me this is the place where Japan manifests its presence on a humble plate. It is easy to dimiss it as mediocre initially due to the lack of Japanese diners, but this couldn't be farthest from the truth. Everything on the menu is honestly worth a try. Sharing here is the best way to get to enjoy the food. Their Volcano tuna sushi is my all time favourite. Don't even think about not trying it! I also happen to be a little Takoyaki tyrant, and this tastes exactly like it does in Tokyo. The seafood nabe is a selection of seafood that cooks infront of you in delicious broth, so fresh and light. If you are super hungry though watching your food cook maybe slightly painful. There are few vegetarian options and they also use signs to indicate if a meal is avaliable wheat free, which is great. Not a big fan of their desserts, they definitly taste good but I won't go to a Japanese restaurant for cheese cake or brownies. I wish their desserts were as authentic as their food.

Awesome place. A neighbourhood gem. Good food. Good value!…read more The place- Bit of a squeeze, not a lot of room but they managed to fit in a lot of seats. Mixture of indoor and outdoor seating. They can accomodate children as well. A very popular weekend spot for the locals. The placed was packed within 15minutes of opening. Make sure you make a reservation in advance!! The food- great value food. Fresh, high quality seafoods and meats. The lunch specials are as good as they come. The set menu encompass the usual miso soup, rice, and salads. Depending on what you choose, the mains are mostly served on a toban plate. They also have seasonal specials worth checking out! I really like the eye-fillet, was so tender and fresh, can be eaten raw. The drinks- complementary green tea. The drinks menu has the usual Japanese beer as well as some local wines. The service- great service. very attentive. The waitstaff frequently checked on us to make sure everything is going well. Definitely will come back and try out a few other items on the menu!

Excellent japanese food at reasonable prices. The lunch menu offers a variety of meals with rice…read more And the dinner menu offers an extensive range of japanese dishes such as sukiyaki. There is no need for reservations.

Despite the lack of reviews - yes, yelpers, I'm talking to you;) - this place is gaining a quick…read morefollowing. Even on weeknights the place is packed (and they told us we would be fine on a Thurs evening with a large group, but not a seat left in the house as the night wore on). The food is tasty but expect small portions, so eat before hand, or after if need be! I even got to cook my own fish dish at the table with bunsen burner and timer. Tasted pretty good chef. Service was ok, but seemed a bit unsure of themselves at times, could have been new staff perhaps? Well worth trying out if you are in the area or a local. Hefty price tag but worth the occasional splurge. Enjoy!

Can't go wrong coming here, except for getting a table if you haven't pre-booked. Make sure you do…read morebook , else you may never get a table or be " left out in the cold " for a while. This particular night we came we could not get a booking until at least an hour or so later, so we popped in when passing by to see if maybe they could maybe squeeze us in somehow. Luckily, yes, they could give us a table as long as we were finished in an hour. Thank you! We gratefully took it. The service is pretty quick here so did not have to wait long for the orders to be taken. I had the Pork Katsuni with rice ( it can be ordered without rice ) , and my other half had the Pork Miso Katsu. My order came out in the little pot still cooking above a flame and a timer placed next to it for 10 minutes. When it beeps at 10 minutes then it is fully cooked. Worth the ten minutes wait as is pretty good .. Of all the Pork Katsuni i've had this rates up amongst the best. Pork well cooked and all. So overall, service is great, food too, ambience very good, it's clean...and i really like how the split long tables into seperate seatings for 2, 4 or however many. And the price is as expected..not too bad. Well worthy of 5 stars!

I think I may have found the best sushi place, at least the best sushi place in East Auckland. It…read moresuch a small building that you run the risk of missing it as you drive by, but if you punch the address into your navman then there's no excuses. The sushi is cheap and the sushi is yum. $1 will get you a piece of regular sushi, and there's quite a nice selection of these ones. Or the more gourmet pieces are like $1.50, which is pretty cheap for a nice slice of salmon nigiri. And the fish tastes pretty fresh too, unlike some places where it is so cold that it's almost still frozen. So basically for less than $10 (well depending on how hungry and how much sushi you can stuff down your throat) you can get a decent feed of good tasting sushi. So glad I found this utopia.

Hands down thee best sushi ever made in Auckland city !!!! Love love. Would highly recommend to…read moresushi lovers

Wow! What a night we had! -- We went out to Hokkaido for my husband's birthday. We were absolutely…read morefloored by the food, service & ambiance! It takes quite a bit to make my top 10 restaurants and this one shot to the top. AMAZING Food, I had the sukiyaki pot and my husband had the chan chan yaki and we split the tempura & veg appetizer. I couldn't believe how reasonable it was! We DEFINITELY will be back soon! Do yourself a favor GO VISIT HOKKAIDO ASAP your taste buds will thank you!

Had a veritable feast at this place, I think our group literally ate the menu…read more Raw oysters, takowasabi (raw octopus), beef tataki and sashimi were all fresh and delicious. Since it's a sushi place I'm going to lead with that. The quality of the seafood was excellent. Would recommend if you like raw bar. The rest felt standard to me, not super impressive but not bad. Fried foods were good. The yakitorj was a little too dry. The stir fries were okay. Sushi had huge amounts of rice, but I've noticed this as a New Zealand thing rather than specific to this restaurant. Only weird part was that the sliding door seemed broken or maybe turned off on purpose. Had to be manually operated and many people getting confused going in and out. Hope the fix the door.