As a lover of Japanese food, this restaurant has some of the best I've ever had. The katsu don - a relatively simple dish in itself - was elevated with a depth of flavor beyond compare. I don't know how to describe it quite, beyond that everyone at the table agreed the food was delicious to the point of being nutricious to the soul. Overall, I'd strongly recommend this restaurant for anyone wanting a delicious and hearty meal at a bargain - a drink, entree with sides (during happy hour), and split appetizer with a generous tip amounted to just $46. We got the katsu don, yakiniku don, and chicken katsu curry. We shared and they all had unique, amazing flavor. They were even able to accomodate my friend's request that the chicken katsu be made with dark meat! The service was fantastic. The cocktails were incredibly balanced and a real treat with the meal. The ambiance is clean, classy, and calming. It is certainly worth the trip!! read more

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big fan of this place. cocktails were also good. bill for all this food (definitely had leftovers) and 2 drinks was about $150 definitely a nicer occasion. favs: burdock - unique french fries on chicken sandwich (sandwich was good too, wish chicken was crispier) recommend but not sure worth price crudo - yummy and great texture unagi - yummy but $$. wish it came with a veggie on the side. feels a little plain just as is. pass: tofu fire was good but nothing crazy read more

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My new favorite restaurant! Everything was well prepared, quite tasty and beautiful atmosphere. It was Sunday night so the restaurant was pretty quiet. We enjoyed our conversations with drinks and plates. I really love their appetizers they are so good. Gobo stick is my favorite and beef carpaccio was awesome. Would love to come back for trying out other meals soon! read more

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Really excellent spot in Brooklyn with an assortment of Japanese dishes in a cool space. Had the pork belly and crudo. Super great. Salmon was excellent as well. Worth a visit. read more

Katabaru - White Miso Salmon - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

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Just moved on the same street as Katabaru and finally checked them out. A beautiful space with an absurd liquor list filled with Japanese Whiskey, Sake, Schocu, all the things! Sat at the bar and ordered the Katsu Don & Fumi fries. Well done, but frankly nothing special. Eggs were cooked great in the don, wished the pork cutlet was a bit thicker. Bar tender recommended the Unagi Don for next time, so will be doing that. Very cute date spot & well priced! Will be back. read more

Katabaru - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

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Had a great dinner and cocktail here. I've been waiting for this place to blow up and get crowded, but the crowd hasn't ventured beyond win son. A great newish spot in the hood that needs more love. The staff is great, and attentive and I loved the vibes! read more

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Beautiful ambiance. Very sexy and seductive. Lights were dim. Tables set. Service up to par. Mako was amazing. She made sure we were well taken care of. Started off with some fresh juicy Kar'age Fried chicken, soft shell crab and shrimp tempura! Everything was amazing. The crab was plated on this sauce that made it oh so delicious For my entree I had the Yakiniku Don and my friend had the Black Miso Chicken. Everything was breathtaking! The black miso sauce on the chicken was a perfect touch to the dish. The thinly sliced steak in my rice bowl was flavored magnificently! 10/10. I am looking forward to returning! Lovely quaint spot right in Williamsburg Brooklyn. read more

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Incredible dinner and such a welcome new spot to the neighborhood!! We had such a delicious meal and two really fun, inventive cocktails. MUST TRY: - Crudo -- incredible flavor, light and very high quality - Eel Unagi Don -- I don't always love eel but I ended up eating half of my partners and forcing him to split mine!! It was so savory and delicious!! GOOD: - Soft shell crab appetizer -- my partner LOVED this one. The sauce is truly special and so tasty, but for me I didn't love the texture - Tsukimi Tori don -- I wanted to love this more than I did. It had great texture but the flavor reminded me more of a kung po chicken (very saucy) which is not my favorite. Still very good! - Matcha Tiramisu -- very good!! I LOVED the red bean paste in it. I wouldn't call it a "must order" since the matcha was not fully soaked into the lady fingers, but it was still so tasty. Service was awesome, the space is beautiful, and we're excited to come back and try more of the menu!! read more

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A japanese restaurant focused on small dishes and dons. An elevated retro style within and friendly service. Table or bar seating. There's a cocktail/drink menu as well. Shiso chuhai: Not too sweet and very refreshing. Not too strong either. Fair moon awaits: Super pretty with the matcha but on the stronger side. For 3 people we ordered 4 small dishes and one don which was a good amount. Tofu fire: fried batter tofu with a slightly spicy sauce - tofu was made super well. Smoked pork belly: Smokey flavor and the sauce that was with it was super good. Soft shell crab: Probably my favorite dish - had a good amount of meat and the right amount of batter. Tuna tataki: was just okay, I think I expected it to be a colder dish. Unagi don: Loved the ample amount of seaweed with the rice. Also a huge portion of unagi! Only issue is that the unagi didn't feel like it was necessarily grilled and was missing a char. Prices are on the average to higher side for dinner. Great plating, great for groups as you can share many dishes and nice drinks. read more

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Great place for dinner. Came in with a friend on Thursday and we were able to be seated quickly. We got the gomodare salad to share and I got the yakiniku donburi. The salad was delicious, the sesame dressing was done well and the mushrooms were very sweet and paired nicely with the arugula. The yakiniku donburi was very rich and flavorful, definitely one of the better donburis I've had. The space itself is expansive and very cute, really thought the bar had a great look with the shelves of pottery. read more

Our dinner at Katabaru was a strange experience start to finish. We arrived on the later side for dinner, around 9:30 or so, and the place was almost empty. But we stayed because we were hungry and I had heard good things about the food and drinks here. Despite high expectations going in, we were left puzzled and kind of frustrated, in large part due to the service because the food and drinks that successfully arrived to our table (more than later) were solid. I am inclined to chalk it up to an off night, but I still need rate the meal as we experienced it, so three stars is the most appropriate. In the hopes of presenting some positives too (I find that my thee-star reviews get overly negative), I do feel that on a busier night I would enjoy the ambiance and aesthetic here. It's a warm and elegant space, relatively minimalist but in a way that could feel sleek rather than barren when the space is fuller. Even in the later hours, it has the potential to be more intimate. Just putting it out there that it is a well-designed space, though I do wonder if it could stand to be a bit smaller if a Saturday night doesn't bring in enough people to fill all tables. Because it was late and we were somehow still sober, we had to change that immediately. I had read great things about the cocktails, and I was generally impressed with what I tried. To start, I got the Baru Martini (gin, vermouth, yuzu & umami bitters), which was clean, refined, and aromatic. An ideal drink to start with (imo). I then got the Trailing Mist (gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, taruzake, lemon), which, while good, was not what I expected. When I ordered I asked the server it was was shaken and citrusy or more of a stirred drink similar to my first one, and she said the latter. It was much more of a corpse reviver which I guess I should have intuited given that gin, Cointreau, Lillet and lemon are literally the four ingredients that make up a corpse reviver, but assume if I wasn't somewhat knowledgeable about mixology and specs for classic cocktails I would have been surprised to receive a lighter, much more citrusy sip. It was still good, but had I known what it was I probably would've ordered a different drink or an ounce of Japanese whisky. Food-wise, there is a lot to get excited about here and you get great portions for very reasonable prices considering the quality and amount of food. Tons of small plates and donburi to choose from, alongside a few mains. We were super excited for the White Miso Salmon entree and consulted our server about what to add as a last dish based on what we were considering. She recommended trying a donburi which we went for to round out the meal, knowing we would still prioritize the fish. Unfortunately, our salmon never arrived. We sat with our donburi half eaten, wanting to save room for the fish, as the few parties who were there ate and cleared out. It felt like they wanted to get us out of there and checked in with us a few times as we sat, now impatiently. Eventually we asked when the salmon would be coming, at which point our server, nonplussed, said we didn't order salmon in and the kitchen staff had already left for the night. We adamantly reminded her that we had chosen dishes to complement one another to culminate in the salmon, which is what we were most excited for out of everything. She seemed to have a different recollection of our order which was strange, but she did ultimately comp one of our dishes which was a nice gesture. Still, we left annoyed and unsatisfied, despite the fact that what we did receive was generally very good. Our successfully delivered eats, below: Tuna Tataki (Seared tuna, Cajun spice, sweet miso-nuta sauce, scallions, shiso): A This was as delicious as it was beautiful. Colorful, bright, fresh, and flavorful. The miso sauce was heavenly and definitely made the dish. Gomadare Salad (Arugula, sweet shiitake, daikon, red seaweed, sesame seed dressing): A We completely devoured this. I had high expectations given my love of mushrooms, seaweed, radishes, and sesame, and this salad was all I had hoped for. I will say it's a generous portion, so we didn't really need to get another salad on top of this. Tofu Hijiki Salad (Crushed tofu, arugula, hijiki, lemon vinaigrette, miso dressing): B+ This was solid but neither of us realized just how much tofu would be heaped onto this plate. I like tofu but my partner doesn't love it, so we ended up leaving quite a lot behind. The dressing was also pretty heavy handed on this and, while it was tasty, even the world's best salad dressing used in excess does not do a salad good. Unagi Don (Delicately broiled all-natural whole eel fillet drizzled with a robust, sweet eel sauce , topped with sesame seeds and served over rice with shredded nori): A Despite the fact that we wished we could've gotten the salmon, we still loved this dish. Not surprising that it is one of the signature items here. Major umami bomb. read more

excited to return and try more food, this place is a gem and and easily one of the best restaurants in the borough. food was fresh and flavorful, drinks were great, service pleasant and the bathrooms have japanese toilets! It's also a beautiful and calming space, you can tell it was very thoughtfully designed. A great addition to the neighborhood, we are lucky they're here! read more

Amazing Stagg and the food is incredible. The staff will guide your way to what your flavor and tastes desire. Let them guide you.

Flavor-packed menu and a cozy ambiance for a date. They had some explicitly gluten free options (though only a small subset of their menu).

not sure why this place doesnt have many reviews yet, its so good!!! my friend and i came in late on tuesday, we were the only ones inside. nice ambience and seating plan. we had tuna and scallops as a starter and shared two donburis, two rounds of drinks & dessert. 10/10 would come back again since one cocktail we wanted was unavailable. everything was so delicious!! we loved the dessert & the eel. read more

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Everything is so good and I've tried almost everything on the menu. Best karaage ever! Hidden gem. Must try!

The ambiance was tranquil and service appreciative. Definitely enjoyed the matcha tiramsu, a combination of earthy and sweet. Will visit again! read more

Katabaru - Matcha tiramisú - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

the food was great! service was bad. took 25 minutes to get water. i'd probably do take out but not dine in again unless i have an entire evening to spare read more

Great dishes, they just opened and I love it. They have tapas style and rice bowls only right now, but everything I've had is great and fairly priced. Drinks are unique and creative too. The place has a great ambiance and they play city pop which is one of my favorite genres. read more

Amazing food, excellent service, and a great atmosphere. The interior is beautiful, with perfect lighting, and the food was even better than I expected! read more

Ordered the Oyako don :) really good!! The restaurant has a really nice ambience - it's very pretty inside!

Tried Katabaru for a weeknight dinner and everything was excellent! The flavor of the tuna tataki was exceptional. Would definitely recommend! read more

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