I would definitely say this spot is a hidden spot!! We couldn't find it until we walked into this…read moreplace by guessing it based on the Japanese decors and kind of looks like izakaya!! We got seated immediately and it went kind of busy the whole time. It's a pretty small place so it's easier to get a spot with small group of people instead of big group, you might have to wait longer. We got Onigiri and I highly recommend salmon with ikura and mentaiko special! That two are my most favorites!!! The agedashi tofu was okay, didn't expect that texture. The tofu was not crunchy but more mochi texture and the sauce/broth is like overly thick. Not really our favorite. The katsu don was really good too!! I ordered lychee fizz but they were out of lychee syrup... my husband ordered curry chicken don and they were out of curry.... Oh well.

Great food. Great value. Definitely left very full but still got onigiri to go…read more Service was quick and friendly. Tables are small so not ideal for large groups. Chill and unique interior. Street parking and some paid lots nearby.

Cozy place for a special occasion. Small restaurant. Appears family run…read more Price point for the quality of fish and thickness of cut is reasonable. The popular sashimi plate had sockeye salmon, scallops, king salmon, yellowtail, snapper, and shima aji. 3-4 slices per fish so total about 20ish pieces for $ 75 dollars. Also included salmon roe. Ask which fish is in the plate since it seems to change. Service was good. They serve distilled water which is appropriate for eating raw dish so you actually taste the fish and not the tap water. The star of the night was the miso black cod. Soft buttery and flavorful. Just enough miso to bring out the sweetness of the fish. Some may find it not flavorful enough. It depends on if you are looking for fish flavor or seasoning flavor in my opinion. The only down side is that it's a fatty cut of fish so by the third piece it can be a bit heavy. Ended up cutting the fat with a bit of lemon toward the end and using the shredded pink diakon. For the price of $ 17 dollars, it is quite a good deal as other spots in the area would charge more or give less.

Vibes: retro mom and pop Japanese; bring a friend or a small group…read more Tasting notes: - Kinpira: very lightly seasoned; very subtly sweet; overall crunchy and refreshing - Sakana Dinner: sunomono is very lightly pickled; sashimi is thick cut; tempura is excellently crisp; sides come before the fish; salt-broiled mackerel was perfectly broiled and just salty enough, pairing nicely with fluffy white rice - Hamachi Kama: very generous, meaty portion; served with lemon and slightly vinegary dashi dipping sauce Other thoughts: - Dishes come free flowing from the kitchen - Hamachi Kama did take about 25 minutes along with mackerel and was effectively an entree in itself Impression: so glad I got to stop in this historical gem on my first trip to Seattle!

We had the whole day to explore Seattle after a cruise to alaska .the food here was better than the…read morefood in Alaska! The salmon bento box was amazing! it was cooked perfectly with crispy skin the way I like It .my wife had the nigiri bento box and she loved it! every thing was fresh and tasted great.Kyle and Zula took good care of us.the place was packed on a Tuesday afternoon And we still got great service. I would highly recommend stopping by .I can tell they pay attention to detail and care about the food they put out.

Note -- ordered this for delivery. Experience at restaurant perhaps might be different…read more My group got this via ubereats. I got the tekka don (bluefin tuna sashimi over rice). I wasn't impressed by it. The quality was just alright. The rice was a bit stale and the fish itself was fine but nothing special. For over $30 menu price I wasn't impressed. I probably would give it a second chance in store but not for delivery.

YESSSSS! Ringo Curry is my jam...or my favorite curry! Katsu, rice, and level 2 curry is my happy…read moreplace. Great fast service, was given a window booth, and enjoyed sipping my Thai ice tea until my dish came! Huge portion, perfectly cooked rice, chicken katsu was perfectly breaded and nicely fried, and the curry makes you want to lick the plate clean. Save room for the matcha ice cream mochi! You'll need it if you order above level !

If I could give them 6 stars I would!…read more What a special place in the CID. The interior is so comforting, it truly feels like home. Staff were super friendly and accommodating. I had the chicken katsu curry, with an omelette for my entree and fried squid as an appetizer. The chicken was very moist and tender. The curry was so unctuous and savory, and the egg was soft and creamy. My appetizer of fried squid was also really fresh and tender with the perfect amount of crunch. And the portion size was incredible for the price! Pictured is a regular entree order. I can't wait to come back again now that I know this gem exists! Highly recommend to anyone looking for Japanese curry in the CID.

Such an incredible evening! The service was fantastic, the ambience was beautiful, and everything…read morefrom start to finish made for such a great experience. We ordered several different rolls along with drinks, and everything was amazing. The food was fresh, flavorful, and beautifully prepared, and the drinks were just as good. It was one of those meals where we kept wanting to try just one more thing! Great food, wonderful service, and an atmosphere that makes you want to stay awhile. We will absolutely be back!

What a fun Sushi experience…read more We made reservations, which I highly recommend, for a Saturday night dinner. When we go the restaurant they seated us right away and our server came over and offered some drink suggestions. Throughout the meal I appreciated her knowledge of the menu and ability to recommend items based on individual tastes. I had the belly sampler sushi which was amazing. They also had an off menu item, Uni, that was fresh and tasted like the sea. The roll/sushi selection is varied so you can find something for anyone's tastes. They even have a few entree's which looked great for those who don't care for sushi. The drink menu has a great selection of cocktails and a good amount of Saki's.

I tried this place with my son during our visit to Seattle. We did not have to wait and were…read moreseated right away, a good plus. Ambience: (5/5) The atmosphere here felt very authentically Japanese, and fun. Food: (5/5) We ordered the Ahi Tuna Goma Crispy Toast, which came with four pieces and had great flavor. It's a relatively small dish, but that's what we expected going in. We also had the Hamachi Rice Don, which is raw fish over rice, and it was perfect, topped with egg, seaweed strips, and more. At first, we thought the rice looked too plain and would need extra soy sauce, but we were wrong. The rice was already seasoned with some kind of delicious sauce, so no extra soy sauce was needed at all. Service: (5/5) Our waiter was very attentive without being pushy, and was always available whenever we needed something.

Went here for lunch with my extended family including a couple of young kids. The staff was…read moreincredibly friendly and very accommodating to their dietary preferences. Bonus points for the recommendations and modifications they made to make a roll more kid friendly. I got the Katsu Curry Don and it was genuinely one of the nicest ones I've had in the Seattle area. The pork was perfectly juicy and tender yet crispy, the rice was actually seasoned nicely and made with care, and the curry was so well balanced with a tiny bit of heat to it as requested. They also serve it with a little kimchi with works as a perfect palate cleanser between rich bites. My wife for the Vegan Maze-Udon while my family for the Omakase and they all really liked their food too. We then split a couple of extremely cold soft-serves. The yuzu sauce was not bad but the matcha was absolutely outstanding and super flavorful. It paired really well with the ice cream and I'd highly recommend it. Overall the place is genuinely worth a visit. A tad pricey, but that's Cap Hill for you. At least the food is fantastic and the service on point. Will visit again.

A lively atmosphere in SLU to grab sushi, sashimi, and more. The service is prompt and attentive…read more There is a lot of seating and even good for groups. I sat at the sushi bar as it was just myself. For lunch, I opted in for the Power Lunch and it was fantastic. Served with 5 pieces of nigiri, seared salmon, miso soup, salad, edamame and more. The salad is great with the ginger dressing and the miso soup was flavorful with tofu. The nigiri was fresh and flavorful. Also got a shrimp tempura roll which was great with tempura shrimp and fresh avacado. Overall no complaints here. There are so many dishes I want to try and will be back soon for more.

**Thursday evening around 5:00 p.m., party of 2. No wait.**…read more Unfortunately, I'm going to have to echo several of the recent reviews about the slow service. When we were seated, there were only about three other occupied tables, all with couples. Two of those tables were already being served their food. We placed our order, but our food didn't arrive for about an hour despite the restaurant appearing to be fully staffed. To make matters worse, multiple tables that were seated after us received their food before we did. The long wait might have been easier to overlook if the food had been worth it, but it wasn't. I ordered the seven-piece sushi assortment with a baked crab roll, and more than four pieces of the fish were still partially frozen. The fish did not taste fresh, which was especially disappointing after such a long wait. An hour to assemble seven pieces of sushi seemed excessive. Seeing that more than half of the fish was still partially frozen made the hour-long wait make a lot more sense. Maybe they were waiting for it to defrost before serving it. My sister ordered a baked crab roll and two pieces of seared snow crab. The seared snow crab was completely forgotten until I had already finished my meal. We had to remind the staff before they rushed to prepare it. The baked crab roll itself was decent, but the combination of the extremely slow service, disorganized order handling, partially frozen fish, and forgetting an entire dish until we asked about it means we won't be returning.

I visited here for happy hour on a Monday and really enjoyed it! The happy hour items are very…read moreaffordable considering the prime location in SLU - rolls and kitchen items ~$10-15. The best part is the complimentary edamame with flaky salt. I'd come back for this detail alone. The setting inside is nice and bright, and the servers are very friendly. You'll probably want to make a reservation to be on the safe side because the restaurant isn't very large.

Had a very disappointing experience. The service was good, we came and were seated pretty quickly…read morewith no reservations. The waitress was nice and understanding. The food is where it all went south. We ordered ginger beer and the ginger beer wasn't true ginger beer (it was a soft drink with ginger flavor and almost 50 grams of sugar + all sorts of gums). Calamari 1/5 - this was one of the worse, soggy Luke warm calamari that tasted reheated. It sort of tasted like it was in a Tupperware for a while or cooked in rancid oil. Unagi Roll 1/5 - this is actually the worse roll I've ever had. The rice was like warm, the whole roll was mushy and tasted like spoiled fish oil. I've never had to spit out a sushi roll before and this was a first for me. The roll was cut Into super uneven pieces, some were unusually large and some super thin. It was so bad that unfortunately we had to send it back. Nigiri 3/5 - We got a selection of nigiri and it was better than the roll but still you can tell the fish quality just wasn't there. The salmon belly, toro, and others are supposed to taste buttery, but instead they were super stringy. I think the fish was fresh, but the quality was meh. We will not be returning here unfortunately and it's wild to see the amount of positive reviews.

First time here and was blown away by how good the service was. There was only 1 person working as…read morethe host and server for multiple tables, but she let the same positive and friendly energy all throughout our dinner! Food was good! Saw something I liked on Yelp but when I came in it wasn't here! Realized that they have a rotating menu. Which was no problem at all since they have a good selection of interesting dishes. Everything was plated beautifully and tasted delicious.

Food is a bit pricey but tasty. Servers are super knowledgeable of their drinks and were able to…read moregive great recommendations after sitting and chatting with us. Chill almost dive bar feel. Good for groups. Love this place. Will definitely be back.

I was an exchange student in Japan a few years back and trying to find good Japanese food in the…read morestates has been difficult because you know what the real thing tastes like haha! Anyway Gyo Gyo En was AMAZING! I felt like i was back in Japan. I wish I lived in Seattle so to mourn its distance Im leaving a yelp love letter!

What an incredible little poke/bento box that is quick and affordable!…read more There is very limited seating here, which makes it really feel like you're in Japan. The menu isn't too expansive, instead offering a few dishes at high quality. I ordered the Gyo Gyo En Bento Box (I had to, the dish had the restaurant's name in it!). It included large chunks of salmon poke, tuna salad, pickled cabbage, curry, imitation crab salad and seaweed - what a deal! Portions were generous and taste was delicious. Our party also ordered a shoyu ramen and salmon poke bowl and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meal. Service was excellent as well. I'm tempted to come back here the follow day just to try something different!