I went to Shinbashi twice in the first week it was open, and it was stellar. Not just good, but stellar. Innovative but still reserved cuisine reminiscent of Nobu, with Jalapeno tobiko and hamachi served with tiradito. Today: No more ordering from the sushi chefs. Neither of the chefs speak anything but Chinese. So, me sitting at the sushi bar is now a waste. Two of the fish on their menu (not marked seasonal) are out. My martini comes half empty. The fish is very very fresh, but not great in flavor. The scallops lack any sweetness, and the uni has no depth. Perhaps just my luck. However, the tai is not cut well, and the pieces have to be rolled to fit in my mouth. Same with the tuna, which has a rainbow sheen. I find not one, but two scales hiding in my sea bass. A waiter (I guess?) stands 3 feet behind me and to my right, breathing heavily through his nose. I can neither hear the loud CNN tv or the bad pop music clearly. I am underwhelmed. I may come here again, but I doubt it. It seems like any other crappy fusion place these days, which is awful, because it had SO MUCH promise. Perhaps the redneck clientele just pushed it downhill. read more

Service is so bad that most of what we want to order was unavailable and they never really suggested any alternative and was even rushing to get us to order. The Japanese waiter was so rude from start to end and to my suprise even demanded more tip and even chase us to get more tip for the bad service. Food was fair. Honestly, I Wouldn't go back again. Sorry very poor service and wouldn't recommend the place!!! By the way.... The menu prices are different from what you actually pay for..... Beware!!!! read more

Where to start. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I guess you shouldn't go to a Chinese restaurant in Maine. We ordered blueberry martinis, the halibut tempura appetizer, miso soup, a house salad, Mongolian beef and the seafood tempura for entrees. You would think the drinks and appetizer would come out first but instead we got our salad and soup first then the entrees show up. We asked about our drinks and appetizer and the waitress says yes they are coming (when, for desert?). So she bring us out an order of halibut teriyaki. I said that isn't tempura and she argues it is. Our blueberry martinis come out and what I got was a glass full of blueberries drenched in vodka. My seafood tempura was brought out without any accompanying rice or dipping sauce. The vegetables where dipped in tempura batter but the seafood was breaded in panko, sorry that's not tempura that's katsu. Didn't matter anymore since I lost my appetite by then. We complained to the manager and he only offers to remove the appetizer from our check like it's a big deal. AWFUL service and food! Save yourself the money and the aggravation and go have some lobster at a lobster pound. read more

Very tasty, well prepared and satisfying vegetarian fare is available. Was happy to see quite a few vegetarian options on the menu. Good ambiance. Loved our dinner here. read more

This probably the worst restaurants I have been to. If you want to experience the most arrogant and awful service .. You may visit this place.. The food is not great either.. I will never ever visit this place again read more

Very nice interior decoration. Other than that, I don't like the food that much. We ordered chef's special lobster & king seafood platter. The lobster is frozen, its meat is mushy & taste funny. The sauce on seafood platter is ok, but I the scallop is too tough, the lobster meat is also very tough to eat. The waitress need some more work, our plates are full with shells, but she didn't come to our table until we finished with the meal. read more

This is a usual spot we enjoy going for dinner. The food has always been consistently delicious. I would say, we got seated in a new servers station. It was quite obvious. I ordered my usual, House Combo, with general tso's chicken, crab Rangoon and specifically asked for white rice. My boyfriend ordered two appetizers as a meal, chicken fingers and spare ribs. Our waitress took our drink orders and dinner orders at the same time, which was fine. She came and delivered our drinks within a few minutes. After waiting for our meal, longer than usual, the chicken fingers and spears ribs came out first. (Annoying) Over five minutes later my dinner came out. I had fired rice, instead of the white I ordered and my chicken was lacking, instead I got a dish filled mostly with sauce and huge pieces of broccoli.... At this point, our waitress was nowhere to be seen, our drinks were empty and my order was wrong. The waitress did not come back once to ask how the food was, nor to refill our drinks. After twenty minutes or so, she returned and dropped the check. She did not offer us boxes for the obvious amounts of leftovers we had. After waiting for her to return, over five minutes passed, my boyfriend finally flagged somebody else down to ask for boxes and pay. This was a very disappointing night out, as this is a place we both really enjoy. The food was lacking, service was not up to par. It was a Wednesday so the business was not nearly as busy as other nights of the week. Sad. read more

Fabulous find in the middle of ellsworth. Although the waitress found it really difficult to take our order - when the good came it was unbelievable. The rolls were amazing. The lo mein was perfect. The portions are huge. We were starving so we ordered more than usual and boy did we have massive amounts of food. Miso soup was also perfect. The waitress was hard to get back once she had initially checked on us but other than the wait to pay it was fabulous. Will be back. read more

We went to Shibashi... despite the Japanese name, it is mainly a Chinese restaurant that also offers some Japanese inspired dishes and sushi.(I should perhaps add that I am of Japanese descent so I know what Japanese food should taste like) The dinner portion is huge.... Each portion would serve many.... The problem here is that quantity is not quality.... I ordered the chicken teriyaki bento box and my partner chicken lo mein. The dishes looked fine, the issue is the quantity of sodium in them... I know, Asian food is not known for being low in sodium.... But our dishes were salty to the extreme. We tasted them but didn't eat much for fear our blood pressure would sky-rocket. The chef should know better and be more disciplined in the use of soy sauce. And tbe dishes didn't taste good, even after discounting the salt. Otherwise, our server was friendly and the décor not too bad - that is why I am giving two stars as opposed to just one. I will not go back there. read more

Good food, especially the appetizers. Nice staff and appealing atmosphere.

This place has a very professional and elegant atmosphere when you walk in, but I guess in this case, looks can be very deceiving. My family of 14 made a reservation for 5:30 last night, our orders were taken around 6pm. Once 7:30 rolled around and we still did not have our food we had no choice but go to Wendy's so we could feed our hungry kids. The entire time we were there we saw our waiter only twice...and never was there an explanation as to why our food was taking so long to cook or a "I'm sorry for the inconvenience". This is why we had set up a reservation to begin with, so we didn't have to wait long to be seated and be served within a reasonable amount of time...45 minutes would have been acceptable, but sitting there for 2 hours is most definitely not. I understand that there was a full house last night, and it is busy most nights, but as a new restaurant, it needs to run like every night is going to be a full house and expect the unexpected. I mean, come on...your in Ellsworth. Opening a new restaurant is like opening a Casino in Las Vegas, it is new and exciting. It felt like my family was seated in a separate room and forgotten about. What I experienced last night was definitely new, but instead of saying "exciting", I think "ridiculous" is more appropriate of a word. Never have I ever had to leave a restaurant without even trying to food...definitely a first for me, and a very disappointing at that. read more

I loved green tea's food but the atmosphere suffered in the old location. I always enjoyed the food so I would recommend it to everyone. When Shinbashi opened earlier this summer I was very excited. The first two times I ate there everything went well and came out great. The past two months when I went there (even on a slow night) I had the worst experience with service. The worst experience was having to wait for 45 minutes before anyone came over to say hello, I am your server I will be right with you. . . ten minutes later we were able to put in a drink order of water...ten minutes later we got water...before it was all said and done we had our meal completed in two hours. There were four of us and luckily we had cash so we wouldn't have to wait for change. The last time (which was my LAST time) I went there last I got my app. a friend got her app. and her entree and the third person had to wait for her app. . . when I received my entree the third persons meal was brought to her but no appetizer..she asked for it and the crab rangoons soon came out...stone cold. I think the employees need to get their groove back before I make it back. read more

I come up this way a couple of times a year for business and always stop here for dinner one night. The combination plates are a great deal and the sushi and tempura are always good. Also have good prices on beers. read more

My wife loves this place. We Dine in there at least twice a week and do take out a additional 3 times a week. My wife loves there chicken fresh spring rolls with avocado instead of asparagus. She says they are addictive and could eat it for every meal.That's the only down fall she say's is all depending who is back in the kitchen. Some make it one way and some make it another. I am a big fan of the crab Rangoon and sesame chicken but really like it all. A recommendation is to get those flashing light buzzer things that you give a customer to tell them when there table is ready. sometimes Shinbashi get so overwhelmed that people that are waiting for a table get up and leave because of the wait. I was in there one time and people were waiting for a table and others were waiting to pay bill and others like my self were waiting for takeout and staff were clearly confused and overwhelmed. I could see that customers were wondering weather or not they would get seated and no one could tell them how long the wait would be. They are a new restaurant and I'm sure will get better in that aspect. read more

While my wife and I have generally enjoyed the food I have found the staff to be unprofessional and poorly trained. One instance, I ordered a beer while I waited for some take out. After repeating four or five times that I wanted a Sam Adams the waitress who never understood simply walked away and never came back. I actually had to get up and find someone else to take my order. Just yesterday,4/10/13, I again headed to Ellsworth( 40 minutes from my home) to get my wife's birthday dinner. I again ordered a beer and some sushi while I waited. The food came and I paid 120.00 tab and included a generous tip even though all Maureen did was take my order and get me a beer. The food as usual was good. problem was an item was missing( two orders of ribs) . I called and was told that just come in and they would make good. I told her I was 40 minutes away and it was my wife's b'day .All she would do is tell me to come in and she'd give me the ribs.... I hung up not very happy and then my wife told me yet another dish was missing( egg rolls) I decided not to bother to call again and that's why I'm writing this review. Long story short....I'll go again for the food and good fresh sushi but NEVER AGAIN will I call and order take out. Total incompetence for sure!! read more