Yuzen is one of two sushi restaurants on Mercer Island, and each has their pros and cons. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Yuzen is cute with a lot of character. The seating density is such we never felt crowded though the sushi bar is designed for more separation than a typical sushi bar.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Yuzen is a Japanese restaurant that has sushi on the menu whereas the other sushi restaurant is more of a sushi restaurant with a handful of other dishes. Yuzen's menu is extensive! They have five different types of salads, they have udon noodles, ribs, yakisoba, sukiyaki, takoyaki, oysters, curry, rice bowls, and clams in addition to sushi. The menu diversity makes it unique and sets it apart from other restaurants. When we were there I very much enjoyed the chicken karage - fried and breaded tender chicken pieces. The nigiri was also very good. Their rolls were lacking. I ordered the Vancouver roll upon recommendation and ended up giving it mostly away after eating two pieces. The tangy sauce was very mild but left an unusual texture behind that made the salmon unappetizing. I think the cucumber was mostly forgotten and with large pieces of avocado that overwhelmed the flavor profile it was textually a very smooshy roll. I did not enjoy. Their shrimp tempura roll was rice and a piece of shrimp tempura, which is the basic preparation. I realized I may have become spoiled with the nearby competition and their preparation. Though I recognize the difference I prefer the others' shrimp tempura rolls. They have quite a few sakes on the menu but not much else including wine. The service was fabulous. Everyone was very attentive and kind hosts. While we had one primary waiter it felt more like a group effort as we were frequently checked in on by others. I will certainly be back to explore more of the menu. read more

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Fantastic! Fantastic! Fantastic! Our family gathering was complete with great food and drinks! read more

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[[HIGHLIGHT]]Only one other table was there when we arrived around 5 on Sunday![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Service was very quick. We each only had one plate both we both enjoyed! The salmon savory came with rice and a little fancier version of the classic salad. Lots of flavor in the salmon! The Kari Kari roll was obviously freshly made and warm! All of the ingredients were yummy and crisp! It was packed thick instead of long. I'd give it a 4.5/5 read more

Yuzen - Savory Salmon Savory - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

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Yuzen has been my favourite Japanese restaurant in the area for several years. [[HIGHLIGHT]]The place is cozy and decorated simply and well.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] The sushi chefs are friendly, and we've had some great servers. The sushi is fresh and delicious; we've never been disappointed. The kids bento is delicious and decently sized. We've had some wonderful items, but my all-time favourite is the beef sukiyaki. Whenever you get the craving for Japanese, try Yuzen! read more

We had to come back to Yuzen for good quality sushi. We intentionally drove from Bellevue to Mercer Island for the food. [[HIGHLIGHT]]We love the ambience, wonderful service, and most importantly, great quality melt-in-your-mouth sushi.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] What a way to end our year~ Thank you Yuzen team! read more

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This is one of the best sushi places I've been to in Seattle, we love this restaurant and it's soooo convinent living on the island! Never had a problem with service and the food is really good! read more

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Located in the south end of Mercer Island this quaint and cute Japanese restaurant offers a variety of sushi menu, bento boxes, udon soups, and variety of Japanese dishes. [[HIGHLIGHT]]This restaurant is more roomier and spacious than the north end Japanese restaurant with ample parking.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Our family loves driving down to support this family owned business. read more

We have been loyal customers since 2009 (date of my original review) and figured it's time to update it. This is a great place. We loved it from the beginning, and it's improved over time. The food has always been good, but for the first couple years after they opened they'd sometimes struggle with service. That all changed -- and for years now the service has been prompt, kind, thoughtful and helpful when you're having trouble deciding what to order. Also, in 2020 or so they remodeled and updated the interior of the restaurant, so it's a nicer place to enjoy the evening (though it was also OK before). This is a gem, and definitely worth visiting if you haven't tried. Their takeout service and menu is great as well. read more

Wonderfully scripted menu. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Lovely setting.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Delicious sushi and eats. We are regulars with whole family Live this local gem Please bring back the scallops dynamite dish read more

We've been here multiple times to come pick up some Chinese or Japanese on the south side of the Island and between their sushi and other dishes we always completely demolish what they give us. Good service good food good cuts of meat and the rice is quite tasty as well we will definitely be back read more

Friendly owners, who helped teach my son how to use chop sticks. Very zen calm environment. Great quality sushi, saki, and bento boxes for children. read more

Yuzen - Kari Kari roll. Yum! - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

The restaurant was very clean and had a very nice ambiance especially during the night. The service was excellent and the food was amazing. If you want high quality sushi near Seattle/Bellevue, you need to check out this restaurant. read more

Food here are amazing!! All the sushi rolls and udon we had were outstanding! Highly recommend fried oysters appetizer! Hiyashi Wakame seaweed salad was great too. Service was great, friendly staff and they have a really nice atmosphere. I'm excited to go again with our friends this week. This place is not an average sushi restaurant. If you want good quality sushi, I highly recommend! read more

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Wonderfully scripted menu. Lovely setting. Delicious sushi and eats. We are regulars with whole family

Udon is great. Tempura is great. Curry is great. Sukiyaki is great. Servers are friendly. Atmosphere is relaxed. Underrated, in my opinion.

Absolutely loved the casual ambiance of this neighborhood gem. Friendly servers and fantastic food are always appreciated. I ordered bento box and some sashimi plate and they were all super fresh and tasty. Will come back soon! read more

On visits to the neighboring restaurant I'd seen this place fairly empty so I assumed it was mediocre. Well on Mother's Day the wife had a sushi craving so I figured we'd have a chance of getting a table there, so we gave it a shot. There was plenty of room. We ordered Omakase nigiri, and were quite surprised to get very generous portions of extremely high quality fish. Easily on par with what we'd consider to be Bellevue's best sushi offerings, and a bit less expensive to boot. read more

We'd just finished up some time at the beach at Luther Burbank Park and were craving some sushi, so we decided to check out Yuzen as our friends had told us about it a long time ago. We don't frequent MI restaurants that often, so we figured why not? We missed the happy hour special for $1.50 pieces of 5 different kinds of ngiri, so we ordered entrees instead. The kids got chicken udon and my wife got veggie tempura as she wasn't overly hungry. I initially wanted the curry udon but they didn't have any curry left, so I settled for beef ramen. We then ordered two pieces of hamachi ngiri and two pieces of hokkigai (surf clam) for us and a kappa roll and two pieces of inarizushi for the Fenglets. I have to say the service was great. Our waitress was attentive, friendly, and attended to our every need. The food, however, was less than inspiring. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either...just ok. Both pieces of hamachi had a little bit of stringiness to them and didn't taste as fresh as I would've liked. The hokkigai was great, however, with just the right amount of chew and flavor. I was pleasantly surprised at how tender the beef was in my ramen, but other than that, the dish was rather uninspiring. The broth had a beefy flavor to it, but the ramen noodles were about average. Definitely a better value if you go for the $1.50 deal, but I'd have to try the sushi to assess the quality of the fish. read more

Yuzen - Hokkigai & hamachi - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

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Rolls were much shorter than others for the same mid-teen $ per roll and mostly filler. Lots of sauce and rice - not so much fish. The poke salad was also light on the fish compared to any other poke salad you could get for the same price. Island roll was half mayo. Kari kari roll was mostly rice. Ambiance and service were OK. read more

Yuzen - Island Roll = mostly mayonnaise. - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

Have eaten at this establishment several times. Food is always very good. Great selection of sushi. This time I had noodle soup, spicey tuna roll and some tempura. Service excellent. Has a nice neighborhood eatery vibe. read more

Yuzen - Tempura, shrimp and vegetables, udon noodle soup - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

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We eat here often. I have been working my way thru their menu and never found any "duds". My wife is a fan of the roasted vegetable dish; I like the tempuras. Sushi's and rolls are good - I am a fan of Saba or items from the specials. Can't recommend enough - this is where we take guests. read more

After trying many different kinds of sushi and meals, I finally found something I really like. The beef udon entree was fantastic! So glad I found this. Most of the other meals I found were just so-so, you know, nothing to write home about. Service is good, but be prepared that of its around dinner time, it can be very slow. The last time I was here, a couple came in and I overheard the waiter telling them that they could get a table but that they were so busy that they probably wouldn't get there dinner for at least an hour...the couple ended up leaving. Definitely a popular spot with the locals! read more

Yuzen - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

Yuzen is our go-spot for quality sushi. We ordered a few different things with hot sake and Sapporo on tap. Sake was hot, beer was served in a frosted glass, and the plates with sushi were so pretty! Great taste, quality, service, and decor! read more

We eat at Yuzen often because they offer a very quality experience. Very good food, service, and atmosphere. I particularly like the temperature at which they serve their sushi, not too cold, which allows the flavors to come out. read more

This restaurant, despite being a humble suburban restaurant may be the best Japanese food I've had outside of Japan (where I've been to many times). The sushi is really fresh, as good as anywhere I've been, the salads, particularly the grilled veg salad is sensational and the hot pots superb. Get take out every other week and consistency is there too. Love this place. read more

Love this place, the family staff, prices, freshness, and whole experience! They have $1 nigiri which is great. Kids bento boxes make family dinners a success! read more

Consistently good food. Yellowtail sushi, chicken karaage and vegetable tempura our favorites.

Great service, lovely atmosphere and fantastic food. Get the sukiyaki! And the sashimi deluxe was on point. Seems like the management changed cause I didn't wait as long for food to come out to my table. Been here 3 times already, great for families or for couples. read more

Good food dinning option on the south end of the island. I love the lobster roll and curry.

Solid dinner option on the south end of MI. I recommend calling ahead for a reservation if you have a larger party. You can also call ahead for to go orders. Our go to choices are the nabeyaki udon, chicken yakisoba and sushi rolls, like the KFC roll or spicy tuna. The tempura is also good here and not too oily. They have a wide variety of vegetarian options as well. Great quick service and they are willing to customize dishes for allergies or preferences There's Happy hour every day from 4:30-6pm with good appetizer options. Try the chicken karaage and takoyaki. . read more

We ordered a bottle of wine, a lobster roll and two entrees... check came((demand payment) before we finished and the table was a mess.. Disappointed. read more

Come back for more, great quality sushi and the price is unbeatable!! Their $1 sushi selection is sooo underrated, my family got a bunch of food for less than $30!! Omakase from chef of the freshest fish of the day and its soo amazingggg read more

Yuzen - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

In my heart, I want to say Yuzen is five stars. But... As expected, each and every dish JP, Penny and myself had last night was delicious. Our favorite dish was the ribeye steak-wrapped asparagus. Loved the jelly sauce upon which the asparagus rolls rested. The Tako Salad (cucumber and octopus), curry soup, calamari tempura and panko oysters were all flawless. The broth in the tofu soup, adorned with very thinly sliced green onion, was out-of-this-world delicious. We also had a spider roll (the soft-shell crab was exceptionally fresh and tasty) as well as another nicely presented sushi roll. Sadly, the luscious crab croquettes had been scratched off the menu with a Magic Marker. This was the first time JP and I had martinis here. They were well-prepared and only $8.50 each. I say "only", because compared to some of the other martini prices we've seen in the area recently, these were a bargain. Penny had a very good fizzy saki drink that came in a bottle. The staff were working so hard - the waitresses were a whir of efficient energy - and we correctly received each of the items we ordered. The restaurant was crowded with a wait for a table. But the problem is, you see, the staff was short-handed. It's possible the kitchen was backed up too. From the time we placed our orders to when we paid our bill, it was 2.5 hours. That's too long. Also, dirty dishes were never removed from our table, making for a cluttery mess. We also wanted to order dessert, but received the check before we had the opportunity to ask for dessert. Again, I do not blame the waitstaff because they were working frantically; Yuzen just needs more people on duty. Despite the slow and incomplete service, we all agreed we do want to come back, because the food at Yuzen is consistently delicious, with a lot of options. The staff is always very nice too. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. read more

I seriously bookmarked this place a year or so ago, never thinking I'd have a chance to go...but the menu on the website was total eye-candy. I would never have spotted it, being tucked away in a clustered shopping center in the corner of Island Crest Way on Mercer Island. Go find it! There's a reason everyone on this rock seems to eat here. The service was kind of to-and-fro, but I didn't really mind...I don't like being rushed when a menu takes awhile to digest- especially when I am eating with my Jewish dad, who is finicky, asks a bajillion questions, and who is a sushi novice (which can both fluster and slow me down...oh but how i love him!). He has been a good non-Kosher Jew to let me steer him along, though! We moved to the bar (which is much roomier than most sushi bars) from a table. I was told by an older, vanilla and rich-looking couple who reportedly ate there every day to order the calamari tempura. This usually sounds too contemporary, but they looked very no-bullsh-t, so I told my dad we should do it. I also ordered the dynamite scallops, since I've never tried this dish before, and figured it was a safe option for him and something this place would do well. I wanted to eat a lot of sashimi, but I figured ordering a few of the $1 nigiri would be enough for my dad adventure-and-budget wise- so we did 2 pieces each of the white (sea) eel and white tuna. Oh, and i ordered a piece of uni for dessert...i had to! It was from the East Coast (ooooo, fancy...*shrug*). Verdict: Calamari tempura: Dad loved it! I really liked it! I would have liked to see tiny whole baby bodies (dad, not so much)...but the nice, thick meaty legs were mixed with huge rings, and coated in enough batter that didn't compete with the chewy meat. It didn't melt away or get soggy, but stood up to the garlic aioli and the wasabi aioli (which we didn't use much, since the calamari tasted great on its own). Scallop dynamite: good stuff... i am glad we ordered rice with it. But we nibbled on this secondary to the other items, since the cream sauce sort overwhelmed the dish's featuring the shellfish. I think this is better 2 am post-club snack food! $1 sushi: big, perfect temperature, nothing like the conveyor-belt stuff i have been living off of (and enjoying anyway)! I have NEVER been a fan of anago...but this sea eel was so tasty! It was as big as my middle finger, not dry, not rusty-tasting like last time I had anago. My dad loved it, too! The thing stayed on my rice when I flipped it over to dab it into my soy. I have such a bloody time with this everywhere else. White tuna: yum, holy crap! It was more rich than I expected from $1 sushi, and my dad made those noises that gross you out and make people turn around and stare at you and you hide your face. Then he wagged his finger at the server like my Jewish grandma used to do at the Red Lobster, saying, "EX-EXCUSE ME...EH--EH--EXCUSE MEEEE??" (and now i am turning burgundy) and ordered two more. We were almost done, but he insisted I order dessert, and there was room for only one thing: a piece of uni. It came out as big as a smooshed golfball, as orange in color as 3-star Yelp review, but as amazing in taste as a 5-star! It was sweet and lingering like veal liver custard. I did not want anything else ruining the flavor in my mouth after. I did not chew for about 30 seconds...I let it roll around in my mouth and let it hit every part of my tongue, teeth, mandibles, and throat until I was forced to chew and swallow from that annoying automatic reflex. The uni was $4.95 I think. I didn't see the bill. I don't think I want to. Pops and I took a walk around the nearby Luther Burbank Park afterward to let the calories melt away, and to have a good father-daughter post-dinner meltdown. (The park has off-leash areas for dogs, in case you have one waiting restless in the car.) I have about 95239572357.6756 things to try here still. Now I just need to get on a Mercer Island salary if I want to eat more than the $1 nigiri... *joy p.s. I had called ahead and asked if we needed reservations for 2 at 7:30...the hostess said, "No, we're totally dead..." Well, I don't know how long she's worked there, but when I arrived at 7, the place was pretty busy. Busy enough to keep people waiting for timely service. So you need to be insistent on the phone even if the hostess shrugs off a reservation recommendation. read more

Yuzen - calamari tempura comes with 2 dipping sauces: wasabi and garlic. Thick, meaty squid! Yum. - Japanese Near Me - Mercer Island, Washington

The food was amazing and everything was great, except the price is a little bit higher than average.

Nice atmosphere, friendly staff, always crowded. Great, fresh-tasting sushi. Good range of dishes on the menu, and a full bar. Nice Japanese salad dressing. read more

The service was not good and they don't honor passport discount during what they considered "happy hour" even though most of the food we ordered was off regular menu and the $1 sushi was offered all night. Only went early because we had to go to our child's school concert. I wasn't even full. There food was not that great either. We went to a higher end sushi place in downtown Bellevue and spent less for their happy hour for better food selections and better service. Will never come back here again. read more

My parents came once during a power outage- the restaurant was packed and there was only one man running the show (cooking, serving, making sushi, etc)! He did an outstanding job and was literally running around the restaurant trying to keep up with everyone's orders. I'd say that goes really far in terms of how I view a restaurant and how it values its customers! Attire is casual, which sets it apart from other Japanese restaurants with good food. My parents and I are semi-regulars at Yuzen. We like that it's close to home, and ran by a family. They did change their menu (getting rid of one of my dad's personal favorites) but their food is good quality. The dining room is clean, price is appropriate, and staff is very friendly and helpful! One warning is that there are a lot of families that come in, so maybe not the place for an intimate date on the weekends, but great for families! Bottom line: I do recommend if you love fresh, hand-made sushi and great service! read more

good atmosphere, good food. yelp wants me to write more for some reason, so heres some words! read more

A truly delicious sushi place that satisfy your cravings for great sushi night after a long day! Little pricy but worth it! Definitely coming back read more