The food is delicious and plentiful, making it the best place to focus on Japanese cuisine. This is a place I want to visit again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sarah Smith
Was looking forward to the chef experience. Overall, atmosphere was nice, we had attentive but dismissive service, and the food was just not good. We appreciated the attempt to add courses to rectify our concerns but the standard wasn’t met.First cold courses: tuna in tofu and tuna with fried onion strings. Both lacked flavor and color. Not bad but nothing to go back for.Nigiri: four varieties (great!) but three were overpowered with wasabi. If you have fresh protein you don’t need to overpower.Hot Dishes: Mackerel and mussels. Mackerel was dry with no flavor. Mussels were overall dine with jalapeño. Could not stomach either and still feeling the “fishy” smell of the former.Service: understanding we were not thrilled with the hot dishes they brought a hand roll (eel) and soup on the house. We appreciated the gesture. The hand roll was bland. The soup (egg drop with shrimp) had no flavor.Overall, these dishes either lacked flavor and character or spice overpowered the protein.Have been to two dozen plus omakase restaurants and this ranks last. While we appreciated some adjustments the food was quite subpar.Dietary restrictions: This is a nut free restaurant which was great to understand.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
Daniel Davis
A good mid range sushi place. In between the crazy expensive high end places and some of the cheaper neighborhood places, Takara 14 occupies a good niche as a place with good sushi that doesn't break the bank. It may not be as good as the best places, but for the price I think it was quite good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi
IanC
Had a wonderful “Trust The Chef” 8 course meal at Takara. Very creative and unique Japanese tasting menu with amazing variety - highly recommended. Very nice champagne and sake pairing as well - a can't miss spot in DC!
After reading Tom Sietsema's ( review, we just had to visit. And Takara 14 did not disappoint. We came to celebrate a birthday and were treated like VIPs the moment we arrived. Although, everyone is treated that way in the cozy, cherry blossom tree house of a dining room overlooking 14th Street. We ordered the chef's tasting menu and were treated to an unforgettable several hour, multi-course feast. What an outstanding experience. Highly recommended.
Nancy Uma
We were running late and the staff that answered were very nice. We had a wonderful window seat to watch the city go by as we had some of the best Japanese !Service was prompt , food was very flavorful and nice and hot ( temperature) . The servings were generous, we actually ordered more than we could eat ! The specialty cocktails are a must … we were treated to a palette cleanser that was refreshing and delicious… we will definitely be back next time we visit DC
Hyped and expensive restaurant but not worth it. Half of the menu wasn't available, food was decent but not great, service was rather slow and not knowledgeable, and a 20% service charge added to the bill for a party of three. We'll not go again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
RonL
The food was outstanding and we loved our server. All of the fish was so fresh and delicious. We had a great table by the window. The noise level was a bit much but overall it did not disappoint! We'll be back the next time we are in DC.
This restaurant is lively and fun but the real star is the food, which is exceptionally good. We realized just how much care the restaurant puts into the food when we had the miso soup. It's clearly made on the premises with paste, not powder. That set the tone for a variety of outstanding dishes, particularly very high quality fresh fish.Our server, Kate, was fantastic. Attentive and approachable.Highly recommended.
We wanted to try this place because of the variety of items and cooking styles in their menu. Service was excellent but the food fell short in execution. An uni/squid selection we wanted to try was not available ( no squid on a thursday night) and the scallop substitute dressed with ponzu lacked flavor as hard as that would seem to be. Gyoza were well cooked but the filling oddly bland while the bed of cabbage salad with sesame dressing was the star of the dish. The sushi rolls we had used intriguing ingredients yet tasted either odd or bland. Overall interesting ingredient selection but poor execution made it a run of the mill sushi bar.
Great omakase experience and excellent service. The fish was excellent and each dish was prepared well and had a lovely presentation! The agedashi tofu and the soup were standouts! We will definitely be back!!!
Djazz5
Great place to have lunch or dinner. The food was excellently prepared and beautiful to look at. Many colors, textures and flavors made it a wonderful meal and the friendly staff made it a wonderful experience. Will be back.
Prime chief tasting menu. Plenty of food was served. Creative, innovative and absolutely delicious. The service staff was knowledgeable and very accommodating. Will definitely be back here again.
The food is delicious and plentiful, making it the best place to focus on Japanese cuisine. This is a place I want to visit again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Was looking forward to the chef experience. Overall, atmosphere was nice, we had attentive but dismissive service, and the food was just not good. We appreciated the attempt to add courses to rectify our concerns but the standard wasn’t met.First cold courses: tuna in tofu and tuna with fried onion strings. Both lacked flavor and color. Not bad but nothing to go back for.Nigiri: four varieties (great!) but three were overpowered with wasabi. If you have fresh protein you don’t need to overpower.Hot Dishes: Mackerel and mussels. Mackerel was dry with no flavor. Mussels were overall dine with jalapeño. Could not stomach either and still feeling the “fishy” smell of the former.Service: understanding we were not thrilled with the hot dishes they brought a hand roll (eel) and soup on the house. We appreciated the gesture. The hand roll was bland. The soup (egg drop with shrimp) had no flavor.Overall, these dishes either lacked flavor and character or spice overpowered the protein.Have been to two dozen plus omakase restaurants and this ranks last. While we appreciated some adjustments the food was quite subpar.Dietary restrictions: This is a nut free restaurant which was great to understand.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
A good mid range sushi place. In between the crazy expensive high end places and some of the cheaper neighborhood places, Takara 14 occupies a good niche as a place with good sushi that doesn't break the bank. It may not be as good as the best places, but for the price I think it was quite good.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi
Had a wonderful “Trust The Chef” 8 course meal at Takara. Very creative and unique Japanese tasting menu with amazing variety - highly recommended. Very nice champagne and sake pairing as well - a can't miss spot in DC!
After reading Tom Sietsema's ( review, we just had to visit. And Takara 14 did not disappoint. We came to celebrate a birthday and were treated like VIPs the moment we arrived. Although, everyone is treated that way in the cozy, cherry blossom tree house of a dining room overlooking 14th Street. We ordered the chef's tasting menu and were treated to an unforgettable several hour, multi-course feast. What an outstanding experience. Highly recommended.
We were running late and the staff that answered were very nice. We had a wonderful window seat to watch the city go by as we had some of the best Japanese !Service was prompt , food was very flavorful and nice and hot ( temperature) . The servings were generous, we actually ordered more than we could eat ! The specialty cocktails are a must … we were treated to a palette cleanser that was refreshing and delicious… we will definitely be back next time we visit DC
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Lychee Geisha, Tuna Tartare, Pork Belly Gyoza
Best sushi in
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hyped and expensive restaurant but not worth it. Half of the menu wasn't available, food was decent but not great, service was rather slow and not knowledgeable, and a 20% service charge added to the bill for a party of three. We'll not go again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
The food was outstanding and we loved our server. All of the fish was so fresh and delicious. We had a great table by the window. The noise level was a bit much but overall it did not disappoint! We'll be back the next time we are in DC.
Wonderful place and food!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi
Restaurantji Recommends
This restaurant is lively and fun but the real star is the food, which is exceptionally good. We realized just how much care the restaurant puts into the food when we had the miso soup. It's clearly made on the premises with paste, not powder. That set the tone for a variety of outstanding dishes, particularly very high quality fresh fish.Our server, Kate, was fantastic. Attentive and approachable.Highly recommended.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Sushi, Course Omakase, Pork Belly Gyoza
We wanted to try this place because of the variety of items and cooking styles in their menu. Service was excellent but the food fell short in execution. An uni/squid selection we wanted to try was not available ( no squid on a thursday night) and the scallop substitute dressed with ponzu lacked flavor as hard as that would seem to be. Gyoza were well cooked but the filling oddly bland while the bed of cabbage salad with sesame dressing was the star of the dish. The sushi rolls we had used intriguing ingredients yet tasted either odd or bland. Overall interesting ingredient selection but poor execution made it a run of the mill sushi bar.
Great omakase experience and excellent service. The fish was excellent and each dish was prepared well and had a lovely presentation! The agedashi tofu and the soup were standouts! We will definitely be back!!!
Great place to have lunch or dinner. The food was excellently prepared and beautiful to look at. Many colors, textures and flavors made it a wonderful meal and the friendly staff made it a wonderful experience. Will be back.
Prime chief tasting menu. Plenty of food was served. Creative, innovative and absolutely delicious. The service staff was knowledgeable and very accommodating. Will definitely be back here again.