The food was not the best sushi, sashimi, and nigiri I have ever had, but better than 3/4 of many other places I have tried around the country. The flavors were great and the menu choices excellent. Great place to go for authentic Japanese dishes even if you have people joining you who don't like sushi, since there is also ramen, udon, chicken katsu, teriyaki dishes, gyoza, tempura, etc. not a full bar, though you can get beer, wine, well drinks and things like margaritas. I love that it is not a chain, but is local, and Japanese family owned. Service was excellent, and the atmosphere is great for evenings, not the cold, square, modern strip mall decor of most sushi restaurants.
Roy T.
An extremely hearty yes to the Ramen here. The people are friendly, the food is to die for. I had a Ramen that even for a regular size, made me content. Had a delicious Kirin in a very frosty mug. This is as much of an authentic taste of Japan. It's the best I've had outside of Tokyo itself. You will need to check the hours, as they are still recovering from the pandemic. We were served by Yuki, who appears to be an owner. She was fun, and kind. It's just a part of a wonderful experience. Go there and enjoy. It's a neat version of Japanese culture, but much cheaper than a plane ticket!
Hayden Y.
I've been here many times and always thoroughly enjoy the food. I can't speak to how the menu was in the past, but everything I've had has been delicious. I especially enjoy the shio-abu ramen and the "sizzling salmon rice." Also want to mention how nice it was that they had ozoni for New Year's, good stuff. It's a great place to just sit and take in the ambience, and the staff are all very nice. As far as I can tell, the cooking (minus the sushi) is all done by one guy, so I tip my hat to him. Maybe that means longer wait times than if there were more kitchen staff, but it's not like I'm in a hurry. Just sit back and have some sake or a tall frothy mug of Kirin and relax.
Rob Meadows
What has happened to this place? Used to have a competent drinks service, and interesting mix of food at affordable prices. Maybe sticking to Happy Hour is the trick. But, sorry, we're done.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
John Osgood
I had not eaten sushi in a while and was excited to eat here. Only open twice a week, my friend and I were intrigued about this restaurant. The wait staff was pleasant. I ordered the unagi, gyoza, my friend had a ramen. The ramen looked good. My homie left stuffed. But, my sushi roll didn't stay together whichmade eating what ordered uneventful. If I am in the area again, I could see going there again if a the group i was with wanted to go there, but idk.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Orion Rainer
My girlfriend and I have been here a few times but never did it end like this. The morning after eating the ramen from this place they were puking until there was only bile for 24 hours. The service is hit or miss over the phone and made my partner violently ill to the point of needing to go to the emergency room. DO NOT EAT HERE!!Wheelchair accessibility: It is not, the doors prevent anyone with mobility aids from entering this "resturant".
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ana Meier
Disappointing overall, and expensive for what you get.The veggie ramen is mostly corn and cabbage, both inexpensive ingredients but somehow $17 without a protein—adding tofu is another cost and even adding spices that normally come free (chili oil and sriracha) cost $1 each.We ordered a vegetarian roll, which was missing avocado and also had some issues with service.Overall not a great experience, and there are much better places to dine nearby.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Eisen Laucik
Tasty food and good service. There was a hiccup with our giftcard mag strip, which they were not going to accept, but I looked the card value up on line for proof of value, and all went well. Thanks to Manager Yuki!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Negihama and Spicy Hand Rolls, Roll
Dessie DiMino
Vegetarian options: Good veggie ramen and other veggie options
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
ben
Best Izakaya in Portland. I have been coming to this place for years. A small restaurant with friendly service and authentic, delicious food. I recommend sitting at the bar and ordering a couple items at a time while you enjoy some sake or a Kirin. The sake selection is very well curated.The ramen is fantastic, with house made noodles. If you want to try something unique get the salmon broth ramen, it’s incredible. Servings are quite large as well!I adore all their hot offerings, and the hand rolls are great. Not a huge selection of sushi, because it’s not really a sushi restaurant, it’s an izakaya.Please understand they have had to reduce hours and menu since the pandemic, struggling like many other local businesses. Hope to see them return to the full menu soon, so please support this Division Street staple. Enjoy!Vegetarian options: I really enjoy their vegetarian sushi options.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Karaage, Negihama and Spicy Hand Rolls, Tako Yaki, Butter Corn Ramen, Noodles
Ehh.. mediocre food but still good for just drinks and basic bites. I visited their sister restaurant, Izakaya Kichinto which had about the same level of food but a bit more variety and a bit cooler interior. I went in a group of 4 and we were all pretty hungry but after looking through their menu (which seemed to have been reduced a lot) decided to only get 2 entrees and an appetizer to share as nothing sounded that good even with us being hungry. We looked thru their pretty short sushi menu and quickly decided that they didn't seem like a sushi spot bc their nigiri menu only had 5 fish and the rolls were all pretty uncreative/fried. We got the katsu curry, yuzu shio ramen and I honestly forgot the appetizer. The katsu curry was pretty good, ramen was ok and appetizer obviously unmemorable. So overall ok, I would say not a food destination but will do the spot if you're just lookin for drinks and snacks.
Madeleine G.
Unfortunately the items marked gluten free are not gluten free. I believe they switched the noodles to be so, but did not look into what ingredients contain gluten and also put fried tofu in the ramen that was contaminated with gluten from other items in their menu. I would not trust this restaurant to provide gluten free options even if they are marked. As someone with celiac disease, I left the restaurants swollen and the next day still unable to speak due to my throat closing. The waiter had let us know that the ramen I ordered would be gluten free and it was marked on the menu that way.
Adam S.
I managed to catch them while they were open once. And the food was good. But not, "catch them within the 10 hours per week they're open" good. Lots of other rock solid Izakaya's open normal hours.
Hiley Lynn
Got ramen for takeout, got home 5 minutes later open the bag, the egg is wrapped in plastic wrap, cold and unseasoned, the noodles were in a sandwich bag, again cold. And the broth was lukewarm in a plastic tub, why not just but everything in the tub??
Danielle Long
Not surprised to see they fired their entire staff without warning since I worked at the downtown location in 2016 and certainly didn’t have the best experience.Either way though this place used to be delicious. Post-pandemic they lost all the grilled skewers and replaced the house made beef bo-gyoza with generic frozen gyoza. Now they’ve gotten rid of the chicken paitan ramen and it seems like their house made noodles as well. Even the egg is just a regular hard boiled egg now. The frenchy roll is still really good but it’s not enough to get me to come back.
The food was not the best sushi, sashimi, and nigiri I have ever had, but better than 3/4 of many other places I have tried around the country. The flavors were great and the menu choices excellent. Great place to go for authentic Japanese dishes even if you have people joining you who don't like sushi, since there is also ramen, udon, chicken katsu, teriyaki dishes, gyoza, tempura, etc. not a full bar, though you can get beer, wine, well drinks and things like margaritas. I love that it is not a chain, but is local, and Japanese family owned. Service was excellent, and the atmosphere is great for evenings, not the cold, square, modern strip mall decor of most sushi restaurants.
An extremely hearty yes to the Ramen here. The people are friendly, the food is to die for. I had a Ramen that even for a regular size, made me content. Had a delicious Kirin in a very frosty mug. This is as much of an authentic taste of Japan. It's the best I've had outside of Tokyo itself. You will need to check the hours, as they are still recovering from the pandemic. We were served by Yuki, who appears to be an owner. She was fun, and kind. It's just a part of a wonderful experience. Go there and enjoy. It's a neat version of Japanese culture, but much cheaper than a plane ticket!
I've been here many times and always thoroughly enjoy the food. I can't speak to how the menu was in the past, but everything I've had has been delicious. I especially enjoy the shio-abu ramen and the "sizzling salmon rice." Also want to mention how nice it was that they had ozoni for New Year's, good stuff. It's a great place to just sit and take in the ambience, and the staff are all very nice. As far as I can tell, the cooking (minus the sushi) is all done by one guy, so I tip my hat to him. Maybe that means longer wait times than if there were more kitchen staff, but it's not like I'm in a hurry. Just sit back and have some sake or a tall frothy mug of Kirin and relax.
What has happened to this place? Used to have a competent drinks service, and interesting mix of food at affordable prices. Maybe sticking to Happy Hour is the trick. But, sorry, we're done.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
I had not eaten sushi in a while and was excited to eat here. Only open twice a week, my friend and I were intrigued about this restaurant. The wait staff was pleasant. I ordered the unagi, gyoza, my friend had a ramen. The ramen looked good. My homie left stuffed. But, my sushi roll didn't stay together whichmade eating what ordered uneventful. If I am in the area again, I could see going there again if a the group i was with wanted to go there, but idk.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
My girlfriend and I have been here a few times but never did it end like this. The morning after eating the ramen from this place they were puking until there was only bile for 24 hours. The service is hit or miss over the phone and made my partner violently ill to the point of needing to go to the emergency room. DO NOT EAT HERE!!Wheelchair accessibility: It is not, the doors prevent anyone with mobility aids from entering this "resturant".
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Disappointing overall, and expensive for what you get.The veggie ramen is mostly corn and cabbage, both inexpensive ingredients but somehow $17 without a protein—adding tofu is another cost and even adding spices that normally come free (chili oil and sriracha) cost $1 each.We ordered a vegetarian roll, which was missing avocado and also had some issues with service.Overall not a great experience, and there are much better places to dine nearby.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Tasty food and good service. There was a hiccup with our giftcard mag strip, which they were not going to accept, but I looked the card value up on line for proof of value, and all went well. Thanks to Manager Yuki!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Negihama and Spicy Hand Rolls, Roll
Vegetarian options: Good veggie ramen and other veggie options
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Best Izakaya in Portland. I have been coming to this place for years. A small restaurant with friendly service and authentic, delicious food. I recommend sitting at the bar and ordering a couple items at a time while you enjoy some sake or a Kirin. The sake selection is very well curated.The ramen is fantastic, with house made noodles. If you want to try something unique get the salmon broth ramen, it’s incredible. Servings are quite large as well!I adore all their hot offerings, and the hand rolls are great. Not a huge selection of sushi, because it’s not really a sushi restaurant, it’s an izakaya.Please understand they have had to reduce hours and menu since the pandemic, struggling like many other local businesses. Hope to see them return to the full menu soon, so please support this Division Street staple. Enjoy!Vegetarian options: I really enjoy their vegetarian sushi options.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Karaage, Negihama and Spicy Hand Rolls, Tako Yaki, Butter Corn Ramen, Noodles
Restaurantji Recommends
Ehh.. mediocre food but still good for just drinks and basic bites. I visited their sister restaurant, Izakaya Kichinto which had about the same level of food but a bit more variety and a bit cooler interior. I went in a group of 4 and we were all pretty hungry but after looking through their menu (which seemed to have been reduced a lot) decided to only get 2 entrees and an appetizer to share as nothing sounded that good even with us being hungry. We looked thru their pretty short sushi menu and quickly decided that they didn't seem like a sushi spot bc their nigiri menu only had 5 fish and the rolls were all pretty uncreative/fried. We got the katsu curry, yuzu shio ramen and I honestly forgot the appetizer. The katsu curry was pretty good, ramen was ok and appetizer obviously unmemorable. So overall ok, I would say not a food destination but will do the spot if you're just lookin for drinks and snacks.
Unfortunately the items marked gluten free are not gluten free. I believe they switched the noodles to be so, but did not look into what ingredients contain gluten and also put fried tofu in the ramen that was contaminated with gluten from other items in their menu. I would not trust this restaurant to provide gluten free options even if they are marked. As someone with celiac disease, I left the restaurants swollen and the next day still unable to speak due to my throat closing. The waiter had let us know that the ramen I ordered would be gluten free and it was marked on the menu that way.
I managed to catch them while they were open once. And the food was good. But not, "catch them within the 10 hours per week they're open" good. Lots of other rock solid Izakaya's open normal hours.
Got ramen for takeout, got home 5 minutes later open the bag, the egg is wrapped in plastic wrap, cold and unseasoned, the noodles were in a sandwich bag, again cold. And the broth was lukewarm in a plastic tub, why not just but everything in the tub??
Not surprised to see they fired their entire staff without warning since I worked at the downtown location in 2016 and certainly didn’t have the best experience.Either way though this place used to be delicious. Post-pandemic they lost all the grilled skewers and replaced the house made beef bo-gyoza with generic frozen gyoza. Now they’ve gotten rid of the chicken paitan ramen and it seems like their house made noodles as well. Even the egg is just a regular hard boiled egg now. The frenchy roll is still really good but it’s not enough to get me to come back.