Nice place, the baby octopus and the takoyaki were awesome. You will be surprised by the food and the price (super cheap).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Joe Smith
Top tier food at a reasonable price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Plain Okonomiyaki, Yakitori
Shucheng Chao
We used to like this Izakaya place a lot. But the recent visits haven't been very pleasant. Not only the menu got trimmed, but some dishes (like mackerel collar) on the trimmed menu seem to be always out. During the most recent visit, we ordered a grilled tuna belly as a substitute to the mackerel collar. 3 things made the dish not enjoyable: 1. The "belly" part was very close to the tail so the meet was already lean and there was no belly fat at all. 2. The whole "belly" was grilled and cooked for too long and the already lean meet became even dryer. 3. The part was not cleaned well either. We thought the skin would be the only good part since usually the skin should be fatty and crispy. However the skin this time was dry and a little bitter with uncleaned scales on it. Overall very disappointed.Other than the shortened menu and food not as good quality as before, they are short staffed so it was almost impossible to expect someone to answer the phone during busy hours. It takes some good minutes even just for anyone to come to get you on the seating waitlist.Despite all the complaints, I will still recommend their raw fish dishes (tuna tartares, sashimi, sushi, etc.) and some of the grilled sticks. Another big pro for them is that their happy hour last till 630pm on weekends.
First time for us here, celebrating our 3rd anniversary of meeting. Excellent food, service, and prices. No reservations in a really popular venue, so plan for a slight wait. Staff is awesome, and explained dishes we weren't familiar with.? The venue is noisy, so don't expect a subdued, intimate experience. We'll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jin Chen
Great place for Japanese grilled and fried food. Plan to spend $30 per person. Do reserve a table before you go.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Agedashi Tofu, Tempura Don
AV Goodsell
Returned this time with my family of four - we all had a great time and the food was devoured! Thanks again for squeezing us in and the great service. We'll be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Gyoza, Yakitori
Jamie Rappoport
Food poisoning from the salmon. All I ate was salmon sushi rolls. My husband ate a mixed sashimi plate that had a little salmon but lots of other fish. I ended up crippled over the toilet not able to hold any food or liquid down the following day. My husband and some light stomach issues as well. It was our first time trying this place. We will not eat here again
Isabelle Minett
Food was AMAZING, staff was all super nice, restaurant is tiny but very cute, overall a really great experience. Would highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Faezeh Ashtiani
This is our go to place for sushi. i also love the beef and edamame appetizers. Very cozy spot.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
Simon Tan
The okonomiyaki is presented wonderfully, but the flavor is unbalanced - too salty in some places, too much spice in others.
Service took a while but you can't go wrong with their happy hour menu and also the agedashi tofu + ten don from the regular menu!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Shelly B
A year or so ago I would’ve given a much better review however this place has really changed for the worse. It is badly in need of a paint job and looks quite run down. They are extremely disorganized resulting in poor service where you’re not sure who is in charge of serving your table. We went on a Friday and it was busy. They took our name and number and said they’d call when our table was ready. Well they NEVER called. The final straw that has made us decide to not go back is that the menu has very few vegan and/or vegetarian options to begin with. The last time we were there I told our waitress that I was vegan and the shishito peppers (one of the few vegan things on the menu) I ordered came with bonito (dried fish) on top. There are so many great Japanese restaurants in Seattle. Do yourself a favor and go to somewhere besides Issian.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Shannon Hendricks
Loved this little place! Staff was great! Food was excellent and a cold beer is all you need! Can't wait to go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rosie Cotton
Tuna donbori was my favourite (8/10). Skewers were good too (7/10), I like scallops and beef so can’t go wrong. Sashimi set was alright (7/10)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Rebecca Jhung
Food is always delicious and servers are helpful and prompt. One of my favorite spots!
Nice place, the baby octopus and the takoyaki were awesome. You will be surprised by the food and the price (super cheap).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Top tier food at a reasonable price.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Plain Okonomiyaki, Yakitori
We used to like this Izakaya place a lot. But the recent visits haven't been very pleasant. Not only the menu got trimmed, but some dishes (like mackerel collar) on the trimmed menu seem to be always out. During the most recent visit, we ordered a grilled tuna belly as a substitute to the mackerel collar. 3 things made the dish not enjoyable: 1. The "belly" part was very close to the tail so the meet was already lean and there was no belly fat at all. 2. The whole "belly" was grilled and cooked for too long and the already lean meet became even dryer. 3. The part was not cleaned well either. We thought the skin would be the only good part since usually the skin should be fatty and crispy. However the skin this time was dry and a little bitter with uncleaned scales on it. Overall very disappointed.Other than the shortened menu and food not as good quality as before, they are short staffed so it was almost impossible to expect someone to answer the phone during busy hours. It takes some good minutes even just for anyone to come to get you on the seating waitlist.Despite all the complaints, I will still recommend their raw fish dishes (tuna tartares, sashimi, sushi, etc.) and some of the grilled sticks. Another big pro for them is that their happy hour last till 630pm on weekends.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Creamy Mentaiko Udon, Grilled Beef Tongue, Yakiton, Creamy Uni Udon, Korokke, Yakitori
First time for us here, celebrating our 3rd anniversary of meeting. Excellent food, service, and prices. No reservations in a really popular venue, so plan for a slight wait. Staff is awesome, and explained dishes we weren't familiar with.? The venue is noisy, so don't expect a subdued, intimate experience. We'll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great place for Japanese grilled and fried food. Plan to spend $30 per person. Do reserve a table before you go.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Agedashi Tofu, Tempura Don
Returned this time with my family of four - we all had a great time and the food was devoured! Thanks again for squeezing us in and the great service. We'll be back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Gyoza, Yakitori
Food poisoning from the salmon. All I ate was salmon sushi rolls. My husband ate a mixed sashimi plate that had a little salmon but lots of other fish. I ended up crippled over the toilet not able to hold any food or liquid down the following day. My husband and some light stomach issues as well. It was our first time trying this place. We will not eat here again
Food was AMAZING, staff was all super nice, restaurant is tiny but very cute, overall a really great experience. Would highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This is our go to place for sushi. i also love the beef and edamame appetizers. Very cozy spot.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
The okonomiyaki is presented wonderfully, but the flavor is unbalanced - too salty in some places, too much spice in others.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Service took a while but you can't go wrong with their happy hour menu and also the agedashi tofu + ten don from the regular menu!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
A year or so ago I would’ve given a much better review however this place has really changed for the worse. It is badly in need of a paint job and looks quite run down. They are extremely disorganized resulting in poor service where you’re not sure who is in charge of serving your table. We went on a Friday and it was busy. They took our name and number and said they’d call when our table was ready. Well they NEVER called. The final straw that has made us decide to not go back is that the menu has very few vegan and/or vegetarian options to begin with. The last time we were there I told our waitress that I was vegan and the shishito peppers (one of the few vegan things on the menu) I ordered came with bonito (dried fish) on top. There are so many great Japanese restaurants in Seattle. Do yourself a favor and go to somewhere besides Issian.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Loved this little place! Staff was great! Food was excellent and a cold beer is all you need! Can't wait to go back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tuna donbori was my favourite (8/10). Skewers were good too (7/10), I like scallops and beef so can’t go wrong. Sashimi set was alright (7/10)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Food is always delicious and servers are helpful and prompt. One of my favorite spots!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5