Philly | Royal Sushi & Izakaya 🍣

The long-time Resy #1 in Philly… is it really that great? I’d give the izakaya side a 6/10. Chirashi – Overpriced for what it is. Eggplant with miso sauce – Creative and pretty good 👍. Chicken skewers – Not bad. Agedashi tofu – Batter was too thick, underfried, and the sauce tasted off 🥹. (For reference, Sagami in NJ totally outshines this place.) Haven’t tried their omakase, so no comment there—but the setup felt a bit underwhelming. The omakase counter is only separated from the noisy izakaya by a thin curtain, so you’d still hear all the chatter. For $300 per person, that doesn’t feel right. From what I’ve seen of their omakase courses, it seems to rely heavily on luxury ingredients and (Americanized) twists—like piling on caviar, pairing akami with jalapeño, or topping nigiri with raw oysters and scallions… Very “American sushi.” Enough to impress some, I guess, but not my thing. Came once just to try. Walked in around 7 PM on a Wednesday—got lucky, no wait. A couple right after us was told 40 minutes. And with that, I think I’m officially done with Philly Japanese food 🙃. #PhillyFood #RoyalSushi #Izakaya #SushiReview #Overhyped #PhillyEats #JapaneseFood