Nishiki Cafe & Izakaya — Restaurant in Adelaide

As a family, and individually, we have been going to Nishiki since it first opened. Usually it has been lovely service, great food and a fair price. We are also avid Japanese cuisine lovers, and have all enjoyed it for most our lives, mostly in Vancouver Canada, but also in Australia since becoming more popular. On Friday night 03/11/23, we decided to celebrate a big week with a family dinner at Nishiki. It was one of the worst and most unsettling experiences we have ever experienced in a hospitality setting. Firstly it was overbooked and running completely behind on getting the whole restaurants orders out, we waited on average 30 minutes between each dish (which if it didn't get worse, would have been something to complain about on its own). We received our drinks which were fine, but got the wrong sake (I ordered the 180ml sake and was given the more expensive 300ml) and notified the server, who said she'd go and ask but never came back. We then received our first dishes. Cold unsalted edamame, and 15 minutes later two plates of California rolls, which were delicious. Then 15 minutes later avocado/cucumber rolls, also good. Then 20 minutes later a plate of vegetable tempura finally came out. We all wished it had never arrived as it was the worst tempura any of us have ever seen let alone eaten. It was like uncooked pancake batter around barely warmed vegetables. The oil it was "cooked" in was also burnt (not clean oil, as Japanese should be). When we told the server it was undercooked and not good, and that we didn't want another one made, the server took it away. We then waited another 20 minutes before she came back and said sorry for us waiting on a dish that we hadn't ordered, we corrected her on what we were actually waiting for and also said we didn't want it and would like to pay. Two minutes later the dish we cancelled arrived. When my father went up to pay, we were being charger for the tempura they had willingly taken back, and were very argumentative when we asked why. She said we hadn't even eaten it and no one else had complained so she was going to charge us. Two of us had taken it out of our mouth and put it back on the plate and the other two had eaten a piece each, and she had not said anything when taking it from our table when we complained. Then she had placed the most expensive sake on our bill as well, which we pointed out and once again she wanted to argue we were incorrect. Once we had proven that, she reluctantly charged us for the second most expensive one, but not the 180ml one I had actually ordered at the beginning. We have all worked in hospitality and we have all dined at many Japanese restaurants over many years, and never had the rude and obnoxious, demeaning and incorrect behaviour, service and ultimately the insulting bill we paid. She also said that if my dad didn't pay for the tempura or sake that she would call someone. We will never be returning here and will be taking Nishiki off our recommendations at our City Airbnb. Appalling and insulting. Over $160 aud spent on a terrible night and the worst hospitality service ever. If the Owner would like to contact us, please feel free (not the manager, as she advised us she was the manager and...

It was an authentic Japanese meal, though a bit pricey and comparatively smaller portions for most of the dishes that we ordered. The Sushi and Sashimi set (Large) was the best among all dishes that we ordered. It was charged at $66/set. The price was quite reasonable, and both the Sushi and Sashimi was very delicious. It's one of the best Sushi / Sashimi that I've ever tried in Australia (ordinarily Japanese restaurants as I have never visited very high-end Japanese restaurants yet).

All the other food that we ordered on that night was good too. Prawn and veggie tempura was yummy but 2 prawns was a bit disappointed (3 pieces would be about right for $28). Wagyu skewers were charged at $10/skewer. It's quite good but if it came with 4 diced wagyu meat instead of 3 pieces, I would be much more satisfied 😌.

The seafood plate was charged at $36. It's in a bit smaller portions than what I could imagine. If it came with one more kind of seafood such as three grilled calamari rings or one/two Japanese Oysters would be much nicer (In this case, I didn't mind if paying $40 or $42 for this seafood plate instead of $36).

The grilled whole squid looked good and it was mouthwatering😋. The favour of both Karaage and Dragon Roll were both above average compared with similar food offered by many other restaurants in Australia.

However, we were a bit disappointed that this restaurant didn't offer any Udon, Ramen nor Japanese fried rice etc. If you came here hungry, you would end up with a bill of hundred bucks per person. As I saw from Google Map reviews that other people ordered Onigiri Yaki, so I asked the waitress what's the name of this item from the menu. The waitress told me that this item had been removed from their menu sometime ago. Fortunately, after a few minutes, the waitress returned to us and advised that the chef was happy to make the Onigiri Yaki ($10/2 pieces) for us. The favour was just ok but you don't need to regret if it is not available forever.

I reckoned the chefs and the waitresses were all communicated in Japanese during our visit. So I wandered at least some of them if not everyone were Japanese. Anyone who visited Japan before would probably be aware that Japanese food / Izakayas were small barbecue skewers. Just unfortunately you are having Izakayaz in Adelaide / Australia so it's even more expensive than the prices in Japan.

Overall I was happy to have visited this Japanese restaurant and would definitely come back again for the authentic Japanese food made...

Updated review: Dinner at @nishiki_adelaide - fantastic as always 😍😍🤤🤤😋😋😃😃. This is our absolute favourite Japanese restaurant in Adelaide! . Mixed sashimi: great quality sashimi! No complaints 🙂. . Aburi salmon roll: LOVE aburi salmon!!! And they have one of the best versions 😍. . Dragon roll: with unagi - soooo goooooood 🤤🤤. . Various grilled stuff: my favourite is the tsukune (chicken meatballs). But the chicken heart was excellent too and the chicken wings were just delicious!! Amazing 😄. . Yaki onigiri: these grilled rice balls are so tasty! Loved the slightly burnt surface. Definitely fills you up though 😅😅. . Nasu dengaku: we looooove their eggplant! So soft and tasty! . Grilled whole squid: we loooooooooove this dish! It's a must order. We always get this when we come here. Just perfectly done every time 👌🤤😍. . Unagi: their eel is just the most delicious thing ever! Just melts in your mouth. Omggggg 🤤🤤🤤. . Chicken karaage: good fried chicken....