Sono Japanese Restaurant | Portside Wharf — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I went to Sono to celebrate our anniversary on 23 Nov, expecting the same great experience we’ve had in the past, but this time was deeply disappointing. —particularly in a high-end restaurant where such mistakes shouldn’t happen.

This was my seventh or more visit to Sono, and it was my second time ordering the Kani Tofu Nabe (crab hot pot). I’ve always enjoyed my previous experiences, but this visit fell far short of expectations.

First, despite making a reservation, they couldn’t locate my booking when we arrived. Instead of checking my booking confirmation email, they simply seated us elsewhere. Later, they finally asked for my email and moved us to our reserved table, which was inconvenient and poorly handled.

We ordered the Kani Tofu Nabe, two pieces of Japanese sea urchin sushi ($40 per piece), and five oysters. I specifically requested no wasabi for both of us and asked for it to be placed on the side. However, when the sea urchin sushi arrived, it not only had wasabi on the side but also inside the sushi. As someone who never eats wasabi, this completely ruined the experience. The overpowering wasabi masked the sweet taste of the sea urchin, and I couldn’t enjoy it at all. Paying $40 for a single piece of sushi I couldn’t eat was incredibly frustrating. Isn’t one of the most basic responsibilities of a sushi restaurant to properly handle requests about wasabi? This isn’t just some casual Japanese restaurant—at Sono’s premium pricing, I expect far more care and attention to such fundamental details.

To make matters worse, our order was mistakenly delivered to the table right next to us before being brought back to us. What’s frustrating is that we had placed our order almost at the same time as the other table, so our food was served just seconds after theirs. This careless handling of orders made the experience feel unprofessional and unsanitary.

The hot pot experience was also poorly executed. When the server poured the soup to make the porridge, they held the ladle horizontally, causing small amounts of soup to spill repeatedly with every scoop. It wasn’t just a single large spill but multiple small splashes, each time they scooped, until it eventually got on me. This showed a complete lack of care and proper technique, especially for a premium dish.

While the staff apologized multiple times and gave a $15 discount at checkout, it didn’t make up for the repeated mistakes. Their constant questioning, “Are you okay?” after the wasabi incident, despite me politely saying it was fine the first time, felt excessive and uncomfortable.

We spent $289.57 in total, but the experience was far from what you’d expect for such a high price. I’ve been to Sono over seven times before and always had great experiences, but this visit was absolutely frustrating. It’s disappointing to see this level of service and attention to detail decline in what’s supposed to be a premium dining...

Firstly Sono manages to contain almost all different types of Japanese dining in one big restaurant, you have a sushi bar section, teppanyaki section, regular dining section and the traditional seating section. All of this while maintaining and exceeding food and service standards, on top of this you have an amazing river view (if there isn't a cruise ship in port) hence this being the most impressive restaurant I have seen to date.

Our main experience at this restaurant was its teppanyaki. We booked the same day for a Saturday lunch with no issues at all and were seated promptly and had orders taken promptly (1 Aki, 1 Natsu and 1 Shun). We waited a few more minutes for the other teppanyaki guests to order and then the experience began. Everytime a new guest arrived the chef came out and personally greeted them which is a great touch.

The appetizers served from the kitchen gave us a sample of what the non teppanyaki dishes were like, all appetizers tasted great and the sashimi was particularly good however still not as good as in japan itself.

Watching the chef cook the great dishes was a great experience, I've been to 'showman' teppanyaki's where its usually average food but cooked really flamboyantly. whereas this experience is like watching an artist in front of you. The food quality and taste is just perfect and I have nothing to say other than it tasted great!

I have to give a special mention to the Chef Prepared Desert included on the Aki set (or higher) The strawberry desert I received on the day was AMAZING.

A major recommendation I would give is defiantly forking out to get one of the more expensive sets as people with the cheaper sets tend to wait a bit longer during dishes since more expensive sets have more food to serve.

The chef himself was talented and struck up conversations during the service, which overall capped off the experience.

So overall the teppanyaki experience may be a bit expensive however is really worth it if you have the chance as the food, atmosphere and service at all aspects of Sono was highly...

Fantastic service and atmosphere. Mixed food for its price point.

Food came minutes after ordering. Very efficient.

🍣A La Carte ENTREES 🙂Spicy Buri Kingfish Roll - 7/10. Standard good. Fish was fresh. Not spicy in the slightest. Avo overpowered the fish. Fresh wasabi on the side. ☺️Tempura Prawn roll - 8/10. Great textures. Could tell the tempura was fresh. 📌😍Soft Shell Crab with Shiro Salsa - 10/10 best ever. Crispy. Large serve for $21. Great sour and tangy vinaigrette to compliment. 😊Salmon Carpaccio - 7.5/10. Thick salmon pieces. Passion fruit jelly complimented. Soy sesame dressing was basic.

🍱MAINS 🙂Wagyu Beef Houbayaki - 6/10. Fun presentation. Can cook to your liking. Miso glaze was average and could have more body. Wish it was smokier. Wagyu quality didn’t stand out. 🥲Black Cod Saikyo Yaki - 3.5/10. We ordered this because of the amazing Google reviews. The fish was cooked to perfection, can appreciate that. The miso glaze was FAR TOO SWEET for both our palettes. Couldn’t taste the fish much at all. Was overpowered by sweet. Found 6 bones, but the waitress warned us when serving. Would understand how people who love very sweet meat could appreciate this dish, but personally I would never order this again.

🥂DRINKS A decent mocktail range, with lovely pictures on the menu to help you decide. ☺️Tropical Geisha (Strawberry, cloud apple, grapefruit, Genmaicha) - 7.5/10. Grapefruit was the strongest flavour. Elements paired well.

💸Sparkling water (San Perregrino) was $12 a bottle FYI.

✨The staff: very attentive, polite and descriptive. Empty plates were taken away smoothly. They even surprised us with a complimentary matcha ice cream because we were celebrating a special occasion. Much appreciated!

The venue has a stunning view of the Brisbane river if you book over about a month in advance (according to the staff). Because we only booked a week in advance we couldn’t see the river when sitting down. The space...