Amimoto Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

We arrived at the restaurant at 5:45pm thinking that we can have a good Japanese dinner. However, we were told that we had only 45 minutes to order and finish eating as there is a 6:30 reservation for the table. We offered to sit outside (along the corridor) but the waitress said it’s OK to have our current table for 45 mins and she doesn’t want us to sit outside.

She passed us the menu and started hurrying us to order. She just stood next to me and said ‘quick, quick, quick… …’ repeatedly. I couldn’t even think with her repeating ‘quick, quick, quick… …’ repeatedly. I tried discussing what to order with my husband but each time I pointed at an item to my husband, she will say ‘this, yes?’ And write down the order. I had to tell her ‘No no no. Please give us a little time to order’. But she wouldn’t leave my side.

After about 3 minutes of this super irritating fiasco, we gave up and just ordered a salmon don. The fish was fresh but cut paper thin. This must be one of the thinnest slices of salmon I have seen in a salmon don. For $25 a bowl, I think it is quite pricey. We gobbled the food down and was out(of the restaurant) within 20min of sitting down.

The food is OK but of poor value. Service is very poor and the environment is not clean. In fact, Amimoto must be the dirtiest, most untidy Japanese Restaurant I have ever been to. It was a frustrating and most unsatisfactory...

Sake Don (Salmon sashimi rice bowl,$30): Served with cold tofu, miso soup and soy sauce with a saucer on a tray. However, I am used to directly pour some soy sauce onto the top and stir them up. It’s one of the freshest and best salmon sashimi rice bowl among many ones I had because this type of food is everywhere in Taiwan. The portion size of the salmon is sufficient and some seaweeds hidden between rice and salmon complement well.

Green Tea (/Black Sesame) Ice Cream ($5): You can add on red beans for $2.8. As a matcha lover, it’s just delightful and suitable after such a scrumptious bowl. In fact, this tastes very identical to Meji green tea ice cream.

In addition, soft drinks, iced tea, and Calpis are $3.5, $4, and $4.5, respectively.

The restaurant is secretly located inside Lido Lane, the tiny passage with many empty storefronts and this is the only opening shop. There are several tables inside and some additional tables on the corridor if inside is full. However, the only shortcoming is the bamboo chopsticks being hard to be separated and there are usually sharp tiny bamboo spikes able make your hands injured.

To top it off, despite all of that, it’s such a hidden gem that looks old but has the best Japanese food in the Gold Coast. Quality is as high as Sushiro, No. 1 conveyor belts in Japan and the prices are quite reasonable,...

This hidden gem takes me right back to Japan ! We were visiting gold coast from Melbourne for a few days and enjoyed the food here so much we came back a second time before we left :)

decently priced and beautifully plated dishes, the seafood here tasted so fresh. Highly recommend the chirashi bowls to get a taste of everything 🍱 the prawn and octopus tempura dishes were fantastic too. But if you're looking for something different they had an extensive menu with a wide variety of sushi sets to choose from as well. Each dish came with a side of miso soup and marinated tofu 😋 We came around 1.30-2pm both times and didn't have to wait for a table.

It is very easy to walk by this place as you can only see the restaurant inside through the doorway, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled when you're close! Took us a second to find this place the first time we went hehe. Also, we used Google maps to try get to Amimoto, but just know it might make you go through one side of the alley it's in, whereas you can just walk through the alley from its other end if you're coming from the light rail stop :) less walking and beats having to walk in a full circle to reach it.

Overall such a wonderful hidden local gem, would love to visit again if I ever come back to the gold coast, and will definitely recommend to anyone who plans on...