Isshin Japanese Restaurant Forest Hill — Restaurant in Melbourne

We came to Isshin Japanese House Restaurant at night, $50 dollars for each person, all to order.

As a Japanese myself, I will have to make comments base on what I know about Japanese food. The food does not seem to be authentically made in Japanese style, taste, smell and presentation; In terms of its ingredient, it is nevertheless not very true to the culture. I can only measure it against Japanese standard that I am familiar with, the food standard is below par. Take one example, the scallop dish seems to be rather mediocre, as the scallops were rather too tiny and overdone, it was very obviously not the fresh ones taken out of the shell, but from some sales packaging; most importantly, what went underneath of the displayed scallop on the top, was merely some bbq shiitake mushrooms with salad cream dressing. Furthermore, the scallop shells seems to be recycled in use as a display plates for the dish.

I do not have any negative feeling towards the restaurant itself, there were two floor people running around the table, the boy was the main food attendant to take order and delivery while the other lady who did take order too, mostly collecting empty dishes. Both of them were working hard and running around restlessly to attend to all tables.

Ice cream were all right, it was pre-made, pre-portioned into the bowl and frozen. Therefore, they were not freshly order-to-serve. As the ice-cream came to the table as hard and frozen, it took at least 5-10 minutes to soften and become edible.

Overall, it is a restaurant which serves reasonable food. The only question I have is that, it is undoubtedly not a Japanese restaurant with Japanese food, any Japanese people can tell just by looking at the food before eating it.

It is worthwhile for the owner to reconsider its quality and standard when running the restaurant under the name of Japanese cuisine. As it is a matter of credibility and authenticity to serve the food that meets the eyes of people who have experienced with real Japanese...

Isshin has always been our go to all you can eat Japanese restaurant. We used to come here soo often, but unfortunately, it has gone downhill.

The menu has changed quite drastically. I remember having a variety of things to choose from, but now they've gotten rid of a lot of things and changed how you can order sushi (and this was the best part of it!)

Previously, we could have picked out a variety of individual nigiris. My family indulged in a few nigiris, and we would order about 10-15 pieces of each nigiri. Sashimi was ordered based on how many slices you wanted. Now, that’s out the window. You now have to order a combination that has been set up with 6p salmon sashimi and 4 different nigiris and/or a sushi set of salmon, tuna, prawn, salmon tataki, unagi, salmon avocado. This defeats the whole purpose of all you can eat, which is quite disappointing. To combat our sushi craving, we would order each combination set over and over again - not ideal since we only like particular fish and not all within the set

Food wise, it all tasted good. But for $45 per person, I don’t think it’s worth it anymore. The food would often take awhile to come out as well even when the restaurant was about ⅓ full. Services was great, the staff were very attentive and would clear our plates quickly. But overall, I won’t be returning...

Found this gorgeous Japanese buffet in Forest Hill. On weekends, it's $49 for adults and $14-$24 for kids depends on the age. Drinks are not included but reasonably priced. Even dining out these days easily exceeds $50, so this seems quite reasonable.

The place is bustling. The food quality is excellent, fresh, and service is quite speedy (except for Gyoza we ordered which took a bit long). The portions are Entree size, allowing you to order more at once, following the principle of minimizing waste.

Sushi and sashimi were fantastic, and we indulged in them upon arrival. Chawan mushi (steamed egg) was a personal favorite, and today I finally enjoyed it freely😋. The raw beef was slightly salty for my taste, but the freshness compensated for it.

Seafood scallops were nice; we ordered six servings for four people, and they were delicious. Special mentions for the fried squid tentacles and teppanyaki beef steak – perfectly cooked. Tempura, including shrimp and various vegetables, had a thin and crispy crust, very tasty.

My favorites included matcha and black sesame ice cream, with a strong black sesame flavor. The chocolate mousse with plum wine was also delightful. Definitely...