Sansanni Izakaya — Restaurant in Melbourne

If google could give zero stars, I would never give one star I have never seen a chicken katsu so bad The chicken could be thinner than a chopstick The batter was thicker than the meat (photo to prove it) The grilled fish steak was dry as a tree bark and had no aroma of grease at all At this level, the chicken katsu was $22 for a set meal and the grilled fish was $10. When I asked the counter who made the chicken katsu The answer was that they bought it outside If, according to the owner's reply Dear owners, do you know how thin your katsu is? Of course Panko can be bought from the supplier, but this meal just makes me think you are over costing down! I've had many grilled fish but this is the only restaurant that grills the fish until it turns into bark and then tells me to pair it with sake which is also a bad answer! Especially the skin of the mackerel, the aroma of the oil is the essence of the fish And your chef has completely killed the fish by grilling it like this!

I used to think the lowest rating I could give a restaurant was that the water was good. But this restaurant has changed my perception He didn't even serve water At dinner time, I regretted reading the 5-star review above I wasted my money and time on a restaurant that I will never return to again.

Correction based on the...

Four of us live locally and were very keen to try this Izakaya restaurant.

Quality and variety of the food was very good, the service was excellent. However, the portions were very small for the price - we paid $36 per head for food (plus $8.70 each for drinks) and we all left hungry. We used the ipad to order but couldn't use it to pay and we couldn't split the bill (even in half!) which was very inconvenient.

3 of us had a beer - price ok at $8.70 for a stubby of Saporo or Asahi. We would have liked to order a bottle of wine but at $58 for a bottle of bog standard Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc (other comparable restaurants sell this at $32 - at the MOST) we decided to go home with our own bottle (which we purchased at the bottle shop for $12) and have some cheese and crackers to end the night.

Suggestions: extend the ipad ordering system so we can pay online (that way we can manage our own bill splitting) have a couple of set menu banquets to suit different budgets have a cheaper house wine, or allow...

The food is very over-seasoned, with a salty sauce drenched over tempura that has its own dipping sauce, leading to it all being just too much. The sauce on top of the tempura also makes it soggy before you even get started. The tofu starter is similarly over-sauced. All the sauces are too strong, and they overpower the delicate flavours of the ingredients. The sushi roll was lacking in filling, with very non-generous serves of salmon and avocado inside and barely any tobiko on top. The rice was on the dry/old side. The tempura was oily with every bite.

The atmosphere is incredibly nice and modern. If the price point was lower, the food would be fine, but at this price point there should be more attention to detail and emphasis on a balance of flavours. I also really needed some water with how salty the food was, but wasn't served any and couldn't find any...