Yusu Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in New South Wales

A few weeks back I visited here with a friend on the back end of a dinner service. No later than 7:45. Empty, messy tables scattered around the place had the head waiter tell us ‘sorry we are fully booked, but we can do takeaway, but have no salmon’. Yep, not for us. Heading back up from Sydney tonight, learning our lesson, we booked earlier in the day for an early sitting. 5:45pm. Can’t go wrong. Arrived on the minute to an entirely empty restaurant, and were ushered out into the corridor, due to time of day that we called. I headed back in to see if we could be moved inside due the cold breeze, and the noisy thoroughfare of people. No can do. ‘We are fully booked’. Okaaaay. Waited 20 mins for someone to come out of the kitchen to take our order. Another 25 to get food. Katsu chicken curry with rice. No vegetables in the rice, and poor lighting in the corridor, had me checking what the curry was exactly, under my phone torch. Wouldn’t call it a $30 meal. Wouldn’t call it a $15 meal. $10 lunch special from a food court. At best. And generous. When paying, five empty tables still inside. I would rather skip dinner than eat here again. The guy at the counter has about as much hospitality acumen as a broken...

Unfortunately this restaurant fell very short of my family’s expectations. We left feeling extremely disappointed and confused – this is not authentic Japanese at all despite the claims of a chef with 30 years experience.

The agedashi tofu (not pictured, $12.50) was seasoned decently but the tofu itself was rather old and not the tender kind that should be used. The karaage chicken ($20) did not look anything like how it is typically, I don’t even know what meat was used. The ratio of rice to fish in the sushi roll ($26) was terribly unbalanced, and the rice was soft and soggy – not standard sushi rice. The ‘seafood’ nabe ($26) had a laughable amount of ‘seafood’ and watered down soup, which should’ve just been classified as an udon dish instead?? And the sushi sashimi deluxe ($58) looked nice but tasted normal at best – and I personally had a very upset stomach afterwards though my family were okay.

Overall it came to around $50 per person which we felt was not worth it at all – the ingredients, culinary technique, authenticity and even customer service did not reflect...

Absolutely incredible dining experience at Yusu Japanese Restaurant in Erlong! As a lover of Japanese cuisine, I was blown away by the quality and freshness of every dish. From the next-level raw fish to the perfectly prepared raw beef dishes, and even their tempura vegetables and edamame beans, everything was absolutely delicious.

The hot and cold sake pairings were spot on, thanks to our knowledgeable waiter who took the time to explain each dish and pairing in detail. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, with low-key vibes and subtle background music that added to the experience without overpowering it.

Yusu is a humble gem offering insanely good Japanese right here on the Central Coast. Highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates authentic and fresh Japanese cuisine.

I’ll definitely be...