Okami Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

TLDR: Great idea, poor execution, and dropping standards.

We had a large group reservertion (15 people - 8 adults and 7 children) on a relatively busy evening, having saved up our stomachs for a big night of all-you-can-eat Japanese. We left full but disappointed.

Atmosphere - upon entry the restaurant looked clean but dark. The walls were adorned with painted scenery seeking to bring you into an evening harbourside vibe. It's an ok space for dining. We were quickly ushered to our table and then the chaos began.

Service - let me breakdown the chaos at this point: the ordering system: we were briefly told that only one phone could be used, which was fine, but one of the massive drawbacks in their system is that once you have made your order you cannot review it or work out what you have previously ordered. missing orders: not knowing what you had exactly orderd meant that orders went missing and weren't followed up in a timely manner. We ordered agedashi tofu and aburi nigiri at the beginning of our meal - but these were missed. We then ordered them again, making the wait time on these items close to +90min. lack of follow up: we ordered 3 serves of large aburi - we received one and were told that more was to come. But it never did. Follow up was lacking, and the staff seemed unenthused to follow up orders. wrong sized servings - when we finally did receive our aburi order (close to 2 hours after seating), it was a 'small' size (ie 4 pieces of aburi nigiri instead of 8). This happened on all 3 extra serves. slow service - some dishes came quickly, others took a very long time - and coupled with our missing orders it meant that we spent the majority of our time waiting for food instead of eating.

Food - let me be brief on the items we had: Squid salad - ok, a decent starter - well balanced flavours though the squid was a bit rubbery Nigiri/Sashimi - the fish quality was ok, not great but not utterly terrible. Sushi rolls - these were average at best - rice was mushy, tempura filling was mushy, and the other fillings were all fairly average. Beef carpaccio - this was one of the standout dishes - wonderfully presented and great tasting Teriyaki/Miso steak - this was another standout dish, the beef was tender and perfectly cooked with great sauces to along with them Miso eggplant - delicious Aburi Nigiri - these were all disappointing - the sushi rice was mushy, the size of each nigiri were small, and the flavours muted and relying far too much on the sauces Tempura - oily and dark (showing that old oil was used to deepfry) Takoyaki - the chef has cheated by deep frying the balls, and there was no octopus in the filling at all Karaage - not bad, but again quite dark Chicken katsu - very dark, over cooked, very oily Yakiniku beef - delicious! Looks like their beef dishes are the best. Chicken wings - ok - some were charred and others weren't at all.

An expensive evening for below average food and below...

First and foremost, if your previous reviews outlined issues with your service, at least follow up. As mentioned before on other reviews, if you are seated at the table adjacent to the bathroom entrance way, you will not be provided adequate service or attention. An issue I found with a party of 5 was the extremely inconsistent scaling of serving sizes; ordering a seaweed salad for the table got me about 4 mouthfuls of the salad (as with each type of salad ordered, which was all of them) but when salad was ordered for 5 individuals only 3 of these small portions were served (5 does not equate to 3). This size inconsistency continued with other dishes, most stark of which was the chicken karaage which came with 4 pieces on the initial order and only started giving at least 5 when we prompted the staff for a more appropriate portion for 5 people. For each of the dishes with sauces on top of the main component e.g. croquettes, the sauces were already seeped in (resulting in some dishes becoming soggy) making a majority of dishes sickeningly sweet. At no point were wait staff prompt in response to a hand signal or call out even when 2 staff were simply standing there, some of our dishes from the same distribution platter arrived when the staff stopped by our table and others did not until they were paraded across the entire restaurant (arriving cold), orders from the first order arrived after all of the second order was served and finished (ordered 3 times - mains, mains, and dessert), and (empty) dishes were collected only when staff were prompted (taking up already small table space - 4 person table having 5 people) which was a difficult challenge due to the aforementioned lack of attention. Now for the food specifically, a lot of savoury dishes were too sweet, the sushi and sashimi platter had a single item of some of the nigiri and disappointing portions of sashimi, the takoyaki had disappointing octopus to batter ratios and were inconsistently cooked (some borderline raw and others overcooked), the hot beef dishes had very tender pieces of meat, there were a few surprisingly delicious dishes (personally, the mushroom salad was enjoyable), and the dessert was great. As a one-time experience, it is adequate, but not for...

All you can eat Japanese buffet. Pricing is relatively cheap at $36.80pp. Make sure you make your reservation from heading over as there’s limited seats only. You can try your luck if you walk in. And they serve 2 sessions for dinner. The one I went is second session which starts at 7.45pm and ends at 9.30pm.

Environment 5/5 I like it, is a hidden gem in the housing area with no other shops around. Comfortable seatings and you wouldn’t feel too crowded even is full house.

Service 5/5 Although is a full house, their crew is very attentive and active. Very good service and helpful

Choyu 5/5 Tried their choyu which is a recommended drinks by their staff, taste blend well with the sour plum. Definitely recommend to try that.

Seaweed salad/ Beef Carpaccio/ Terriyaki beef/ Sashimi & Sushi platter/ Takoyaki/ Chicken Karage/ Squid Salad 5/5 Basically I’m satisfied with all of the options above. Beef Carpaccio is highly recommended, we ordered 4 plates in total, not a big plate, it has about 4 pieces but that’s a highlight for the dinner.

Edamame/ Seafood & Vegetable Tempura 3/5 Edamame turns out a bit dry and bland, which is a surprise to me. Tempura is disappointing because the batter is too think and hard.

Dessert 5/5 Tried matcha and black sesame Icecream. Both are satisfying but the one which is surprisingly good is the one that looks like a fish biscuit. It has green tea filling inside, forgot to take picture and forgot what’s the name. That’s a must try

Will I come back again? 5/5 Yes I will definitely come back again probably in...