RK San Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Booked this place for Mother's Day and was really looking forward to the experience due to the fantastic ratings. Very sorry to say that my family and I did not have the greatest experience. I wanted to leave this review and wanted to be as polite as possible.

We started with the Agedashi Tofu and Hokkaido Scallops. The sauce for the tofu was good, but found that the tofu itself was rather stiff and not as silky as we had hope. The Hokkaido Scallops were okay too, but were just slightly overcooked and a bit tough.

We then had a tuna and salmon Cigar which was very unique and made for great pictures. You can tell the seafood was very fresh in these.

We then got some bad (and rather perplexing) news that the kitchen had run out of sushi rice, meaning we were only able to receive ONE of our ordered sushi rolls (and unable to order any further dishes that have sushi rice)? Considering this is a Japanese restaurant and on a fairly 'big' night as Mother's Day, this had me confused and a little upset. However, I tried to be understanding and attempted to order other dishes. E.g. The King Fish Robata and Popcorn Prawn. Approximately 5 minutes past, and the waiter returns to tell me that they had also run out of King Fish Robata too. It felt that at this point, a lot of the menu was just unavailable.

Next on our order was the Corn Robata, which did sound great, but was essentially corn on a cob. The flavour of the butter was strong and great, but presentation and overall flair was very lacking.

We then received our seared salmon roll and popcorn prawn which was actually delicious! Large pieces and great flavour content. Would have been happy to order more of the roll, but unfortunately, there was "no sushi rice left".

About an hour into our experience, we were wondering when our last dish was arriving (Salmon Miso Butter). We ordered this during our first order and had hoped it was arrived sooner. When we asked the waiter, he mentioned the chef was "cooking it now", which is strange as we ordered our Popcorn Prawn well into our service and that arrived first. When the Salmon finally arrived, we were extremely disappointed by the tiny portion (2 small pieces). Furthermore, the salmon was very dry as the bottom (non-skin side) of the fish was seared fairly heavily. The vegetables on the dish could have benefited from some more added flavour too. We were perplexed that 2 tiny (almost bite size) pieces of salmon and a couple of vegetables in some miso butter would take over an hour to be delivered.

By the end of the night, I went to pay and was hoping for the servers to at least offer some empathy towards us. A simple "We are sorry for the inconvenience with the limited dinner menu" or a "How was your dinner?" question to me would have sufficed and I would have been happy to provide constructive feedback then and there. However, I did not receive either option, which has led me to writing this review online. I am a strong believer in treating servers with the utmost respect and giving feedback to help restaurants improve and not just leaving bad reviews. However, I have to be honest that our waiters today lacked that consideration.

Overall, my 2 out of 5 star rating is based on all these factors. RK San provided some great dishes (Popcorn Chicken, Cigar, Seared Salmon Roll) and some that could benefit from revision (Salmon Miso Butter, Agedashi Tofu, Hokkaido Scallops). However, the negatives greatly outweighed the positives in this experience. Ambience was limiting as well due to the small tables. Service from waiters and the kitchen itself could also be revised to ensure a more pleasant experience for future customers. I could tell by looking around the room tonight that there were a few other families who brought their mothers and looked visibly upset at the experience. If based of this experience alone, I won't be returning any time soon. However, I do believe in a second chances and may possibly do so in the future in hopes of a better experience. I wish RK San all the best for the...

Had been a long time fan of RK Tamang for the last few years, having celebrated numerous gatherings with friends and family there. We were always amazed at the quality of food and value for their several degustation choices. This was at the old site. When we heard they've moved to a new and bigger site, I was excited to show my visiting family one of my favourite restaurants. We decided to order ala carte from the menu as we were quite familiar having done the degustation many times. Boy, were we disappointed..

ENVIRONMENT Preferred the previous joint as there was a buzz and energy because it was all in 1 space where we can see the chefs in their element, sometimes with flames from them doing the robata. We requested to sit at the back because there was a rather large group of us, it did feel a bit isolated but good for groups or couples that wanted more privacy. Music was not unpleasant but a bit loud and spa like.

FOOD We ordered the following

1. Sashimi in ice bowl : This was fine, same quality as before. 36 hour pork belly : Fine, same quality as before
2. Makimono Seared Salmon roll : good quality and value Seared salmon nigiri : quality was there, but not good value at $20 considering the salmon roll as more salmon spread across 8 pieces ($25) compared to 4 pieces on the nigiri. Another point to note was that these 2 items (salmon roll and nigiri) which were ordered for 2 different people were placed on the same plate and it just so happened they were sitting at opposite ends of the table.
3. Karaage chicken : it was battered instead of given a light dusting of cornflour for deep frying. Resulted in a slightly chewy texture, different from before.
4. 3 x Salmon cigars + 1 matching sake : These were the highlight of our previous dining at RK San and I was pretty excited to show them off to my family. When they arrived, 2 were in 1 ashtray and another was in a separate one. The service staff then said 2 salmon and 1 tuna cigar. I said we ordered 3 salmon. She then said "oh yes correct, 3 salmon". When we ate it, the one that was in the separate ashtray was actually tuna cigar. We has no choice but to send it back.
5. Teriyaki chicken : we ordered this as my nephew who had the 4 pieces of salmon nigiri was still hungry, and this was ordered after all our dishes have arrived. Whilst we understood food needs time to make, 30 minutes to do a chicken teriyaki seemed a bit too long, given that when we placed the order, there was only 1 other table with 2 customers in the restaurant. When it finally arrived, we mentioned it took a bit too long, and the male wait staff said "oh we needed to make sure it is fully cooked because we dont wanna serve raw chicken." hmm, not sure if that was a proper explanation but we'll leave it at that. Anticipation was of course high after waiting for this but it was not good at all. It tasted like chinese dark soy has been brushed on and placed on the grill, no balance between salty and sweet, not caramelised enough if it had been grilled and cannot taste the complexity that would have been imparted if mirin and sake were used. In the famous words of my nephew, and we know kids don't hold back, "the chicken teriyaki in my school canteen tastes better..."

I don't like to give scathing reviews, especially for restaurants which I had a long standing relationship with, and I know the restaurant business is really tough. But the deterioration in service standards and food quality really needs a major review if I were to come back again. Understandably price increases are necessary to offset increasing ingredient, electricity, lease costs, but to charge $38 for chicken teriyaki vs the same price for steamed snapper with truffle is a bit confusing for me.

I hope you will take this review in a positive light and maybe start eliciting more feedback from customers to truly ascertain if some tweaks are needed.

I really hope to return one day, but I think I will be staying away for...

We booked RK San for NYE as we wanted a casual and enjoyable dinner without a crazy price tag. The booking process was seamless and they were good at accommodating my many requests to increase the size of my booking party.

The restaurant is among the strip of many restaurants on Cleveland Street in Surry Hills. It’s in a busy road, so you’ll have to park in the backstreets behind. The restaurant is casual and can probably accommodate about 30 diners. Chef RK San works at the sushi counter at the front of the restaurant and he is so kind and friendly, whilst also being super focused at the job at hand.

The menu looked superb with a range of sushi, sashimi, carpacchio, tempura, robata and some mains. We were dining in a party of five, so we decide to order a range of dishes to share. If you're dining in a duo and want to try a range of dishes, you may wish to opt for their $35 of $55 tasting menu, or even the $75 omakase.

We begin with Agedashi tofu and are impressed by the humble edamame, which is on another level, it was smoked and combined with dancing fish (dried bonito flakes). This dish is so good we order a second serve.

Both Carpaccio items on the menu utilsed quality ingredients. The Wagyu Beef carpaccio, served with a smoky sesame oil, yuzu dressing, ginger, chives and crispy garlic. It was so incredibly tasty, well marinated and a generous serve. The sliced seared salmon carpaccio also came seasoned with a smoky sesame oil and truffle ponzu with roe.

The must order dish of the restaurant is undoubtedly the cigars. Not the smoking type, but the raw seafood type. We tried the sashimi tuna and salmon cigars which are incredible. This dish is whimsical and fun, but also sophisticated and well thought out. We loved the presentation, with a heavy set crystal ashtray. The cigar is amazingly delicious with a crisp spring roll shell, the filling super tasty, as was the malto ash that you dipped the cigar in.

From the robata grill we have the grilled King Brown Mushrooms with truffle soy dressing and some chilli strings. A lovely little dish, and if you're a fan of robata, they also do corn, beef & pork skewers, kingfish and snapper.

Our group also shares the Nigiri and Maki platter with a range of Nigiri pieces and seared salmon. You can also order larger ones depending on your group size.

The Miso Butter Salmon main was lovely, quite a small serving, so a little hard to share, but would be good to order for yourself. Served with some seasonal vegetables and a miso butter sauce.

The sushi here is great and we thoroughly enjoyed the soft shell crab sushi and also the sushi platter with fresh tuna, kingfish and seared salmon. We were still hungry so ordered a spider roll with soft shell crab, cucumber wrap with nori and beetroot amazu daikon.

Drink wise, they have a license and serve wine and sake, but it is one of the few places these days where you can take BYO wine. Obviously there's a corkage fee, but the BYO means you can bring your favourite wine.

We really liked our visit - the lighting was dim so our photos don't do the food justice, but the taste is what it is all about, and that is incredible.

Thanks to the staff for the fab food and...