SHIKI Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Vienna

Honestly I was really disappointed. I was at shiki for the first time this weekend with my family to celebrate my birthday but unfortunately we really didn't have a memorable experience. The food quality/price ratio is definitely an issue in this restaurant, 70 euro for a tiny pice of black cod? 7 euro for one tuna nigiri? But wait the most amazing one of all; 5 euro for freshly grated wasabi. This is really a first one. I have been all my life eating in high end Japanese restaurants around the world but I have to be honest I have never but never had to pay for wasabi before. (To me is obvious that is you go to a low quality Japanese restaurant they give you the bright green almost uranium color wasabi, but if I spend more then 100 euro each for 2 plates in a high end restaurant I should even have to choose to pay for the freshly grated wasabi because it should be the only one served) I’m Italian and I can make you a simple example that to me can be easily compared to this senario; you go to a high end Italian restaurant and you ask them for Parmesan (expensive product) and they tell you well sir you have 2 choices: we either bring you the complementary fake Italian mixed cheese or we bring you Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy for extra? Like what?? Are you a high end restaurant or no? Cuz if you would be you wouldn’t serve the cheep substitute of such a important and traditional product of a cuisine as Parmesan or in this case WASABI.

I ordered spicy tuna and it was exactly at the same level as a cheep running sushi restaurant. Really disappointed. Between starters and main courses we waited honestly at least 1 h and 15 min which of course made the hanger go away and not enjoy the rest of the dinner. The main course was also really mediocre.

Our waited was a young tall guy really professional and polite guy. Service was good.

Well overall If you want to spend 100+ euros and eat horribly I really suggest you to...

Firstly food was excellent in terms of taste and quality it is definitely one of the best tasting Japanese in Vienna.

But unfortunately the service was horrible. Due to the current corona situation restaurants must close by 11. Although our reservation was at 8 the waitress insisted to rush get our food and rush us out. We had ordered first time and it was quite a lot but since we enjoyed it very much we went for round 2 . By then it was only 9 and we had asked kindly that the waitress not rush the order as we wanted to enjoy our drinks first. Ofcourse she completely ignored our request our food came 10 min later. We had also asked during the night for several things such as more sauce or topping and also that was ignored . For the amount of money payed you expect top of the knotch service and to feel like your requests are being ignored and you have to eat quickly and leave is definitely unacceptable. This was besides the fact that all staff is rushing and running around the floor area which makes you feel super uncomfortable and was already trying to clean up for closing and by then it was only 9:45. I truly feel that if the restaurant was concerned about meeting the 11 pm closing rule that they’re opening hours should change to meet the comfort of the customers. I fully understand that it’s a stressful time but this shouldn’t affect our dining experience at a luxury restaurant that you pay quite a lot for . Also was quite embarrassing as we had guests with us and you can tell how uncomfortable they were. One wasn’t even able to finish the drink we ended up leaving right after. The waitress was well made aware of how uncomfortable we were.

I truly hope the restaurant makes some changes because food wise it was quite excellent. As for our experience I don’t feel it is worth returning. The worst thing to feel is rushed...

The place positioning itself as a fine dining with extra expensive food.

First of all it is not our only experience in similar places and I knew what I was signing for at that price range. I visit 1-2* restaurants quite often and can compare.

We took 9 course menu with wine pairing.

Let me stop of each aspect of the our 3 hours long experience:

Personel. Not rude at all. But i'd say not involved. That kind of dining is an experience mostly and team is large part of it. Telling a story of the dishes. Explaining the concept. Nothing quite like that. Yes, we were told what is that. But guys were always in a hurry. No emotions, no involvement.

Food. Lack of any high technics. Only 2 dishes were close to the price tag of the place. All the others - disaster. Do not get me wrong. It's ok for the corner sushi stall. Even good. But not for the that kind of positioning: No technics No presentation No story No connections between courses. Just another Japanese style food. Not great, not terrible. Greatly overpriced. Almost all the dishes tasted the same.

Wine. Nothing special here. Worth mentioning one of the dishes we were given some kind of alcohol free wine which were complete disaster. I refused to take it - was changed for the normal wine. Another wine pairing was cucumber juice:) Other wines was not bad. Also I'd say the portions in the glass were on a small side as per my perception.

Extras: We were charged 11 eur (might be wrong but something close) for service for each person:-) And another 24 eur for water.

Overall. The place does not worth the money it asks at all. Would it cost 80-95 eur per person + 60-65 wine - I would say you can try it. But even in this point you can try better food with better technics and wine selections. At the price they charge - avoid...