Sushi Nami Royale (Downtown) — Restaurant in Halifax

An accessible, LGBTQQIP2SAA-friendly space that accommodates everyone from solo diners to large groups, with minimalist, moveable dining furniture, and a decor mix of natural and man-made elements, from wood tables and seats to brick walls to fabric-adorned metal lights. With three bathrooms for 'Everyone' (including an accessible washroom), this place is my new fave. SNR was packed when my friend and I got there - we were lucky to be just a party of two and not wait for a table at 7pm on a Friday - and yet, it didn't feel busy, stuffy, nor claustrophobic, and it wasn't loud - chatter was present, sure, but we could easily carry on a conversation. Perhaps it's because the food is so good and everyone's mouths were too full to talk much? I ordered a house-made ginger ale and the sake flight, which were both excellent decisions. The three types of sake (2 oz. each) presented a range of flavours from mild and subtle to more boldly fermented, cloudy, and fruity. It comes with a cucumber water to cleanse the palate in between tastings, which was perfect. As for the ginger ale - well, you have to try it! It makes regular, even golden, ginger ale taste like those clear lemon-lime sodas that are akin to unflavoured sugared carbonated water. It was refreshing with bite, instantly delicious on the tongue while invigorating one's senses with fragrance and flavour. I felt rejuvenated and cleansed, and I think I might need to buy ginger juice and a soda maker now or risk going bankrupt on my new love for fresh ginger ale. For appetizers, we ordered the vegetable gyoza (which are fortunately mushroom-free for my allergic friend; my husband will enjoy that as well as he thinks 'funghi are gross!'). They had a flavour similar to the filling of wontons in wonton soup, but an inner texture more like the innards of a spanakopita (a good one, not the ones with too little cheese and uncut spinach). I also ordered the house salad, because there's something about that ginger dressing that I just love, despite hardly ever cooking with ginger at home. It was delightfully surprising, with shelled edamame, and julienned carrot, cucumber, and red and green peppers - a cut above the standard house salad fare. It's also fun to try to eat salad with chopsticks! For our main course, I ordered the Northern Light: eight pieces with cucumber, cream cheese, and mayo rolled with rice and nori, topped with smoked salmon and snow crab, fried onion, ginger, cilantro, and tobbiko; and the Spicy Scallop: scallop, green onion, and spicy sauce rolled with rice and nori, then rolled in tempura bits. These were heavenly! The Northern Lights are a bit of a mouthful, but oh my gosh is it worth it. The cucumber, bits of fried onion, and tobbiko provide crunch to a flavourful creamy seafood dream roll. I honestly don't think I've ever had such flavourful crab. When I go for sushi, I tend to stay with the less-adventurous rolls and go with what I know I like, but this was a risk that paid off. It may be my new fave! As for the spicy scallop roll, they were excellent - I don't like spicy foods where I can't eat more than one bite in a row before pausing because my mouth is on fire, so these were perfect: light heat so that I could've eaten all six pieces in a row, but chose to alternate between the two types. Delish! Lastly, as I always do when I get sushi, I ordered a glass of plum wine. If you like ice wine at all, you need to try plum wine. It's like fruity ice wine but not quite as sweet. Plum is one of my favourite fruit flavours, and this does not disappoint. It's unique, fruity, subtly earthy, sweet wine flavour is addictive - and hangover-inducing if you give in to that temptation. Fair warning: one glass is enough. Our server was prompt in alternating between taking our orders and bringing our drinks and food, and checked on us shortly after arrival of our drinks, apps, and main courses, but otherwise left us alone to eat and converse - just the way it should be. Sushi Nami Royale is without question the best sushi I've had in Halifax....

First time leaving a review on this board ever and first time trying here after reading rave reviews about this place. I asked the server if the restaurant had chirashi don like most of authentic Japanese restaurants do (as I couldn’t see it from the menu), server said they do it although it’s not on the menu. I asked her again if that was really possible. She said yes with smiles so my dining experience initially started off with good impressions. I ordered green tea to drink.

10 minutes later small salad and miso were served. 30 minutes later, no sign of my food so I called the same server to ask how far my order made it, as all other people who sat after me received their dishes. She said just 3 more minutes. She seemed apologetic but made this comment “because it’s not on the menu, it takes time” I said if I had known it was that complicated, I would have ordered something else on the menu. (as I was starving after 10 hours of flying on airplane.) She said something like the other location she used to work for had it so she thought this place offered the same.(?) She apologized and said she would offer me ice cream after my meal for free but I declined politely. 40 minutes after I placed the order, chirashi don came. It was made fresh and average tasting. Server advised it would come up to $21.50 for my food but when I saw the bill it showed $23.00 plus tax. I asked her why and she said “You ordered sencha” Yes...they CHARGE for green tea. $1.50. I told her you could have offered me free green tea instead of ice cream. She looked at me and said “Do you want ice cream?” I was tired of waiting and making further conversations with this girl so I just paid the bill and left, never to come back here again.

Had she checked on me periodically and confirmed with the owner or chef whoever in charge of the menu right away by being proactive, my review for this restaurant would’ve been a much positive one. Please train your staff well and at least provide free tea when you make people wait for too long if you are...

I wouldn't typically find myself at this restaurant after past experiences that weren't the best (too "fusion" for my preference).. however it really ended up that this was the only sushi place open when a friend and myself got the craving for some late evening Japanese. They offer a "happy hour" menu later on in the evening (a dollar or two off regular menu price for certain items).. which I think is about the only good thing I can write about here. We ordered the pretty standard quick meal, agedashi tofu- pretty much the only thing I enjoyed from the meal, it's presented nicely and cooked pretty well. A House Salad- missing a couple of standard ingredients that you tend to find at basically every other Japanese place that makes a salad in Halifax.. No seaweed or tomato, and the ginger dressing was watery and very thin and kind of just pooled in the bottom of the bowl the salad came served in. It was also full of green peppers which I've never seen before in a Japanese salad, and have an allergy to, so after waiting for 20 minutes for the salad, I just picked out what I could and hoped for the best instead of sending it back. Next was my friend's katsudon- which, like everything else, wasn't too astounding, it had the basics of the flavours but seemed to lack that genuine don bowl taste. Finally was a sweet potato maki and a couple pieces of tuna nigiri. I can honestly say that I could've payed less to get sushi of the exact same quality in a bento box from a grocery store. The rice was a bit mushy and just overall the roll didn't have much flavour, and I got the feeling from the flavour of the fish that it wasn't exactly the freshest. All this coupled with a server that walked past our table several times when we could've used fresh water refills and the wait for the appetizers. I would much rather spend an extra couple of dollars and walk a minute further down Dresden Row to Suzuki for freshly prepared, quality sushi and genuinely delicious...