Sushi Isao URDESA — Restaurant in Guayaquil

If you’re looking for authentic Japanese food priced reasonably this is about as good as it gets anywhere we’ve been in southwestern Ecuador, and even including all but possibly one place we found in Quito. Though “rolls” are all the rage in the US, and seemingly here in Ecuador, as well, these—especially those dripping with heavy sauces and mayonnaise—are not authentic in any sense of the word other than the word “roll”, itself. Rather, true Japanese cuisine relies on the ingredients to speak for themselves, complimenting the flavors and textures with a very small amount of one subtle sauce or another, and sometimes accented with a small amount of piquant “wasabi”.

Such was the nature of the “chirashi sushi” which I ordered. Pictured below, this is a dish usually served in some sort of bowl filled partially with vinegared rice and covered with an assortment of carefully selected cuts of raw fish. While the rice used was not authentic Japanese sticky rice (rather pricey here in Ecuador) the flavors, textures and presentation were all authentic and the portion was surprisingly generous. In all, I returned three times to eat the same dish!

Meanwhile, my wife and I both enjoyed the “donburi” offerings, as well. We had the chicken katsu donburi, again a bowl of rice (not vinegared—“donburi” means bowl) but this time covered with a breaded, deep fried chicken tenderloin smothered in egg and sautéed onions complimented with a slightly sweet and salty sauce unique to this kind of dish. This, too, is shown in the photographs below.

We were somewhat disappointed by the “okonomiyaki”, too smothered in sauces and not quite cooked enough for us, but overall, we were delighted to find a place that offers such authentic Japanese food. It was an added bonus to meet the Japanese owners on our last day in town and they kindly treated us to a small portion of their best “o-toro”, or fatty...

TL;DR - skip this place

We were pretty disappointed by this reasonably-well-rated/photographed restaurant. At initial arrival the staff is friendly, the decor is simple but professional, and they were happy to accommodate our 4 legged friend on the patio, but that's where the positives end. Every part of the ramen was overcooked (mushy noodles, boiled tamago, etc.) and oddly flavored, most of the components of the chirashi were off in some way (slimy octopus, sinewy tuna, underseasoned tamago, old unagi, etc.), but the kicker was the price. For a coastal city we expected a certain level of execution and freshness given the prices were the same as most north american establishments; that was a mistake. We tried to justify the prices based on scarcity of ingredients; then we saw the $139USD bottle of sake they were selling at a market 2min away going for $28USD. This place is a trap for expats; do yourself a favor and try...

Last year, when we visited Guayaquil, we tried another sushi restaurant close to Isao. But we didn’t like it so much. This year, we were so happy that we had lunches in Isao! I was worried that maybe they use instant noodles for ramen. When I have them on the table, it’s real ramen! I had two different ramens for each day, and it’s so tasty, the soup is very 鲜(I don’t know how to translate), it’s flavored and delicious! The only thing is maybe the chicken is a little bit salty. My husband had picante don twice because it’s so good! I also tried it, it’s not very spicy, fried/grilled pork and kimchi matched very well with the soft rice! If you want to try sushi, I would like to recommend the...