Oishi 18 Katajanokka — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

We went on Friday night for early dinner at 6pm, we didn’t make any bookings and it was still quite.

Our orders were taken quickly and our first order came out reasonably quick, I can imagine that the food can take sometime if it’s busier especially with only one sushi chef, our second order came longer than I expected considering it’s still fairly quiet with only two other tables. However, I noticed that there was another sushi chef that started towards the end of our meal, hence our third order came really quick.

The concept is all you can eat sushi for €24.90 per person, you can order as many time as you like from your table, per sushi you didn’t eat there’s a waste charge of €1.00 (fair :)).

From some other review it says €13.90 per person, maybe this is for lunch time. We went in with that expectation, but as we are already seated and are very hungry as well, we went ahead. PS: If you’re a light eater like we are, you may not be maximising the value (dinner time price).

The options are quite vary but as it is a bar concept and the place is not that big, the menu is limited to like ebi (prawns), salmon, tamago (eggs), veg. But because it is offered in many ways i.e roll, reverse roll, nigiri, raw, torched etc then the menu looks quite extensive (smart, yet effective). The taste is decent, good quality and tasted fresh.

The staff were friendly and easy going, especially the Finnish lady (I’m guessing) with glasses, she was very welcoming and patience.

Perhaps it if was true that the cost at lunch is €13.90 per person, we would definitely come back. However, as we are a light eater, for dinner maybe we would consider the take away options which is priced according to the portions.

The edamame is really really good! It’s unlike your usual steamed edamame, I think this is lightly torched and season with salt and...

Mediocre food for a service that just doesn't work. I came to this place with great expectations since nowadays it's being very popular in Helsinki and everyone's talking about it. Going here without googling is a reminder to always check the reviews beforehand. I'm not gonna tell you anything that you haven't read already. The orders take around an hour to arrive at the table (so i'd avoid a "test" order just to try some pieces) and the flavour of the sushi itself doesn't justify at all the €25 price. The place is understaffed. Tonight there was missing a person in the kitchen so it was even slower than normal, and there was only one waitress that needed to bounce around 25 seats. I don't think that this would be fixed with one more person making the sushi. The core of the problem sits on how they take the orders and how they serve them to the tables. The waitress will come and ask you what you wanna order (so a 25 piece tray at this point cause you don't wanna spend your time waiting an hour every single time you feel like having an extra nigiri), then the order is taken to the kitchen where it will be piled up with all the orders from all the other guests. The chefs will then proceed to prepare one order at the time, so if you have 24 more people in front of you, you can imagine that you'll wait a very long time. To save this kitchen you would either need 6 cooks or a more efficient way of taking care of the orders, sending to every table some pieces as soon as they are ready, shortening the time passed tasting the air. Also some personal considerations about the food. While the nigiri and the gunkans were average the rolls tasted like dishsoap. I was excited to come to eat something new but I was greatly disappointed. Would...

We were really looking forward to going to Oishi18 on Katajanokka but were deeply disappointed when we tried it. We came at about 11:35 for lunch and the restaurant was half full but there was only one sushi chef making sushi for people in the restaurant and takeaways at the same time. We waited around 10 minutes in the queue and then 40 minutes to get our order. Unfortunately, the host wasn’t the friendliest and he didn’t warn us about the 40 minute waiting time.

The concept is strange as well. For €13,90 you can order as much as you want but you have to order it all at the front desk while people are waiting behind you. If you order anything after you’ve eaten your first order, you have to wait for additional 20-30 minutes. If you couldn’t eat all you ordered, you get charged €1 per piece. In addition, you only get water and one tiny bowl of miso soup (if the waiter remembers to bring it to you). You don’t get a lunch coffee or green tea at this place. The sushi quality is average.

Oishi18 should hire more staff for lunch hours but until they’ve done so, avoid this place. We left disappointed and hungry and will opt for the nearest sushi...