Nagomi - Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Dusseldorf

Summary of my visit to Nagomi in one sentence: „Easily Top 10% quality sushi in Europe, to which I would probably never return.“ Highly probably anyone living in Europe wouldnt find this quality sushi anywhere outside of Düsseldorf. Good shari (rice) and good neta (fish). Though the quality of Shari is different every plate you order. Shimesaba (makerel) definitely was my favorite, we had sashimi, nigiri and battera version of it and all three were great. Ebi Tempura was ok, natto was not good, foie gras with daikon was just ok for me (but my friends found it great), otoro nigiri (6,5€/pc) was obviously unbelievably good (shari was at its best when we ordered extra single nigiris), agedashi tofu was ok, sake we had was mediocre but obviously these are very personal opinions. Service all in all was all fine, but we are also very tolerant because we all come from same industry. Then why only two stars… I reserved the table about 2 weeks prior, but the table we got was no joke the worst one they had in the restaurant. The door was literally 20 cm right of me when i sat at the table. (So please avoid this table at all cost if you can.) But if the restaurant is that busy and if thus that table was the only table they could offer, thats just the way it is. BUT while we were there, literally the table next to us was free well until after we left, a group of 10 guests walked in without reservation, they got tables in the liddle of the restaurant that was the most ridiculous part of our visit. But wait it gets better. Our reservation was 18:30 we arrived 18:20. we left the restaurant at 19:54 so technically we stayed for 90 minutes. Three of us spent 270€ (incl. 20€ tip). After I paid with long delay (the manager had to type in every single bill upon request because they work only manually with paper 🤷🏻‍♂️) he rushed to my table where my friends were luterally getting ready to leave, and asked them if we were done, and if yes we should leave because next guests were waiting. We were literally standing up and leaving when he had to come across so rudly and requested us to stand up and leave. I mean…. Why would anyone do that.. I was so embarassed, my friends were so pissed to be treated like that after spending 270€ for dinner for 3 which durated 90 minutes. 90 minutes of hard work done by the kitchen staff, service staff down the drain by one managerial staff in 30 seconds. Thats naturally gifted talent, please stay away from this industry. In summary, Go to a different japanese restaurant called Yabase which is even better and i have been there numerous times and never had bad experiences. Nagomi would be only an option for someone looking for quality food on a sunday or a monday or when you cant get a table at Yabase. As far as I am concerned, I am not...

The sushi and sashimi are good but not so special. Read a lot of good comments about how fresh the fish is, but what we got after a one hour’s wait tasted a bit dry. They used to have Oo-toro(大トロ) in the variation set but not anymore. The 49 EUR set does not convince me its worth.

As for the service, it’s hard to rate something that hardly exists. We arrived at the place after 8:30pm and there were quite some tables available inside. We got sent to an outdoor table anyway and had to endure the smell of baked fish all night (2h actually because of their 2h limit).

After placing the order, we waited 15 minutes for one drink (yes they messed with the qty) and another 10 minutes for a starter. In the following half hour, 3 different staffs stopped by to ask us if we had finished everything (?!) and were ready to pay (what?). We had to repeatedly clarify what we’d ordered and that we were still waiting. Several minutes after our conversation with a man who looked like a lead, our dishes all came. Well they were just sashimi’s and sushi’s. If they can serve everything in one go just because we talked to the “right” person, there is going to be something wrong with their team. Plus it felt all in a hurry.

There were waiters standing near the front door and they were making confusing glimpses from time to time. Once our eyes met, they turned around and looked away with a poker face. What’s the point, literally? Were we being watched or something?

There were no less than 2 groups who got arranged after us and left because nobody took care of them. I think they made the right choice. A staff gave us our bill and left after finishing one sentence (“pls pay inside”). Obviously he couldn’t care less about our response. The payment was all silent - I passed the money, he passed the changes, and a last awkward smile appeared on both of our faces. That’s it. No thank you, no sorry, not even a word.

We might be the unlucky ones but after going through the comments, we felt better as at least we were not interrupted to pay with food still in our mouths. Instead of “I will not come back”, I would rather...

Worst dinning experience. Here is what happened:

I arrived at 5:30pm without reservation hoping to get a table. Happily got a table and was fine with having to finish by 6:30pm. 1 hour was perfectly enough for me on my own, just wanted to grab a quick dinner on my own.

My orders arrived timely and I managed to finish all but the last dish by 5:50ish.

Around 5:55pm, one waiter brought my bill to the table and I was in the middle of finishing my last dish. I understood that it was a signal that they were reminding me to finish soon. Fine by me. I was perhaps 10 mins away from finishing my dish.

Here comes the ‘iconic’ move: at 6:02, as I was in the middle of chewing and biting into my food, the waiter rushed to me with the machine and typed in the amount, abruptly interrupting me and signalling that I should pull out my wallet and pay. WHILE IT WAS 28 MINs TILL 6:30pm and WHILE I LITERALLY JUST TOOK A BITE AND WAS CHEWING MY FOOD.

I reminded him I was about to finish in a few mins and would be happy to pay as soon as finish, just not in the middling of my chewing, and it was not nice how he interrupted me.

He did not listen - just continued pushing the machine at me and pressing me to pay, while squeezing out an empty smile and a ‘sorry’, did not seem to be ready to back down.

I lost my appetite and interest to continue engaging with such disrespectful and rude behaviour. I paid and left, of course not leaving any tips, which they did not deserve.

I was very disappointed with the experience. Indeed the one of the worst services I have experienced.

I have been nothing but a calm, nice customer to them the entire time but I was shocked how I was treated at the end. Perhaps I was there on my own as a quiet, agreeable customer and they see me an easy target to rush, while they had no valid reason to and it was still 30 mins away from the next customer.

It was my first and last time coming to this restaurant.

Please learn to treat everyone with some basic...