Nishi Izakaya Japanese Resto & Bar — Restaurant in Jakarta

Edited to update my impression: I went to Nishi again, this time seated in the restaurant part instead of the bar. I've seen improvement in a little time: the waiters and waitresses now doesn't need to see my menu to understand what I was ordering. I ordered a Nishi Jyu Jyu Steak, Chicken Gyoza, A Gunkan-maki and an Inari Sushi, as well as a cocktail (Sakura) and an Ice Ocha. This time, however, I learnt that the Ocha was refillable, unlike my first visit.

The Steak took a while, but it was understandable because it was a Steak. It was good, and arrived perfectly Medium, but can be seasoned a bit better. The slices were gone in one bite each, so it's good quality beef. The rice portion is generous, too.

The Gunkan-maki and Inarizushi was nice, but the sushi rice wasn't seasoned as usual. Nothing a dip to the soy sauce can't fix, and it tided me over until the steak arrived. The Gyoza and Edamame came after and while I was eating the steak. I told the staff of my impression to the Gyoza, but for its price, it's fair.

The cocktail this time is also great, sour and fresh so that it pairs perfectly with the salted foods.

A better experience over my first one, and as I said, worthy of a try after the improvement.

My former review: Sat at the bar, and ordered a cocktail (Kyokuto), a kushiyaki platter (Moriawase 7, which I didn't know whether to call it Nana, Shichi, Seven, or Tujuh), and an Iced Ocha.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the waiters/waitresses are not trained too deep on the menu. It's an extensive menu (semi fine dining, a lot of cocktails, drinks, food, etc), but the waiter needs to see the menu in my hand to confirm my order.

The next thing is that the food took a lot of time. It took about 30 minute for a platter of 7 skewers to show up, which at that point my cocktail was already finished and the Ocha had been refilled once. One of the staff (manager? Bartender?) refilled my Ocha cup and gave me a complimentary bomboloni, a sweet gesture (pun intended).

The last thing is my personal preference: I don't eat sweet things, which made me unable to enjoy the bomboloni, and I don't eat liver and chili, which are 2 of the skewers in the Moriawase platter. I can still scarf it, the soy sauce caramelization over grill is great. Just not my taste.

The great stuff: for its price, it did feel a bit refined. The rest of the skewers are great, and my cocktail (sake, tequila, lemon) is so fresh and smooth I forgot it was a cocktail.

Definitely a try-again later when the opening pains are not there, but for now, bring a friend or a phone to pass the time while waiting for...

visiting the place around 6 pm during weekdays and here are my experience:

we just sitted and our plates are quite dirty so we ask the waiter to change it, thankfully its fast when we want to order, we ask the waiter to describe the menu but he seems not really understand. he also write the different order from what we actually say, some of our orders are even not written and we need to wait after we ask the second time to the other waitress. The serving time was also quite long, better not go here when you are really hungry. We also ask to refill our ocha but it really took long time and they told us regulation to refill only for three times while im already my second refill which mean I only can do one more refill. im actually confused where is the restrooms because there is no signage, i need to ask the waiter and the door was really a door without ladies/gentlement signage (or maybe its for both? idk) cashier was quite confusing and chaotic because its mix with the bakery

and here are the food i ordered: chicken katsu set 8/10 basically good and juicy carbonara truffle udon 8,5/10 truffle aroma strong and rich taste cheesy salmon roll 8,3/10 good amount of salmon but the cucumber is quite biq so not really balancd salmon mentai roll 8,3/10 nice crunch from the tanuki but the salmon on top is really thin salmon belly sashimi 7/10 when serve was not cool enough zaru soba 7/10 no comment because this food is the latest served japanese burnt cheesecake 9/10 beautiful and delicious, nice texture and typically sweet cheese

overall I like the food and ambients but the service really need to improve, this place have a big potential to dig and expand...

I had iftar with my friends and tried their salmon mentai doria & japanese burnt cheesecake.

Salmon Mentai Doria: 8/10 baked salmon and rice topped with mentai could never go wrong Japanese Burnt Cheesecake: 7/10 tasted a strong scent of yuzu in every bite of the cake. the hint of yuzu in the cheesecake is actually good but it’s just too strong and making it becomes unpleasant. the sweetness also overpowered the saltiness of cheese, so for me who is not a sweet tooth, it was way too sweet I also tried their Nishi Signature Ramen which was my friend’s dish and it’s surprisingly 8.5/10! the broth was very thick, strong and had a unique taste. there was a reason it was named “signature”, indeed.

One of their waitress named Johan (if I’m not mistaken) initiatively offered to take a picture of us in front of the resto and it was quite a memorable service that we never experienced in any other place, especially during the busy hour of iftar. Thank you, Johan! Please give him a raise! 😂

What dissapointed me was I wanted to order ocha and okonomiyaki for my iftar during my reservation but the admin said those were not included in the iftar menu and it would be available after 19.30. But when I came to the resto, the table right beside me had okonomiyaki on it and it made us quite upset. How could a resto be inconsistent like that to different customers during the...