Ohkura — Restaurant in Kanazawa

It regrettable that I must write my first negative review of a Japanese restaurant. Since I have arrived here in Japan I have been treated with nothing but kindness and understanding. Before my arrival I studied up on basic Japanese etiquette and language skills for ordering in restaurants, and have been accommodated pleasantly at every eatery I and my cousin have sampled, except this one. Needless to say, most human interactions can be mediated with simple pointing and 5 to 6 basic phrases, however this sushi bar seems to go out of its way to be rude and unfair to anyone who doesn't understand fluent Japanese. Don't let the English menu fool you, this place is NOT welcoming to foreigners. This is a basic rundown of my unfortunate experience: I and my cousin sat down at the bar and wrote down our orders on the notepad provided. When approached by the waitress we ordered our beers and she asked if we wanted "medium"? I replied "large"? which seemed to upset her a great deal. She replied "NO LARGE"! and I politely bowed my head and thanked her, unaware of my mistake. Later when the sushi was delived the chef began to cross his hands fuss at my cousin, who took one of the plates. I was confused because I ordered 2 pieces of sushi, yet received 2 plates with 2 pieces each, hence I believed of them to be for him. The chef began cross his hands and fuss at my cousin, then began giggle with a few other patrons who began to laugh at us and refused to serve my cousin his order. We decided to leave after another 15 minutes of no service for my cousin and were still charged the full price. Even when I tried to apologize and complement him in the basic dialect that worked everywhere else he scowled and seemed to chastise me. Japan has many wonderful eateries with pleasant staff, but this one seems to be the outlier. In short my fellow travelers AVOID AT ALL COST! ...To be fair though, the sushi was quite decent, I'll give them that out...

This place screams "TOURIST TRAP". I ordered a Seafood Don which came with uni (sea urchin) When I saw the uni, I knew immediately that it was no longer fresh, and when I took a mouthful of it, it tasted repulsive. I brought it up to a staff, but they were adamant that it was fresh, as they had bought the uni 4 days before it was served. How is that even fresh?! The other seafood, while still acceptable, however was just mediocre at best. Don't let the appearance fool you. Furthermore, the staff member was showing an attitude which was fresher than the seafood, and when the staff member in question (unfortunately I did not manage to get his name) went in, I heard loud laughter coming from inside the kitchen, presumably laughing at us for being gaijins and not knowing how to appreciate uni. I have tasted REAL FRESH uni in Hokkaido before, and this is seriously a far cry from what I have previously tasted. I seriously cannot comprehend how this place can get so many positive reviews. By far the worst meal I ever had during my multiple...

DO NOT PATRONISE. Ordered the 2,000yen set. It was average but shrimp was gritty. The real kicker was how terribly not fresh the (sea urchin) uni sushi was. I gave feedback to the chef politely and he immediately went to the back, told them what happened, and everyone started laughing. He probably told them that it was our first time eating uni and that foreigners couldn’t appreciate it, it was in Japanese so I only picked up bits and pieces. I’ve tasted good and fresh uni before and this was FAR FROM FRESH. He sent someone else to talk to me in mandarin, and it was revealed that the uni was purchased yesterday - therefore it might be a tad bit fishier than usual. Still, he was adamant that the uni was fresh. Chef showed me the box of uni it was from - it had discoloured so much and was no longer firm. Terrible customer service. I don’t understand why this place has such high reviews when the taste and clarity of other cuts of fish...