Otaru Masazushi Zenan — Restaurant in Otaru

We visited the Otaru Masazushi Main restaurant a few years ago and it was a wonderful experience. This time we came on Wednesday, this main branch was closed, so we went to the Zenan branch. We hoped it would keep the standard, but we were totally wrong. We entered at 1 pm right after the reservation-only session, we had 5 people and ordered some assorted sushi and sashimi. To our surprise, it was poorly cut, the look of the fish was bad, not fresh, dull looking, and grey. When we took it, there were still a few ice particles inside (incompletely defrosted), with a fishy taste. The look in the photo was much better than the actual appearance. We complained about the poor quality of food to the waitress, both in English and with some limited Japanese. She asked if it was a problem of incomplete thaw or the fishy taste. That means she knew the problem, but she did nothing apart from some standard words of apology. Another senior waitress came to understand the condition but again did nothing. They did not change the food. The man who served at the entrance, manager(?), did not come, he only received our payment. Because we had limited time, and there was a language issue, we did not argue with time. We left immediately and they fully charged us.

We were very disappointed; the service and food were horrible. It seems that the service declined in the last year, and it is not...

All of the waiters and staff were nice except for the manager! At the time we visited, he was trying to reap us off by telling us that ordering a platter of sushi for sharing is not allowed. Like really? 12 sushi for one person? He want us to basically order a platter per person (we are 4 people)! The name of the manager was Owatari! It happened on 4th Feb 2024 if I recalled correctly. The restaurant's management should review and reprimand that person! How he treated us does not help tourism in Otaru. That manager must learn his lessons. I read other reviews and they were treated badly too for not...

I would like to give a better rating, but given my different sushi experiences while staying in Otaru, I cannot give more than 2 stars. Let's start with the good points. The shop atmosphere is nice and I was lucky enough to seat by the window with a view on the Otaru canal. Fish was fresh. Now let's move to the bad points... The food itself. This place felt a bit expensive. For this price, one could expect a better ratio between fish and rice. I mean by that more fish...