Manten Sushi Hibiya Okuroji — Restaurant in Tokyo

A memorable experience for all the wrong reasons. Wow.

We've had various forms of Omakase before but nothing comes close to how bad this was.

It was comical even. It felt like we were being pranked.

The courses seem to alternate between normal decent nigiri and some really terrible slimey challenges. We are definitely not inexperienced with unique seafoods but this was something else.

We were also not alone in this opinion. Looking across the bar we were able to watch other unfortunate patrons wince and gag on some dishes presented. One girl had tears in her eyes trying to keep it together.

I guess once you're sat there having paid a decent chunk of money you're now in the sulk cost fallacy of "well I've come this far I might as well finish". Honestly we should have left midway through.

I honestly don't know what these other highly related reviews see in this place. Usually I can see how a place is just not my taste but this is objectively bad.

Not great quality or presentation for the money, you could get comparable quality at a budget sushi conveyor belt restaurant.

It was insulting to be presented sloppily presented enoki mushrooms as a nigiri course. Along with cucumber nigiri and a straight up irregularly chipped watermelon slice... Nothing special about any of these, just plain exactly as written.

These are just a couple of examples. I get that this place is cheaper than most but it's still not cheap.

The other section of creative dishes were covered in natto slime. 2 stalks of plain Okra, salmon roe, even a dead simple 2c value seaweed bowl was just a thimble of snot.

The highlight was the snail and the abalone. Looking across to other people was the only entertainment at watching them struggle like we just had.

Service was... Ok.. I the server collecting plates was inconsistent in his reach and often bumped into me.

The main chefs seemed nice enough but interaction was limited.

To sum it up... I paid $70 CAD a person and booked months in advance with excitement only to be pranked.

Heed my warning....

Come here if you want to be rushed. We booked the omakase for lunch time, which was still the full 8800 yen (tax included) and it's a fairly thorough course. I've been at another location in the past for dinner and thought it was pretty good so I decided to go again with my friend. We ended up getting seated at a table, which wasn't a big deal and we loved everything that was brought to us.

The experience went downhill at the end immediately after we paid though. Our course finished in about an hour and after we finished paying, we were literally rushed out! I was putting away my wallet when we were asked by the waitress AND the chef twice to please leave in a span of a minute, as they had another service of customers coming in for the next omakase timeslot. I understand that they need to be punctual and felt fine when the waitress had told us that another set of customers were coming through. It was the fact that not even 1 min after when she left that the CHEF also asked us to please leave. We paid for the omakase, just like everyone else and the service level in the end honestly ruined the whole experience for us. In addition, they take a deposit for the booking beforehand and I still see my card as double charged. If this isn't cleared within the next couple days, I'll be contacting my credit card company to fight this. Save your money and go elsewhere...

had omakase dinner @ Manten Sushi Hibiya Okuroji on 6.12.2022

location is in a long alley mall on the ground floor of a building with quite hip restaurants

sushi counter sits like 12pax all prebooked and directed to the counter..there were 2 other tables which ordered alacarte

dinner omakase is ¥6300+10% pax

very good omakase 23 items forgot to take photo for one..not top top but superb value for money

standouts are the luxurious uni temaki(overflowing with creamy uni though not top quality sweet uni)

awabi good serving & braised so tender but tough good but cannot compare with Chinese dry abalone preparation

started with asari soup - palate cleanser? buri (yellow tail) - good seaweed - slimy very good large hokkaido hotate - big fresh no soyu taste doesn’t come out sawara - spanish mackerel very good maybe herring? or saba?- good awabi very good chawanmushi very smooth ver good have kani(crab) some snapper very good ankimo- monkfish liver superb enoki - very good crunchy texture surprise can do sushi tofu ok some fish - superb hotaruika- firefly squid very good Ikura don superb shiroco superb akami very good chutoro very good (why no otoro?) uni luxurious overflowing very good tamago very good negitoro temaki very good some roots? ok

quite delicious meal & a great memorable...