Manten Sushi Marunouchi — Restaurant in Tokyo

Small omakase place with limited seating (13 counter seats(?) and 2 tables of 4) The chef prepares all the courses A La Minute and puts a show for the customer definitely fun, interactive and entertaining. Atmosphere is authentic and most of the dishes are great. Do make a booking as they're always fully booked out as far as I know. Below I have broken down every dish and my experience with it. But for those who are bad with wall of text: TL;DR it's amazing with a few misses as some of the items you might not enjoy thoroughly(hence 4/5 on food). But otherwise highly recommend to anyone looking for an omaksase experience to remember. Start of menu item breakdown: Clam soup starter - briney and of the ocean, hint of yuzu(probably infused via peels) Yellow tail - little sour but otherwise it's fine. Wasn't crazy over this item but otherwise okay Seaweed/konbu slimey in texture like ladies finger (something I'm not fond of) sourer than first 2 items assuming it's all a crescendo to wet the palate up for the barrage of dishes. Scallop's - super fresh. perfectly tender but still firm to the bite and seasoned well Spanish mackerel - very nice smoke and char from the aburi. Could taste a hint of miso from the seasoning and amazing. One of the highlights for me Stew'd abalone /meat - slight chew but good tenderness /innards - very rich in umami and full of sea flavor Shrimp - pure sweetness and umami lovely. Enoki mushrooms with lemon zest - citrus forward but otherwise might be lacking in other flavor. Aburi stewed oyster - flavor of the sea is there but amplified with the stewing. However it does introduce some acidity thus incurring a lingering sourness on the palate Tofu - absolutely the best tofu I've ever had. Rich and full of bean flavor. It's so smooth and creamy Snapper - brilliantly prepared after drying in konbu. It's firmed up to a degree and taken on a deeper layer of flavor Chawamushi - delicate egg and a good amount of crab meat underneath. Sweet and briney from the crab meat. Taro - a little slimey and lacking flavor. Faint taste of ground and that one taste profile some people will know of and describe. Amberjack - Also cured on konbu. Firm. Deep umami and sweetness. Salmon roe(ikura) and uni don - ikura was sublime and each mouthfull was an amazing pop of briney sweet flavor of the ocean. The uni sweet and delicate but yet also brings such full bodied flavor extremely creamy. Monkfish liver - unlike regular monkfish liver I've had before it's firm and not as creamy. But yet has all the properties and the same level of richness from those that are creamier. This also doesn't leave any unpleasant after taste unlike those I've had before. Very clean flavor and post palate. Akami - almost jelly like flavor wise, clean and like the best akami I've had. Toro - fatty, rich melt in your mouth the the slightest amount of warmth. Also among the best I've had. Miso clam soup- The single clammiest bowl of miso shiru I've had. Chock full of clam flavor and meat. Negitoro temaki - with actual onions instead of spring onions. The tuna is perfectly layered throughout the temaki and every bite has some onion and toro. Anago - has a fresh water taste strangely and muddy taste. Definitely one of the misses for me. Pickled cucumber gonpachi - crunchy cucumbers slightly salty and sweet. Interesting 2nd final course as it's overly savory Shine muscat - 2 shine muscat grapes, really sweet. It's like eating candy and...

Manten sushi has a confusing lineup/reservation process that contradicted their website, and a so-so lunch omakase meal (7,000 yen per person) that had some good and some bad dishes that is not for people who want traditional sushi/nigiri. We stood in line around 10:40 AM for the lunch set omakase (about 4000 yen per person on the website) which was the process according to their website, but the waitress told us to make a reservation for the lunch time omakase (which costs 7000 yen per person) instead. We don't know why we weren't allowed to just walk in at opening time which was the procedure for their lunch queue on their website. We made a reservation for an hour and a half later. We were seated at a tablr instead of at the counter, so we could not see the chef preparing food. The food itself was whatever the chef chose - omakase. This ranged from good to bad. The raw salted black squid dish was very bad - it was extremely salty and simply tasted like fishy, salty seawater. The dish of nothing but a few pieces of pickled radish was not very good either and was just ordinary pickled radish you can find in a can or jar at a supermarket. The slimy seaweed appetizer dish was so-so. The good dishes were the raw shrimp nigiri, tuna handroll sushi, sea urchin sushi, tuna nigiri, and a few raw pieces of raw fish. If you want to eat sushi or fish nigiri, do not come here because most of the dishes are not nigiri or sushi and you will be very disappointed. Most of the dishes will be random foods that do not remotely resemble nigiri or sushi. If you don't speak Japanese, you may have trouble at the ordering/reservation process like we did and not be able to get into the lunch time walk-in omakase for 4,000 yen. There was a helpful person who translated for us, but the lunch walk-in menu was still not available to us for...

This omakase has gone downhill.

I last visited manten in 2018 with the recommendation that it was good value for the money. In 2023, I’m sad to report it is no longer the case and will never be returning.

Main issues despite reservations, we were placed at a table. For some unknowable reason, they would not change despite having the counter space. This is NOT how omakase is done. If I make a reservation for an omakase, I expect to be seated at the counter. quality of the food: it’s “chefs choice” but it appears they have made zero changes from 2018 (perhaps maybe even one or two fewer pieces). Guess the “chef” doesnt have much choice. We had just dined at a 1* omakase a few days ago and even though the price points are not the same, the quality at manten was shockingly poor. The bland rice in the nigiri were sad little compact balls with uninspired cuts of fish. By the time they got to the table, the rice was cold. The uni was plopped on, a little discolored, a little off tasting. It appears this restaurant now is exclusively serving tourist clientele judging by the customers (perhaps the reason for their slide in quality and service).

Overall, I have to say it is disappointing to see what manten has become. We took people here for a final dinner in Tokyo hoping to give them an omakase dinner and this restaurant did not deliver on either quality, service, or value. I am almost without doubt able to find better at a kaitenzushi for cheaper and I’ll happily pay more for an authentic omakase that is leagues better than manten. This restaurant used to occupy the sweet middle ground but no longer and urge discerning diners to find a more deserving restaurant as the mindless tourists will continue (and likely increasingly)...