Sushi Asahi — Restaurant in Tokyo

Utterly overhyped and overpriced. If we didn't prepay for the meal (105 USD) I would have left halfway through the meal. If this was in the States, I think $105 is somewhat overpriced but I can understand if it was in an expensive city. However, by Japanese standards, this price point at this quality is absurd. I've literally had better tasting fish from the supermarkets in Japan.

Course composition: I am not an expert in how a course meal should be constructed, but this felt like there was almost no reason for the order at all. Sure the appetizer and finisher soup and dessert were in place, but everything in-between could've been more or less a pull out of a hat. The bigger issue I had was how long it took for each dish to come out. Yes it's normal for fancier restaurants to take more time between each courses, but I do not need 15min after each two bite courses.

Food: The abalone was actually fantastic, and really the only reason why I'm not giving this place one star. Everything else was unmemorable at best.

Service: We were in a group of 4, one person couldn't eat shellfish, and two of us did not want wasabi, which we told them in the beginning. On four different occasions they either served us all shellfish or forgot to take out the wasabi. Sure they fixed the issues quickly each time, but four times is too many times for a restaurant charging this much. The waitresses also seemed very green, and did not communicate with each other very much. They would take away some used plates while we are eating (which isn't an issue at a regular restaurant, but at a fancy restaurant where there's so much downtime between each courses, it's best not to be in the customers way while they are trying to eat) and on other times they took away two peoples plates but forgot to take away the other two's plates for a good 10 minutes.

Atmosphere: I really liked the wooden slate walls that they had, and it felt nice and peaceful at the beginning of our meal. However, as time went on, this place became more of an izakaya with rowdy businessmen chatting very loudly with no regards to other customers. I'm not blaming this entirely on the restaurant, but at some point they should've intervened and asked the customers to be mindful of their volume if they're going to claim themselves as a fancier restaurant. People may disagree with that depending on where they're from, but that's pretty standard in a sushi place in Japan.

Overall, this was an extremely unsatisfying and frustrating dining experience. With how many great restaurants there are in Japan, this was a waste of our...

Reserved the 3rd anniversary set with the finest sake pairing, and it was worth every penny. Reservations can be done through tabelog. You will need to include your name in hiragana - foreigners can use Google translate.

There were 22 items in total, and 2.5hrs is a good pace to savour the food. They were also generous with the sake. A word of caution here - if you are a lightweight drinker, you will be better off ordering ala-carte drinks rather than select the sake pairing option. We were able to taste, but chose not to finish the sake to avoid getting drunk/ not being able to taste the food.

Food was delicious - ingredients are of high quality (as expected), but it's the pairing and preparation that separates them.

One example is the abalone dish - abalone is tender (no rubber here) and the sauce (abalone liver and something else?) is simply divine. I dream of that rich sauce to date.

The octopus appetiser is also simple but delicious - again super tender, and the sauce perfectly stimulates the appetite.

The cod simply melts in your mouth, and the anago is so fluffy, it feels like you're eating a cloud.

The tamago dessert looks simple, but the brulee crust on top elevates this dish and makes it the perfect end to a satisfying meal.

Why not 5 stars then? For this price, my expectations are high - every dish should be special/ memorable, but unfortunately I feel there were still some fillers. Eg. The vegetable dish - it doesn't taste bad, it's just unmemorable.

Service: good service and English is spoken (except for the names of some fishes). Care is also taken to explain each...

I had an amazing omakase experience at Sushi Asahi!

The 21 course menu consisted of carefully selected and prepared Japanese dishes and sushi. A menu allows you to choose from a variety of included drink options such as wine; beer and of course sake. There were about 5 different varieties of sake to choose from, which were described by their flavor profile (crisp, sweet, etc.). After choosing a profile I was very positively surprised they swapped the bottle/glass for a different sake when one was completed- it was a great experience to sample a variety of different premium and high end sakes.

The food itself was well prepared, fresh and nicely presented. The first 8 or so courses felt a little rushed, but once I slowed down the pace of eating the dishes it balanced out. I sat at the sushi bar and enjoyed the interaction with the sushi chef’s, they spoke some English. The place itself is modern and felt cozy.

A (minor) criticism is the booking process, which required a credit card for incidentals and seemed to add unnecessary complexity. The English a la carte also seemed limited as locals ordered more items than shown.

Overall a great dinner and I am...