Okaju Japanese Grill — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Just came back home after dining at Okaju. My party reserved for dinner at 8pm and might I say we had the worst dining experience of the year at this restaurant. No photos were taken because, it was not worth taking any.

Let me get through the main points on why you should never dine here or at least never order their RM580 omakase menu -

Food

For the price, the omakase courses continuously consisted of lazy, low quality and cheap ingredients. The only course that served relatively ‘premium’ ingredient was the Uni Bun, which was quite tasty as well.

Other than that, the 3 assorted sushis were tiny, the sashimi slices were thinner than Sushi King and they served chutoro instead of otoro even at this price point. A friend that ordered the chef selection of 7 sushis was also extremely disappointed with the quality and selection of the sushis. Absolute garbage.

Furthermore, there were a total of 3 of us that ordered the omakase menu tonight, and the last course was supposed to be the Donabe Rice Pot.

To our surprise, the servers brought out just 2 rice pots, which were mixed on the side table and served to us in 3 separate bowls. I simply cannot understand why for RM580 this restaurant cannot even serve 1 rice pot per person, and more importantly if you’re not serving us the whole rice pot, then the description is better to be changed as ‘Donabe Rice Bowl’ instead. I am also rather curious, if just 1 person ordered the omakase, then what would they have served? A half rice pot? Or share the rice pot with another customer that ordered the omakase?

Service

The staff of this restaurant are clearly untrained, and lack any understanding of the dishes that they’re serving. If you are a restaurant that serves food at such a high price point, I would expect the staff to be better trained or at least have friendlier demeanor. From the beginning to the end, the staff (especially the female filipino server) were uninviting and overall unfriendly to say the least.

Lastly, as we got close to the restaurant’s closing time, we could feel that they were rushing us with our meals. One of the male staff tried to take away a friend’s edamame before it was finished! And when she said she wasn’t done, he waited by her side as if he can’t wait any longer to take the plate away.

I also would like to clarify, I normally don’t write many reviews unless it’s absolutely necessary. For over RM2,600 bill we paid for our table of 5 tonight, I can’t take away the feeling of being scammed by this establishment.

Perhaps if you are not a frequent fine dining restaurant goer, the atmosphere and ambience of this restaurant might fool you into thinking it’s worth it. But as someone who has visited rather a lot of fine dining restaurants both in and out of Malaysia, I am shocked to have paid this much money for such poor quality of food and service. We will never be coming back to this restaurant again, and this review hopefully saves at least a person from wasting...

Okaju Japanese Grill @ Bukit Bintang is where modern Japanese cuisine meets serious finesse. The dishes here are artful, refined, and built on pristine ingredients. While the experience was largely exceptional, there were some slight drawbacks in terms of pricing and service — more on that below. But first, the highlights:

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🍣 Shima Aji Carpaccio with Wasabi Jelly An absolute standout. The striped jack was impeccably fresh — buttery, clean, and delicately sliced. The wasabi jelly added a sophisticated twist: it brought a subtle heat and aroma without overpowering the fish. This dish is all about balance and precision. Light, elegant, and unforgettable.

🍞 Uni Bun with Burnt Butter Tamari Soy This dish is pure indulgence. A warm, lightly toasted bun cradles luscious Hokkaido uni, elevated by a rich, nutty burnt butter tamari soy glaze. It hits all the right notes — sweet, salty, briny, umami — and the textures are spot-on. Easily one of the best uni preparations I’ve had in KL.

🥚 Caviar & Toro Tartare Tartlet Beautifully composed and bursting with flavor. The crisp tart shell contrasted perfectly with the creamy toro tartare, and the caviar added a luxurious pop of salinity. It’s a small dish, but it leaves a big impression — luxurious, playful, and technically flawless.

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💡 A Few Setbacks The only things keeping this from being a perfect experience: – Pricing is on the higher end, even by premium Japanese dining standards. While the ingredients are clearly top-notch, some portions felt slightly small relative to the price tag. – Service was polite but slightly inconsistent. At times, we had to wait longer than expected to get attention, and a couple of dishes were brought out without much explanation. Not a major issue, but for the price and setting, you’d expect smoother, more engaged service throughout.

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🎌 Final Verdict Despite the minor drawbacks, Okaju delivers on what matters most: exceptional food crafted with care and creativity. The Shima Aji Carpaccio, Uni Bun, and Toro & Caviar Tartlet are must-tries — each one showcases technique, flavor, and premium ingredients in perfect harmony.

If you’re a fan of elevated Japanese cuisine and don’t mind splurging a bit, Okaju is absolutely worth the visit. Just go in expecting a more relaxed pace and a premium...

Had dinner here for my girlfriend's birthday and it was great. We got the sharing menu with an upgrade to the black cod for the main. Started off with rice crackers with tomato salsa and okaju salad. The tomato salsa was super refreshing and was so good to have with the crispy rice cracker. As a big fan of anything potatoes, the roasted potatoes in the salad were so delicious and paired so nicely with the beets and salad dressing. We then got tempura prawns, which were the best I've ever had. Just perfectly seasoned and fried with a deep umami rich tentsuyu dip to go with it. The black cod was one of the highlights of the night, seasoned with a sticky sweet glaze similar to teriyaki sauce. Our last dish before dessert was, the sakura ebi rice which wasnt bad but a bit bland compared to everything we had previously. For dessert, we were served the sake souffle which was so rich and creamy and tasted great with the pear ice cream giving you an addictive hot/cold experience. Also added on a chocolate cake, which was brought out while singing happy birthday which was cute. They also took a picture of us with a Polaroid camera and let us keep the picture. The cake is great for dark chocolate lovers which I am. We were just too full from the meal and the souffle to finish it.

As for service, the staff was trying to be as attentive as possible which we really appreciate but we felt at times it was a bit too much. E.g. theres no need for you to explain what still water it is 😂 (if we are interested we can ask). Interrupting our conversation to explain or ask something rather than waiting for a break in between which happened a few times. Let your guests enjoy themselves and relax rather than being bombarded with information/questions every 5-10 mins. Ask if they prefer their food to be served immediately or until they finish their course beforehand rather than at every dish. Wont take down points for this as I understand the staff was trying but just learn to read your customer rather than following a script or strict SOP.

Hopefully will be back...