De Japanner Zuid — Restaurant in Amsterdam

全くお勧めしません。

Visited on October 5th, 2025, for the 4-hands dinner with Hokkai Kitchen. As a native Japanese having lived in the Netherlands for 7 years, it was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had at a Japanese restaurant in Amsterdam.

The sashimi and bonito tataki were fine (similar to what you get at Hokkai Kitchen in IJmuiden), but the other so-called signature dishes from De Japanner were mediocre at best. The grilled fish was even cold when it was served.

The worst part was the pacing - it took +3 hours to serve just 5 simple izakaya dishes... The waiter told us it would probably take another 30–60 minutes to prepare 3 pieces of sushi, showing frustrations to us asking the question which is unprofessional. We didn’t want to risk waiting another hour just for another mediocre dish, so we left early. (They kindly offered a €2.25 discount p.p. on the €90 menu, which I found interesting.)

Simply put, it felt like an event along the lines of: “Let’s collab with Hokkai Kitchen to bring in more people than we can handle. It’d work if we let them wait for 4 hours. Let’s serve common dishes in a small portion at a premium price; they won’t know the difference anyway.”

Would I ever go back there? No, thanks. There are plenty more decent Japanese restaurants that aren’t a rip-off in/around...

I wanted to visit De Japanner for a long time, but it sadly ended up being a disappointing experience.

The food tasted quite average, nothing being too special or remarkable, and the sushi was just tiny pieces that I could have done way better at my place even tho I’ve cooked sushi only a few times.

The service was just average Dutch service I guess, quite straight forward but not attentive at all. We were dressed up celebrating an important day, we had flowers and gifts and no one really asked if we were celebrating something or bothered to engage in more conversation.

Although the restaurant was almost empty, the timing for the food wasn’t the best and I had to go look for our waiter (who wasn’t around) to ask her to fire the round of sushi after our bento boxes.

I guess the place is nice to experience the concept once, but I’m not coming back and wouldn’t recommend it, the money they charge is just not worth it for the food and quality...

Helpful and friendly staff and tasty dishes. We had the katsu, steak, rolls, tofu, ika, and eggplant.

Unfortunately too true to its Izakaya theme and does not have basic white rice available. It is a place for drinks and bites, not dinner. A shame as the food itself is good. But without the basic carb food like rice or noodle, it is a borrel/bar not a restaurant for dinner. Which is what an izakaya is, so it’s fair, I just wish they’d adapt a little.

Like finding a place with excellent burger patties and toppings, but no bread. As good as their dishes are, without rice it just isn’t complete. For this reason alone I will not be returning for dinner, and I imagine neither will all the other residents in the area who don’t plan on drinking their...