Ikigai — Restaurant in Eindhoven

My wife and I used to love the food here.

We went to the restaurant for our birthday(s) and were left sorely disappointed.

The Food and Drink: The hand roll was tasty, but it was a bad idea to have that first as it set us up for disappointment. The steak was bland and cold as ice, but cooked and presented well. Although, the garnished vegetables tasted like they were a bit old. The sushi was passable and mediocre, but we used to love IKIGAI for the "different" sushi because it stood out in Eindhoven. Now it just tastes like everywhere else! The fried rice was salty as hell, but it was the only truly flavorful thing on the table. Kind of a shock to the system, honestly. The cocktails were really tasty and well-prepared. Excluding the cocktails, the price was outrageous for what we received.

The Staff: Nice barman/waiter. We were one of 3 total groups (2 of 4, 1 of 2) and waited a good 30 mins for the check and for refills. I dunno, we expected more for our birthdays. It seemed the staff was bored in general and we felt underserved.

Other Notes: I think it was obvious we didn't like the food and it was awkward we didn't get asked if we were done much sooner. Normally, we always keep leftovers, but this is the first time we decided it wasn't worth it.

In summary: Did we go on an off night or something? Totally disappointing, we won't go back... we won't even order takeout. What happened...

Rainbow roll,tempura shrimp,spare rib and roast duck is recommended. The spareribs is super tasty, it’s so soft and juice, the sauce is spiced in to the bones and you can really easy to separate it from each other. I have to say the pancake for roast duck is even better then most of the one in China, that really surprised me. Only the duck isn’t the original flavor is a bit of shame. And the pancakes are too little to wrap all the meat I guess it would be better if add extra pancakes is optional. The oysters wasn’t that good, the strong flavor of seafood is too strong that ruined the dish, and the yakitori are way too salty. Rank 4 stars because the waiting time for the main dishes is waaaaaaaaay too long, if it would be faster then 5...

We got the four course menu and only one of the dishes was worth anything. Two of our dishes had the same sauce (black bean sauce with vegetables), just with a different meat in the sauce. We did the math on the value of the menu, it’s not a good deal.

Very disappointing. I had been wanting to try this place for a while, and it was just not worth it. I would advise you to look elsewhere

Service was nice, and they offer you free parking in the stadium garage....