Maneki — Restaurant in Utrecht

I moved to Utrecht few months ago from London, and after such a break I was dying to have a sushi! I made my research and chose Maneki due to best sushi ratings on google map and trip advisor. It is most definitely not a fancy restaurant, but we didn’t care about interior design - we cared about sushi! We started with some miso, and it wasn’t bad but it was not made froth scratch. Next I had some gyoza which was rather authentic Chinese dumplings (half fried, half steamed called goo-tie or “potstickers”). I rather liked them. And than sushi came and all the joy was gone. To be fair it wasn’t particularly bad. But it was not good either. Nori was hard and required solid jaws work. Each nigiri was twice as size as your average sushi, which made it impossible to eat in one go, and rice was not cleared from starch so it was a bit to heavy and to sticky. We felt that for that quality meal it was not cheap. We will not be coming back to Maneki. Because (for me) with sushi is either very good...

Great sushi - just be prepared to wait for delivery.

Maneki consistently delivers delicious sushi! I’ve only ordered take-out, so I can’t speak to the dine-in experience, but I never skip their temaki (hand rolls) - especially the sake (salmon) and fuji (scallops) rolls. They’re fresh, flavorful, and always hit the spot.

The only downside is the delivery time - it’s usually quite slow, often taking between 1.5 to 2 hours. That’s the main reason for the 4-star rating. It might be faster for pickup, but I haven’t tried that yet, and I’m also unsure what the dine-in wait is like.

That said, the food is worth the wait. I just make sure to plan ahead, knowing it’ll take some time. If you're craving quality sushi and have some patience, I definitely recommend giving...

The fish is relatively fresh for take away. Generous portions of salmon, specifically in their maki rolls. Unagi portion in the sushi was good too. One of the better unagi's I have had in Utrecht. The main downside for me is the lack of seasoning in their sushi rice. It really needed more vinegar and it really let down the entire meal which could have been great. Since it is near my house, I will give it another go to see if the rice thing was just due to...