Sake Bar Nippon Epsom — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

We have been coming for 30+ years, Since when you could just rock up and pig out, and Joy was on the floor. Before we started spending time in Hokkaido. Had both daughters 21st there a decade or so ago. But not recently as it has become so busy that bookings became necessary! and we are a bit more spontaneous than that. But booked as my birthday for Sat the 7th of June. It has lost none of its charm and the food is as always excellent it is the most genuine feeling Japanese izakaya style restaurant we have found outside of Japan. The Yakatori is great and nice and salty. The tempura crisp and thin, actually everything is great some favorites have dropped of the menu like tongue Yaka tori and oyster mayo but overall 10 stars

We will be back despite the atrocious parking situation the only negative, but it is worth the walk from an Epsom side street. A pity the Takapuna store just cant quite duplicate the feel of the original

The very end was spoilt slightly by a very noisy group of screechy women who felt everyone needed to know what they had been upto, that arrived as we thankfully...

Second time here and we enjoyed it more then the last time.

It was our sons 20th birthday and staff were very accommodating to our needs for a medium sized group. I don't normally give 5⭐ but we were so overwhelmed by the service we recieved especially Joy who was amazing. She even set up a little surprise for our son where the whole team sang happy birthday to him (simple things like this make it quite memorable).

The food was delicious. Every dish they bought out had it own unique taste, from the eggplant dish to the salmon wing, the succulent pork skewers and chicken livers. My favourite the fish crispy dumplings ohhh....yea!!! It was really busy for a Monday night with several people waiting 15-20mins for a table (it pays to book ahead) main restaurant area is ground level but has an upstairs dining area as well.

Not suitable for wheelchairs as the bathrooms are up a narrow set of stairs and the walk through area isn't that wide at all. Parking: side streets with a quick walk to restaurant (depending on which side street tho). Everything else...

Went here as our normal place in the city is closed on Sunday evenings. Food was ok. Broccoli was over cooked. Service was good. Atmosphere is good. Felt that they were charging for every little thing they could though which put a damper on the evening. e.g mayo with karaage chicken is an extra $2. We asked for more Wasabi with our Sushi as there wasn't much with it and then saw there was an additional $2 on our bill. We asked for no ice in the juices for our kids and the juices came out 3/4 full (for $6). It just gives a feeling that they're trying to get as much out of you as possible and detracts from the over all experience (I work in hospitality myself). For reference, our bill for 2 adults 2 kids was $207. The $$ wasn't an issue but the feeling that it's all about the money and you're being taken for as much as possible detracts from the experience. The overall outcome is that we won't be back (maybe we're spoilt by our regular spot...