Sora Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

Had high expectations for this place due to the many high rated reviews. Unfortunately, our experience fell short, and we would not be returning.

Firstly, the service was lacking from the moment we stepped in. We were told by the staff at the front that my family who has arrived were seated at the back, and just waved their hand in the general direction, not even bothering to show us when we looked confused (we weren't aware that we had to walk through a narrow corridor to get to the much wider back seating area). When we didn't move, they just repeated "at the back". When we were seated, the table we had was wobbly, and we asked a staff if they could put something under it to make it more stable. Turns out the feet was adjustable, great! But the staff just did a quick adjustment, didn't check if it was good enough, and left with the table becoming more wobbly.. so we ended up adjusting it ourselves.

While ordering, the staff was so quick to leave without checking everyone had ordered. Two people in our group were waiting to order their drinks - we were all shocked when the staff walked away as it's standard service to be asked if that was everything and if anyone else wanted to order a drink. The staff serving us for most of the night was friendly and constantly cleared empty dishes from our table, but she seemed very rushed all night. It was a busy Saturday night with a few big groups in the restaurant, but it was not at full capacity the entire duration we were at the restaurant.

The food, unfortunately, was nothing amazing either. Luckily everything tasted good, but there was nothing there that was particularly memorable. The order the food came out in, though, was rather unusual. We ordered a large omakase sashimi, and typically that would come out rather early in the meal. Instead, it was one of our last dishes to be served.

Although the restaurant seemed child friendly, the dessert menu was not. There was only 2 items on the dessert menu, none of which appealed to the kids or the adults, so we decided to leave and have dessert elsewhere.

At no point during our meal or when we paid were we asked how our dining experience was, which just added to our negative experience. What a shame, as our dinner was for celebrating two...

A little indulgence at Sora tonight—finally revisited Mt Eden after a long time, and treated myself to a solo feast!

Tried their Seared Scallops for the first time—expected something ordinary, but wow, the sauce was insanely good. Highly, highly recommend!

Ordered a glass of sake called “Ittéki Nyukon” (which translates to “A Drop of Soul”) just because the name caught my eye. It wasn’t even on the menu, but the owner happened to be there and generously offered me a glass on the house. So kind! I’m curious where they source it from—thank you so much!

Also had the A5 Wagyu Steak, which was melt-in-your-mouth amazing—rich, but not too fatty. My only complaint? They didn’t show me the raw cut before grilling. I was hoping to snap a photo of that beautiful marbling, but by the time it arrived, it was sizzling on the hot plate—completely covered in smoke! No chance for a good photo, and waiting for the smoke to clear would’ve overcooked it. Oh well!

And let’s talk about the Hamachi Sashimi—Japanese amberjack is hard to find in NZ, but they’ve got it on the menu! Thick, generous slices with perfect fat content. Loved it.

It was pouring rain this Thursday, so I figured it’d be quiet—but the place was packed! Had to wait a little, but not long. Mostly locals. I was surprised—why aren’t more Asians talking about this place? It’s seriously good! Go try it out!

What I ordered tonight: Takowasabi (Wasabi-marinated octopus) – $8.80 Hamachi Sashimi (5 pcs) – $18.80 A5 Wagyu Steak – $48.80 Dumplings (5 pcs) – $18.80 Junmai Ginjo Sake “Ittéki Nyukon” – Complimentary Seared...

We had a lovely meal at Sora. The food was exceptional. Especially the sashimi. Beautiful melt in the mouth sushi too. Unfortunately the service was a bit lax. My dining partner was made to wait outside in the freezing cold after turning up 10 minutes early at 6.20pm. There was no bar to sit at. There was no tonic or apple juice available for him to order as a mostly non drinker. On my arrival we were shown to our table and given menus. Then we sat a while. There seemed to be 3 waiters on but only one at a time seemed to be around at any one time. I managed to flag one down eventually. We asked the waitress if we could keep a menu so that we would order hot food later and ordered sushi and sashimi to start. The drinks came out first and then the food. There was no meal check and we were not offered another chance to order anything else. We felt ignored. Consequently, we didn't order anything else. After another flag down we found out there is no dessert menu either. No matter we went to Fraziers for dessert. It would be a great place to go if the service matched the food. I hope some training can be done to bring the staff up to standard and make the experience friendly and hospitable with customers leaving feeling like their needs were taken care of and their appetites adequately sated. As opposed to feeling like we were not really wanted there and staff were too busy to properly serve us. We will give the place a couple of months to steady themselves as it is very new and...