Yoshi Izakaya — Restaurant in Bucharest

A gem of a small restaurant in plain sight, that waits for you with large open doors and glass walls right on the sidewalk of busy Brezoianu stret offering traditional dishes of Japanese cuisine, such as sushi, sushimu or Miso soup, but also Japanese-inspired and styled innovative combinations of high quality food ingredients, such as giant tiger shrimps, selected Japanese beef meat or tasty duck breast. Service is impeccable - warm and friendly, treating you like an established customer from the first visit maybe intuition worked well here for the young, slim and slick waiter, who rightly anticipated catching in his discrete hook a potentially addicted future steady patron, entangled from the beginning and almost paralyzed in the Ninja style, invisible spider net surrounding Yoshy Izakaya, to lure and capture clients and turning them into friends of their minute cool accesible culinary enterprise. The appropriately talkative waiter is happy to share the trade secrets related to the cooking process managed by the genuine Japanese Chef, ready to receive very late orders, placed briefly before 11 pm although the kitchen is supposed to close at 10:30 pm. Environment and atmosphere is also very attractive because of the cosmopolitan mix of clients - I shared the room for one of the very late dinners that I remember fondly with a group of four French-speaking youth, with one girl that had an intensely Japanese look of her face and dark hair mounted on an athletic body, probably reaching about 175 cm total height and another group of about 7 or 8 male customers, producing a sweet, not too loud, noise and cheer suggesting satisfaction with the food, drinks and the surroundings, filled with very good, warm vibes. In the latter group one definitely Japanese young men whas standing out from the crowd with his remaining dark hair tied into a bushy Samura-style tail sticking on top of his otherwise bald head. Two final comments: Prices are very reasonable for the decently sized dishes, with high quality ingredients and fancy cooking process and tastefull arrangement . For a couple of recent quite well filling late dinners, that both combined two medium sized and also mid range priced main dishes and a Japanese tasty beer, worth enjoying in spite of the slightly steep 18 lei pripce tag for a 33 cl bottle I have paid each time around 100 lei. Opening hours still leave some room for improvement - due to constraints resulting from insufficient staff on their team and maybe related also to too low number of customers during week days in the afternoons but also evenings, the place only operates from Thursday until Sunday. I wish all the luck 🍀🍀🍀 to the team of this business and hopefully increased demand and flow of clients will justify longer opening hours an also operating for the entire...

Food was generally OK, but our experience has been completely spoilt by a number of flaws in service: My wife reserved a table by phone, mentioning that we would like to visit with the dog. After initial rejection, my wife mentioned that the dog is small - and we got our reservation accepted. To our dismay, when we arrived, we needed to wait standing at the entrance 3 minutes while the lady who took our reservation negotiated with other staff members who were seemengly against admitting us with the dog. In the end we got seated. There were several items absent from what we ordered - which we were communicated about some time after our order was placed (i.e. no tap beer due to no gas etc.). Sushi sets were all arriving at different time for our group of 6 people. We were given a big sushi set plate containing, as we were explained, a set of sushi plus few stand-alone nigiri which me and my wife commanded (for which we got confirmation from waiter after we asked for clarification). Our friend waited 20 minutes more for her set of sushi - and when we asked when it's coming, after more minutes of clarification we were told that it was on the other sushi plate (!) which me and my wife already consumed. Our friend insisted that she still wants her sushi set - which in the end she got. But, to make insult even worse, they put 2nd order of hers as well in the receipt (!!!) ... A minor flow, comparing to above and below - they never brought another bottle of beer until we reminded about it... Cherry on the top. We waited 20 mins after finishing all the main dishes for 3 mochi desserts. After we were tired of waiting, we re-clarified - and, guess what, the waiter told that they come frozen and they are still being de-frosted. 3 mins later they finally arrived to our table - being very frosty. So that was clearly a lie, they just forgot to start unfreezing our desserts. There's not such a big deal with forgetting, but there's a serious issue with lying.

In the end, we got no excuses, discounts, compliments from the house for all those flaws. Not willing to debate about it as we were with kids, we left without arguing (and even left 50 lei of tips). Just my wife stayed and let the waitress know about our experience, particularly the lying part. She heard just excuses in response, while the other waiter, who forgot about desserts, was visibly irritated by hearing feedback...

All above gives impression that staff is not adequately trained to do their job and work...

Ordered: ramen, udon, sushi rolls, mochi, and tea.

Impressions of the Place: Let’s start with the ambiance. The venue is lovely, with a pleasant atmosphere inside. The interior design, tables, and furniture are all very appealing. Though the space isn’t large, it’s sufficient to accommodate a small flow of guests. The dishes are beautifully presented and decorated, making you want to take a bunch of photos of both the food and the restaurant itself.

Service and Food Quality: The dishes were prepared relatively quickly, and we didn’t have to wait long. The waitress was friendly, polite, and courteous.

As for the food, I found the presentation more impressive than the taste. The udon was excellent, a solid 5/5. However, I’d rate the ramen a 3/5 for my personal taste. Interestingly, my friend loved the ramen, so it might just be a matter of preference. The sushi rolls were standard and scored around 4/5—tasty but slightly untidy, which is acceptable.

The mochi was a mixed experience: a 2/5 for me, but my friend gave it a 5/5. We tried the matcha and pistachio flavors, and again, it’s all down to personal taste. The tea (unfortunately, I can’t recall which one) wasn’t to my liking at all. It had a natural herbal flavor with a slight bitterness, reminiscent of medicinal tea. However, I imagine tea enthusiasts might enjoy it.

Pricing: In my opinion, the prices are above average. That said, the venue is attractive, the staff is polite and efficient, and the dishes are well presented. For some, the flavors will be delightful; for others, like me, they may feel somewhat average.

Suggestions: I’d recommend expanding the ramen menu to include other meat options besides pork. Personally, I didn’t enjoy the pork in the ramen, as I find boiled pork difficult to chew—but that’s just my preference. Adding chicken or tofu (a great option for vegetarians) would be a smart move. Ideally, other dishes could also include more meat options to provide greater flexibility for...