Wabi Sabi restaurant — Restaurant in Bratislava

A very average sushi place that doesn’t keep its promises.

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese restaurant located in the River Park complex by the river centred on sushi.

The place: the restaurant wants to position itself as an upscale Japanese restaurant with a specific focus on sushi excellency. Unfortunately the space is poorly designed and maintained with an open kitchen obviously messy and unappealing right at the entrance and honestly surprising ugly and cheap furniture. The fact that you are proposed to eat right on the table without any table cloth or at least a runner is a poor decision that doesn’t make the customer feel at any moment in a nice upscaled place. Tables are cheap and unappealing and chopsticks are disposable. The only positive note is the use of fabric napkins. The lightning is poor and brings kind of a sad vibe.

The service: the service was a mixed bag. Waited several minutes at the entrance in front of the open kitchen before being seated. The restaurant was almost full at the beginning of the dinner and it seemed to have only one waiter. The waiter was nice and courteous, but lacked obviously professionalism.

The food: while not overall fully bad, the food was in general standard and for sure did not reflect the range of price. Had a set of nigiri (tuna akami, otoro, Seabass and salmon) plus tamago. It was a disappointment. Akami was ok, but the otoro (which is supposed to be the best one) was old and dry and tough to the bite. Salmon was ok, but the seabass was a let down. Considering they are practicing prices very close to Nobu (just to use as comparison a well known upscale sushi place around the world), the comparison in terms of quality is not even possible. A real disappointment. Sushi was followed by a curry chicken that was way too thick, like it was warmed up several times. Really not good. Tried to order ramen, but it was not available (really?).

Overall the restaurant was a very unpleasant surprise. Nothing there justify prices that are really high for Bratislava, but also match much more upscaled places in bigger and more famous cities. I don’t believe I will ever go back...

Yesterday, we had our dinner at Wabi Sabi restaurant and it was flawless. We had ordered 6 dishes at the price of ~150€ which is a really good price considering what we ordered. Firstly, when you enter the restaurant you are met with very homelike atmosphere. We were sat next to the and after ordering food, we were given warm towels to clean our hands which I liked :). The first thing was brought out to us was drink and starter. We got ourselves beer, and by the end of our meal we had 4 glasses of it because they were so delicious, and you have not felt full after them (like you would usually). The starter we got was Kimchi. It was perfectly made. It was crunchy, spicy and felt like homemade! Next to the other dishes, the waiter brought us the two soups we ordered, which were Beef ramen and Fish Miso (Ishikari). I did not try the Beef Ramen, but considering that my dad ate the whole 500g portion, it was really good). The miso I had was great as well, not too sour and not too bland, balanced perfectly. The last 3 dishes were the Wagyu and mackerel from “robata menu” and the Temari Omakase. The Wagyu was cooked, what it seems like, well done? I usually ask for medium rare but despite that the meat was cooked nicely. The mackerel was served with ponzu sauce, and it was the perfect match for it! (I love ponzu)). The Omakase consisted 10pcs of variety of nigiri, the fish was fresh and the rice was cooked incredibly well, it was over dried or undercooked it was just P E R F E C T. Overall, I am more than satisfied with my experience at Wabi Sabi. The money has been worth it, not a long wait at all (and you get an opportunity to see it all being prepared at the open kitchen next to you!) and I surely will be visiting again. Totally...

Our last visit of this establishment was quite disappointing.

After we came in we were reluctantly greeted and seated. It was weird because last time staff and atmosphere was much better and nicer. Wait time till we got drinks and ordered food was around 20 minutes with only 4 tables in restaurant occupied (counting outside ones too).

Some of the customers were serviced sooner than us even when we came earlier.

Overall quality of food was really behind of what it was few months before. Especially Nigiri, where some pieces cost 2 times the original value.

Sashimi were complete turn around, better than before. 5/5

As a couple we spent around 120€. Meat quality was really good. Rice was lacking in comparison from past. + I have never seen before burned rice on wagyu nigiri…

Overall Food 4* Atmosphere...