Yamato Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Gauteng

On 11 May 24 I had tamagoyaki (Japanese egg roll), Inari (deep fried beancurd) and the Yamoto Salad. The tamagoyaki was cold as if being served straight out of the fridge, same for the cold really unexciting Yamoto salad with its tasteless ice-cold ‘al dente’ potato noodles! The Inari - beancurd was clearly not freshly deep fried but also cold. (I am not sure wether it is supposed to be freshly deep fried before being served but I think it would be MUCH better)

My friend’s tempura was better.

I have been coming to Yamoto for more than 25 years and this was a huge! disappointment! I won’t be back here. Pull up your socks guys, this is unacceptable, especially for the ‘Japanese restaurant’ - prices you charge !

YOUR REPLY. ‘ Thank you for providing your feedback regarding your recent experience. We are sorry to disappoint you as our meal didn’t match to your standard.

However, all the dishes that you ordered are cold dishes not warm dishes. We serve them as from our inception, since 1995.

You mentioned that you have been coming to us for more than 25 years then and I would imagine you should be familiar with our style. We have always served Tamago sushi or sashimi cold, as well as Inari sushi. Our Yamato Salad is not warm salad; potato noodle must be cold and doesn’t have a taste. According to my staff that served you that day, she said that the customer enjoyed our home-made salad dressing.…

MY ANSWER TO YOUR REPLY: Does your ‘COLD’ tamagoyaki mean that it is fine to be as cold as if it was straight out of the fridge?? In my opinion these two dishes should be ROOM-TEMPERATURE - ‘cold’. Same for the Yamoto Salad with its REFRIDERATOR-COLD tasteless somewhat undercooked (= too al dente) potato noodles! Both were ‘REFRIDGERATOR-COLD’ which in my opinion is NOT right! And this is why I did not like the food!

As to your staff - I never said to her that I enjoyed the homemade dressing! I did not comment at all. Maybe my...

Certainly Johannesburg's best Japanese restaurant, and perhaps one of its best overall restaurants too.

The food is pricey, but well worth it for quality. The service, while not excellent, isn't outright bad either- however, for the premium prices, it would not be unreasonable to expect better service.

There are quite a few gems in the menu, but the Chicken Kara-ge (starter) & the Nabayaki Udon (main) deserve especial mentions.

The one big area of improvement for Yamato remains the venue. While the overall location is central, convenient and excellent, the cold and sterile building itself leaves much to be desired. It doesn't feel nearly as intimate an experience as one would expect from such 優れた (excellent) cuisine.

That, however, is certainly not reason enough to miss this gastronomical...

Definitely has some of the best japanese food I have had in south africa, although it is a bit pricey.

Unagi sushi: 4/5 Tasted great but the texture of the eel was a bit off - Nothing too noticeable

Kake udon: -Noodle: 4/5 --Would have preferred it to have been slightly chewier. Otherwise great -Soup:5/5 -- Tastes just like the udon noodle soups in. japan. Well balanced flavor and saltiness

Green tea ice cream with red bean paste: Ice cream 5/5 -- Perfect intensity of green tea flavor red bean paste 3/5 -- Lacking in the usual texture, flavor and sweetness expected from red bean paste

In terms of service, it was slow-ish but did not impact the...