Restaurante Izakaya LO — Restaurant in La Orotava

If you're used to good, traditional sushi, don't eat here. If you're looking for a canarian interpretation of Japanese cuisine, and don't mind paying a lot for it, then do eat here, you will like it.

Our experience was mixed. We had: Edamame (steamed soybeans) - overboiled, dry, smothered in salt. Small, expensive, came with a side of mayonnaise, can't imagine why. Salmon sashimi - a nice portion of appropriate size and cost, with the traditional sides (wasabi, ginger, soy sauce) and some rather salty algae. Unagi nigiri - tasted fine, but were rather small and the rice was falling apart. The sauce came out of a plastic bottle (so purchased, not cooked) and while it wasn't bad, it didn't taste like we're used to. Soft-shell crab rolls - we expected a substantial portion as the menu stated 8 rolls, and they normally have a lot of rice. We only got 6 rolls, and instead of rice they were wrapped in thin rice paper (not nori, either). For some reason they were served on a layer of mayonnaise. They tasted interesting, but it was a very very small amount of food for 13 euro.

The good: food was carefully prepared and tasty (except for the edamame) and elegantly presented. The service was pleasant and prompt. The restaurant is well decorated although small.

The bad: portions are extremely small for the price (and bear in mind I'm used to eating sushi in Zurich, probably one of the most expensive places in the world). You can easily spend 50 euro and leave the restaurant hungry, like we did. The food is nice but "Asian fusion" rather than traditional, you should know this in advance. The menu doesn't make it clear which items include rice or not, so it's hard to estimate how much food you should order. You get mayonnaise with nearly everything.

Overall, I was disappointed and will look for a Japanese restaurant that suits my...

I've been looking for a good sushi place in the north of the island for ages and I finally found it. Nice atmosphere, a great waiter who went out of his way to find something nice for my wife as well who hates sushi and only accompanied me because it was my birthday. The food is to die for! There's not one Japanese cook in sight. All of the (pretty young) cooks seem to be Spanish, but wherever they learned to prepare Japanese food, their teacher can be extremely proud of them. I've rarely had dinner that nice. The kitchen is partly open, so one can watch the cook working. Everything works like a well oiled machine. There're no loud noises or raised voices. Everybody seems to know his exact place in the grand scheme of things. Effortless grace is the word coming to mind. If you like sushi and other Japanese food, this is the place to visit in the north...

Pros: the staff were so nice and helpful the tuna nigiri was the best I've ever had service was fast the food was fresh and of a high quality

Cons: Disappointed by the lack of a Canarian touch in most of the food, as the place had been described to me as a fusion of the Canarian and Japanese cuisines food was extremely overpriced, and yet we left still feeling hungry after spending a decent amount of money. tried several times to call ahead but there was no answer (however staff were helpful in finding us a table as soon as possible when we got there) there was no updated online menu when looking it up...