Restaurant Izakaya Nozomi — Restaurant in Lucerne

Had a wonderful dining experience at Izakaya Nozomi, situated right behind the shopping district and Old Town. We wanted to sit outside, however had to settle for indoor seating to avoid the weather forecast for rain. We ordered the hiyayakko (silken tofu with ginger and sweet soy sauce), yaki hotate to mango (seared scallops with mango, yuzu and salmon eggs), the devil onigiri (grilled rice ball with spring onion and tempura crunch) and maguro kakuni (simmered tuna and ginger). The soup in the tuna was delicious, beautifully complementing the ginger. The onigiri was crisp on the outside and soft inside, cooked to perfection. The silken tofu was paired with a thick and sweet sauce, and tasted delicious together. The service was attentive and quick, and the staff were very helpful in answering any questions about the menu.

We never tasted this style of Japanese food before and left with wanting to try the other dishes. Highly recommend this place...

This restaurant was a mixed bag. Some food items like the fried chicken or the sliced ponzu beef were absolutely incredible, to the point that we got multiple orders. Items like the pork belly or gyoza were good, but nothing to write home about. The cold marinated eggplant was just alright and the fried calamari was extremely overcooked and rubbery.

The weirdest thing was the wait staff which felt borderline controlling for no reason. They refused to give us actual menus until we ordered drinks. Then, after putting our first order in, we asked to keep 1 menu as a point of reference for what we order or if we wanted to order more. They would not let us keep a menu. Like why?

Ultimately it was a decent experience, but just a bit bizarre with just ok food. The only reason it got a 4 instead of a 3 was because of the fried chicken...

Arrived 9pm. At 9:15pm waiter tells us the kitchen is closed! ( official hours till 9:30pm). Yet we see food being served around us continously and at 9:40pm I confront the waiter who arrogantly tells us that he told us the kitchen was closed and that everyone else had ordered before closure. I explained that the kitchen that we had arrived at 9pm before closure. Reply... that I am a guest in the restaurant not a client and they decided that the kitchen was closed when we arrived. They continued to serve food till at least 10:05pm when we left. At which I advised I would include our terrible experience. His answer...I don't care we have many great reviews and don't need you! HORRIBLE...