Niji Sushi Bristol — Restaurant in Bristol

My second time visiting this place. The first one was trial stage, we bought the most generic food such as chicken karage and checked on how they executed the chicken perfectly. Chicken was juicy, not to salty, crispy but not to dry on the outside. Ebi furai was sweet and not too oily, so we decided to revisit the premise and go all in.

Today I ordered curry chicken, tuna nigiri, chicken karaage and seared sea bass nigiri. We decided to always reorder the first 3 on our future visits.. Mind you, I came from a coastal town so I'm quite picky with seafood. Hence I'm not fans of sushi myself because it heavily depends on the quality of the raw materials. Once you pick the wrong sushi stall, you migh ended up ruin your whole day 😅😅

But their tuna was so lovely. I'm glad that I trust their skilful sushi chef. Is it worth the price? Definitely, considering the fish quality and presentation.. A delightful surprise that you can find this authentic Japanese restaurant in The Galleries. Even their service charge is so reasonable. And their curry sauce was slightly sweet, love it.

If you love Japanese food, particularly sushi, this place is a must. The owner said that they plan to add udon to their menu this autumn. Looking forward to the good news...

Update May 2024 : Now that we could proudly call ourselves regular at this premise, I would recommend their Bluefin akami, chutoro and otoro. My personal fav is the akami as it's not too soft, but still extra soft compare to regular fishes. Also try their yellow tail hamachi and brill (both red and the regular ones). Now that I look at my own journey of sushi discovery, I'm so proud of myself. I went from ordering chicken karage/chicken katsu/ebi furai roll to all nigiris menu. Even evolve from tuna / salmon nigiri to my current fav Hamachi 😍😍 My instant happines in two bites, makes me dance and giggle a little bit. Chef and owners all lovely people, dont hesitate to ask their recommendation. We love to sit at the bar table so we can interact w chef more. Apparently, they appreciates...

Honestly the best ebi roll and chicken karage I have tasted in my life.

I went there yesterday (16 Sept 2023) with ny partner. They offered us to give them review yesterday for a 10% discount, but we kindly rejected the offer because we want to take our time to provide a full detailed honest review. To sum up, I ordered Ebi Roll, Chicken Karage and Genmai Cha. Now come for the story:

Starting, we had difficulties to choose what to order. One of the staff kindly approached us and explained us about them. Well appreciated.

First, chicken karage is always our way to judge a Japanese restaurant since it is a simple menu, but because of that simplicity it is often overlooked by many restaurants, in many cases sometimes a bit too salty etc. However, we both agree that their chicken karage is extremely good. It is so juicy, all the aroma and taste are locked in it. We can feel the crisp outside and the balanced taste inside the chicken. The taste is so good, rich and complex to describe in words.

Second, ebi roll is really good. The ebi taste is quite smooth, a bit sweet (in my perception at least) and some umami flavor. The way the roll made is done neatly, not too strongly pressed and not too weak, so the consistency of the rice is really balanced.

Lastly, we ordered just one 'Genmai Cha' since i have already have bubble tea with me (purchased just nearby this store for our takeaway treats) so do not want to waste my drinks. They unfortunately delivered 'Yuzu Cha' to me. We haven't touched the tea at all since it was still very hot anyway (but yes you can differentiate tea by the aroma anyway, right?). Before we even send a complain (we will not do it anyway as we tend to be generally quite understanding to mistakes), they kindly approached us by themselves and apologized for that. They also kindly brought us genmai cha and leave the Yuzu Cha complimentary for us.

We will comeback again in the future, good success with...

I had a bad dining experience at Niji last Friday, which was really disappointing as my family and I went in with high hopes.

The main issue was finding a fish bone in my Hamachi sashimi while eating their assorted seafood poke bowl. Thankfully I noticed it before swallowing, but this is something I would never expect from a proper Japanese restaurant. Sashimi should be carefully prepared by a skilled chef — bones should not be in the dish. It ruined what could have been a great experience, which is such a shame because, to be fair, the sashimi was otherwise fresh and tasty.

What made things worse was how the staff handled it. I told one of the servers, who said they’d inform the chef, but no one followed up. I had to approach the counter myself and spoke to a lady (possibly the owner). She told me “this will sometimes happen” and mentioned there was a warning somewhere about bones possibly being present in the sashimi. While she apologised briefly, the response felt too casual for something that could’ve caused real harm. Having a bone in sashimi simply isn’t up to standard for a proper Japanese restaurant.

She did come over later to apologise again and asked if they could do anything. I didn’t ask for anything—I just told her that having a bone in sashimi is a serious issue and the earlier response wasn’t acceptable. In the end, they gave us 20% off and waived the two dishes that contained sashimi, which we appreciated — but the experience had already been affected.

If they had just handled it better from the start—with a sincere apology and a bit more care—I probably wouldn’t have been this disappointed. But sadly, after this experience, I don’t think we’ll be coming...