Sushi | Bar Austin Downtown — Restaurant in Austin

This is an EXPERIENCE and your tastebuds will WEEP. A spot you cannot pass up. Money is well worth the night you will have here.

Two things to start off with:

1. Pay the extra for the add-ons and the booze accompaniments if you can stomach it. I am a tiny woman so I did not add in the alcohol but added a wine for my meal and added one "add-on" to a dish. If you are paying a large amount of money for food - might as well go all the way. It's times like these I curse myself for having a small stomach.
2. Book in advance and when you book our chefs said if you book the LAST seating they are sometimes able to give extra bites for an additional cost (again - if you have a big appetite this is a no brainer!)

Let's start off with the location. Our Uber dropped us off and the driver along with myself and my husband had no idea where to go LOL. Who would've thought it'd be in a home! Super cute and once inside it is a really cool dining experience. You approach the hostess who asks if you'd like to add-on to your sushi pieces - we added black truffle to one and then presented us with a complimentary cocktail a grapefruit and rosemary spritz which was actually delicious which was surprising to me as I am not a grapefruit girl! She then had us wait in the lounge area for the rest of our dining group!

Once inside the room I would compare it to a Michelin dining experience as you are treated with the utmost respect, the restaurant is spotless and these sushi chefs know what they are doing. The care put into their work is mesmerizing. It is actually BETTER than Michelin dining because it's laid back and full of laughs and conversation. It was a two hour meal of fun! We got to know the chefs and the other diners. The time flew by!

This meal was 17 courses and we found that there were only 2 we weren't HUGE on. Majority of the bites were a 90% wow and there were I think 5 that were 100% popping eyes out of sockets WOWZA's. The fish are shipped in from parts of Japan, Indonesia and New Zealand to name a few. Everything was so fresh and vivid. I just find omakase to be an out of body experience. The different textures, flavours and the knowledge these chefs have to plate items together to perfect flavour combinations is mind blowing.

I won't describe EVERY bite because this review is already quite lengthy - HOWEVER; I would love to write about the showstoppers. The Shima Aji (striped jack), the Chu toro (medium fatty tuna), the Japanese Mackerel, the OTORO (Fatty tuna), the A5 wagyu and the unagi which was the last bite with bone marrow and I am sorry - it was one of the best things I had ever tasted. Our chef said it is kind of a cheat code because it's fat on fat but oh my days was it ever HEAVEN ON EARTH. Not only were these bites OUT OF THIS WORLD but this wasn't the end - there was a green tea with ginger sauce and it was the best tea I had ever had. Even more promising was the fact my husband, who HATES tea (weirdo, I know) said the tea was outstanding. Please tell us how to make this tea or where to buy it! It is life changing! It was a great palate cleanser and great digestive aid after all of those bites. Lastly, we were surprised with a dessert. I have never gotten a dessert in my two other omakase experiences and it was honestly just unlike any dessert I had ever taken. This was a Michelin dessert through and through. It was a black sesame seed ice cream with meringue and a lemon curd and it had some seeds or something. I don't even know. I think I went deaf when they were explaining the items to me because I just was in my own Lala land of mouth pleasure!

The only bites we didn't care for were the everything bagel bite - this felt too Americanized for us and totally overtook the fish flavour at the end. We also felt the sea bream was a bit bland. But 2 dishes out of 17 with a dessert and phenomenal tea are not going to stop us from coming back again! Please treat yourself. It is something every sushi...

Overall Omakase Experience: 4/5 Overall, the experience was decent. At the end of the course, we were told that we could choose 1-3 extra "chef's choice" bites at al la carte prices and then after that, they said that we could then choose any extra bites that we've already had that night. I would've liked to be informed that we were able to choose to add any of the bites we just had at the end of the meal at the same time the chefs offered the extra chef's choice bites. I didn't love the idea of having to wait until the chef completed all 12 pieces for each guest and then everyone having to cease conversations so that the chef could explain each bite. I understand that it's part of the experience though. I should've researched more before committing to this establishment. If you prefer the experience over everything else, this place is great.

Menu: 4/5 The menu was decent. We alternated between fatty bites and lean bites until the end where it was mainly fatty and rich.

Flavors: 3.8/5 Personally, I felt like the flavors weren't all cohesive. The tartare was a bit on the salty side but the crispy puffs gave it a nice balance in texture. There were some bites where I thought that more citrus or herbs could've been used as it did not come out well enough. The bite with the Vietnamese inspired caramelization (fish sauce + sugar) was too sweet. It was not what I was expecting when it was described; it should be a bit more savory. There were lots of torched bites but I personally prefer the protein raw so that you can taste the full flavor of the fish. I usually prefer fresh spotted prawns raw in a sushi experience but this one was a bit cooked with butter. The flavor was not bad, I quite enjoy buttered shrimp but the texture & flavor of botan ebi is more enjoyable fresh & raw. When there is A5 Wagyu on the menu, it should be the star of that bite so you can taste the rich fattiness of the beef. The brown sugar miso overpowered the Wagyu. One of my favorite bites was the unagi with bone marrow. That flavor pairing was one that I believed met expectations for the night. Overall, I felt like the flavors were targeted for more western tastes buds which I enjoyed for what it was at face value.

Ambiance 3.5/5: The ambiance was quaint and intimate. We were told to arrive 20 mins before our reservation to receive a welcome cocktail but you don't need to arrive that...

Overall experience was ok. Not worth the price. 1-Price: if Google has the selection, I’ll share that we spent around $250 per person, even we didn’t choose any add on. I’ll talk more. 2-Secretive: A) upon arrival, there is a decision made at check-in if we want to upgrade 3 dishes. When I asked to have a list when we sat down, the answer was no. That means you’re gonna pay extra without knowing the price. At other omakase places you have a menu to look at and decide. B) at check-out, guests are lined up waiting for the cashier to charge you. You don’t see an itemized list, but just a total amount (with gratitude already included and you can choose to pay more!) showing on the machine to swipe your card with the pressure that people are waiting behind you. 3-Timing: A) we arrived almost 15mins early, expecting to get started on time. However, there was a group before us, and they didn’t finish until our starting time. With the cleanup and setup, we needed to wait extra time. There was only one person doing all those check-out (did I mention the line?) then come to do introduction for us. We basically waited like half an hour sitting there (with the complimentary drink). B) there were 3 chefs for 10 customers, but I don’t know why they operate so much more slower than the other Omakase I went to, which has only one Japanese chef but can provide food for each of us on time. There were several times being very awkward, like the first piece was delivered to half of the audience, while others were waiting and watching them eat, and some pieces would come all one by one (because 3 of them all completed!), and in the end if you don’t choose extra pieces, you have to watch others eat their bites 😂 4-overall taste: not great. I understand this is a more “innovative“ type of sushi, but I was looking for more raw fish taste. The idea was cool but the product is not great. Most of them are very average, and among the 16 pieces I received, I would say I only like 3 or 4 of them.

All of above concludes my review: the service, timing, quality, are not worth $240 per person. Since our bill should be the lowest, I wonder how do those people paying like $300 or more think about their experience. I would recommend some other omakase places in Austin, which are transparent, punctual, with great...