Tare — Restaurant in Austin

To caveat this, I have never been to an Omakase before.

The location is interesting, I don't mind that it was in a random office building as it lended into some bit of mystique. That being said, the kitchen, in spite of the decor, still gave me corporate feels and made me feel like I should be logged into work. Music choice was phenomenal and the right vibe. We generally were not rushed, at least it didn't feel this way.

Here's more of my reasoning for the low stars: this was mexican fusion omakasa - not something I read or saw. Many plates had some sort of salsa. One course was even a tostada. While I appreciate that their website said they use local Texas produce, fusion was not expected. They put chorizo on a beautiful scallop - thinking back I almost wish I dusted it off. The fusion took away from the quality of the fish, which from the looks of it they put a lot of work into. I believe maybe 2-3 courses that night did not have fusion. We had maybe one or two courses with authentic wasabi - just think that was a bit underwhelming. The fish was fantastic, delicious, perfect but so many of it was crowded by salsa, avocados, Serrano. On a normal day I love these flavors, but what I've appreciated the most about Japanese cuisine is it's simplicity and focus on flavor from quality. Sorry Chef if I missed the vision here.

The other reason I gave lower stars: there was no experience here. It was them putting the course down in front of us, telling us what it was, and saying what it was but not delving further. Maybe I missed it where I was sitting but I would've loved to have learned more about the traditions of Japanese cuisine or where the fish came from or why it's cut this way or that way. Instead, it was forced conversations (where are you from, what are you celebrating) to fill the silence. There was another party there who definitely chatted more, but much of that was personal chats. Only found out that the caviar was from Uruguay because someone asked - meanwhile in the beginning we're told all the fish comes from Japan (just using this as an example for an opportunity, talking points for your future guests). Or even why they decided to go down such a hard-core route of Mexican fusion?

I will throw in there, the drinks were great. Not strong by any means, but flavors were very interesting.

Again, the fish was great, if you could taste it under all the fusion. Also if you're a chatty person, maybe come here so you can fill the room with a bit more personality. Overall, I didn't see the value here in...

Nut Allergy warning: When I went, it was mentioned that nuts are used in the salsa macha and chili oil that is derived from the salsa macha. This was easily accommodated for.

We arrived a minute late for the 5:30PM slot and were the last to arrive (sorry!). A kind waiter was outside to accompany us to the dining area, a speakeasy-esque experience that involved going through a partition in the break room of a corporate office.

We were seated at a U-shaped table and the three chefs Michael, Dan, and Morgan cut fish and prepared dishes in front of us. When seated, we were presented with the full menu for the evening along with two drink menus.

One gentleman near us struck up conversation and got a mocktail off the menu. The matcha lemonade was excellent and I'd definitely recommend asking for anything you might want off the menu!

I ordered the A5 Fat Washed Old Fashioned and it might have been the richest, most flavorful old fashioned I've had in a few years. I've had duck fat rendered Old Fashioned drinks before, but this is A5 Wagyu Beef Fat Washed. It's quite unique! I tried my friend's Milk Punch as well and it was quite sweet; would recommend as a dessert drink.

I won't go into detail on every dish but Tare gets its fish from Spain, New Zealand, and Japan. It is very much a nontraditional omakase in that there are inspired Texas flavors in each piece. Many have elements of citrus (lemon, lime, grapefruit) or peppers. The most unique was the Amaebi (Japanese Sweet Shrimp), which was served on a blue corn tamale with oaxacan cheese. I think everyone I was with had different favorites, but the folks next to us were ordering the Hotate (Hokkaido Scallops) a la carte, and that was excellent.

It's a very well balanced meal where you'll get the most fun out of having light conversation with your neighbors and the chefs as they prepare the experience. Highly recommend, a great unique twist on standard omakase...

The food was absolutely incredible. One of the best meals I’ve ever had. Each course was astonishingly good. The drinks were also delicious.

The whole experience was tarnished by how rushed it was— 15 courses and we were done in about 50 minutes. At one point I tried to take a little break, literally just a few minutes, before eating the next course because I had just eaten about 10 pieces of fish and rice in a very short amount of time, and was politely scolded for not eating the next piece while the rice was still warm while placing the next course in front of me before I’d eaten the previous one. If dining is about the food as well as the experience, the latter part was lacking. It was so disappointing because my husband and I had been looking forward to dining there for a long time as an anniversary gift for ourselves and the food was so good, but became impossible to savor due to the rush. It was especially odd because they offered to let us stay longer afterwards, and the second seating wasn’t even for another two hours. (Neither we nor the other couple there decided to stay because the past hour hadn’t exactly made us feel welcome to linger.) It was just… a bummer. Unexpected for such a highly rated, high dining establishment. If we’re dropping about $400-500 for a meal, it would be nice to feel welcome to stay and enjoy it for more than an hour.

Edit: changed from 2 stars to 1 because the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am in the experience. Looking back, there were a few standouts but a lot of it blurred together since it was so rushed one course after another, I didn’t have time to savor or think about it before the next. So not only was it a poor experience for the customer, it was massively disrespectful to the...