I Love Sushi on Lake Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

[Updated: See Below] TL;DR: Delicious fish, but.

I Love Sushi tries to straddle the line between mid tier and high class sushi restaurant. Ultimately, their amateur service lands them under the fine dining bar, at least for me. That's a judgement call you'll have to make for yourself, but I would gauge it as "some of the freshest fish in Seattle in a gorgeous setting with just-ok service."

First, the fish is truly something special for the area. Every piece I had tasted fresh enough to have been caught within 12 hours or flash frozen and shipped directly to the restaurant straight from an overseas dock. This is not your typical Seattle fish. The cuts were precise and expert.

The shiro miso, salad, and cheesecake were forgettable, but in a positive way. Mostly they didn't interfere with the meal and cleansed the palate. I expected more from what was described as a "Japanese souffle cheesecake," but I was served something dense enough to be a respectable French cheesecake with a slightly lemon/yuzu flavor.

Decor was interesting, at least in the area I was seated. I didn't get to see the seating out by the water so I can't judge either way.

Service, however, was not up to par. To be clear, my server was fine for a mid tier restaurant but had difficulty answering questions about the food, ingredients, available fish, and neglected to refill my tea several times despite clear cues that it was empty. Not a problem with mid tier service, but not really up to the high class standard the restaurant seems to want to project.

Overall, I'm happy with the price I paid for the quality of the meal.

That was lunch. We went back for dinner and were disappointed with the quantity of fish for the price we were charged. We ordered the omakase platter for two people ($70, not pictured), and because we were still quite hungry my companion ordered the chirashi ($33, pictured) and I ordered the Deluxe Sushi Plate ($44, pictured).

The omakase platter was stingy with the fish, as was the deluxe platter. You can see the fish were sliced rather narrow and really weren't filling.

This time service was good, but the fish felt miserly for the price.

Is the view worth the price? Is the quality of the fish? None of these fish were heavily prepared works of art, so we felt the answer was no. Again, as before, the restaurant teeters on that edge between mid- and high-class and falls just short, while still charging high-class prices.

This time, they lost a star for what we felt was overpriced food. There really was no reason to serve miserly portions of these fine fish at these prices.

It's a judgement call you'll have to make on your own. Still a top tier sushi restaurant in terms of fish...

Let me admit... I glossed over this sushi spot many times because of the name. It sounded so... American? I was tired of Chinese and Korean owned sushi joints. Those have their perks as well, but it has been awhile since I’ve seen japanese workers in a sushi restaurant.

Once I walked in, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I had low expectations initially...

But omg I was blown away by the level of service. Most of the servers and chefs were Japanese. We did two of the $65 14 piece omakase by chef Shu. He was so nice and friendly. I loved the decor of the interior.

You really can’t tell how nice this place is judging from the outside.

The outside looks very unassuming... like a low key Japanese izakaya... and the parking lot... is tornnnnn up the heezy! It’s very uneven and slanted. Think giant tree roots growing under the pavement uneven. Please for the love of all things sushi and cars... drive over the speed bump slowwwwwwly and at an angle. You can and will scrape the bottom of your car. (You can thank me with sushi lunch lol 😂 jk)

This place is on the water, but we went last night for dinner so we didn’t get to enjoy the view. I took my sis to kashiba and I’m hoping the next time she visits, she’ll be just as happy here because the prices are really good for quality sushi.

I’m allocating all food monies to I love sushi meals now... can’t stop dreaming of it!

One more thing. Each piece was brushed on or individually seasoned. So no need for dipping it into a pool of soy sauce. The chefs know what they’re doing. I can’t wait to go back!!! Hoping to check out lunch sometime :)

This place has been bumped up to my number 1. That’s...

I plan to come back soon! Great food, like OMG I cant find another good sushi place by me!!

Family friendly: Yes Parking: Yes. Pet friendly: No

FOOD:

1. Platinum Half Platter (fatty tuna, medium fatty tuna, salmon, amberjack, seabream, king crab, scallop, sweet shrimp, salmon roe, sea urchin) $115: 5 Star – Holy smokes!! I loved this platter. It was a good assortment and did not disappoint. The only other sushi place we can rank high on my list is Shiro’s Sushi but not as expensive! Each piece of fish had great color and fresh tasting! The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the Uni. It wasn’t bad but its because I’ve had the most amazing uni in Vegas.
2. Chirashi (tuna, salmon roe, yellowtail, salmon, scallop, white fish, albacore, shrimp, octopus, unagi, tamago, bed of sushi rice) $33.00: 5 Star – Totally worth the price. Each piece was really good! I’m sure there is a “right” way to eat Chirashi but I have no idea what it is. I gobble up each piece and then mix the salmon roe with the rice and it was SOOOO yummy.

RESTAURANT: I want to say reservation is a must but when we arrived at our reservation time, half the restaurant was empty. We did call to see if we could get an earlier than (vs. 8pm) but they said they were full. It must be a staffing issue.

The restaurant sits on Lake Bellevue… this tiny, tiny, tiny “lake” lol I guess its pretty but I definitely wont be requesting to sit on the patio as I rather be in the AC.

SERVICE: Amazing service! Great team and great food. No additional...