Nagomi Izakaya — Restaurant in Boston

We were catching a concert at MGM on a very busy Friday and were lucky to find Nagomi Izakaya. We easily got a seat at 6pm and were placed at a beautiful table for two in a serene setting. My partner is operations manager at Brooklyn Kura sake brewery, so when my dad spotted their “Blue Door” on the menu among some other fine selections (BK’s partner brewery Hakkaisan, Dasai), I was very pleased. We of course shared a bottle. My dad is an uni freak and fortunately Nagomi has a whole uni rice bowl on the menu. It did not disappoint. He is still talking about it. He got a whole box of fresh Japanese uni atop a bed of perfectly seasoned rice. In New York that would have run him at least $100 and here it was less than half that. I got the unavoidable Nagomi special don which was another rice bowl that had all the best things about planet earth atop. Truffle, caviar, ikura, toro, uni, fresh sashimi… I was in heaven. And again, with something that in NYC I wouldn’t have batted an eye if I’d been charged $100 for it (I live there now, originally from NH, and I always knew Boston sushi was better…). I was full off my glorified chirashi bowl, but my dad was like a kid in a candy shop after the uni bowl and kept ordering his particular favorites that he can’t get in NH - hamachi hand roll, futo maki, ika sushi … and of course ice cream. He’d never had mochi before, so we ordered two mochi ice cream plates which came with three flavors. He’s a convert now. And he’s already trying to bring my mom back to this splendid find of a restaurant, tucked away just enough, but not too far at all from the other Fenway hullabaloo. Come for the sushi, obviously, but also come for the other Japanese specialties...

I’m very torn because the ambience and device is excellent but the food itself fell below my expectations.

First up the host said that they were out of real wasabi (wasabi root, not what 95% of sushi places serve - green horseradish) due to supply chain issues but the fact that they serve it, I give this place an extra star. Coming to the food itself, I decide to go Omakase - chefs selection. To my utter disappointment the chef decided to put together a platter by himself instead of engaging me one on one. Most high end sushi restaurants, the chef will engage you one piece at a time, take your feedback and build you a curated set of selection to eat based on your feedback. This unfortunately isn’t the case here. Plus what came wasn’t exactly gourmet whether. One set of rolls were bland and the sashimi selection wasn’t cut well either turning into a chewy fest rather than a delicates sliced feast. The last set of sushi pieces were decent but nothing mind blowing or even flavorful. Plus it left me hungry enough to order two more rolls. So that’s our - never doing Omakase here again. The rolls themselves were also average, nothing gourmet. I didn’t feel like the food lived up to the service and ratings of this place. Minus three stars for the quality.

However the appetizer salad the prepared for me was surprisingly gourmet and garnished with some real wasabi root. That was probably the best dish of the afternoon. The cold Sake was was decent (not daiginjo but a clear sweet), a nice complement to the flavorless Omakase. The miso soup was warm, not hot and not bad.

I may give it another try to focus on the premium rolls and will update the review if I find it any better...

We were super-curious about the new izakaya place where Fins used to be ! Went there for a late lunch mid-week. We ordered a nigiri lunch combo, a tuna / salmon combo rice bowl (sake aisuru don), grilled saba (mackerel), grilled squid, and a fried seafood appetizer. They were all excellent !

The grilled mackerel was my fav... it was a whole-length fillet, and they took out 99% of the bones. The grilled squid serving was way larger than we expected, and it was lightly grilled tasted great. Great presentations too.

We were slightly disappointed that the menu was missing some super-traditional+ more eclectic grilled goodies that you would find at an izakaya place in LA or Japan... such as the lack of yakitori selections like grilled chicken on a skewer, grilled chicken skins, liver, gizzards, and skwered pork, beef, etc.... all things that traditionally goes well with beer !

We were also hoping to see some traditional "hot pot-style" dishes (traditional winter menu items) like nabe, etc. We did see ramen on their menu, but we didn't get a chance to try it. Next time !

Overall, we just felt that the menu was skewed a little too much towards sushi / fine-dining, as opposed as having a traditional izakaya menu that's geared towards grilled morsels and hearty food items. But the food was good, and we're definitely coming back to try the other items on the menu !

Oh also: the place was super-clean, and the layout is just like the old Fin's... but with a way better ambience. They got rid of the old dark tables, and the entire place is now brightly-illuminated. It felt good to eat there, for lack of...