Tatsu Dallas — Restaurant in Dallas

Wow. My first visit to Tatsu last night left me satisfied with a slight bit of questioning. The quality of the food was top level – Chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi selects high quality products, and then shows off impeccable knife skills as he slices perfect cuts right in front of our amazed eyes. Yet I have questions I’ll discuss below

AMBIANCE 3/5 I enjoyed the entrance with the juxtaposition of an old wooden door next to the clean modern Japanese styled Tatsu door, then the inviting foyer where we waited for our seating. However, the actual dining area was clinical with high wood walls that look like cheap lamination with no appeal at all and diners are in a long line so there was not a communal feel. Other area small seating sushi dining experiences of 8-10 customers have felt more intimate and like a shared experience with occasional discussions between guests that led to my increased enjoyment of the evening so I’ve seen what it COULD be and that’s why I missed it here. With more care to the layout this dining area has potential to be minimalistic yet appealing rather than stark and bright. The placing was very nice with great chopsticks carefully wrapped in a minimalistic Tatsu logo, a wooden spoon, and a folded napkin on a wooden tray. Chef Tatsuya Sekiguchi greeted us with a terse (almost grim) expression.

FOOD QUALITY 5/5 The food (and Chef Tatsuya’s knife skills) are the star of the show, hands down.

The appetizers were fantastic – first dish, the asparagus was brilliantly cooked – tender yet firm enough to stand up, nice portion of fish with the jelly – just delicious. Then thin sliced sea bream followed by a perfect red fish seared on top to create a crunch and when paired with lime just sang in my mouth – thoroughly enjoyed the beginning 3 items before moving to the nigiri sushi.

Sushi selections were great – every morsel was well selected and executed. My standout was the Nodoguro TKG – sea bass in a cup with a quail egg over rice. Macerate and eat – absolutely incredible. Every time a new sushi was given to us, we had another high point of happiness. There were items I’d never had before as well like Kue (long tooth grouper) and Karuma Ebi (Japanese tiger prawn). Just watching Chef Tatsuya’s knife skills was awe inspiring.

FOOD PREPARATION 4/5 You’ll see very little accoutrements in the photos – if you scan all the photos ever taken at Tatsu, you’ll notice uniformity – a little rice, a piece of fish and repeat. I’ve been internally debating if this is something I desire or not since last night’s dinner. I know I loved the careful preparation with complimenting items at Yellowtail and Sushi Dallas, though, so the debate continues. Some would call the minimalistic approach “boring”, but each bite was delicious – obvious care went into choosing the ingredients, cutting down the tuna, preparing the bites with Chef Tatsuya’s own rice blend, marinades, and hand packing our tasty morsels. It definitely let the fish shine more but also missed opportunities to showcase pairing knowledge and ingenuity. I know for a fact that seeing a chef play with the preparation has been a huge highlight for me in past sushi experiences so it felt like a void to me, even though the food was fantastic. I just wanted a bit more personally. This is a personal taste so make your own opinion.

SERVICE 5/5 The service was impeccable. Servers anticipated our movements, filled cups quickly when empty, and folded napkins if you got up. They kept our bottle of sake out of sight and if a cup was emptied it was refilled very quickly.

OVERALL I would go back to Tatsu just to experience Chef Tatsuya’s skill absolutely. But only once in awhile – I have a short list of sushi restaurants that deliver on other points I’ve made above that would be in my regular rotation – just as expensive, btw. There are some great choices in DFW and I’m thinking of 3 in particular that will get my normal business because I like unique preparations and pairing, ambiance and shared experiences. So YES to Tatsu and YES to...

Tucked away in an unassuming building near Deep Ellum in downtown Dallas is a tiny omakase sushi restaurant called “Tatsu”. Inside you’ll find only 10 seats. Dinner is served only twice in an evening a few days in a week. Getting a reservation here has been described by D Magazine as “The hardest reservation in Dallas”. Once I was inside I could immediately understand why. What was about to happen exceeded any reasonable expectation I could have had.

Eating here was very much an experience rather than just a nice dinner. Even finding the place was a bit of a challenge, and once you reach the door you have to press a button to gain entry. Inside, a small reception area welcomes guests and quickly the beverage director Janice offered us some selections. She’s dedicated her career to becoming an expert of sake and wine, and holds a WSET III certification. Every detail here from start to finish is of this caliber.

The chef’s selections for this meal were printed on a leaflet with the day’s date. On it, an unbelievable 19 course dinner was mapped out, including 15 individual pieces of nigiri. The fish used on each course was almost exclusively flown in from specific places in Japan, but a few examples also sourced protein from Barcelona, Alaska and Maine.

Many of the fish used here I have never even heard of and didn’t want to even attempt to pronounce. Buri, Aji, Hotate, Hirame and Menegi to name a few. Each one of them was cut and assembled right in front of us with masterful precision. I noticed little details like the chef finely serrating the fish so that when he gently applied a thin layer of soy sauce with a paintbrush, it could be better absorbed into the meat. He even wiped down his blade between slides.

Watching Chef Tatsu prepare 10 pieces of nigiri (one for each seated guest) 15 times in a row was incredible. You could see the muscle memory at play and I realized that he must have done this so many thousands of times over the years that by now his body moves almost automatically. It’s not long after you’re sitting that you really grasp just how special seeing and eating this all is.

I’m a Texan, so I won’t pretend to have some sort of advanced culinary palette, especially for fish. Growing up I was quite scared of the idea of eating fish and even now as a much more adventurous eater, I don’t think I could muster up the courage to order almost any of the fish I ended up eating this night. I’m glad I trusted the chef, because I can definitively say that this was the finest, freshest and most enjoyable sushi I have ever eaten in my life.

The dinner is exactly one hour and forty-five minutes long, and almost all of that time I sat in wide eyed amazement at the masterful preparation continually displayed in front of me. To my right, a louder gentleman droned on and on with his friends about some thing or the other, and it saddened me that he was not completely appreciating the magic happening right in front of his face. I suppose guests really do come in all shapes and sizes.

As the dinner concluded I really felt as if I had eaten one of the best meals of my life. It was so much more than just food, I really felt as if I was experiencing something special and I was overcome with thankfulness for the opportunity. The fact that Jessica pulled off the difficult reservation on my actual birthday was the icing on the cake.

Seats here are $185 each, plus tax and a mandatory 18% gratuity, all paid upfront at the time of reservation to guarantee your spot. Drinks are not included. Availability is added exclusively on Resy on the 1st and 15th of each month at exactly 8am. If you want to go, you’ll need to set an alarm and be ready, as the seats sell out within seconds.

If you actually make it in, you’ll...

To start, I'm a very adventurous eater and have been to many tasting restaurants with exotic dishes and ingredients. I also am very versed in cooking and have hosted 8 course tasting menus at my home. Although I'm no aficionado I do enjoy sushi. We booked this about 3 weeks in advance for our 8th anniversary and were very excited.

On the day of our reservation I was diagnosed with strep throat. Although I was cleared by my doctor to attend I thought it would be best to reschedule. We understand when we booked the reservation our deposit was amount in full and non refundable. We weren't looking for a refund but called to see if we would be able to reschedule to a day I would be able to taste and enjoy the experience more. We were told that wouldn't be possible and we would lose our $450 deposit. Disappointed we still went to not lose our deposit. Entering the venue was quite the experience, we were promptly greeted and seated in a modern waiting area where we enjoyed a glass of wine. We had expected a cocktail menu but it was just a wine and sake list. The wine list was vast and impressive. We sat down for our meal in the dining area and the seating and atmosphere was very comfortable. They had baskets for purses and offering of water, still, bottled or sparkling. We added the classic sake pairing to our menu. The first couple of rounds were enjoyable but some of the items I could not palate. Not for my dislike of the item simply because I had strep throat. To note the person we told on the phone I had strep was also the host. One of the items I did not eat and the host noticed and asked if I would like to have alternate courses. She assumed it was because I didn't like the look of certain items, I explained I like all food and just can't quite palate much because I'm sick. She explained she knew. Well the next course comes out and I am served something different from everyone else. I understand the chef was trying to accommodate. Me looking confused she came up again and explained the chef thought I would like this more. I said please leave the menu the same it has nothing to do with my like of items simply being sick. After this the chef barely made any comments to us nor told us what we were eating but seemed to chat along with others. The extra attention was embarrassing as others kept wondering what was going on with us.

Overall sickness aside. I can see this being a fun dinner for those who have a lot of knowledge about sushi. The chef did not introduce himself nor offer an explanation of any of the courses just simply repeated the one word menu item. We were hoping for more of a culinary experience and perhaps a lil education on how to best taste the fish and what to be searching for taste wise. None of that was offered. It was an odd experience we felt as if we were under a microscope the social aspect was also very awkward and dry. We normally enjoy the chatter and discussion with others but the room was silent.

All in all we spent close to $750, we half wondered if it was a pop up high end scam. But if not, none of the food was amazing for either of us, nothing mind blowing and for the price that's what we were expecting. Next time we'll take that amount of money and go to a Michelin...