Hinoki — Restaurant in Greenwich

My girlfriend and I came for a date night on a wednesday, we were greeted by the hostess and she let us see both dining rooms and choose where we'd prefer to sit. (great start) We were swiftly greeted by Jose (The manager, i think?) and offered water, and within a minute, Veronica (our server) introduced herself and helped us choose drinks and navigate the menus. Overall, the food was amazing, Veronica was very knowledgeable about the menu and answered any questions we had, also, as all 3 of us are similar in age, the vibe she had fit perfect for us and the dining experience we wanted to have. We don't like robotic servers, although they are great and get the job done pretty flawlessly, we like personality and connecting with our servers. So, overall a 10/10 experience. The food speaks for itself, everything was delicious and we would be back just for that, but what really makes places special nowadays is the service you're provided. For context, I work as a server in a high-volume high-end restaurant so my standards are realistic and accurate. I know how busy and stressful things get. Kudos to the FOH staff, kitchen, bartenders, and especially Veronica for providing an amazing date night. Can't wait to be back!

Side note: If you wanted some recommendations, Rock Shrimp tempura 11/10 (we asked for some of the rock sauce to take home because it was out of this world) Corn ribs: 10/10; an asian take on eloté, the corn was superbly cooked and flavor was exactly where you wanted it to be. Creamy, warm, cheesy, im craving it as im typing this. Beef tartar croquette: 7/10. beef was phenomenal, but a little too much croquette for me. Miso soup: 10/10 cant go wrong with a well made soup, great starter or palate cleanser Passion roll: 8/10 it wasnt the particular roll i wanted to try, its what the missus wanted and she loved it, I just felt like there were more interesting options on the menu. Regardless, it was well made, rice was well seasoned, fish tasted fresh and the thai sauce wasnt too spicy, which is good for the missus, although i wish it was spicier :) California Uni a la carte, N/A rating. It was our first time trying Uni, so I have nothing to compare it to. Uni is an acquired taste and sadly, it wasnt for us.

Will be back to try more things that piqued...

I’ve been to Hinoki in Greenwich now on three separate occasions - each time a great meal. Last night was no exception. We walked in on Sunday night with no reservation and while they were busy, they had no trouble seating us right away. It’s a nice dimly lit ambiance with a cedar smell throughout.

We started off with miso soup and wanted to try something different so we went with the Asian Pear Salmon. While the miso soup was great, the Asian Pear Salmon had an overpowering onion flavor and was a bit disappointing, but the salmon was nice and fresh.

Next we had a couple of the Nori tacos - Wagyu Salt and Toro. These were both excellent and I would recommend getting them.

Next up we had 5 pieces of nigiri each. Tuna, Uni, some other pieces. They were all great, but I would say I’ve had better. The rice was inconsistent. The last piece that came out separately was perfect, and the rice was nice and warm. The others didn’t seem to match the same quality for some reason, but were still 8/10. Also I would not I’m not a fan of gold leaf on food in general, but especially in sushi. But I credit them for the effort.

We were still hungry, so instead of dessert we opted for the soup dumplings which were great.

For drinks, I had a wonderful glass of red burgundy from Beaune, and my wife had a mezcal cocktail she was still raving about the next day.

Overall, this is a nice romantic restaurant for date night, or to take a group out for an impressive sushi dinner. It’s more casual than a limited seat Omakase experience, so set your expectations. You’ll be in for great food and ambiance, with pretty good service, but not out...

There's a lot to like about hinoki. It's one of the better upscale Japanese restaurants outside of NYC, and a lot of the food we had was quite tasty. However there were just too many issues to recommend it.

Our server got three out of our four orders wrong. In one case he left out items, in another case he spent time upselling us on caviar only to not include it, and in a third case put in the wrong entree all-together. We brought this to his attention, and he only attempted to bring us the missing item in one case. He simply said sorry, apologized for not paying attention and didn't do anything. We may have been charged for the items we didn't receive.

The food itself was generally good but a mixed bag on execution. The salmon pizza was served on a crispy cracker so limp and soggy that it immediately fell apart and was impossible to eat. My steak which was ordered medium-rare was cooked to every temperature with the outer third being badly over and the inner third being raw. We found portion sizes to be a bit ungenerous especially on the crispy tuna which barely had any rice to the one bite foie-gras uni toast where the toast vastly exceeded the size of the uni foie-gras. We had better luck with the dim sum which was tasty and generously filled. It was a nice change from so many restaurants that attempt to serve frozen items.

None of this was the end of the world, and as I said we enjoyed it overall. But there were just so many issues with our food and service, that I don't know if we...