Sushi Murayama — Restaurant in Honolulu

I would like to say the service and chef were good/nice and let us end our 9-piece deluxe omakase early at 6/9 pieces (I consider doing this rude, but the food was more insulting), but I have to leave a review. I really don't like leaving bad reviews unless there were particularly bad service incidents, yet I've never been so shocked about how bad the food was esp. for this type of meal and its price point. Please reference the other poor reviews as many match our experience. My partner and I have been to other omakases, both renowned and neighborhood restaurants, to know that this restaurant needs to be avoided.

We called to see if we could get reservation last minute, and they said they could fit us in. We thought it would be good based on the reviews. Each dish they served us was bad sushi that fell apart when picked up (the rice and technique were bad) with chopsticks except for the tempura fish and shrimp, which was above average (5/6 were poor dishes). They started with a full raw scallop with a pineapple or citrus like sauce with cartilage that just didn't work. The scallop tasted better with the sauce wiped off, only leaving a full raw scallop. I've had scallop nigiri at other establishments that tasted good and had a better texture. We got rockfish nigiri that was tough/stringy and had light flavor. It wasn't very good, and they fried inedible portions of the rockfish for presentation purposes only. We got tempura fish and shrimp, which was the highlight, fried fatty fish and shrimp. We had freshwater eel nigiri, which was ok but not great; I've had much better, and it came out way too hot with poor presentation. We received sea bass nigiri that was also tough and didn't taste like much. We had baby sardine gunkan, which we ate, and it didn't taste like anything other than seaweed and rice with the slimy texture of the baby sardines.

The waitress asked my gf if she needed less rice due to the amount of rice on her plate since the sushi fell apart (some was spit out or leftover as well). We told her that it didn't have to do with the amount of rice rather the technique of the person who made it and that most of our dishes didn't taste good. There were no questions of why we thought that or what we didn't like in particular; they just asked us if we wanted to end service and pay for what we ate. We agreed since we lost faith that the other dishes would be good, but it was really odd that a place that should pride themselves on their food and craftsmanship wouldn't at least want to know why we didn't like their food. It comes off as if this is normal or they don't care. I downed the sake I ordered at the start of the meal, which helped a bit.

I was incredibly disappointed (even embarrassed) and thought it would be really good. It ruined my night. We still ended up paying $130 each (we got $40 sake. On my card the amount is less and comes to an amount that makes me believe that our tip wasn't given; however, I was more disappointed by the food. Other than what we mentioned is that the waitress didn't pick up our wet-naps until we placed it on one of our serving plates). For the food, I'd just want to know if they'd be able to eat it along with other sushi chefs, look them in the eyes, and tell them that the sushi I was served was good. I think the pictures speak...

We were looking for a place that took last minute omakase reservations so Sushi Murayama it was! They were able to accept our 5:30 reservation (which is when they open for dinner) for a Thursday and we told them that we had to be out by 6:30 - so they told us we could even come at 5:15. It was a little tricky to find but it was located on the third floor of the plaza.

It's a small place but we were seated by the sushi bar and there were curtains between each couple dining. I saw families with young children there too, which I'm not sure if it's great for children because of its size (and price point/menu selection) but to each their own!

If I am remembering correctly, it was around $100 for 8 "regular courses" vs $150 for 10 "premium courses". I don't know what was in the $100 version but I'm not sure the $150 was worth the price tag, which is what we had. Here are all of the courses:

Hokkaido scallop with shark cartilage - I'm not sure how I felt about the scallop's soft/smooth texture with the crunchy cartilage Monkfish liver - too much wasabi but the liver was SO good Japanese Sea-bass - a bit chewy Eel - eel is just eel to me Hokkaido rockfish - too much wasabi Argentinian shrimp/fish tempura - light and crispy without being too oily Japanese beltfish - this came with shiso (?) leaf which I do not care for but I forgot to tell them that, so this one is on me) Sea trout - no complaints Hokkaido black wagyu musubi - wagyu was AMAZING but I think by 'musubi', they meant a bunch of extra rice. The meat to rice ratio didn't quite match up, which is what I think they were going for? But it was too much rice for me O toro/chu toro/uni - a mish mosh of decadence but I ain't complaining

Overall, I would say the pieces have a lot of rice and a lot of wasabi. If this is your thing, then go for it. While I do appreciate the great service, I just don't think the quality was worth the price point. Maybe I'm spoiled, coming from NYC with so many more affordable omakase options. But unfortunately, this one missed the...

We visited this restaurant just over a week ago, and this review took us a while to write, solely due to the fact that our experience was absolutely ineffable. Sushi Murayama truly is a hidden gem in the sense that this piece of heaven was definitely disguised. When we walked through the door, Chef Ryugi’s daughter informed us that they were only doing omakase for that dinner service. We happily joined, and luckily there was an opening for us. Chef Ryugi Murayama guided us through a flavor journey like no other. From extremely fresh ingredients straight from Japan, to a bite that reflected a dish from his childhood, Chef Ryugi wowed us in over a million ways. He also had a true master of tempura on his team. The most perfect tempura we have ever consumed. Every ingredient was incorporated masterfully, and every dish had true passion poured into it. White bait, monkfish liver. Each and every bite was amazing. The fish could not have been more fresh if we had pulled it out of the ocean ourselves. Not only was our omakase experience truly astonishing, but this restaurant hosted two of our favorite bites on the island, honestly two of our favorite bites we have ever had. The house-made ginger was so divine that we now want to start shipping barrels of it to the mainland. The black sesame ice cream was not only the best ice cream we have ever had, but one of the best desserts we have ever been honored to put our mouths on. The sesame butter was so mouth-watering and delicious that we wish it was sold by the boat loads. We came back just before we left the island, on a mission to get more ginger and black sesame ice cream. Overall, Chef Ryugi and his team worked together flawlessly to provide us with an experience like no other. After being completely burned by two other omakases in a row, we were absolutely blessed by Sushi Murayama’s omakase, as well as this team’s utter skill and hospitality. We will make a trip back to the island specifically to revisit Sushi Murayama. We are so thankful for our...