Dashu Japanese Cuisine & Bar — Restaurant in Huntsville

I came with a friend for lunch. The atmosphere is beautiful and cozy! It clearly used to be an Italian restaurant. It’s a bit strange they haven’t changed out some of the decor, like the Italian paintings which are the first thing you see upon entering, but the Japanese elements they have added, like the ceiling of parasols and a wall of festival masks, are just lovely.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t really impressed with the food. My white tuna nigiri was really skimpy but cost more for 2 pieces than many places. The avocado in my salmon roll wasn’t ripe and I had to remove some pieces because they were too hard. The clear soup also wasn’t very flavorful, and I usually love clear soup. The prices are average for a sushi restaurant but it felt overpriced considering the lackluster flavor. I usually leave a sushi restaurant in bliss (it’s my favorite food!), but I was sadly disappointed.

The service was decent. We asked for 1 more minute to choose our food and the waitress didn’t come back for 15 min. We were in the back, so there weren’t any other employees around to flag down. But the food came quickly after we ordered and they checked in with us regularly, but not overly frequently, after that.

I’ll definitely be back, perhaps for a date night - it’s the perfect vibe! But I’ll probably try ordering hot food instead.

Update: I came back with another friend and ordered the salmon sushi bowl. They gave me 2 pieces less than it was supposed to come with and I had to ask for the full serving. The sushi chef looked really annoyed. It definitely felt like they tried to cheat me out of two pieces… our server couldn’t understand us either. I probably will go to a different sushi restaurant in the future, which is a pity because this interior...

We were super excited about a Japanese restaurant we've never been to.

Interior looks like a semi-fancy Italian restaurant with enough Japanese decorations to be off-putting and odd classical music playing.

Service was quick but not particularly clear in speech. It's not something to truly hold against the server, but it does stand out. We also had to stop the server to get refills on water instead of her staying on top of them and we were not asked how our meal was.

The food is where I really thought the ambiance and the pricing were disproportionate. $115 with tip for three people. We ordered a roll to split, a hibachi plate, and two teriyaki dinners.

Middling: The Shrimp Tempura Roll was nothing special but not bad. Salad was watery but tasted fine, miso soup wasn't as briny as I'm used to and it was missing mushrooms but it was fine.

Good: Teriyaki scallops were well-cooked, and the teriyaki was thankfully not sweet. Steaks were correctly cooked, although not seasoned. Gyoza was well cooked and tasty. The tempura had been properly fried, and there were no complaints on that front.

Bad: Chicken was dry and overcooked. Fried rice is infinitely underseasoned. The California rolls were disgusting and honestly just tasted overwhelmingly of cucumber skins, no equal amounts of avocado or shredded crab to offset the grassy taste.

To be honest, I can't say I would give this restaurant another chance when I can get pretty much everything I got from them at Hibachi on Whitesburg or I Love Korea on Jordan Lane for a slight cut in cost and moderately better taste and quality.

But please try it for yourself and see...

I don't know what resturant these other reviewers went to because it certainly isn't this one. I have been twice, both during peak times, and my parties have been the only ones seated with maybe the exception of one other party, but I couldn't be sure due the loud TV's playing (why would they play the news loudly during lunch?). The food we received on every occasion was bland and sometimes even disgusting. The sushi tasted like they used unseasoned rice wine vinegar and the the nori was stale. The avocado in the California rolls was mostly brown and the tuna in the spicy tuna tasted almost rancid with weird dark spots. The rice was super bland and only looked to include egg and a small bit of salt, if any. The tempura vegetables were super watery and the panko coating was sloughing off. Any meats we ordered were seriously overcooked. The egg drop soup was bitter and sour as was the giner salad dressing. The only saving grace was the yakitori sauce on the chicken, but even that was layered on too much. On top of all of that, service was slow and slightly rude despite us being the only table each time. This was our experience on more than one occasion. I tried to see what everyone else in these reviews did, but it just isn't there. I don't know how there are so many 5 star reviews. Do yourself a favor and...