Fin-Two Japanese Ale House — Restaurant in Knoxville

So much potential, but they don’t seem to care about details.

We ordered the seaweed salad and Japanese Fried Chicken for appetizers. The salad was great and creative, we liked it a lot. The fried chicken, however, had an odd smell and was super greasy, it seemed like they had fried them earlier and then over-fried them again to be hot for us. Not good at all, and not at all fresh.

For entrees, we got the Tonkotsu Ramen with pork belly, and a Chicken Katsu fried rice bowl. The ramen broth was probably the best I’ve ever had, it was very well flavored and not watered down like most other places I’ve tried. The soft-boiled egg was cold though, which means it also wasn’t freshly made for the bowl, and the pork belly seemed overdone. It tasted good overall, I just wish they had the details down. The chicken katsu was just disappointing, completely on the opposite end of the spectrum. The meat was so insanely thin, it was probably 1/8 of an inch! And that was with the breading! About 80% of the bowl was rice and some sauce, it was just a super overpriced dish for the value you get. Not at all reasonable or recommended. Service was a little weird, we may have had a new girl because she was super quiet and seemed like she was scared to engage with us.

Overall, each dish is a gamble, you don’t know if it’s going to taste good or not. I wouldn’t come here until they figure their stuff out and have a more consistent experience. There are plenty of other restaurants in Knoxville that do...

Our family of 3 celebrated an event for our daughter there last weekend. We called ahead on a Saturday night and they held 3 seats at the bar for us, everyone was welcoming and accommodating. The bartender even made our 9 year old a mocktail for her special day, which was delicious and priced very well. I think it helped that we sat at the sushi bar, because the chef was able to personalize her roll on the fly (since we didn't know the futakaki had mushrooms, she put it on the side) and the staff also made some amazing food recommendations. We wanted to try the Isebi, but they were out of lobster, so we got the short rib yakitori to start - so tender and delicious with the wasabi mustard, but the best part of that dish was the house made pickles (wow)! We ordered three neighborhood Specialty rolls, a maki roll, and some nigiri which were all delicious and you could tell that the quality of the fish was top notch. We finished the night with a trio of mochi ice creams for our daughter and the adults split the tiramisu, which was spectacular with a featherlight mouse. The prices were very reasonable and the food could not have been better. We will absolutely be back! Thank you so much to the owner and the whole staff for making our night...

I was skeptical after reading some negative reviews about this place. I’m happy to report. My experience was fantastic. Parking is easy and across the street. From the time we walked in, we felt the trendy yet casual vibe. Beautiful bar as you walk in the door, typically I like to sit at the bar, but we were with a group of people. We were seated right away and our server Damien, I can’t say enough! Here’s a person who has worked here a long time and obviously knew everything about this menu, what a refreshing change that was.

You ordered a few sushi rolls to start with which were incredibly fresh… A little bit surprising for a landlocked state. The gyoza were so delicious, and filled, not doughy at all. The Ramen bowls, wow wow. We had the pork belly and the brisket ramen bowls. Check out the pics. I also got a side of street corn and another side of fried pork belly, there’s no such thing as too much pork belly lol.

Everything was absolutely delicious and I look forward to coming back here the next time I’m in Knoxville. By the way, very very affordable.

Pro tip: sometimes give a place a chance, even if there are some negative reviews. You might be pleasantly...