Matsuba Izakaya — Restaurant in Medford

Matsuba Izakaya was underwhelming, to say the least. We (4) made a reservation for this place on a Friday night (7:30) after seeing the glowing reviews and we left very disappointed just because of the service. The food was actually good, but the service was atrocious. First off, we never got our drinks, which were simple diet cokes and a Japanese soda. Second, two of the 5 dishes we ordered came out wrongly. Our server (young man with glasses) barely stopped by our table to make sure we were okay and we ended up having to call another server (long-haired lady) for what we needed. We brought a cake to this establishment because it was my birthday and we were told it was okay, in fact they offered to put my cake in the fridge, but quickly after we finished our food and our dirty plates were taken away, we were dropped the bill on the table, nobody offered dessert, hot beverages or plates to cut the cake we have brought. Honestly this was incredibly rude, we felt we were getting rushed out and the restaurant was by no means busy. When we received the check, the sodas that we never got were there, so we called the server (the lady that ended up serving us, not the inicial guy) and we told her we weren’t done there, that we would like to order a cup of tea and a couple of plates to eat the cake we brought. As we were taking pictures of the cake and of us, this server asked if we wanted a picture of all of us and we said, sure why not. I was trying to hold the cake up for the picture and the server goes “hurry up”…ok that was honestly the cherry on top, I started laughing, lol. The service in this restaurant was atrocious. Nobody apologized to us for the wrong dishes we got (and for that, obviously our food got delayed), or for not giving us our drinks at all, nothing. It was extremely rude and we left so so disappointed. I would say, again, the food was good and I might try it again for a carry out/pickup order, I would NOT go eat inside...

Good food with the standard sushi fare you'd come to expect. Everything was tasty and the price was right.

I do wish they offered cocktails instead of just sake and bottled beer. Additionally, some music could be good in the dining area.

Here's an overview of what I got:

Tempura appetizer - honestly the fried vegetables here were the highlight of the meal for me. Everything was good but those were amazing. So crispy and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. Vegetables were honestly better than the shrimp. Id order the tempura every time.

House sake - probably the best house sake I've had at any sushi place in the local area. Complimented the fried vegetables amazingly.

Salmon avocado roll - exactly what you'd expect. Tasted fresh.

Eel avocado - Same, exactly what you would expect, except I do think the sauce they used is not as strong as other places I've tried. Still tasted great.

Yellowtail scallion - the yellowtail was a lot more mild than other rolls I've tried. It's usually a bit fishier but this one was quite meaty and buttery by comparison. I think this speaks to the (higher) quality of fish...

We celebrated our 6 yr anniversary here because we wanted ramen. What a treat this was! Before the meal, the first pleasant surprise was actually the tea. The "hot green tea" came in a beautiful pot and cup set and was deliciously fragrant. Much better than you would expect from regular restaurant tea.

We got a selection of yakitori including the bacon wrapped rice cakes, grilled squid, chicken meatballs, and tako yaki. All of it was presented beautifully and tasted amazing. Especially impressed with the grilled squid because that can be hard to cook well and not make rubbery. Just perfect.

My husband had the spicy miso ramen and I had the tonkatsu ramen. Warmed us up on a cold night. Flavorful broth and chewy noodles, plus a GREAT jammy egg 👌

The waitress was a lovely person. Nice and helpful. I can't believe they've only been here 4 months! I encourage everyone to come and try them. Let's keep this little gem of a place...