Sanjusan — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I'll start this review by saying that this is not my usual kind of place. I feel that when you start fusing one style of cooking with another the result is usually something that is not as good as the either of the originals. That being said, I liked the food here. It was good. Not amazing, but good.

We started our meal with a couple of cocktails that were both good. The Sanjusan Old Fashioned was interesting. It appeared to have seaweed in it, but it didn't add a very strong flavor to the drink. If you just handed it to me blindfolded I would tell you it was a slightly oversweet (for me) Old Fashioned with some unidentifiable added flavor.

For an appetizer we ordered the four skewer Yakitori, telling our waitress to bring us two tame and two more adventurous skewers. We got a wing, a thigh (?), heart and skin. They were all tasty, but small. Very small. Not a good value for $19.

I ordered the squid ink pappardelle, my date ordered the Margherita pizza. My pasta was very tasty. The noodles were not overcooked. The seafood Bolognese is a winner. For the price, the plate was a bit small. The pizza was good, but not Naples good. The dough is spot on but the tomatoes are just missing the sharpness, the acidity one finds in a true Napolitano pizza. I did like how they added more basil than you would find in Naples so that there was a bit in most bites.

For dessert we got a rice flan and a grappa. The flan came with some very nice sake, which was a pleasant surprise. Everything was very good.

I thought this was a fine meal. The service was excellent. Our waitress was constantly refilling our waters and she was kind enough to bring me the bottle of whiskey from the bar so I could take a picture of it for reference. It was my first time trying a Japanese whiskey and I had asked for the barman to recommend something for a regular bourbon drinker. His selection was spot on.

So then, for four tiny skewers of chicken parts, one plate of pasta, one pizza, four drinks and a dessert the bill came to $160, with a 20 or 25 percent tip automatically included. This is simply too much for me. I think I would make less of a deal over it if the bill was closer to $100-$120. When it comes down to it I feel that places like this have high prices just for the sake of exclusivity. You're paying for the ability to say you've been there, and maybe to be seen by other exclusive people. It's all very exclusive.

Would I come here again? Not likely. Even though the food is good, it's just too expensive and it's honestly neither my scene nor my type of crowd. If it is your scene and it is your crowd, and you've got money to burn, then by all means become a regular. You...

Sanjusan was a fascinating destination for me and my wife as we had been trying to find a good place to have regular dates. The price of the food on the menu for the items we tried (funghi pizza and the mentaiko lumache) made sense and were justified for the complex level of flavor these dishes had and were a joy to eat. The pizza’s dough had well developed gluten that made for a wonderful chewing experience and the lumache had great flavor with the slightly spiced mentaiko sauce, creamy with savory flavor from toasted seaweed, fish eggs and blended with the pistachios in it with garlic slices (super thin! they must have very well kept tools) and crushed red pepper. We definitely look forward to trying more on the menu. Not my first Japanese Italian fusion restaurant as my old favorite was Basta Pasta NYC.

I’m not giving this restaurant complete accolades, however. It pains me to do so as we will return for the culinary experience. There was a strange feeling of intensity with the waitstaff when interacting with them (waiter leaning down to speak with us at the table, a bit close for comfort, another coming in to use the water carafe left for us to refill our glasses while we were mid meal and I felt like apologizing to them, as if I failed a wordless trial to pour my own glass. They overall maintained a very stony faced disposition which is fine but was new to me.) it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had in an American restaurant. Waitstaff if you’re reading this, I’m sorry for failing your trial please forgive me and allow me to keep my skin.

However that will not stop my return with my wife to continue sampling the menu or to try their sister restaurant locations as we anticipate them being equally as delicious. The 21% service charge is used and the check we filled out didn’t have a space for tips. This is legally Not a tip so I believe their statement that the staff is paid fairly rather than the strange practice many restaurants do where they underpay everyone horribly. I still, however, left a tip as it felt inappropriate for myself to not do so even then.

Tl;dr 5/5 what a weird delicious night

Edit: The owner has been responsive to feedback and I appreciate that they take the time to review and respond to our remarks here. I do look forward to having future visits to this and your sister...

Thank you Sanjusan for the best date night! It was me and my partner's first visit, and we both were immediately enamored with the simplistic yet tasteful ambience inside. We had a patio reservation, but arrived early and sat at the bar to enjoy a cocktail before our table. The bartender TJ graciously explained each and every signature cocktail to us without us having to ask, which we were especially grateful for since we are both new drinkers and a lot of the ingredients listed on the menu were unfamiliar. I loved both of my drinks, the Five Ring Spritz and the Mican. My boo said the Mekarushi may be the best cocktail he's had, but didn't love the Old Fashioned (it was an old fashioned though so more of a poor ordering choice lmao). All drinks were presented beautifully. Now, onto the food...the patio was lovely, the perfect amount of lighting, with heat lamps available upon request. We had to order dairy free options, so we opted for the Eggplant Katsu (my favorite dish of the night), a piece of the Wagyu Nigiri each, and the thigh yakitoba. The Wagyu tasted great in my opinion, but was hard to figure out how to eat with no chopsticks, and the rice unfortunately fell apart for both of us due to the beef being to firm to simply bite a piece off. The yakitoba, perfect, I wish that we had tried more than just the thigh. The Katsu was delightfully crispy with a flavorful juiciness as well, and the red cabbage coleslaw was to die for. Both the katsu and coleslaw were the best flavors of the evening for us. For entree we ordered the marinara pizza and bucatini. The marinara was considerably impressive for a simple red pizza, definitely my favorite of the two entrees. The bucatini was a bit disappointing, the main contenders being chili flakes and oil, however I'm assuming the full dairy version would be a lot more impressive. Still enjoyable! Our server, Carlos, was a joy. We wished we could have left a tip at the end of our meal, however I'm sure the restaurant has its reasons for a service fee. Overall, the experience was delightful, thank you so...