Osaka — Restaurant in Northampton

I visited this restaraunt for the first time a couple of days ago, and unfortunately we had a terrible experience.

The service we recieved at this restaraunt was extremely poor. Our waitress was very passive agressive towards us and was trying to rush us through our order. She was very curt while we were being polite and just trying to order. It became clear as soon as we had ordered that we were being rushed through our meal, and we saw the same thing happening to the other customers present.

We ordered the don buri, a fried roll, and a regular roll, and all of them were improperly prepared. The fried shrimp in the don buri was undercooked, and had not been deveined at all which was disgusting. The breading was so light in color it was clear that it had barely spent any time in the fryer at all. The Kamikaze roll I ordered, the tuna instead of being one or two solid pieces, was a strange ground up puree that had some larger chunks of tuna spread throughout. It was very strange and I have never been to a sushi restaraunt that served anything similar. The last item was a fried california roll. This one like the don buri was obviouly undercooked in the frier. The breading was super pale, and it was still gooey under the surace, it hadn't even had time to completely set up. All in all, the food was disgusting, and if we hadn't spent the day moving, we would have left immediately. I have been to plenty of japanese restaraunts, and this was the first that I have actually been concerned about the food making me ill. I believe other customers in the restaraunts were having similar problems with their food, despite whole plates being pretty much untouched, people were trying to get out of there quickly and refusing to go boxes.

I believe that our poor experience was in part related to their hours being incorrectly posted. Their official website and a sign in person at their store both say that they close at 11:00pm every day, so we thought we were good to go, arriving at 10:10pm. Apparently though google says that they close at 10:30pm, which I am thinking is probably the accurate one. I think the staff rather than make any attempt to inform us about the different closing time than the one posted, instead chose to rush our food through undercooked and improperly prepared to save time and get us out of there asap. If we had been told at any point that they were closing soon or if we had been advised to order food which did not require as much cooking time, we would have been happy to find an alternative for the night and come back another time, or we could have ordered something quicker to make. It is extremely dissappointing that in order to save time that corners would be cut on safely preparing and cooking food.

We will not be coming back to...

Extensive selection, high quality, interesting and unique special selection. And they are rather good with tolerating substitutions and alterations to their specialty sushi rolls (I have some food allergies and also don’t eat spices, and they’ve always been very good at accommodating that; they’ll replace ingredients in their special rolls and make the changes work. ie replace mango with something else and fit a non-allergy inducing sauce that pulls the roll together. They also will make the spicy rolls non-spicy or any combination thereof, and they make sure that whatever changes are made the roll still works.) They make really really good pina coladas. There’s also a hibachi section of the restaurant, the one time we did that it was delicious. And the pricing is very reasonable. Yes, you can go there and easily spend well over $100 for two people. But you can also have a perfectly satisfying lunch within $25 or so. Don’t let their pricing turn you off, if you’re on a budget just be selective with what you order. Some of the items are very well portioned. And that’s across the menu, not just one section. The staff is also very patient and helpful (occasional language barrier aside, but even then). A favorite of mine is the nobu roll, from their special rolls, it’s large, filling, and so very very good. I sometimes come there for lunch (or takeout) and get the nobu roll, if I’m really really hungry the nobu roll and a miso soup, add a tea to that and that’s a complete meal, and you don’t have to stick to the really simple rolls. They also have bento box meals. Also a great option if you’re on a budget but still want good Japanese food. On the other hand if you have money to spend, they have some amazing appetizers. Their rolls (both standard and special) are delicious and you can eat and eat and eat them. Their sashimi is really good, served at the perfect temperature (and kept that way at your table) and the fish is really high quality - so the sashimi is never a disappointment. They have some very interesting non-sushi non-hibachi foods. And their cocktails (while somewhat an odd selection, they have a very decently stocked bar, but if you order off menu it’s not always a guarantee that things will get translated right - sometimes it works sometimes not); but their cocktails that are on the menu are very good. And they do have some classics (ie pina coladas, among a few others) that they do very well and you know what you’ll be getting. High quality, imaginative menu, accommodating staff, really yummy...

I will preface this review with the following: I used to be an advocate for this restaurant. If you wanted hibachi or quality sushi, and didn't want to drive to the middle of nowhere in Sunderland to over pay for dinner and a show, or go to Boston or New York for fresh handrolls, Osaka was an excellent option in the mid to late 2000's, but that time appears to have passed. On the long list of businesses in criminally overpriced Northampton that have been unable to continue operation both prior to and post-pandemic, this one probably should have joined the ranks. Instead it will stay open forever due to the unshaking patronage of locals and college students to their subpar culinary offerings and borderline rude service.

After having dinner there for the second time in the past year (both times with a group of ten or more people), I can confirm that the food is nowhere near as good as it used to be, and that the quality of the service has declined to the point where I will not be returning again. From the moment you walk in, be prepared to be rushed: rushed to order a beverage, rushed to order an appetizer (that may or may not show up), rushed to order an entree, to pay, and to move along. In fact, do yourself (and the staff) a favor: review the menu before leaving the house. By making your decisions ahead of time you might be able to sit and converse with your dinner guests for five whole minutes without a server essentially harassing you until you are out the door. Our visit last night was to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my soon-to-be brother-in-law, the previous one was a birthday gathering: I guess we're expected to eat quickly and in silence for both occasions. If on either of my recent visits they were exceptionally busy I could MAYBE understand the desire to turn tables, especially several, in an expedient fashion, but in both cases the restaurant was not terribly busy, and we had made reservations in both circumstances, so the restaurant was aware that a large party was coming. Both last night and at my previous visit I ordered an item that never arrived at the table (last night it never arrived even after mentioning it had been forgotten), and was met with obvious disdain when it was clear I would not be purchasing alcohol. The overall quality of the meal was, as kids say nowadays 'mid', and did nothing to make up for the experience. It's a shame that they include a 20% gratuity on large-groups because the service was not worth the near $200 tip...