Golden Gai — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Personally, I think Golden Gai butchers and appropriates the meaning of Izakaya to be a fancy expensive small eats place. Izakayas are supposed to be a comfortable and inexpensive stay-drink-place. Emphasis on inexpensive when the restaurant is itself not that at all.

When the take home Sugarfish style sushi boxes started the restaurant, I thought there was great potential. Now that I've eaten there, I think the food is ok, but the expectations I've had of the restaurant have been brought back to planet earth.

I understand that this is an Izakaya, so the sushi was never going to be the center of the restaurant anyway. So if you were to order the sushi, just note it isn't the center of the menu. While the fish quality is sky high like one or two other places in Pittsburgh, the fish cuts are incredibly sloppy. It totally ruins the sushi experience. Yes, the soy sauce here is probably best in the area. Yes, the wasabi is probably the best in the area. But the fact that the sushi cut (well... Sashimi) was cut so thinly for $42 is concerning. The presentation of the sashimi is very similar to Nakama in Southside, which is exactly what they should not model their restaurant from. So probably get their nigiri instead.

We also ordered their chirashi bowl. I don't recommend it. The problem of it is the price for what you get. It is more like a poke bowl instead. Chirashi should be simple sushi slices with rice. They instead cut 2-3 cuts of different fish super thinly and add flavoring to it that shouldn't be in a chirashi, then call it a chirashi. It's like me adding popcorn and gummy worms in shaved ice, ice cream, and evaporated milk, then calling it halo-halo when in fact it's a butchered parody of a halo-halo. Like my halo-halo metaphor, the chirashi bowl is really a parody of a chirashi bowl, and the $21 is further putting fuel in a fire that shouldn't have even started.

As far as actual izakaya options, we had the karaage and yakitori negima. For what you get, the price is high, but then again we are also fighting a bird flu pandemic. The karaage was low quality regardless of price, which is absolutely upsetting for an izakaya. In addition, the chicken skin in the yakitori is whacko, especially coming from a Filipino head chef where we specialize in amazing chicken chicharon. Golden Gai's rendition was overly burned and still rubbery. The experience was so disappointing that I even recommend avoiding the standard izakaya options entirely.

The redeeming factor of the restaurant was the dessert brownie. It is the absolute star of the menu. It's so good.

I'm bummed about at the branding of the restaurant. It sees itself as an Izakaya, when it is in fact not an Izakaya in any sense of the word. While the food is ok, I don't think the price justifies it. The brownie and sky high quality fish and sushi condiments save the restaurant's food rating, even if the sushi presentation isn't up to par for the price and ambiance.

My final advice to the restaurant is to either....

Redo the entire menu to make the drinks (which are great) and izakaya options the center of the menu and make the izakaya options much much much much cheaper like a certain competing restaurant near Target. Keep the actual dinner options as premium options on the side, and keep the dinner option prices high as they are right now. The expensive dinner options should offset the cheap izakaya options.

Or... Just scrap the izakaya branding entirely. Because the restaurant isn't an izakaya. And streamline the menu because it is too confusing and expensive...

We made this reservation like 6-7 weeks ago and had been patiently waiting to get here.

First let me say the vibe is incredible, the music playlist, the feeling of the space, the curated decorations and everything about the space I love it, it’s modern and fresh and just was my vibe for sure.

They have a very extensive whiskey, sake, and cocktail list. A lot of really cool craft cocktails and mocktails. My wife got the Mount Fuji cocktail - shaved ice on an antique Japanese ice shaver, it tasted almost like a Dutch apple pie in a drink with the cinnamon and apple flavors. I chose to have a Knob Creek 25th anniversary single barrel pour.

We ordered everything basically like tapas. The nigiri plate (we added the Toro to it) was fantastic, fresh, and delicious, the hamachi was particularly flavorful, the soy sauce was amazing as well.

We ordered the gyoza and oh man, crispy, flavorful, and the dumpling sauce was out of this freaking world. 100% was amazing and among the best I’ve had.

The chicken Yakitori was our least favorite dish of the night, not because it was bad, simply it just didn’t live up to how great everything else was. The chicken skin was ok, the thigh was the best by far, and the chicken meatball was flavorful.

The wagyu and potatoes was so good. The wagyu and sauces were so delicious and tender, the potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft inside, the white sauce paired perfectly with them.

The pork belly fried rice was incredible. The rice was soft and a little sticky, the egg yolk was perfect and rich, and the pork belly melted in your mouth. 100% need to order this if you come.

The soy brownie with miso caramel. My lord you guys, this was just an absolutely amazing end to the night. The caramel was to die for.

I absolutely can not wait to come back and have more. They knocked this one out...

What an unforgettable experience we had here. We had reservations from over a month previously setup. We had early reservations in order to avoid the later dinner rush, and half the restaurant was still available when we arrived. And yet, we were seated at the most atrocious seating I have ever seen in any establishment, from dive bar to gas station.

It was an anniversary dinner we were excited to enjoy that turned into a miserable experience because of the seats we had been given.

I was staring at a giant vase unable to see any of the restaurant. My partner was seated half way into the kitchen area with a marvelous view of the rice cooker. The staff was either standing next to or constantly moving by my partner and almost grazing her shoulder. She could clearly hear operations staff discuss the next months plans for the restaurant as we were dining.

I asked my partner if she wanted to leave, despite the fact she was also upset at our seating, but she wanted to give them a chance to correct the situation. We asked to be moved and were offered the seats immediately next to us that had no real improvement.

To emphasize that point, two others that came in almost 30 minutes later and sat in the seats we were offered; which to add insult to injury, they were moved all the way to the other side of the restaurant with a great view. This preferential treatment was so insulting, that even our server had to admit that he had no idea why they were moved and we weren’t. Making us feel completely unwelcome as an establishment, I have to say this is the worse Deshantz restaurant experience I’ve ever had, despite having been a long time fan of theirs,

I can only hope this unforgettable black mark makes them feel like the dunce of the class like having to sit at the worst seat I’ve ever sat in my life...