Miyake — Restaurant in Portland

I have visited at least 100 sushi restaurants in over a dozen cities over the years. Miyake's stands apart and simply beyond all of them in every respect. The very finest restaurants elevate food into a realm of artistic creativity, and that has always been Miyake's signature approach. But the bottom line is always about serving the most delectable and fresh food, in addition to how it is crafted and presented. You probably don't need me to tell you this -- there are many articles about Miyake in all of the best gourmet food publications. But Miyake does care as much about his customers as the reviews, so here's one testimonial:

I was lucky enough to live a few blocks away from Miyake's first restaurant when I moved to Portland in 2008 -- it was a tiny space, with room for maybe 8 small tables? But it was exceptional then, as well. I remember that the main menu was rather short, and a whiteboard offered twice as many menu options that were drawn directly from whatever Miyake had been able to purchase from the markets that day. American restaurants generally do not function on that kind of logic -- but it is the most logical approach to offering extraordinary fresh food!

We enjoyed menu options that you will never find in any other Japanese restaurant in the US -- three variations of hamachi sashimi, I recall? There was a small dish with seared pork belly and truffle oil that was also amazing. A friend and I were once served sauteed fiddlehead ramps as an extra appetizer (on the house) . . . an offering from that morning's foraging stroll. The surprises are always delightful. The smaller details also matter: I'm pretty sure they still make their own wasabi paste, and someone in his kitchen folded origami paper around all the chopsticks.

I was away from the east coast for 10 years, and finally had the opportunity to return to Miyake yesterday for an anniversary dinner with my husband -- who was no doubt tired of hearing me rave about this restaurant and ready to eat! It was, of course, an exceptional meal, and an occasion to see what the newest incarnation of what the restaurant offers. The omakase plates are at the top of the menu for good reason: this IS what anyone should order when visiting this restaurant. We sampled items from the 3 other menus (braised eggplant, duck nikuman rolls, salmon lady maki), all delectable and offered with artistic precision. We look forward to working our way gradually through the whole menu on return visits.

The restaurant is still pretty small -- you may need to reserve a few weeks in advance to find a seat. But my guess is that chef Miyaki probably checks nearly every plate that is sent out to guests to maintain the quality of those offerings -- which he can do in such an intimate space. And his staff have always been incredibly courteous and attentive, as they were last night -- something that does truly matter for this kind of meal.

And of course Pai Men Miyake is never a disappointing alternative if you miss the reservations at the main restaurant. But nothing compares to the experience here. Our gratitude to everyone who makes Miyake so...

Miyake is a very popular and hyped Portland Japanese restaurant that is supposed to be very difficult to get in to at times. We had no problem getting a 730pm reservation for two at the sushi bar for Sunday night booked one day out.

All of the hot dishes in our 4 course meal were delicious. The lobster, crab & scallop and the fried oyster & braised pork belly dishes were highlights of the night. It was fun to watch hot dishes being prepared while sitting at the bar in their combined sushi bar / open kitchen.

When placing our order with the waitress we told her that we will definitely be interested in adding on some sushi after we are done with the 4 course meal. Unfortunately, we didn't realize nor were we notified that the restaurant closes at 830pm on Sundays.

Initially our meal was paced as one would expect at such a restaurant, not hurried giving you enough time to enjoy your dishes while being able to talk and watch chefs work. Our last course was served right at 830pm on the dot and immediately as the plates were brought out we saw the staff begin the cleanup and breakdown of equipment. We asked one of the chefs if they were closing as we were planning to order additional items (sushi). We were told not to worry that we can still place our order. However, this is where the atmosphere quickly turned as we watched the staff rapidly clean up, some (including the head chef) changed into street clothes and headed out. We didn't feel like we were being rushed directly but indirectly it felt like we were no longer welcome. The best I can describe the feeling as if one was to walk into a fast food restaurant 5 minutes before they are set to close and place an order for something that has to be prepared using equipment and ingredients that were already put away for the night, awkward and uncomfortable.

Taste wise our sushi was a big disappointment. Lobster sashimi was good, scallop and tuna nigiri were good as well. Sweet shrimp wasn't sweet. Ikura plain ole bad. They had two varieties of uni, one from Peru which was bitter. I don't understand why any restaurant would serve bitter uni as nigiri, there is no excuse and it ruined my entire meal. Hokkaido uni was much better, in that it wasn't bitter but it lacked any real flavor. It wasn't sweet nor had any ocean flavor and at best could be described as being bland.

All in all before we tried the sushi even given the service experience at the end of the meal I'd come back again. However, after being served extremely underwhelming sushi I...

Was going to give this 4 or 5 stars, but lowered rating for 1 simple act. The sushi is really good, on par with the best places in Boston and most likely the best in the entire area. Get the Spicy Crab Roll... possibly one of the greatest rolls I ever tried.

Now the bad. So we were at the bar and ordered our rolls, on top of that we ordered 3 Uni, 1 Unagi and 1 Tamago. Picture this.. my wife and I are sitting there and next to use is another couple... mid 50's. So we order first and the couple next to us orders the lunch special. Turns out we see the chef preparing our Nigiri, suddenly the waitress picks it up and serves it to the couple next to us. I thought the couple next to us was going to say "These are not our dishes", but without batting an eye the couple starts to eat our Nigiri.. NO SHAME.. by this point I am thinking they ordered the exact same dishes, which in a way was somewhat weird since I overheard them say they didn't like Unagi. The sure didn't mind chomping down my food.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt thinking they did order the same thing... After about 10 min of not getting our food I notice the head chef tell the waitress and the hostess that they gave the wrong dishes to the people in front. Then about 5 min later we got our food.

Now, here is what bothered me... the hostess went up to the other couple and apologized for giving them the extra food. Not to us!! But the apologized to the other couple who shamelessly chowed down on 35 bucks worth of sushi. If there was ever a time and a place for my inner Larry David to come out it was this. But I kept calm thinking I would get at least get some sort of acknowledgment... to my surprise I didn't. Gave them a good tip and left.

Moral of the story... next time you get a wrong dish... just shamelessly stuff it in your face. You'll get a good meal...