Shigezo Izakaya — Restaurant in Portland

We ordered a total of nine dishes: Okonomiyaki, tsukemono, sunomono, takoyaki, shio kara-age, shrimp tempura, Okinawa ramen, spicy tuna roll, spicy scallop roll.

The Good: Service was very prompt and well-timed, giving us plenty of time to finish dishes as they came without leaving us waiting for long. The okonomiyaki was fluffy, but not too light and very flavorful. The takoyaki was also delicious, as was the shrimp tempura.

The Okay: The tsuke- and sunomono weren't bad, though the tsukemono was nothing but nappa and carrots; some daikon or cucumber would have been very welcome as well. The spicy rolls were neither the best nor the worst I've had; they simply were.

The Bad: The shio kara-age had a good flavor and the breading had a nice crunch. I could hardly chew the chicken itself though; next time take it off heat two or three minutes earlier, before it starts to really toughen up.

The Worst: It brings me great pain to say that my least favorite dish of the evening was the Okinawa ramen. Okinawa style is one of my favorite ways to eat Japanese noodles, so I expected great things from this dish and was sorely disappointed. The short ribs were cooked perfectly and fell off the bone, and the noodles had a good firm texture. However, both my dining partner and I remarked that the broth was completely indistinguishable in flavor from Oriental Top Ramen. This flavor covered almost all the flavors of the rest of the dish, with the exception of the red ginger. It's a delicate balance, balancing the flavor of the broth with the other ingredients while making sure it complements them without overpowering them, and today we ended up with a $13 bowl of Top Ramen.

There are some gems at this restaurant for sure, but considering we went three for nine today, I would tread carefully should you...

The reason why I only give 2 stars is that we have had some pretty bad experiences with the customer service. We reserved a table for a very large group a month in advance and thought that everything was fine, since we were not told otherwise. However, we called a few days before our visit again to extend the reservation for some additional guests, we were told send them a list of what we want to eat, which we thought was unusual but okay, so we gave them a list of what our 20 + people wanted to eat within 24h I am not going into detail how hard it is to reach everyone within 24h but okay… The next day the we called again and gave them the preorders from their menus and suddenly we were asked to pay for all of it in advance, because thats their policy for larger groups of people, they said.funny that no one asked us for any of that the 4 weeks earlier when we made that reservation, nor did they tell us anything about that the other times we have called them since then. At this point it was to late the cancel the reservation for this large group, because we were told that 2 days before the event. The manager blamed all on the new staff that doesn’t know about that „policy“ however with no word you can read anything about that on their homepage. What would have happened if we didnt add any extra guests and just showed up there with our reservation? In my eyes this was just poor planning on their side and they tried to blame it on everyone else but the ones who are actually responsible.

Its sad, because their food was pretty delicious and the service was fast, however all of the stress and hard time before will result in a one...

I frequent Portland for business and generally stay for several nights in downtown. I am a big Asian cuisine fan and try different restaurants while in town. This was the first time ordering food togo. I generally come in, look at the menu, have sake while I am waiting for my order. Now, I always order the best cold sake, sashimi and some rolls, never being cheap about my selection as well as tipping 20% even for a to go orders as the chief, waiters should be paid for their services. When leaving the restaurant, I asked a caucasian bald waiter if I could have some extra ginger, I forgot to ask while I was waiting. This waiter, was not friendly and said, "it would be a dollar extra!" I was honestly shocked, I said, "never mind." My bill was around $119.00 plus 20% tip. Wouldn't you think it wasn't too much to ask for some extra ginger and without the attitude. I generally do not waist my time writing a review but on this occasion, it really bothered me. The waiter that took my order, a young Asian fellow, super nice and helpful. The caucasian guy, not so much. I noticed him to be super serious, not so friendly, observing. Well, he proved to be exactly that. There is a lot of competition in downtown PDX with really good Sushi, Japanese restaurants that I believe it is essential that you treat the customers decently. I was not asking for much and spent some money for one person, with that being said, he is the reason I will not be returning to your restaurant. PDX has some terrific people, super nice for a metropolitan area, so I was shocked by his demeanor. Sadly...