ISSIAN — Restaurant in Seattle

I have been here twice, 1-2 years apart and the experience has changed. It used to be more expensive and a little higher quality. Prices are lower now, but the quality and portions have decreased. Almost all the sushi servings were smaller than average.

I like the menu, there is a mix of sushi, skewers, sharable plates, small plates/apps, and bowls. First time I have seen natto on a menu in the US.

The flavors are good, but decide if the atmosphere is worth it. The restaurant is noisy, and my eyes were stinging from the smoke. They needs to invest in a better ventilation system because it was incredibly smoky inside. I've never had my eyes hurt in a restaurant before. I was relieved after our meal to be out of the noise and smoke.

When you sit at the sushi bar, the sushi chef serves your food on a long wooden paddle, almost like an oar. It's novel but the paddle itself is dirty and covered in duct tape. While your food is on a plate, it just grossed me out, and having this oar in your face unexpectedly wasn't fun. I don't know if it's a special thing to like a region in Japan or something, and authentic to the experience.

It's always packed when I come to this restaurant and there's not a lot of space in between the tables and chairs. There wasn't a host for the first 15 minutes of our wait, at our most recent visit. It seems like the restaurant is short-staffed despite how busy it is.

The cleanliness could be improved in the bathroom. There were grime marks on the walls, handles of the cabinets, and around the trash can. The ceiling has water damage, and looks like something splotchy...

Came to this restaraunt on a Friday evening based on favorable reviews. Took about 5 minutes just to be acknowledged and get on the waiting list. The restaraunt does not staff a host during peak hours. In general restaraunt seemed in chaos. It took a while to get our order in and then an additonal 20 minutes for our first item to arrive. Every item arrived spaced out at sporadic times. Appetizers alone were spaced 20 minutes between plates. I have never waited so long for such small plates of food. The large sashimi plate looked nothing like the pictures online with sloppy plating. Sashimi was good but smaller than expected even for the price. The beef and rice bowl had less than an ounce of beef in it. Flavor was bland and dissapointing. At 2 hours we still had not received all of our order. The last item we would receive was a rainbow roll. The california roll underneath was absolutely rancid. Texture was like biting on a rubber band ball. There was a strong sour salty flavor. The avacado on top was degraded in a way making it obvious the roll had been frozen for some time. I have no doubt this food had expired long ago. This was by far the worst sushi item I have ever gotten, and quite possibly dangerous. I cancelled remaining items that still hadn't arrived after 2 hours...

We used to like this Izakaya place a lot. But the recent visits haven't been very pleasant. Not only the menu got trimmed, but some dishes (like mackerel collar) on the trimmed menu seem to be always out. During the most recent visit, we ordered a grilled tuna belly as a substitute to the mackerel collar. 3 things made the dish not enjoyable: 1. The "belly" part was very close to the tail so the meet was already lean and there was no belly fat at all. 2. The whole "belly" was grilled and cooked for too long and the already lean meet became even dryer. 3. The part was not cleaned well either. We thought the skin would be the only good part since usually the skin should be fatty and crispy. However the skin this time was dry and a little bitter with uncleaned scales on it. Overall very disappointed.

Other than the shortened menu and food not as good quality as before, they are short staffed so it was almost impossible to expect someone to answer the phone during busy hours. It takes some good minutes even just for anyone to come to get you on the seating waitlist.

Despite all the complaints, I will still recommend their raw fish dishes (tuna tartares, sashimi, sushi, etc.) and some of the grilled sticks. Another big pro for them is that their happy hour last till 630pm...