Kamonegi — Restaurant in Seattle

Was super excited to hear Chef Soma opening up a new soba restaurant after leaving Miyabi 45th, as there is no other soba restaurant that I know of in the Seattle area, so finally go to try it out a few weeks after it opened. It was everything I expected and more, and feels up there to the one Michelin star soba restaurant I went to in Tokyo so will definitely be back.

Came on a rainy Saturday, so there was immediate seating at the chef counter for one. If you are in a large group you should call ahead as the website said to get a reservation, but there is space set aside of walk ins if you want to risk it. Though its a small restaurant, it feels pretty intimate with a open kitchen that's fun to watch the chefs work.

It had all of the traditional soba dishes that I expected, with alot of more appetizers and side dishes that can be pretty traditional to very inventive dishes, so will definitely come back to try out some more dishes. What I ordered this time was the beef tongue oden, the braised pork belly, and the kamonegi soba. The beef tongue oden, comes with daikon, soft boiled egg and Japanese mustard. The oden flavor didn't sink in to the ingredients as I normally expect in an oden dish with the daikon being a little bland, but the beef tongue was the most tender I ever had and works great with the Japanese mustard. The braised pork belly comes with kimchi and a sweet soy sauce, it what you expect out of braised pork belly, but the kimchi was the star of the dish, very flavorful. The soba, is a duck soba with both duck sausage, and slices of duck with leeks in the broth. You can get it with either cold noodles for dipping or hot noodles in the broth already, I went with the noodles. This is a very classic Japanese preparation and tasted just like I had it in my last trip to Japan. Finally I had a tempura Oreo, with a chef recommend sweet and spicy plum wine, it probably my favorite thing on the night, especially with the wine as it match well with the dessert and the spicy after taste is great after all...

I will edit/delete this review if I hear back from ownership:

In short, I’ve dined at Kamonegi 3 times. While the portions are small, I do enjoy the food. It’s hard to find soba like this outside of Japan. I also empathize with the cost of ownership of a hospitality business in Seattle.

With that, and per the mentions in other reviews of the mandatory 20% service charge, I expect the service to be excellent and kind at every aspect of the patron journey.

I walked into Kamonegi to book a reservation at 4:15pm on a Wednesday. The restaurant had at most 25% of its first seating in house - it wasn’t busy. I inquired about a table for 4 on Friday. The person who was assisting me appeared to be a manager or the GM. After vocalizing my request, he proceeded to brush me off to “welcome” (in quotes because I’ve been greeted with more grace at an NYC bagel shop bodega than the greetings I received and witnessed here today) 3 other parties who walked in after me.

I’m failing to understand the “nuisance” I created with such a simple request that takes no more than 30 secs to be ignored, but hey, we all have our bad days and I remained patient with a smile on my face.

After this Kamonegi manager/GM reverted his attention back to me, he pulled up the Tock availability/scheduler on the point of sale system, which showed open slots at 4pm and at 9pm. I say “Ok great, I’ll take the 4pm slot.” To that, he replies, “ok you can go ahead and book it on our website” while holding this tone body language of coldness and annoyance that portrayed this vibe that I didn’t belong and to GTFO.

Not ok - especially at this price point. You’re in the hospitality business: While I understand the purpose of mandating high service fees and reservation deposit fees - those fees need to accompanied by nothing but excellent service, and at the bare minimum, kindness and HOSPITALITY.

…..and who are we kidding - at the end of the day, we’re selling soba noodles …as if they’re being sold out of a hyper-exclusive German night...

It is a little price-y ($$$ // mid-$20 for an entree and a required 20% service fee, whereas I'm more of a $/$$ kinda person), but the quality of the food, the service, and the ambience are all worth it. (Aside: I support the service fee. I don't think people should rely on tips for a living wage. I mention it because it may not be apparent to people who have not visited before)

I came here to celebrate a birthday and we ended up in a corner, which was a nice intimate/tucked away spot to enjoy each other's company. I don't remember our server, but I loved how his recommendations felt genuine -- like he was enthusiastic (but not excessively so) about the food here. He was totally spot on with his appetizer, main course, and sake recs.

Eggplant Tempura: really beautiful dish, great contrast between the creamy/sweet eggplant, the earthy mushroom, the dashi-based sauce, and the cool radish Kamonegi Soba: the duck and the sauce were extremely tasty; I can't remember enjoying duck that much in a while. The soba had a very enjoyable springy and chewy texture. Cabin in the Snow sake: really nice balanced dry sake that worked well with the flavors of our meal

I would not come here on the weekend UNLESS you had a reservation. It is a relatively small space, and they do use their space well -- a few different seating settings throughout the building (bar seating, tables and chairs, a few different rooms so you have some privacy). I saw multiple people walk away because they didn't want to chance a long wait.

That aside, my date and I both thought the food was delicious and satisfying. Some reviews mentioned being disappointed by the amount of food. Soba just isn't a type of food you eat if your goal is to be stuffed to the brim! We left too full to order dessert (but probably could squeeze it in if we really tried) but not so full that we collapsed into a food coma afterward.

I would come back here for a "nicer" dinner or for my birthday. Yes, that's a very...