Momiji Capitol Hill — Restaurant in Seattle

This place has now become etched in my memory, and it has from now on become an absolute must visit spot during every visit to Seattle. Simple indoor decor that feels like any other Japanese place, but once the food starts to roll in, you are in for an explosion of flavor bursting inside your mouth and making all your senses come to life. Remember the movie Ratatouille and the scene with the cheese + grape = fireworks in the mouth situation? That’s what’s going to happen to you. Our server was Landin, and I want to recommend him to everyone. He did an exceptional job, and the entire time he helped us with a huge smile on his face. His recommendations were not only welcome, but they were absolutely on point. Each recommendation made the meal better and better. We started out with an out of this world appetizer of seasonal mushrooms on a bed of spinach. Simplicity at its finest, and yet it had so much umami and fragrant flavor. It was so tasty that I began to dip my pickled ginger in the juices of my appetizer just to keep savoring the ridiculous flavor. We then tried the toro (fatty tuna belly) nigiri and the yellowtail sashimi. Oh my God. The toro was basically butter. The moment you place it in your mouth it just dissolves. And the yellowtail was so tender, so pure in its simplicity, and so sweet. It was literally sweet. Just these three menu items alone were some of the best foods I’ve ever eaten, but then Landin came with some recommendations. We had a salmon sushi roll which was great, but nothing extraordinary, but then came the best sushi roll I’ve ever had in my life. It was a roll with spicy tuna inside, yellowtail on the outside with shishito peppers over it and a squeeze of lime on top as well. The spicy tuna and sweet yellowtail blended so incredibly well, and just that hint of lime is actually what made the whole thing pop in your mouth and take it to another dimension. It was a genius sushi roll combination. After that we had black snapper sashimi which was slightly more rubbery than the yellowtail but also, so sweet. These sashimi were the best I’ve ever had. We thought we’d had enough until Landin came back, asking us if we’d be willing to top it off with another one of his favorites. We obliged. It was just a spoonful. One spoon filled with things that don’t seem to go together: truffle oil, salmon roe, a quail egg. And honestly I’ve never had anything runny like that. But that was the spoonful that had me on the verge of tears…of happiness. When I put that spoon in my mouth, all of those seemingly irrelevant flavors melted together to create a true work of art. It was as if I went to space and came back to earth, in an instant. Seriously…there was a pop and burst of bold flavors in my mouth that just…worked. It was the most incredible spoonful I’ve ever had, and it was slightly sweet, slightly tangy, slightly salty - all at once. It was the absolute perfect end to one of the most incredible and delicious meals I’ve ever had. Thank you Landin for the impeccable service, and I will definitely come back every single time I’m in this...

I’m really disappointed to leave a negative review, the food was good and the atmosphere was so pretty, but unfortunately the service was not great! I took my boyfriend here for a birthday dinner, we ordered a $13 appetizer, i ordered a $25 vegetarian plate, he ordered the $65 “chefs choice” something something. he points to the menu, he specifically says the price to our server when ordering, etc. we get our food, looked great, tasted good. bill comes and i pay it without thinking much, once we leave i realize how high the bill was. $152, not including the $27 tip i left. we only drank water. I called the place today at 4, right when they open. A girl answers and we go over the bill, i explain that i had been charged for the $100 chefs choice option instead of the $65, she tells me to hold while she gets the manager. she comes back to tell me that the manager is busy and “will give me a call back in a couple hours.” it’s now 10pm. i’m in bed falling asleep. the manager calls me! yippee! she goes over the receipt and says “so you weren’t double charged for anything.” (???) so i told her I never said i was double charged, just charged for something i didn’t order. she says she called our server and that our server claimed that my boyfriend had ordered the “medium size” (we never said sizes, like i said he pointed at the $65 dollar option and verbally asked for the $65 dollar option.) manager says that there was no problem when the food came and we should have said something earlier. she also says that maybe my boyfriend decided he wanted the medium size and i guess i didn’t notice (again ???????) i told her it was our first time there so we had no idea what to look for. the menu also never mentioned how many pieces of sushi would come with each choice, and the menu didn’t list the choices as “small” “medium” or “large” just the prices for each. There were also no pictures on the menu whatsoever. she says she’s sorry but since we ate the food there’s nothing she can do. I paid almost double what i should have paid including tip. sorry for the extremely long review but all the context was needed. maybe i’m in the wrong but it seems odd that there’s nothing that can be done at all? and i felt as though i was being blamed for having “not noticed” that the wrong order came when i never knew what any of the options looked like or how many pieces were included in the...

Service was poor, which led to a mediocre meal. I mostly share reviews when I love something and want to help promote a really good business, but this is a popular enough place and there are enough reviews that sound the same as my experience that it feels worth saying something.

We came a few times when we first moved to Seattle years ago and I loved the sushi and the ambiance, so I chose it as one of my last meals before we move out of the city. The place is still beautiful, but if you go in the rainy seasons, which is most of the year, there’s no place to wait for your table. We came early to be on time for our friends and reservation and were asked to wait outside in the rain. I asked if we could order a drink at the bar and they said it was for dinner only, but we could order a drink and take it outside. They have a small canopy, but I think it’s more for shade in the summer. There’s no place to put your coat when you sit, which is sort of uncomfortable when your coat is wet. Maybe I came in the summer last time so I didn’t notice these things.

Years ago, I can remember our server being very helpful, so we enjoyed a delicious and very diverse meal. This time, our server seemed very impatient, and when we asked for recommendations, he didn’t offer us any. The menu was overwhelmingly long and not formatted for reading on your phone, which made it even more difficult to consider your options. So we just ordered a handful of reliable rolls, calamari, and ceviche, while the server hovered silently over us. The meal was fine, but nothing special.

Some of the other reviewers described their experience as passive aggressive and that’s what this felt like. It was like being led to slaughter and then moved down a conveyer belt. The host automatically tells you on arrival that you have two hours to dine, which is a customary and respectful length, but seemed both pro forma and aggressive in delivery. And then the waiter arrived promptly, but offered little help. In general, it just seemed like they didn’t want you there, or at least wanted you out as fast as possible. Nearly all of my restaurant experiences in Seattle have been amazing—I think it’s one of the things I will really miss about it. But there was no hospitality here. It just felt like going to a chain restaurant in your 20s, which is maybe what’s happening there now, so they just move people...