Sake Nomi — Restaurant in Seattle

I lived in Japan for three years, so I had the good fortune to imbibe a lot of premium sake (and a lot of cheap sake as well, TBH, haha). When my friends expressed curiosity about trying some quality sake, I knew I couldn't expect to find a good brand in the grocery store (average sake tastes astringent to me). Enter Sake Nomi. I pinged them on Facebook and they confirmed that they carried Kenbishi Kuromatsu, which I had at Wataru's and have been wanting again ever since. KK is a premium sake that tastes good warm or hot, whereas most premium sake is usually chilled.

I ended up buying Bride of the Fox as well -- my friends liked this one a lot (we collectively killed the bottle); it has a stronger presence than Kenbishi Kuromatsu, which is pleasantly mellow and smooth. They both go down like water; you have been warned.

Johnnie assisted me in the store as I browsed. Very friendly, unpretentious. Don't worry if you don't know a lot about sake (I honestly don't myself!). Sake Nomi only stocks the good stuff and they can help you find something...

The gentleman operating the place when I was there knew his stuff! My friend and I went in on recommendation from a proprietor local to him (my friend lives in California) and I'm glad he made the recommendation.

The menu is a rotating menu which I believe is changed weekly (don't quote me on that!) with the option for individual pours or flights of 3 curated sakes. The descriptions were accurate to my inexperienced palate. When I described what I was looking for, and showed some pictures of varieties I enjoyed, the gentleman recommended a few varieties, and I have to say... He's good at his job! I thoroughly enjoyed the sake he poured me, and less so the sake my friend opted for (though he was equally pleased with his selection, so the guy knocked it out of the park two for two).

If you're in the area: I highly recommend...

I came to this sake bar with high expectations for my friends birthday after seeing all the wonderful reviews but left with a sour taste in my mouth.

After talking to the worker at the bar about the type of sake I liked I decide on a sake and ordered. After tasting the sake it didn’t fit the flavor profile that I thought I had asked for.

I talked to the worker about how I didn’t really enjoy this sake, thinking about the next sake I wanted to order. But the condescending reply they came back with was; didn’t you read the description on the menu and if you want to try another one you have to pay for both of them.

After that, I felt like the worker didn’t want us there and would have rather been talking to the regular customers there. I don’t think I’ll be back even though I was looking forward to a localy...