Sushi Kappo Tamura — Restaurant in Seattle

Finally got a chance to visit one of the restaurants that had been on my list for a while, Sushi Kappo Tamura!

It is located in Eastlake side of Seattle right under I-5. Unfortunately, there’s no water view from any of the tables. I also noticed that one of my long-time favorite spots, Eastlake Grill, has been torn down, which made me a bit sad.

When I visited, there was road construction around the restaurant, which made parking more of a hassle. Parking itself is a bit tricky. The restaurant owns a few spots in the lot next door, but it’s not obvious how to get there. The easiest way to find it is by Googling this address: 3105 Harvard Avenue East, Seattle. That will take you straight to the parking lot. I am sharing this because I had to call in advance to ask about parking information for myself.

Making a reservation requires providing a credit card, and they charge $25 per person for a no-show. I wasn’t comfortable giving my card number over the phone, but they told me I could book through OpenTable instead, which felt more secure.

We were seated right away since we had a reservation. There was only one server and one manager working during Saturday lunch. Both were friendly, but our server seemed pretty disengaged. We had to ask for water refills and the check multiple times, and he kept forgetting the things we asked for. It felt like he was just going through the motions without paying attention to the tables.

Before visiting, I checked their menu online and was interested in the 3-course meal for $60 under the combination section, but it was not available for lunch. So we each ordered a sushi combo and shared the Hamtastic Roll from the specials. The sushi combo comes with miso soup, 7 pieces of nigiris, and your choice of roll - salmon, spicy tuna, or yellowtail. I picked salmon, and my friend went with spicy tuna so we could try a bit of everything.

It took quite a while for the food to come out, which surprised me given the small size of the restaurant and the number of kitchen staff I saw. The miso soup was excellent, and the sushi combo was decent. The Hamtastic roll was also fine, but considering the higher prices, I was not sure the quality matched the cost.

The restaurant is small, so it’s not ideal for group gatherings. I had pretty high expectations since it’s listed as a $$$$ restaurant, but overall the food was good, not great, especially for the price point. What bothered me more was that the staff seemed to be rushing customers to leave, which felt inappropriate for a fine-dining sushi place.

I ended up giving it 3 stars for two main reasons:

Mandatory 20% “living wage” charge. Their menu stated that "We would like to inform our guests that in place of gratuity a 20% living wage charge is included in the total (excludes take out). The house retains 100% of these charges to help fund higher wages and benefits to all staff. Additional gratuity is not expected." I understand the intention, but our server didn’t seem to care about providing good service, not just to us, but to other tables, too. He often forgot what customers asked for and never checked in. I am certainly happy to tip a hardworking and cheerful server, but when a tip is guaranteed, there is little motivation to go above and beyond, and that showed.

Sales tax applied on top of the 20% service charge. In my view, the sales tax should be calculated before the service charge, not after. Some restaurants do this to squeeze out a bit more from customers, and I found that disappointing.

Overall, Sushi Kappo Tamura is an okay restaurant, but considering the price, location, parking hassle, and service experience, I’m not sure it’s worth a return visit. I think there are plenty of other Japanese restaurants in the Seattle area that offer better value...

This was the best sushi experience I’ve had in Seattle. Not only is the five course meal exceptional and perfectly balanced, it’s the quality of the fish and the above and beyond team at Sushi Kappo Tamura that make this restaurant stand out.

The locally sourced fish is very fresh & delights the tastebuds. Buttery king salmon melts in your mouth; the cod and fresh crab in their bed of chawanmushi (savory steamed egg custard) left me dazed and contented. The albacore paired with mustard greens was whipped together by a magician - and the nuttiness of the sesame dressing tied it all together.

The seared mackerel nigiri was the star of the show, closely followed by the black cod - whose creamy texture, perfectly supple layers of meat, and masterfully glazed surface triggered the most wonderful and visceral childhood memories of an LA Japanese restaurant that had made a similar dish for me near the Biltmore Hotel nearly 20 years ago. It’s incredible how food can transport you to another time and place, no?

The team’s genuine compassion and attention to detail is what adds to the charm of the warmly lit, clean interiors of Sushi Kappo Tamura. Even the bathrooms smell wonderful (they have scent dispensers that smell of citrus & frankincense). When you enter, the chefs nod, smile and greet you.

Executive chef Taichi Kitamura’s heritage dating back to a family of restauranteurs in Kyoto, paired with his mentorship under THE Shiro Kashiba, lend him grace and excellence when creating a symphony of flavors for delighted guests. The food is prepared with pride and an exacting level of expertise. Serving bowls, brought over with care from Kyoto by the Executive Chef, paint joy in the eyes of interior design & ceramics lovers everywhere.

We were instantly set at ease the minute we sat down. Edward T’s personable style and genuine enthusiasm for the food at Tamura is infectious. To make this experience even more transcendent, manager Kristy & Edward heard about my childhood memory & generously shared the cod belly to sample. It was delightful - warm, delicate, mildly sweet, & moist - the cherry on top of an excellent 5 course meal.

To end on a sweet note, I highly recommend the housemade red bean mochi (none of those sad, pre-wrapped, stiff abominations that come frozen out of the fridge and semi-frequently haunt your run of the mill sushi spots). No. This mochi is tender, freshly made, & flash fried to create an incredible chewy texture that melds flawlessly with their in-house red bean mixture. Not too sweet, a little savory. Their butterscotch and chestnut crème brûlée is inventive and frankly delicious.

We came for the 5-course meal and left with a new feeling of levity. Because, after all, shouldn’t food and great service leave you feeling a...

I had a rather disappointing experience with the bar omakase. My advice is to not come in expecting a traditional (or typical) omakase, where you start with your fellow diners on your meal at the same time.

We arrived on time for our 7:30pm reservation, and it was obvious that the other parties were already a few courses in. We also got seated at the end of the table, far away from the main chef responsible for omakase. Another chef was stationed directly in front of us, primarily making table and to-go orders. Perhaps as a result of this setup, our chef didn't make me feel welcome and attended to. The chef kept making courses for the party next to us, leading to us having to wait for a long time at times for our next course. Our meal felt choppy and lacked cadence, which in my opinion is one of the most important elements of an omakase meal. The chef made our sushi, put them on a plate and handed it to the chef next to him, who then put our sushi on our plates. So our food was touched by two different people unnecessarily in my opinion. This other chef did not say a single word to us or even look us in the eye the entire evening, by the way, which was very off putting. Our main chef was busy talking with the party next to us the entirely evening, making me feel extremely ignored and disrespected.

Food wise, the garnishes (such as shiso) and sauces on the white fish were mostly too overpowering. Did not care for the geoduck, but it was my bad to not specify it upfront. The chutoro was excellent, and the ikura was truly exceptionally fresh albeit way too salty from the marinade. They torched the otoro, which I was skeptical about at first but surprisingly enjoyed it - it tasted almost like a steak. Our version of the $130 omakase did not include uni sushi, mackerel, and tamago, the last of which I have come to expect from a typical omakase. We did order uni a la carte, and it was good.

Our check was almost $500 after drinks and gratuities. I did not feel treated as a valued customer however, and will not return for an omakase, or ever. If you must try their omakase, I'd recommend making a reservation as early as possible so that you are more likely to have more attention...