Sushi Kashiba — Restaurant in Seattle

Came in on a Monday for the 5:00PM chefs counter omakase. Arrived at 4:45PM and got seated right away. Got lucky in being seated with chef Shiro Kashiba.

Service was great, 5 stars. Each course was perfectly timed. Chef wiped our sushi plate after each course, water was refilled before it was empty, and any finished dishes were removed from the table almost immediately.

Atmosphere was okay, 4 stars. Decor is modern and clean, place is well lit with natural light during the daytime. Sound level is a little louder than most other sushi restaurants so it was a little difficult to hear the chef. Sushi display case was blocking the chef’s prep counter so you don’t really get to see them making the food unless you are in the first 4 seats in the back corner.

Unfortunately, the food was just okay, 3 stars. Sushi is prepared traditional Japanese style, meaning no fancy toppings, seasonings, or sauces. FYI, this also means you are not provided with soy sauce for dipping the sushi yourself. Ultimately, the fish is fresh, but plain and simple. Adding on to this note, the selection of nigiri was nothing fancy in my opinion (and they do not really welcome any changes or requests- with the exception of allergies). If you take a look at the a la carte menu, the fish given are pretty much all the same as the regular menu, with only a few of the nigiri being special MP items. Also, if you read older reviews, the omakase items have not changed very much (if at all) over the years, making it a little less unique.

Sushi is served as sets. 23 items total. The meal started off with a negitoro hand roll. Then salmon set: sock eye, king, and seared king belly. After this was the tuna set: albacore, blue fin, fatty tuna, and marinated tuna. Agedashi tofu. Then white fish set: sea bream, striped jack, and flounder. Next shellfish set: sweet shrimp, geoduck, uni, and seared scallop. Miso soup. Last set: horse mackarel, pickled herring, flounder fin, and smoked king mackerel. Meal was finished off with unagi and tamago. I was too full to keep going, but those who ordered the additional 3 pieces received: albacore belly, oyster, and seared blue fin tuna collar.

Total price: $175 + tax and automatically added 20% service charge = $231 without drinks.

Overall, not a bad experience but I’ve definitely had better. If I had to re-order a la carte, I would really only choose a handful of the items that were served. This place is good for beginner or intermediate sushi eaters, but for avid sushi enthusiasts you likely will not be amazed. Glad I tried it, but probably...

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Came here 7 years ago for my first omakase experience and was blown away. Have since thought about that meal often and dreamed about it and hoped to come back. Sometimes when we build something up in our head, we over romanticize it, but that was not the case with kashiba. Better yet, I was lucky enough to be served by Shiro himself! He is sweet, he is kind, he is funny and he shares such great information throughout the meal and answered some questions as well! I dined on a Saturday (shiro only works Wednesdays and Saturdays). The omakase bar is first come first serve. The first person in line arrived at 2:30pm (they open at 5). I was the 4th party in line but because the 2nd party was a party of 4, they got bumped over to a different sushi chef (since each chef only serves 4 guests) so I lucked out and got to be with shiro. I got in line at 3:45pm so I really didn’t have to wait that long (certainly not as long as I expected for a nice Saturday afternoon). Around 20-30 min prior to opening, someone came out to greet those of us in line, get our names and number of people in our party and offered us a drink menu to look over (they then got our drink orders prior to entering the restaurant) and the hospitality was def felt through this process and making sure they knew our names going forward. On 3/18/2023, the omakase was $175/p (for 21 pieces) and there was an option to add some specialty pieces on towards the end for $30 more which shiro asked how we were doing (fullness wise and asked if we would like to do the additional pieces or not). I was pretty full but I couldn’t say no to shiro and I am glad I didn’t…they were some of the best bites of the night (including a special firefly squid bite which apparently has a very short season it’s available and was so delicious and unexpected in flavor…wasn’t sure how I’d like it by the look of it but it was phenomenal. We also got served a fish collar bite-AMAZING, and otoro). The experience was a little different than my first one…we were served sushi in groups of 3/4 pieces but I enjoyed how they did it; started with all salmon varieties, then tuna varieties, then white fish, then shellfish, then mackerel, then the special add ons if you elect to, then the final bites (more dessert like with the eel and tamago (egg). I tried to chew so slowly to enjoy it all. It was a truly unique and special experience. One I recommend to anyone! Especially on Wed/Sat’s...

The sushi was good, no doubt, but the overall experience wasn’t as good as the other omakase I had. There are cocktail bar dining table area and the sushi counter seatings. The cocktail bar area are a bit noisier than normal sushi restaurants. And because the cocktail bar are close to the sushi counter, this made it hard to hear the sushi chef. There were four sushi chef at the sushi bar, Shiro himself was serving the first 5 people, explaining and interacting more in depth with the customers. Our chef was next to him, serving the next 4 people, he had to repeat to us what he was serving per 2 people group, and it was still hard to hear sometimes. The other two chefs each serve 2 customers only. So I guess they can hold up to 14 customers at the sushi bar. Since there were little to no conversation with the chefs, everyone ate so quickly other than the 5 people with Shiro was serving. This kind of pressured me to eat faster, and not taking my time to enjoy each piece of nigiri. The sushi were serve in groups with themes: salmon, tuna, white fish, shell fish, mackerel, and dessert. This was an interesting way of serving which I had not experienced before. However, this way of serving also make me feel like I need to hurry and finish the whole set once it’s served, rather than taking some break between each nigiri. The fish selection felt more generic, perhaps because the store is located in a touristy area, targeting general public taste. There wasn’t any fish that’s specially selected by the chef that I have not heard before. Nothing crazy that some people may love and others will hate. The flavoring of the nigiris are also on the simpler side, not creative or innovated. Total of 21 courses (1 hand roll + 20 nigiri) with a egg tofu and a miso soup for $160 + tax + 20% gratuity. There’s an option of adding $30 for three more fatty nigiri, but I was so full already. The sushi and price point was good, but it’s not the best omakase experience I had. I did get to see the legend Shiro Kashiba, though unfortunately not able to get...