Taneda — Restaurant in Seattle

As soon as I stepped inside, the cozy and clean interior immediately caught my attention. From the moment we entered until we left, the chefs and servers provided friendly guidance and attentive service, which made us feel genuinely welcomed.

We ordered the sake flight, and the combination of sake with the rich, fatty fish—characteristic of the winter season—was outstanding. For about two and a half hours, an uninterrupted stream of delicious dishes was served right in front of us, offering both freshness and exceptional taste. Every dish was crafted with such precision, each resembling a piece of art.

However, my rating is 4 stars for two reasons.

Location When we arrived at the address provided, it was challenging to determine if Taneda was located there, as there was no clear signage on the exterior. Additionally, there were around seven homeless individuals gathered near the building entrance, possibly seeking shelter from the rain. Some of them were smoking cannabis, which made my wife feel quite uncomfortable. By the time we left at around 10 p.m., the number of individuals had increased, which added to the uneasiness.

Food While the richness of the winter-season fish was delightful for me, it was less enjoyable for my wife, who doesn’t drink alcohol. The lack of dishes to balance out the heaviness of the fatty fish left her feeling overwhelmed by the greasiness by the end of the omakase course.

In conclusion, Taneda delivers an exceptional omakase experience in terms of food and service, but there is room for improvement in terms of its location and menu composition. Nonetheless, it’s a place I would recommend to any...

Classy but not snobby, relaxed but not solemn or oppressive. Taneda was a fantastic meal in an intimate space.

Chef Taneda has created a welcoming and approachable environment that clearly doesn't lack superlatives in local restaurant circles. He has good energy, humor, and descriptiveness - providing a good explanation of each course, including ingredients and preparation methods.

The course menu was diverse and every dish in our lineup felt like it had a purpose for being there. All of the courses tasted delicious and luxurious, and the quality of the ingredients was evident. One differentiator for me was despite the plethora of great raw fish in Seattle, occasionally some of the less pleasant notes of a piece of sashimi can be accentuated by what you're drinking with your meal (especially beer and sake). Whether by luck or design, every piece of perfect sashimi or sushi during those courses was only elevated and transformed by Taneda's sake pairings (and even my beer). Mackerel tasted richer, the sweetness of hirame was deepened, and tuna was meatier paired with their selection of sakes.

I'll refrain from specific thoughts on the food since each seating could ostensibly be different.

Service was attentive, serving different types of sake to my fiancée and me during each stage of the sake flight so we could try more variety. When a chopstick accidentally got knocked off the table, a new pair of chopsticks presented themselves immediately without having to ask.

It was definitely worth the effort and cost to experience in my opinion. If only it weren't so difficult to get a...

First off, I just want to say that I know Taneda-san personally, in that my husband worked with him sixteen years ago at a sushi restaurant.

When we decided to visit Seattle (we no longer live there) for Thanksgiving break, we really wanted to try out Taneda-san's new restaurant.

We read online that reservations seemed really hard to get, so we set up an official Tock account and entered all our credit card information in advance. When the reservations opened up, we immediately logged in to Tock and tried to get a reservation. We were happily surprised when we snagged a reservation for when we'd be in town!

We are not bots, and we did not get any preferential treatment when making a reservation. I guess we just got supremely lucky to get a reservation on our first try! I say this not to rub it in anyone's face who has been trying for many times, but perhaps as encouragement that it's not impossible to get a reservation.

Taneda-san and his staff offer a welcoming dining experience from beginning to end. Omakase can be an intimidating experience, but Taneda-san is open to answering any questions about ingredients. He takes time to describe how each dish was prepared and how seasonality was taken into consideration.

One of the highlights of the meal was tasting ingredients I've never had before.

Our evening at Taneda is one we'll...