Izakaya Unatoto Việt Nam — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

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With their expansive menu and locations scattered throughout the city, there’s no better place for big groups. Through the winding stairs and tight hallways, our private room was the epicenter of a Japanese feast, starting with an intriguing unagi rice with a tea-based broth. The soft, fluffy rice welcomes the subtly umami broth with open arms, offering a mellow richness that pushes focus to the pieces of eel. Brushed with a sweet and savory unagi sauce, it melds with the fat to melt in your mouth, along with sesame seeds and seaweed flakes for just the right aromatic finish. The comforting promise of salmon sashimi also serves as a litmus test for their freshness, not bad at all. However, my eyes were more on the Japanese eel omelette and crab miso, where chances to try it in my hometown are few and...

The food here was okay (6-7/10). It didn't meet my expectations based on the number of reviews and ratings on Google Maps. However, the staff was friendly and nice.

Here’s what I had: Crispy Salmon Skin Salad: The sauce didn’t adhere well to the salad, and the salmon skins were hard and chewy (5/10). Salmon Sashimi: It was okay, but the fish wasn't fresh enough (7/10). Karaage Chicken: This was the highlight, it was tender, juicy, and served hot (9/10). Unagi Rice: It had a good portion, but it wasn't the best unagi rice I've had; the rice was a bit clumsy (8/10). Grilled Saba: This did not meet my expectations. The fish was too oily, resembling fried rather than grilled, and it tasted more like frozen fish than...

Cute restaurant with cute characters and even a diy oragami chopstick rest! Looks like a tiny pla e from the street but there is actually plenty of room inside, air con and away from the noise.

Food was pretty good, not outstanding but still very good, I had "Set 2" selection of skewers including the eel, as well as the Karaage Chicken and a really delicious Yuzu whisky Highball. More food than I could eat, so value for money is excellent. About 490k.

Service was a little vacant... once seated, I had to approach the waiter to order and pay. In some ways it was nice to be left alone 😅 but also - please come take my order!

I will be back for sure, food came out quickly and the eel really was...