Mayonaka Sushi — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I took my partner here because it was the only sushi restaurant open past 11:30pm in walking distance from our hotel, and I think it’s the best date spot we could have picked, no matter the time of day!! Everything was just wonderful — the fish, the cooked food, the atmosphere, the presentation, and the service. Our server was so attentive, personable, and patient. He noticed that we took videos and pictures of our first 2 dishes, so he made sure we knew to have our phone ready when he brought out the sashimi we ordered, which was just show stopping. I think this is the only restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life where everything looks more beautiful and delicious than it does on the menu. Our server also recommended a few dishes, including a beautiful house soda drink. he later told us the soda recipe and design was his own idea, which made it extra special to me!

The only difficulty was finding the place, and that’s only because Google maps is often imperfect in Saigon. The street address (175) is correct, but the pin was not in the right place on Google’s map. We just had to cross an extra street over to get to the restaurant following the street address. I am so happy that I accidentally found this place, it is...

Usually when I see a restaurant in a tourist hotspot with rave reviews, I'm pretty skeptical. However, after a visit to Mayonaka Sushi near Bui Vien Street myself, I can attest to their outstanding reputation!

The restaurant is right off Bui Vien. They have a decent amount of seating both downstairs at the bar and upstairs. Yes, the place is dimly lit so take caution at the stairs (one of their employees fell as we were coming down) but that's part of the atmosphere.

The sushi is solid. Don't expect the nigiri to be dressed like at a top-end sushi spot or real omakase where there is an actual chef who takes passion in their creations, but the fish is cut nicely in just the right amount so this works for 95% of you out there who like to drown your sushi in soy sauce anyway. The fish was fresh with no slimy aftertaste.

The prices on some of the pieces were also a great value. Compared to other sushi places nearby (I tried a couple in the area), this restaurant probably has the best prices (on some of the items), often beating others by 50%!

Anyway, I highly recommend coming here for sushi if you're looking for a great date spot with solid food that isn't taxed for being in a...

I wanted to love this place, the staff were friendly and welcoming, the restaurant looks lovely and the reviews were great. But it was just so disappointing.

We ordered salmon nigiri, the "best seller" fish furai, fried shrimp and a mixed nigiri platter. The shrimp came first, a plate of 5, and had almost certainly been frozen. Extremely thick (almost 1cm thick!) breading encasing a chalky, soft, flavourless shrimp. We had a few bites but they were virtually inedible. The two salmon nigiri were fine and the only thing we finished. The fish furai was just fried on fried and cloyingly rich, no balance or nuance and we only managed to finish half the dish. After an hour the nigiri platter still hadn't come and after the other disappointing dishes we decided to cancel it, but were told we couldn't! Another ten minutes later a different waiter came back and said they would cancel it, but it wasn't handled very well considering we'd been waiting an hour. The staff were lovely but the service wasn't super attentive either, it was an effort to get their attention each time.

I'm not sure how they have such a high rating, but we were expecting it to be at least decent and it was...