Tonight, Kevin and I decided to try out the new sushi restaurant Japonessa on First Avenue directly across the street from the SAM. It is very difficult for me to be a food critic because I love food especially the best kept secrets of this city, but I sometimes tend to be biased to my favorites. I will have a favorite sushi restaurant, a favorite dim sum joint, fast food etc until something better comes along, naturally.
Japonessa has been open for a few months and has a little bit of a Latin twist that is very noticeable in the restaurant. The decor is beautiful and the atmosphere is both lively and serene at the same time. The restaurant’s head chef, Billy Beach, has worked at a variety of restaurants in the area as well including Umi Sake House (a favorite!) and Kushibar.
Between us we ordered
- Two bowls of Miso Soup
- 4 pieces of Unagi/Eel
- 4 pieces of Sake/Salmon
- 4 pieces of Hamachi/Yellowtail
- Seattle Crunch Roll – Tuna, salmon, avocado, cream cheese, tempura’d, drizzled with sweet chili soy glaze
- Ultimate Dragon Roll – Snowcrab, avocado, cucumber, topped w/ half eel, black tobiko, drizzled with soy glaze
Overall, we kept it pretty simple tonight. In terms of pricing, rolls ranged from $12 to a whopping $20! In comparison with my favorite places Wasabi Bistro and Umi Sake House, their rolls are nowhere near the $20 mark. However, though the rolls here might be slightly larger than the others and in the case of the Ultimate Dragon Roll, we practically got the whole tail end of the eel attached to one of our rolls, we still believe we could have gotten a better deal elsewhere. The nigiri was fine, but it didn’t blow me away. My one issue with the Ultimate Dragon Roll was that it was soaked in the soy glaze. If it had even just been a slight drizzle, the soy glaze would not have been as overwhelming. Also, because it was dripping in glaze, the roll would easily come apart, making it more difficult to eat.
It is hard to give the most accurate rating because I am not a food critic. I don’t get paid to review restaurants in Seattle and I choose items off of the menu based on my preference. Maybe there are other items on the menu that are much better, but I just didn’t know. Yelp has reviewed Japonessa and the 102 ratings have determined an average of four and a half stars! Not bad. Japonessa also has a fantastic happy hour! Looks like I’ll be testing out the restaurant again soon round two?
Based on my experience:
Price: Too expensive.
Presentation: Of the overall restaurant – fantastic!
Taste: At times, nothing special nor memorable.