Kagu Ra Zaka

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  9     

Dotted with sesame seeds and drenched in the sticky, sweet teriyaki sauce, the chicken was tender and soft and cooked to perfection. We were suddenly regretting our agreement to share. Luckily we had some steamed white rice to soak up all the sauce - there was a fight for that too.

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Jul 31, 2011 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

One of my favorite Japanese restaurants. Amazing fresh sushi and sashimi, the Japanese "Peking Duck" is to die for. Lovely waitresses who can't do enough to please you. I dine here at least once a month and have never had a bad meal. Highly recommended.

Update - I returned last night after an absence of 6 months or so. To my amazement the hostess remembered that I went overseas and knew exactly what we had ordered previously (yes, we always get the same thing). The food was still amazing, fresh and delicious!

Mar 03, 2010 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  9     

Checked out this restaurant today, and we all try their bento box deals. The waitress were friendly and cheerful. Food proportion was good serve and we were full. I would have preferred my tempura to be more crispier though. Finish up with green tea ice-cream. Just a scoop in a cold tin cup. Thought the serving could have been abit more generous. Maybe next time will try their fuji-shan dessert.

Dec 31, 2009 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

This is possibly the best Japanese I've ever had in Melbourne. I went on a Sunday and had a very special dinner. The portions are quite large and the food is *superb*. The duck and fried tofu were especially mind-blowing.

And don't pay attention to the Sydneysiders. The service was absolutely delightful. We took quite a while and were the last people to leave, but the staff were quite happy to wait and let us take our time.

Dec 28, 2009 

3 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  3     

Reading previous reviews, I can't believe it was the same restaurant. We had a terrible experience at this restaurant, and found the food uninspired and completely mediocre. I cannot stress how awful and awkward the service was.

We had an incident where we were incorrectly served a tiny entree of scallops. Many of the lovely Japanese restaurants we frequent in Sydney give free starters, or tiny little tasting plates, not always, but sometimes you get lucky. It is quite a common practice. Two scallops were placed on the table, and the waitress proceeded to walk off before we could ask or make any sense of it.

We talked about it, and thought that they might have been sides for the rice, or, perhaps, a free starter. At any rate, we had it. It didn't taste too good. There was an overly sweet sauce, and it completely overpowered the scallop, but it was our first time at the restaurant. My dining partner was prophetic when he stated "We'll just pay for it if they don't charge us." And we were rather comforted at our moral highground.

The floor senior staff came over and proceeded to make anguished faces and asked us brusquely what we had just eaten, we told her. Two minutes later, the waitress who served us the scallops has obviously been crying and the head waitress has come over, and extraordinarily loudly and rudely, is telling us that "You have to pay" and that "I'm sorry, it was our mistake but you should have said it wasn't what you ordered. You ate it, so you must pay for it".

What feels like the entire restaurant stops to stare at this woman who is acting like she is charging us with the murder of small children. At this point, I have heard enough. I put up my hand and said quietly, "That's absolutely fine, we'll pay." I had to concede she had a point. They did make a mistake, but we could have asked. We could have checked. Melbourne is a different city to Sydney after all, we shouldn't have made assumptions about a restaurant we didn't know.

Besides, it is more important to avoid a scene (this is, perhaps, my cultural background coming into play), and we had decided we were going to pay for those blasted scallops anyway. She rudely continues. "No no no, I'm very sorry, but you see, if you do not pay, the waitresses must pay. So you must pay." Now, I think it is a very mean senior staff who charges the staff for their mistakes. And my point about the service is not the mistake, but this head waitresses' handling of it and extremely rude tableside lecture.

Now, no food that comes out after this can be called wonderful, but being as objective as possible, it isn't bad. It's just decidedly average for such soup-nazi service. It is also quite small in the portions. The crying waitress did nothing to add to the ambience of a shrewish floor manager.

We left the restaurant regretting having ever having set foot in the place, and pretty much apoplectic with rage and indignation at having spent our money and being treated so poorly for it.

Jul 09, 2009 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

Having just returned from Japan, this restaurant had such an authentic feel, we could almost imagine we were back in this amazing country. The staff were so attentive and genuinely seemed pleased to see customers and treat us like we were really valued. The prices were great given the ambience and service! We would have been just as happy if the prices were doubled. The food was just delicious. It was so hard to decide what to have that we got 2 entrees and 2 mains to share between two people.

This was very ambitious of us as the serving sizes were so generous. Can't wait to go back and try something else on the huge menu!

Dec 31, 2008