Fresh User Reviews for Japanese in Melbourne

5 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  1      Value  5     

A lovely lunch with friends was quickly and effectively ruined by the rudeness of one of the wait staff over splitting the bill at the end of the meal when it was explained clearly and agreed to by the wait staff that this would be ok when first coming into the restaurant.

Despite some lovely food, rude service is such a turn off that I will never go back to Shoya again, nor recommend it to anyone for whom courteous service is as important as good food.

May 27, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

One of my favourite places to eat. Yes you have to wait because they don't accept bookings, yes if you've never heard of this place its hard to find and yes there's so much hype about this place but it's because it's worth it! Wonderful sashimi, wonderful soft shell crab, an extensive choice of saki and very cool underground surroundings. Prices match the food and service and everybody who enjoys Japanese cuisine Must try Izakaya Den at least once!

May 24, 2012

6 Average

Food  6      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  5     

We had ala carte, didn't try the teppanyaki. We tried salmon sushi, that was okay. But the tempura is a bit below standard as some of the batter is uncooked. The nasu dengaku was nice. Overall we felt it was very overpriced.

May 20, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  4     

First time I eat at Nobu with colleagues from work, and tried the signature black cod, Omg, utterly amazing. Overall Nobu is a great modern take on japanese with lots of modern fusion thrown in.

The service at our table was outstanding that night. Ambience wise, the restaurant is average at best, and prices are a little on the high side (for what you get). Would I go there again? Absolutely.

May 17, 2012

3.3 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  2      Service  3      Value  1     

Surprisingly Disappointing. Thank goodness we went there on a voucher deal. First few courses were served altogether, then the wait grew out 40 minutes between courses as our poor chef was cooking for 5 sets of other guests all at once. Very smokey from food fumes, perhaps, the big extractor fans are for aesthetics only.

Our drinks took 15 minutes each time from ordering, if you could find a scarce waiter. We spoke to 2 other couples who will never return either, one on a voucher, but, unfortunately, the other were there on their wedding anniversary, who ended up paying over $500 for a dinner for 2, only to be bitterly disappointed. Poor Kobe Jones, does he not have a PR rep looking for feedback? We're regular Japanese diners, our advice, stick to South Yarra or Brighton Teppanyaki.

May 07, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  6      Value  6     

We enjoy dining here but its best to book because they can get caught out by being understaffed. Love the entertainment of Teppanyaki with the family, a great night out for food and laughs.

May 06, 2012

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

My partner and I went there for celebration. The food was good, as was the service.

May 06, 2012

5 Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  6     

Cheap but not very good. Food is edible but a real lack of attention to detail and many "japanese" dishes served here are bastardisations of the originals. I won't be back. Suggest there are many better Japanese options with 200 metres of this place.

May 04, 2012

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

The food is lovely. The price fine. The service good. We arrived at 745 on a hot Saturday night. Famous for a reason.

May 01, 2012

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  1      Service  2      Value  1     

I took my Husband there for his Birthday (costing $155.00 each) expecting something special. No it was not. The wine was overpriced the courses were small. The service was so so. I would never recommend them to anyone.

Apr 29, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Wow this was the find of the year! A chippy with a twist. Delicious Japanese food combined with fish and chips I am in heaven! These guys are absolutely passionate about what they do they have traveled to Japan frequently and it shows. I love the Bento boxes, the fish and chips and don't go here without ordering the vegetarian takoyaki balls they are amazeballs! Footscray has a little secret gem make your way to Essex Street you won't be disappointed!

Apr 27, 2012

2 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

Do not bother, the service was appalling, the drink prices are a rip off, the food served whilst tasty did not really excite. In fact I would suggest there are many better value establishments to eat at.

Do it be taken in by any of the coupon deals offered by this business. We felt we did not receive the value as promised by the so called deal. Lastly, the staff, who, offered no service, could not even work out why there was no tip added to the bill instead they seemed confused with the whole process at best.
In a few words... Give Kobe Jones a miss.

Apr 25, 2012

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  1     

One of the worst Japanese meals I've ever had. Warm sushi (a capital offence), greasy tempura (you could taste the oil!), wafu steak swimming in brown water (sauce?) and not surprisingly the wait staff didn't speak a word of Japanese.

Apr 21, 2012

3.3 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  1     

At the end of our meal, my friend and I looked at each other and asked the same question, what did they do right? Unfortunately, the list of what was done right was rather short. We had the 'Crab and Waygu menu' on a voucher. So going through the menu let's look at it.

The flaming No. 1. Special is good and tasty but if they don't blow torch the top of it enough then it is cold on the inside, as mine was. It looks flashy to cook but it's not that difficult. I can't even remember the daily appetiser and the hot mushroom salad was good, it was one of the few good things. The sashimi was old. It was tough and it was not fresh. It may have been cut that day but it had not been done in the last hour so the salmon was that dull washed out colour and the kingfish was grisly.

Alaskan crab was okay but served in the shell? Really they shelled it and put that on the plate as garnish which made the entire thing a bit messy. The sorbet was okay and the wagyu was also good but came with a single asparagus piece and one mushroom. Then they served garlic rice, what was the point. Garlic rice by itself? It was filler. A gesture to say opps, let's fill you up now. But all I felt was "yuk, shouldn't I have something to go with this?" Dessert was okay but the miso soup was simply standard.

Service wise they rushed through the first few courses then we were deserted left wondering what was happening. It was very disconcerting. The cooking was very flamboyant with everything that could possibly be flamed, flamed. But at the same time, they deliberately cooked away from some of the groups. And the delineation was quite interesting.

I like Kobe Jones, I really do. But for a place that wants to be an upmarket teppanyaki place in Melbourne, it fails on so many levels. Go somewhere else for decent teppanyaki as you might get less flashy cooking but you will get far better value.

Apr 20, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  5     

Food is alright, but not worth the price. Service is below average.

Apr 18, 2012

4.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  7      Value  4     

Let's get right to the point. It's around a week now since I visited this establishment and my main recollection is of the absolutely filthy red carpet on the stairs, the sparse furniture and lack of ambience. On the other hand our waitress was very sweet. The food was average and prices above average. 10/20. Not recommended.

Apr 16, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

First you have the wrong adress for this restaurant on you site, its moved to the World trade centre.

Just wanted to say had not been there for a while but found it last Saturday night. The new format was great chose to have the teppanyaki.

Despite some loud mornon the table with his mates that thought he knew everything about everything (get them some times; we had a very pleasent meal in fact great.

I am writing becasue I find it interesting how trestuarants dela wityh those situations and recover. In this case that customer was not going to be happy no matter what they did and they tried.

For what it is worth in my mouth, the food was terrific and setting great, will go again without the negative entertainment and will take a group and. We had this thing called a Wagyu roll whihc was thinhly sliced wagy filled with vegetables rolled and cut. it was mouth watering and a highlite ofthe meal on top of everything else.

Apr 16, 2012

5.5 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  5     

My lovely partner and I recently stayed at Melbourne, and one day while scouting the Crown Casino repertoire of dining establishments, we decided on an impromptu luncheon at Nobu. The thing is, we have long since known about Nobu and was even going to dine at one of their American branches whilst in the States last year, so it is funny that we stumbled across their Melbourne branch as a random happenstance.

The day we decided to have lunch at Nobu was in fact Easter Sunday, so as we were seated were then advised that only the dinner menu was available. This would have suited my fancy more so if this was advertised before we took our seats, as truthfully this may have changed our minds. But, that’s probably the smarts of it all, credit to Nobu for hooking us in!

We ordered their signature yellowtail sashimi with jalepeno, which I must say was utterly divine. We also ordered the sashimi tacos, squid pasta (that had no pasta?) and the prawn and lobster dish, which were all Ok at most. But the stand out was their “special” of the day, a cold pasta dressed in a light oil sauce with snow crab. This special is not on the menu, but that dish was definitely my favourite Nobu dish.

The prices are quite high for what you get. I understand it is in a sought after location and is a “Nobu” branch. Aside from the yellowtail sashimi and the special crab pasta, the food was Ok, dressed up and overpriced. Also, the actual restaurant looked a little run down and dated. The service was also all over the place, our main waiter was good, but were 3 times 2 different waiters brought us someone else’s food, and one of our dishes also went to another table before getting to ours. Overall, Nobu is nothing impressive.

Apr 16, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  5     

My lovely partner and I stayed in Melbourne recently and heard Shoya was a good quality Japanese restaurant, so we decided to give it a go. We opted for the traditional Japanese seating style room which was quite nice and private. We decided to spoil ourselves and chose the $180pp Omakase degustation. ($180 did seem expensive considering the portions. I understand it is fine dining, but the portions did seem quite "petite" opposed to many comparable fine dining establishments we have dined at).

We had a lovely waiter who served us for most of the evening. He was very informative and warm, and very efficient in effortlessly taking off his slippers to serve our food and drinks.

All the dishes was wonderfully presented, some in very innovative ways! The food was delicate, beautiful and clean, the way good Japanese fare should be. Even though I have had sashimi uncountable amount of times (even in Japan), Shoya’s sashimi (that was served in a fantastic ice bowl) was one of the freshest, best cuts of sashimi I have ever had in a restaurant, and matched with the “real” wasabi that was grated from the wasabi root in front of us. Sublime!

Overall we were happy with our overall dining experience at Shoya and do recommend it.

Apr 16, 2012

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

I visited Kobe Jones Melbourne on Saturday night for my birthday, there were 7 of us for Teppanyaki, service was Rubbish, waiters rude, food was disappointing, at a bill of over $700.00 I would have expected better food and better service. Not even a free drink for my birthday or a discount for the disappointing service and very disappointing food. We should have gone to MacDonalds for dinner at least it would have been nicer!

Apr 16, 2012