Hikaru Japanese Restaurant Newtown, Sydney

User Reviews of Hikaru Japanese Restaurant, Newtown

Displaying: 1 - 10 of 78 reviews

5.8 Average

Food 7 Ambience 6 Service 3 Value 7

I regularly go here for lunch and, although the service is terrible and often slow, the food is of good quality and plenty of it for the price. The terriyaki salmon comes with rice and fresh salad for $9, which is excellent. The sushi is fresh and excellent for $3.5 a box. I would recommend lunch here but don't expect happy or fast service

Apr 03, 2013

courters
7

7 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 9 Service 5 Value 7

Sitting outside on a warm evening is wonderful. That said, previous reviews accurately highlight the best and the worst of this place. The service is slow, stilted and uninspired. The food is tasty, and authentic (with the exception of the yakisoba) and inexpensive.

Mar 16, 2013

petergirl
21

2.8 Not Recommended

Food 4 Ambience 4 Service 1 Value 2

My friends told me I should try this restaurant so I went on a decently busy Saturday night. It took them 15 minutes after we got our menus before anyone came back over (even after several minutes of actively trying to wave someone down) and then another 5 minutes after we ordered to get water for the table. Bad start.

All the food came at different times, in no particular order, and they just plopped it down and walked away, no smile or interaction of any sort. Getting worse. They brought me the wrong meal and when I corrected them, they didn't seem to understand the question but took my meal away (note that they didn't apologise for the wrong meal, but instead argued with me about it).

15 minutes later my food was back, same plate they took away (now cold) with an extra side dish. Too tired to argue now. After finished my cold, reused meal, we finally got our bill and the "right" dish they brought back after they made the mistake was more expensive than my actual order, and they'd charged me the difference. I told them flat out to correct it and that I would only pay for what I'd actually ordered, they had three different staff members with decreasing grasps of English come question me about it and after several minutes of arguing to the point of raised voices and them yelling at me and rolling their eyes at my fellow diners, they managed to change the price and we left quickly.

And the food was mediocre at best. So...bad food and shockingly bad service. Would not recommend, for any reason, ever.

Jan 20, 2013

Kimberly L.
1

7.3 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 6 Value 8

I revisited Hikaru recently on Thursday evening, had dinner with my partner and I must say the standards have improved greatly since we were last there. The quality of the foods returned to where it used to be (good flavours, fresh produce and decent portions), which we are very pleased to see.

The restaurant was pretty busy for a Thursday evening which just goes to show how much standards and quality matters (when it's good people will dine there). Thanks Hikaru for returning your quality dining experience back.

Sep 16, 2012

Eat Street 2.
20

2.8 Not Recommended

Food 1 Ambience 4 Service 5 Value 1

Went for dinner and it was lovely. Came back for lunch - terrible. The rice was clearly not fresh, they had some awful sweet sauce they put on everything. Tempura should not have sauce on it, neither should gyoza or shoguyaki. To get cooked tuna in a sushi set in an authentic Japanese restaurant is very disappointing. Never again.

Aug 05, 2012

Japwife
2

8 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 6 Service 8 Value 9

I love this place. Come here regularly. Being a vegetarian it can be hard to find Japanese food with a good vegetarian selection but this place has a great selection. Good value for money. Yumm food.

Jul 20, 2012

fernar
10

3 Below Average

Food 5 Ambience 5 Service 1 Value 1

The service is just beyond disappointing. The night started off with us being ignored by the waiter for a while even after we asked a few times. It was then a long wait for the food to be served. Then came the biggest joke of the night. When the waiter finally served our sushi combo, he clumsily dropped one on the table. So you would expect the person to clean the mess and at least apologize for it (wasn't even expecting a replacement based on the service we had so far). He did none of the above and just walked away!

The Inari sushi was there, belly up on the table, until a second waitress walked by and we managed to complaint. And after that we found shreds of carrot inside the sauce plate. 2 words. Never again.

May 11, 2012

chilipadi
1

7.3 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 6 Service 7 Value 7

Went there with three of us. Sushi rolls were fresh and tasty. Price was reasonable, not overpriced. It's not luxury or romantic restaurant and it's for casual dining/lunch. Some staffs there were nice and polite but one staff was rather blunt. Overall, nice food with reasonable price range and service.

Mar 02, 2012

master580s
7

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 8 Service 10 Value 10

Love the food and gives the real Japanese feel. The food really reflects the true Japanese essence.

Feb 14, 2012

Old Skool Newtown
2

5.5 Average

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 6

Hikaru is one of the cheapest restaurants I've been to in Sydney, let alone Newtown (excluding alcohol, which is normal). In my opinion the food is quite nice, but the timing of the food delivery is absolutely atrocious.

On my first visit here a few weeks ago, my friend's dish (there was just the two of us) came out 30 minutes after mine and the entrée came out 5 minutes after my main!

On my second visit, last night, my partner's dish came out around 25 minutes before mine and that period would probably have been longer if I hadn't nagged incessantly. Bewilderingly the entrée came out in good time and was ahead of the other two dishes.

Dec 31, 2011