azabu

best dining experience in a while! came here for my birthday on a monday night, it started off quiet around 6pm but halfway through the night we looked around and the place was packed and noisy. a sign of a restaurant that's doing something right!

we wanted to try the omakase menu which is normally for groups of 4 or more but the chef kindly let us do it for a table of 2. i don't think i could have faulted any of the courses, and such good value for $85 for over 10 of them. personal favourite was the smoked octopus and the spicy chicken dumplings. i literally wanted to drink the spicy broth as soup, it was bursting with flavour. presentation was also beautiful and they did a thoughtful little extra as it was a birthday celebration.

what was great about doing the set menu was that you get to try all the different type of dishes azabu offers without having to think too much about it. would highly recommend it! we had a bottle of cold sake as well, which went really well with the meal. our waitress was bubbly and attentive and made the evening smooth and seamless.

came here for my sister’s birthday and i couldn’t believe how busy the place was on a weekday!

we tried a decent amount of items off their menu as our server for the evening warned us of their portion sizes and recommended how many mains would be enough to fill five hungry bellies! and i can say, we were all very satisfied by the end of it all.

all dishes were pretty good including the seared beef, the tiger prawns and the scallop roll! but the star of the show was definitely the nikkei steak. it was unbelievably tender and juicy, it literally just melts in your mouth 🤤 we did also try their desserts - the charcoal black meringue and the tempura custard. both were delicious but neither of them particularly stood out.

overall, a great experience. had a nice server who was friendly and approachable, willing to answer all our questions and the place had a good ambience to it.

taste: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
interior deco: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
customer service: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
recommend: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
5/5 customer service, the grilled octopus is a must try!! fav dish out of all! all the dishes have its unique taste! quite like most of them except from the vege dumplings as there were too many different tastes combined in one, no balance of taste. but overalll very recommended!!

come here often for work lunch, we always share the eggplant tempura, seared beef tostada and tuna tostada – the tostadas are a must, they come out like thin mini pizzas so are fun to share and all the ingredients on the tostada complement each other very well.

the dumplings and bun section is expensive but still very delicious, the presentation of the pork belly bun was very cute.

the tasty pulled pork taco is also miniature but surprisingly leaves you feeling full.

i remember we had ordered a few plates of sushi, but there wasn’t anything special about these.

you can’t miss the dessert! the custard tempura is a good plate to share, if you eat the whole thing you could even be sick (from the sweetness). the charcoal black meringue might be difficult to share, but it has unique ingredients and the pear that comes with the meringue is to die for.

the place is usually packed for lunch, it is relatively bright when you get inside, (from the outside looking into the restaurant it almost looks like the place is closed). service is always exceptional.

the staff were lovely and friendly, but a little too over attentive. the cocktails were fantastic! the food was poor, it lacked technique and seasoning. the raw fish wasn’t fresh and was bland, grilled octopus dry and tough, pork belly over cooked and dry. the soft shell crab was really well cooked, but once again was bland. we thought let’s see if we can chance a great pastry chef as a savour, unfortunately this was as bad as the rest of the meal, burnt honey comb that was like eating charred baking soda. they were very good about taking the octopus off the bill, but the whole meal was a real shame. after spending $162 on the meal, we left as quickly as possible for another meal down town. we had heard so much and we’re so excited, unfortunately last night wasn’t great at all.

good decoration but tables are too close to each other and very noisy place, feels like being in a pub rather than a japanese restaurant.
food is better than average, but overpriced. don't try feed me $60 menu, nothing wrong, but not impressive either.
i don't like the older lady's attitude. my friend asked if we could get two bottles of wine and choose from one of them, when he was looking at the year and brand, the lady looked impatient was like "what you know about wine, that's not how you choose it".
we ended up spent $90+ each for 6 of us.

having heard rave reviews and recommendations it was high time we gave this place a try. the service was excellent, really friendly and helpful staff.
the food we chose was a hit and miss for us. we ordered the karaage chicken, volcano sushi, soft shell crab bao and the pork belly.
the karaage chicken was a bit dry but the sauce was sweet and spicy and the perfect consistency. the pork belly was also dry unfortunately but the skin was the perfect level of crispiness. the sauce and salad on the side paired perfectly with the pork too.
the volcano sushi was the highlight of the night. perfect inside out bite sized sushi rolls with roe on top. the waiter blow torches the roe so that they pop. this was also the dish the waiter recommended.
the soft shell crab was crispy but the bottom of the bao was soggy.
i’m a bit sad to give this place a 3, its almost a 4 for me.

had a great experience at azabu last week. had the volcano sushi, salmon ceviche specula, gyoza and pork belly. every dish hit the spot! especially the pork belly which was cooked to perfection.
can’t recommend this place enough!

this was our first time in this fusion restaurant (japanese/peruvian) located just at the beginning of ponsonby. we had grilled octopus, tostada with heirloom tomato, volcano sushi rolls, pork belly bun, artichoke dumplings, vegetable steamed bun, charcoal black meringue, tapioca meringue and a couple of wines. we loved the german riesling spatlese. all the dishes were good, volcano sushi was quite entertaining but we are giving props this time to the vegetable steamed bun with its great flavor, texture and presentation.the place was full when we arrived around 20:45 on saturday night and the services were not as great as we expected. timing was not good and we had to wait for quite while people rushing around and doing other stuff until they finally notice us. another thing we notice is that main door is extremely heavy, don't even know how the ladies are able to open that door. because the service is fundamental for us once it influences the whole experience and the food in general didn't impress us that much, we are not giving the highest score this time. however, we will get back to this place on another opportunity and give it another chance to change our mind.

expected a japanese digestion but find out it was more about fusion of japanese and western cookery. a bit crowded and noisy in peak hour. nice fusion food, but not recommended to original japanese food lover as not tasted like in japan. good service, nice alcohol and wine list. a bit expensive but worth the money.

nice fusion restaurant. like the sashimi plate and soft shell crab bun very much. the sauces on sashimi plate are very special. wish there are option of ramen as well, as many kids like ramen and udon.

my dinner at azabu was the best dining experience of my life.

i was blown away at how each dish served was incredible. there was not one dish i could fault at all out of the 9 we ordered. the sashimi was melting in my mouth, i have never had such high grade sashimi in my life. my two favorites among the dishes has to be the tiger prawn dumplings and the pork belly bun.

our server was incredibly sweet and funny to boot.

hands down the best dining experience of my life. azabu is definitely a place to visit!

was extremely surprised to see the restaurant was about 80% full even though it was a monday night! was glad that we had a booking. i had heard lots of my friends rave about it so had high hopes for our experience too. interior was quite nice and was greeted by friendly staff.
we ordered quite a few dishes and drinks. generally found the entrees and small dishes really yummy. we ordered the grilled octopus and spicy pork dumplings twice! sushi rolls were delicious too. the mains though were a little bit disappointing. we ordered two beef dishes and the pork belly. pork belly was quite good, cooked to perfection especially the skin! the main beef dishes though.. we found nothing special. quite salty and the portions were extremely small for a main.
i would recommend just to order a variety of the small dishes and avoid the mains.
great place to take the kids though as the kids meals were extremely impressive! table waitresses were very helpful and approachable!

i really wish this restaurant had better lighting so i can take clearer photos of the food!

the beautiful presentation shows how carefully the chef prepares each dish, even though the restaurant is always busy.

easy 5 star service, quality and food.

remember to make a booking!

food i undoubtedly vivid and tasty, however the portion sizes are very poor.. we were very disappointed by the miso soup serving size (see pics) the bowl had in inner compartment which makes less soup in boul..seems like cheating..presentation was great however uneatable white stones and seashells dont count as food....ambiance is great and service was good ...parking can be a problem being in ponsonby...place is pricey.