masu by nic watt

been here couple of times and really enjoyed their sushi,sashimiand scampi tempura. they use good quality ingredients. service is excellent. prices aren’t cheap but the experience was great so wouldn’t mind coming back for special occasions.

i went twice. will never going back there again.

first time round was a friend of a friend's hen's night dinner. the food (especially the sashimi) i enjoyed. everything else was overpriced (imo) which was expected but the disappointment was the approach the waitress try to sell me the "special cocktails".

i expected when a customer say "i'm still looking can i have a minutes please?" waitress will come back after a good 5 − 10 mins. but she went on to say "but can i just mention the special cocktails we have tonight?" i replied "i think i will order a wine thanks" she came back with "can i tell you anyway?"

terrible service!!!

the story doesn't end here.

i took my parents for their anniversary (my father wanted a up-market japanese restaurant). we ordered 5 different dishes (were planning to order more) and a bottle of craggy range sophia ($150).

the waitress this night, forgot my bottle. two dishes arrived and when i asked a waiter who was just walking by, i saw he walked to her, she looked at the monitor (i assume that's where they enter all the orders) and after 5 mins later came over with the bottle with no apology for forgetting…and did't know how to open the bottle!! (is corked) she went away and had help, tried to save the embarrassment "corked bottles are tricky…most of the bottles are screw tops anyways…" no knowledge of good wine, should be corked to keep the wine 'alive'

i expected a place like masu would train their staff! if you are trying to sell an image of "high end" dinning. total disappointment.

the only good thing came out of the dinner wassashimiand the robata beef fillet. we also orderered fish (was wrapped in a leaf and cooked on the robata grill) it was warm and way too sweet.

the manager of the night came over to talk to talk to us … definitely need that to keep customer happy and perhaps collect feedback/criticism to improve the dinning experience. charging three people for $500+ for a meal with this type of service?? i feel robbed!!

if anyone reading this review hoping for an authentic japanese food and service - go to a different japanese restaurant.

masu, part of the skycity complex, needs no introduction after being named the 2014 metro restaurant of the year supreme winner. we decided to come here for lunch to celebrate bl’s birthday. we booked online, and they ring you the day before to confirm, a nice touch. the layout of the restaurant is beautiful, i love the way wood and stone are used to convey an elegant simplicity.

the kitchen is divided into three sections; a sushi bar, the robata grill and the kitchen. each is staffed with multiple chefs (i counted nine in total across the three stations on a reasonably quiet sunday lunch).

the extensive drinks menu also had some intriguing non-alcholic cocktails ($10); we had a refreshing drink made with grapes and aloe vera juice.

we started with thesashimimoriawase chef’s 5sashimiselection ($42), which came with three pieces each of kingfish, salmon, tuna, scallop and trevally. the beautifully presented seafood came with freshly grated wasabi. this is potent stuff; fresh wasabi is even more pungent than the imitation ones that comes out a tube, but the pungency dissipates quickly with no lingering burn. i found the scallop too delicate for me; the stronger tasting kingfish and salmon were my pick.

the cloudy bay clams tobanyaki ($22) came steaming in a miniature pot seasoned with garlic, lemon, green chilli and ponzu butter. i enjoyed this, flavoursome and perfectly cooked. we were hoping for the baby back pork ribs, but they had run out.

the saikyo miso and yuzu marinated black cod ($46) is the signature dish. this is reminiscent of the miso marinated black cod made famous by nobu matsuhisa. saikyo miso is a naturally sweet golden miso from the kyoto region, which permeates the flaky cod with a divine sweet-savouriness.

the vegetable dishes did not hit the same high notes. the eggplant with ginger miso and sesame ($8.30) was dull, and i wished there was a combination of textures. the soy glazed tofu ($9.90) was tasty but the texture was inconsistent with the visual aspect. i was expecting silky soft texture, but it was the normal firm tofu, which tasted too strong for the other flavours.

i expected more from masu. sure, the ambience is wonderful, the service top-notch, and the presentation was excellent. however, there was little originality to the dishes we ordered, even if they were executed well. the vegetable options were disappointing. was it worth the extravagant prices charged? i wasn’t so sure. but i will bring my dad here; he spent many, many months in japan over his working career, and he has developed a very discerning palate for japanese food.

i really wanted to like this spot as i’m a huge fan of japanese food. however unfortunately there was nothing interesting or anything that had a wow factor for me in their tasting menu. it was nice, however it was on the same level of nice for me as most other japanese restaurants. my favourite thing was the sashimi, and i mean allsashimitastes similar. not worth going back for me personally.

after rave reviews i was left very disappointed.

the seats for starters are too low for the table, making it difficult to relax.

the food was ok, just ok. at $296 for two i was expecting excellence.

service was great however , although was a little strange that we had 7 different waiters/waitresses delivering our food throughout the night.

i will not be going back for dinner, maybe thesashimithough.

the french cafe is better value for money in my eyes.

had the buffet lunch !! the choice was limited and although thesashimiwas relatively fresh there is nothing special so i guess i would recommend the resturant for its decor rather than its food!!

went to masu with my wife to celebrate our wedding anniversary. it was a faultless evening! the food was amazing as we sampled from throughout the menu -sashimito start, then red chilli tiger prawns, scampi tempura, eggplant, black cod and the beef fillet. no wonder the black cod is the signature dish - it just melts in your mouth. the tiger prawn was my favourite so i had to order a second one. on to desserts where we tried the chawan mushi and maccha to banana no pafe - both very original but highlighted and complemented by the sparkling sake mio which was recommended by the waiting staff ((who by the way were exceptional). overall, a perfect evening hence my rating of 5.

not one to stray from less extravagant foods but masu definitely had me thinking otherwise.

great service. better food! cocktails are awesome too!! thesashimiis to die for!

very disappointed with the services as the plate was dirty and it was a birthday lunch for my husband which i ticked as a special occasion when i booked but there was no surprise so what is the point of having that option?!
the food tasted average thesashimion the yum cha trolley was warm.

i will not recommend it to anyone and definitely will not visit again.

superb dining experience. great place for those special occasions. try their bitter tiger... something cocktail. it was quite entertaining watching them prepare it. salty cocktails were also delish! sushi rolls were sooooooo tasty!sashimi- amazing.

came here for restaurant month and their $55 3 course dinner menu was phenomenal!!

thesashimiand maki was so fresh and generous. the broccoli, kimchi fried rice and chicken had a nice spicy flavour to it and the salmon was perfectly flavourful. the green tea tiramisu was delicious, so full of green tea flavour and the roasted rice ice cream with biscuit crumbs was delicious!

came here for a birthday and i had ticked birthday as a special event then unticked it and didn’t think more of it so it was a lovely surprise when they brought over the birthday sorbet with the candle.

lovely friendly service, worth every dollar. loved it. fully recommend! hope they do restaurant month every year.

we went as a group of 10 for a sunday lunch. the waitress was nice. we ordered a bunch of stuff to share. got thesashimiboat platter and everything on it was fresh. the beef skewers were tender. also had the eggplant which might have been the best eggplant dish i ever had!

apart from the eggplant and the impressive display of thesashimiboat platter, the other food we got was good, not great or outstanding.

given that it's a high end japanese restaurant (and meant to be one of the best ones in auckland), i would expect for the quality of food to be better. i would happily choose other japanese restaurants in auckland which would provide similar quality and flavor of food, without the price tag of masu.

would give them 3.5 if i could as it was pretty good.

enjoyed our time there but i personally wouldn't voluntarily go back there.

i came to masu for the restaurant month menu ($55) and it was 3 courses. the atmosphere was really pretty and lively, despite after covid-19 not allowing tourist into the country.

the first course was thesashimiand sushi platter, consisting of kingfish, salmon, tuna and tuna sushi. my favourite was the salmon as always but all fish was super fresh and delicious with a bit of soy sauce.

the second course was the kimchi fried rice, broccoli and a choice of chicken or salmon. i chose the salmon and the skin wasn’t crispy since it was grilled, but the teriyaki sauce made it so delicious and sweet. it was grilled medium rare on the outside and rare on the inside so the fish still maintained its natural oil. the fried rice was alright, not too special, just a bit spicy. my favourite was the broccoli, the butter made it taste so much better and the almonds went really well, adding an additional crunch to it.

the last course was the green tea tiramisu and the rice ice cream. the tiramisu had a liquor taste to it and the green tea was too overpowering. the candied walnuts with the ice cream went really well together, the ice cream tasted a bit like vanilla but hard to describe as it wasn’t vanilla.

service was decent. i’ll like to try other items on the menu but it’s still a bit expensive looking at the menu so it’s definitely a special occasion restaurant!

friendly service, freshsashimi, very popular restaurant.

tried this place today for an anniversary celebration. the seating was spacious and the service through out our lunch was exceptionally good despite the restaurant being quite busy.
anyway, in the order of the food coming, the salmon nigiri and the chefs choice ofsashimiwas quite yummy, no complains there. next came the deep fry soft shell crab and squid. the squid was well fried but i could hardly taste the squid inside the batter. for the crab it was similar, it felt like eating fried batter with very tasteless crab meat as well, definitely not recommending anyone to try.
the grilled eggplant was next and the sauce was very good. however the underside of the eggplant was very burnt and after letting our server know, she insisted that the dish was meant to be like that. i was not impressed.
the 2 mains came next was the grilled charsiu pork and the clams. both of these was quite nicely made. i prefer the clam the most. there were around 8 meaty clams and the soup base was well flavoured.
finally we were given an anniversary dessert, this was a nice gesture and was quite happy for this.

overall, quite expensive for some ordinary tasting food. service was quite good though. this place is also quite clean.

taste - 3.5/5
service - 4.5/5
ambiance - 4/5
hygiene - 4/5
value - 3/5