momiji

birthday dinner. went to check out the new momiji restaurant for my husband's birthday. beautiful place , loved the japanese style garden in the middle but thefoodfell short of my expectation. cilantro and onions in my chirashi? really?. miso shiru with hardly any taste at all and served with a chinese soup spoon? $12.00 for a glass of wine...should i keep going.? not what i expect for a japanese restaurant in any price range. as a japanese person, i was very disappointed that these kinds of dishes are being passed off as "japanese" food.

if you're peering through the window, remember there is more than just the front bar area; it extends to the back where the sushi bar is located. more seating and a small closed off garden seen through glass windows on both sides.

we had no reservations and the only seating at 4pm was the sushi bar which was fine. i love thefoodentertainment of the sushi men.

good food, way too noisy. thefoodwas pretty tasty and nicely presented. the restaurant interior looked beautiful, but the noise level was actually painful. i could not enjoy thefoodor the conversation and felt quite exhausted by the end of the meal—like i feel when i get that seat in the back of the plan by the engine. not a single surface has any sound absorptive material, so the decibel level is really high. my cell phone alarm rang for five minutes during the meal and i did not even hear it. if you like noise, this could be the restaurant for you, but i will not be going back.

decent new japanese place. in the end, this was a pretty decent restaurant, a nice mix of cooked/izakaya style japanesefoodand lots of crazy sushi rolls. we had a couple of dishes from their seasonal kaiseki menu, a "008" roll and various other dishes. at first i was a little put off by the high prices since i was expecting tiny plates/portions, in the end, we actually ordered slightly too muchfood(always a good thing). the highlights were the hamachi jalapeno sashimi with ponzu sauce, the sauted mushrooms, the spicy tofu. the enormous roll (hence the high price) easily double most typical rolls were ok, it would be better if the rice wasn't so mushy.

cat didn't like the chawan-mushi as much, and the kakuni was not so good, not soft enough, not enough of the fatty pork shoulder.

i would try this place again, happy we tried this tonight. the restaurant is surprisingly large.

welcome to momiji , where the traditional japanese surroundings make you sigh with contentment. there's a sense of refined sexiness in the straight lines of the hand carved woodwork. the hard masculinity of the wooden tables, beams, and chairs is given a soft feminine touch with intricately woven paper lanterns. from the cloud-like light in the bar to the sprawling sea urchinesc installments in the second dinning room, momiji creates a night worthy of ending in a long, deep kiss. the japanese garden, complete with three times replaced japanese maple and imported roof tiles, is said to really come alive during the rain. how perfect for seattle. don't forget to check out the artistic touch of a decorative downspout and the small gurgling fountain. making its public debut tomorrow night, i can only predict it will take seattle'sfoodscene by storm. though its menu has a variety of dishes we amer