suminoya japanese

one of the most hidden and bestjapanesebbq in the cbd. came for the ayce (all you can eat) set menu, and it was by far satisfying to see food coming onto the table at a decent pace. would love to come back on cold days as any bbq would be great to serve hot,warm delicious meats and greens on a cold day.

probably my favouritejapanesebbq in the cbd, most people that venture to the cbd for jap bbq generally suminoya is the place they’d go to. they have really good set buffett options, definitely go for the premium $60 option with the wagyu beef, worth the extra $10. also the green tea ice cream is the best sydney has to offer!!

the suminoya buffet is one of our old favourites when it comes to a satisfyingjapaneseyakiniku bbq smorgasbord for group catch ups, so i was glad to find out that they had added a few new items onto the menu when we visited for dinner recently. the restaurant is tucked away in a lane way near martin place and for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of trying the suminoya buffet before – the set up is essentially that you choose the level of menu you’d like to order from, 60 minutes to order whatever you’d like off that menu (via their handy ipad ordering system) and then 90 minutes to eat your meal. each table is equipped with tabletop bbqs for you to cook your chosen meats and huge extractor fans so you don’t end up smelling too much like your food at the end of it all.

suminoya is a greatjapaneserestaurant that has a very chill ambiance, great and delicious quality meat, and they following covid-19 protocols strictly! however, this is all ruined by the manipulative and narcistic manager. as per the terms and conditions, you only get 90 minutes of ordering which is fair enough when you need to clear the seats for the next set of customers. although, we were there on a quiet saturday night where the 5 tables around us were completely empty. due to the heavily restrictive 90 minutes to be seated and incompetent grill (the heat solely focuses on the centre of the grill which makes a 5cm radius circle), it left us starving and wanting more, and we had a plate of raw meat on the side waiting to be cooked.

on the 90th minute, the manager storms to our tables and angrily states that our time is up, and we must pay $5/100g for our uneaten portion of meat. fair enough, that’s part of the terms and conditions and we would be happy to pay. however, what annoyed us is his use of manipulative language. he mentioned that “we have customers waiting outside who need this table”. please note at this point, the 5 tables around us were completely empty and there was no one waiting outside the restaurant. why would he do this? obviously because we had a plate of uncooked meat on the side waiting to be cooked in which we would have to pay extra for. one word, greed.

in my other experiences at this restaurant, this has never been the case and we’ve been able to sit there for longer than 90 minutes. what other harm is there in letting us sit there and continue eating when the table would be empty otherwise? i would definitely understand if people were waiting, but no one was waiting... the way he treats customers is disgusting and unfriendly. for the uneaten portion, he charged us $35 for 700g of meat. however, we were unable to see evidence of how this plate weighed 700g? a lack of transparency if you ask me.

certainly come here for the food, but not for the staff. the staff has ruined my experience completely and definitely will not be coming back. a 1-star restaurant for sure.

food was great but i still give it a 1 star.
first of all, everyone working there isjapaneseand none of them are very fluent in english so at times i would have to ask questions a few times and speak more slowly vut even then they will not give me the answer i was asking for. they supplied me with an ipad todo all the ordering, without any explanations on how to use the ordering ipad. the timer on the ipad tells us the time we have left (90 minute eating time) but the ipad gave us 70 minutes so i asked 3 different workers to get clarification about that but they all failed to explain it to me. i gave up asking questions after that and hurriedly chose my menu as the timer kept going. it felt like i was pressured to a point that i accidently ordered 2 of the same things and later there was too much food. ay first they said if there is too much leftover it would be a penaulty of $15. but then that changed as they charged me $50 for the leftover. i argued about that and it was only then when the manager guy came out and finally clarified things for me. he said that the timer on ipad was only 70minutes for the ordering time. we get 90minutes to eat. (there was no clarification/explanation about this anywhere).
then they took our left over food as the manager said they had to weigh it to calculate how much penaulty we would have to pay, even for the one i accidently double ordered when i felt like i was being rushed during ordering process. end result: manager did not waive off the extra charge for the accidental order. it was my mum’s birthday and it would have been a $130 dinner nifht but ended up payong $185. food was delicious but the service was utterly terrible!
we are never going back there.

i have been here once which impressed me with its very good service and nice food but the second time ive been here was a disaster i was badly treated by thejapaneseguy in reception.he seems got some atitude that day.he was very impatient when explaining the booking situation and and never said sorry just telling us they are all fully booked then give me a face like i don't care if you want to have dinner here or not.
japanese restaurants are famous for their good services.but i can never feel it that day in suminoya. be more patient and say sorry isn't a very hard thing for you to to as a waiter! this place is really ruiningjapaneserestaurants good reputation!really disappointing!

one of the bestjapanesebbq in sydney. love the oxtongue. its thin cut but still beey juicy. and i tried the raw beef yukhwee for the 1st time here. interestingly delicious!

went here sunday night originally came here 5 years ago to the day.
not much has changed including my original 5 star rating the decor is still the same but the hot coals they used to do the barbecue with have been replaced with gas which some may not like but i was not perturbed as i was able to control the heat ok.
they now also have ipads to order your food which is a nice addition.
but mostly the quality of the food is still the best i have encountered at ajapanesebarbecue the wagyu beef is melt in your mouth the sashimi is great service is a bit hurried but they are helpful and pleasant and just trying to keep things going.
for me still the benchmark i measure alljapanesebarbecue against.

tucked in a small street in sydney cbd is the bestjapanesebuffet bbq ever! 

i came here for my friends birthday for 14 people and we enjoyed all the selections offered! 
the seating here is quite tight so our table arrangement was not a long table but side by side tables. 
we chose the premium buffet selection ($60 each) which also included the selection from the gourmet buffet as well. 

my favourite dishes were the garlic prawns, all beef wagyu selections and prawn salad. the slushy they had for the day was grape flavour and i liked it. icecream dessert was okay, the green tea was more icey than the soft icecream texture and my friend enjoyed the sesame icecream. 

overall great experience and would recommend coming back here again! 
the waitresses were very patient as we kept ordering on the ipad. 
bookings here are required as it was very busy when we went on a saturday night!


note: there are extra charges if you over order and don't finish your food. your eating time starts when you place your first order and goes for only 90mins.

one of the bestjapaneserestaurant in sydney. and one of a few that i think is worth my money.
the bbq lunch was great, tasty, and fresh.
the buffet dinner was generous, and high quality. service was always friendly.
all my friends who i recommended to loved this place.

so many options, all very good quality meat, fishes, otherjapanesedishes and of course dessert! always good to come when you have a lot of friends to gather around and eat together. the price for the all you can eat deal prices is very fair and reasonable though the time limit is sort of a downside which is why i am rating this a 4/5 instead of 4.5/5.

9/10 food
8.5/10 atmosphere
7/10 price including time limit
note that be weary of ordering too much as they also charge you for wasting food.

best place forjapanesebbq imo. the flavour of the meat here is indescribable it’s just amazing. me and my wife come here at least once a month. i’ve tried plenty of other places and this place just wins me over every time.

yakiniku (焼き肉 or 焼肉) is a type ofjapanesedining where raw ingredients such as meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables are cooked on a mesh over a direct flame. minimal cooking or seasoning is required for this type of dining as the fresh and quality ingredients should speak for themselves.   having had our fair share of yakiniku in japan, we are always on the look out for authentic japanese joints in sydney.  after visits to rengay in north sydney and nikaido in neutral bay last year, we were delighted to discover a third venue in the heart of sydney’s cbd – suminoyajapaneserestaurant.

at first a $60pp all you can eatjapanesebbq (drinks not included) may sound a little steep, but when you consider there's also endless sashimi on the menu, it was definitely more then worth it, and that's why this place is always busy. we booked & came early. it's a little hard to find, being at the back of a dead end street in between buildings. we sat downstairs so was a bit stuffy. but it didn't matter when the food started coming, you only have a 60mins range to order & an extra 30mins to eat. given the beef tongue was restricted to only 1 plate per person we got that first to try, it was damn delicious. thinly sliced, so cooks quickly, it has a crisp chewy texture (爽口), well marinaded in soy, perfect with a beer (or on its own). the other cuts of meat were ok, the wagyu was the next best, the ribs with the bone were bit thick so not as good as others. the sashimi were good quality. the sides were ok, but not really what you're there for anyway. i enjoyed it so much, i came back for a second visit in 2 weeks with different friends. definitely highly recommended.

hello my meat loving and sushi friends. if you have been craving an all you can eat dinner full of sizzling meats and sushi/sashimi - i've got the place for you to book. suminoya is in sydney cbd and has high quality ingredients waiting for you to eat. . matt is a meat loving fan and i love my sashimi and sushi sojapanesebbq also known as yakiniku is perfect for the both of us. suminoya is a little restaurant located in sydney cbd, near martin place and makes for the perfect venue for hungry patrons. i always book to make sure i have a table. you should too here.