Isezushi - Otaru

The restaurant is located down a very unassuming alley. Seating is at 17:00 or 19:00. From the phone reservation to the end of the meal, service was *very* casual. The chef made pleasant conversation over the course of 2 hours, engaging all 5 counter seats. This will be much more difficult if you don’t know Japanese, despite the fact that he has painstakingly memorized dish names in several languages (including English, as well as Korean and Chinese, who are his main foreign clientele). The shako, uni, and botan ebi soup were standouts. A fun, casual evening, akin to visiting a local bar with an experienced bartender.

Great time here with their Omakase experience. The Omakase requires a reservation in advance. We used JPNEZY to book our seats. Note that this is NOT this nigiri Omakase that you’d get for sitting at the counter, but it’s still good. The staff speak a bit of English, but they have menus and reference charts that will tell you exactly what you’re eating if you don’t speak Japanese. The only reason we did not rank it 5 stars is because of the minor service mishaps. For a 1-star Michelin restaurant, the servers often brought the next course before we finished eating the current course. They also mixed up the prepayment and we had to sort it out at the end because they wanted to charge us for the meal again. Other than that it was a great experience

If you walk in knowing this is a Michelin Star restaurant, you’ll probably be disappointed. The food quality is good but the unremarkable nori on the gunkan is an example of where Izezushi falls short of a truly great sushi restaurant. I suspect counter seating and interaction with the itamae is a big part of the experience and unfortunately we could only get a table seat.

If I can give zero I will definitely do it. I called this restaurant in November to make reservation from overseas and I did get a confirmation number. And when I arrive the restaurant just old me someone called previously to cancel. I ask when and who? Did they provide the confirmation number? They said they don’t know. I feel like they just try to handle overbooking and give random reason. I cannot believe it’s a Michelin star restaurant. It cannot happen in the US. I am really disappointed and will NEVER go to this restaurant again.

Went there for lunch. The place is really popular so reservation is a must. I had the omakase set which included 16 pieces. I found the sushi extremely refined. The fish selection is really diverse (you even get shako ! .The chef has a very delicate way of arranging each piece according to the fish. Of course you will recognize the usual soy sauce and wasabi flavors but these are subtly mixed with different ingredients such as Yuzu, Shiso, sesame and even dried bonito flake to name a few that still comes to mind at the time of review. Some might think the place is a bit expensive, but I don't agree. After trying many sushi places in Otaru, Isezushi is by far the most elaborate. So I find the price tag justified, and I would even say reasonable, given the quality I got. This is definitely a place I will visit again on my next trip to Otaru.