Tatsushi - Wellington

Authentic sushi joint, limited menu and an assortment of the features fish for the sashimi plate. Extremely long wait for service, and they forgot my Miso soup. Staff was kind but seemed overwhelmed on a Wednesday night. Authentic in the way that there are only a few basic actual rolls on the menu, the rest is sashimi and nigiri. Good food, but wasn't overly impressed. Likely great for New Zealand, but coming from Vancouver (likely my bad for expecting sushi like you can get there) I would have preferred some interesting rolls instead of straight sashimi as it was not super tasty and also still nearly frozen. Great ambiance and drinks.

If I ever come back to Wellington, THIS IS THE PLACE! I still dream about their salmon sashimi, to the point I Googled if Wellington is supposed to have the best salmon sashimi in the world. Their portions are tiny and moderate but the quality is worth it. I also didn't expect their fried squid to melt in my mouth. The food here is better than what I've tried in Japan unfortunately. Never thought I'd find a gem from a little place tucked behind my hotel.

This might be the best Japanese food in Wellington. Be sure to check out their Ramen night it's the best bowl of Ramen I've had yet here in New Zealand.

We went down to the cave on a Friday night and it was packed yet we got seated really quickly. Was asked if we were in a rush which we were not but food was still out quickly. The food was good! Atmosphere is nice. It is quite loud but that was expected as it is more of a bar (quieter seating area is upstairs). The drinks were very affordable as well. Highly recommended!

The food's pretty solid, especially given the location. I can see it being the best Japanese food in the city--there's like NO Japanese food in Wellington. The sashimi's pretty fresh, but because of that the variety is also limited. You can't really get high variety unless you get fish constantly shipped in, and I don't think restaurants here can charge the high prices that some restaurants do in cities like, say, NYC. The salmon chirashi bowl is pretty good. It uses a combo that is tried and true--salmon and avocado--and adds some extra flavor to it with pieces of tamago (egg). No dress code. Pretty affordable. Great lunch spot.