SAKE BOMB! SAKE BOMB! SAKE BOMB! SAKE BOMB! That is usually the chant you hear at any sushi restaurant coming from our table. I will admit, I think my group of friends and I love going to east sushi b/c of Sake bombs. They go together like beer and hotdogs at the ball game lol Ok, so back on to matter at hand. We went to BarChi to celebrate my friends birthday. I had never been here prior, so this was a first time for me. The restaurant is very nice, love the atmosphere. Very swanky, hip vibe. Definitely would be a GREAT date night place, or HH spot. Sitting down, first things first, had to order some hot sake and kirin. I will say, this place would have gotten a 5 if not for this next part. To my surprise, no larger portions of sake, and no big beers :( That is the only thing I wish would change, so instead of one big beer, we had to order 2 at a time. Only gripe. The food was AMAZINGLY good. For apps we had the Calamari, chicken satay, and tomato bacon wraps. Honestly the calamari was the best I have had to date, perfectly fried. It was light and crunchy, not at all chewy. Loved it. Rolls we gobbled down in record speeds: Volcano, Shaggy Dog, 2002, Chicken Crunch, Scorpion, and Philadelphia. We had 2-3 of a few of them, and each was as good as the last. We had someone with us who wasn't a huge sushi fan and even they were asking for the last pieces lol That's how good it was. For being where it is located and the quality of food, I really would think this place would be double its cost. The rolls are very well priced. might say cheap even. If you come for reverse happy hour, yes I said REVERSE happy hour,it starts at 10, you get alot of rolls super cheap. I will be coming back here more often that is certain, I am not sure why this place is only rater 3 1/2, definitely is alot better then that. Get my big beers and sake kettles and you will win my heart over BarChi :) read more

BarChi Sushi - Sake Mary, tasty but oh so spicy! Love it! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

We went for the all day Sunday happy hour. The happy hour menu is cheap, but not super exciting. They have nigiri for $1.50 a piece; the albacore is the best of the bunch, although the fish is cut extremely thin. Salmon, tuna, and tamago were okay. We also ordered the Austin Roll (tuna, shrimp, escoloar) and the Shrimp and Avocado Roll. I didn't like the texture of the shrimp in the Shrimp and Avocado Roll, but the Austin Roll was not too bad. From the appetizers menu, we ordered the oyster shooter, calamari, and gyoza. The gyoza was the tastiest of the bunch. The calamari was mostly batter and oil. Do NOT order the oyster shooter. Overall, not a bad place to get some basic sushi offerings for cheap. I wouldn't pay full price for any of the items we got, but it's definitely worth checking out during happy hour. read more

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Such great food! I'm still thinking about the scallop appetizer and Wasabi dumplings and wish we'd come back for another night before leaving. We sat at the bar and Chris was great. Perfect for watching the game. Definitely will visit again when in town. read more

BarChi Sushi - Scallop appetizer - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

I am never coming here again. The last two times I've been here, their service has been absolutely horrible! It was to the point where I actually complained about it to the hostess up front. It seems like they have a tendency to hire waitstaff with no serving experience whatsoever and although they have a bunch of people on the floor, they all seem to be running around the restaurant doing absolutely nothing. Like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. NEVER AGAIN BARCHI! Oh yeah, I also left my credit card there and when I called the restaurant the next day to inquire about it they said a credit card was never left. Coincidentally, I had someone try to charge 4K on it a couple of hours later.... read more

BarChi Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Went to Barchi for my 1st time during happy hour and it did not disappoint. Below you will find my details/ratings on the food and drinks, service, and the ambiance! Food: Calamari- Standard calamari, perfectly fried with a good crunch to it, and the portion size was nice for the price. 4/5 HH Octopus skewers: Came with 6 small octopus split between 2 skewers. Pretty tasty, and the seasoning it came with was good as well. If someone was trying octopus for the first time I would recommend this place although I am no octopus expert, but it was pretty good in my opinion. 3.7/5 HH Gyoza- Typical gyoza.. I do wish it was crispier and a little more flavorful, but nothing a dip in soy sauce couldn't fix! Probably wouldn't order again especially bc all of the other options. (3.5/5) HH Shishito Peppers- I didn't order these but tried them... not my favorite only because I'm not huge on eating peppers alone. I did taste seasoning, so they weren't bland. Bf enjoyed them and thought they were tasty, he recommends add the lemon on top. He gave them a 4/5! Shaggy Roll: Basically a shrimp tempura roll with kani (crab) on top, and I got the sauces on side. It was good, but I've had better. Wish I could have tasted the shrimp more, and the spicy Mayo & soy sauce added flavor for me. (3/5) HH Pan seared Ny strip: Was pretty skeptical on how this would tested but it was pretty good and flavorful. Better than I thought it would be! Middle pieces were more on the rare side, and the rest was medium.. would rather had all the pieces medium. Would order again for 17 bucks especially. (4/5) Pictured!! Drinks: Lychee Martini: one of my go to martins.. I enjoyed it here. (4/5) HH Hibiscus Martini: Eh not my fav, but if you really like hibiscus you'd probably enjoy it more than I did! (2.5/5) HH Pineapple Saki: I'm really picky when it come to sake and I didn't really like it, but I'm not big on Sake altogether. No rating for me on this one. HH Service: Server was nice, but he may have been new to serving altogether. He made sure to check in on us! Atmosphere: I personally love dim restaurants (especially during a good HH and conversations), and boy this was one of them. If you can't see that well I would recommend sitting in the front of the restaurant, or outside. This place may not be the best for big parties as the tables were smaller. All and all nice ambience. (3.5/5) *Rounded up, but would honestly give this place a 3.8!!! read more

BarChi Sushi - Pan Seared Ny Strip - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great sushi and great prices especially during happy hour. Drinks were good and staff was friendly!

What's good is really excellent. But the quality of both the food and the dining experience is highly variable. You can eat like a king. Or you can have a miserable experience. BarChi is a very full menu upscale standard Japanese American restaurant. - that tries to trump the other restaurants in this category with superior quality and some original dishes. Their trump attempts often work. They go a little more Japanese during happy hour with Robata ... but frankly the really good stuff is all on the Japanese-American side. Robata is just a fancy name for grilled skewers of plain stuff ... and it is just as boring in Japan as it is here. This is NOT a place like Musashino where the action is selling really really superior raw fish. Musashino can just provide their merchandise straight because their fish really is that good. Bar Chi sells fish that is no better and no worse than the competition. So their angle is pizzazz and special takes. Ironically - one of their star items is plain simple nori rolls of the Japanese basics. What makes Bar Chi superior on this count? Really really better Nori. The Nori is much much tastier than the black wrapping paper that most other sushi restaurants use. It is full of flavor, has great texture and accentuates the flavor of the contents of the rolls. It is perfectly reasonable here to save your money just buying cheapie cheapie standard sushi rolls and eat well. Wasabi dumplings are a big hit. They have a Chi Tar Tar which is a cutesy mixed raw fish salad in a mayo-like binder. The fish salad is ho hum (mayo covering utterly indifferent ingredients) but the homemade "nacho" chips they serve the Chi Tar Tar with are outstanding. Some of the best chips in Austin - that can stand up to any Austin Mexican restaurant's homemade chips and dip. SENSATIONAL fried Tofu. Another easily best in Austin item. However - there is a lot of mediocrity on the menu as well. Mussels in sake sauce are undersalted - (and they need SALT not shoyu). They are messy to eat - and the house does not provide very many places to put the empty shells so they get all over the table after you fill their little bowl. The sauce is interesting. The mussels themselves overcooked and kind of tasteless. Big fancy named sushi rolls are somewhat the same as big fancy named sushi rolls in other restaurants. It is funny how the menus of Japanese restaurants list 38 million custom rolls - how the rolls all taste the same as each other - despite having different ingredients - and how the rolls in restaurant A taste just like the rolls in restaurant B. Fortunately big fancy sushi rolls taste good in most places and they do so here too. Big fancy named platters of "nouveau" sushi - are like a lot of other nouveau cuisine. Little microscopic dabs of food. A huge plate (mostly empty) to show off your dabs of food - with a few color swirls of sauce to make you think the plate isn't empty. Totally variable and random quality of the "mini-masterpieces". (Often one great, one sort of all right - one boring) The house music is loud and kind of terrible. Service is bad but in unusual ways. The waitstaff takes your orders quickly and efficiently. The food comes promptly. The human beings are nice enough. The problem is table service. Large piles of plates to be used later are dumped on small tables along with the menus - and it is up to the customers to set their own tables and find room for the menus. They also have to store all the future dishes to be used for your meal on your table. Dirty plates are not cleared. So most of the meal the table was cluttered and uncomfortable kind of like eating in a dirty kitchen. This definitely reduced the pleasure of the dining experience. One last observation - this place ain't cheap. If one is paying that much for the upscale downtown experience - one would think that table service would come with it. My fellow diners were less enthusiastic about Bar Chi than I was. I personally thought the high points were sufficiently high - that I am willing to overlook the hit or miss quality of the menu as a whole. Nothing was really bad - and so a mix of spectacular and meh will average out on the side of good. If you are a religious person, pray before you come - and maybe your deity will guide you to the superior items on the menu. Then you will eat very well indeed. read more

I drove 40 minutes downtown to get to this spot, it took me 20 minutes to find parking and I got there at 10:36. They said they were closed when Yelp said 11:00. This was on a Saturday night. Ruined a date night celebration with my girlfriend graduating law school. The Yelp hours are false. read more

I love the sushi here vs the price during happy hour! So perfect!!! I always get the Austin roll and definitely the agedashi tofu. This place has the best agedashi tofu that I've had! The only thing to beware of is all the noise. I went on a Thursday evening and I could not hear a single thing any of my party was saying. We ended up eating the meal in... our silence but everyone elses' party. That was a headache! Maybe I'm getting too old... read more

BarChi Sushi - Agedashi tofu! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

I've been coming here for over a year now and it never disappoints. It's the only place my boyfriend and I go for sushi. Happy hour is amazing as is the ambiance. Nice waitstaff. Nothing bad to say about this place! read more

Really good happy hour!! The sushi was great- would recommend the shaggy dog and add cream cheese

Stopped in here on a Friday last minute during the Happy Hour with Brooke A. (friend her please!) she is feeling lonely on Yelp (HA!) Anyways...... she said it has glowing floors inside... I was sold on that alone.. although our timing was poor since it was a little light outside still and we posted up at the bar facing the windows, but was still able to see dimly lit glowing funness underneath me surrounding the place. The Happy Hour prices are really cheap! sushi about $1.80 a piece - rolls ranged from about 5-9 each and most apps are in the 4-5 range. Lets not forget the $3.50 TSINGTAO - that's a good price! Overall the fish is basic, I wouldn't say anything was special... but then again, I was sampling off the HH menu alone. The baby octopus skewer's were the highlight, but they needed to be marinated a little longer I believe. The bartenders were excellent and kept the sake flowing, this 3 star is in no way a reflection of the service, just the overall quality in my opinion. Will definitely return for the HH as it's hard to beat! read more

Best Happy Hour!! And it's all day on Sunday so it's great when you are balling on a budget!

Came here on a whim prior to a concert at moody theater! Wonderful Saturday happy hour with great pricing. Tons of food options on the happy hour menu and great cocktails and beers. Service was perfect, attentive but not overwhelming! She even gave us a last call for happy hour pricing which was 3-7. The sushi/nigiri was extremely fresh and portions were very solid for being $3-10 items. Will 100% be back! read more

BarChi Sushi - Our server could tell that we were celebrating a birthday and drew this adorable picture, so sweet! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Been here a handful of times because it's convenient to where I live. Don't think I'll go back though. Yellow tail rolls that I got for takeout yesterday were definitely old / bad fish. No reason for that... Wasn't even boarder line, clearly bad :-/ read more

Can't go wrong with Bar Chi's Sunday Happy Hour! Fun little spot and great atmosphere.... so if you aren't ready for the weekend to be over yet, you should head on over to this place to keep "Sunday Funday" going! Went with the following on the Happy Hour menu, and really enjoyed! Austin Roll - $7 Chi Roll - only $8 Nemo Roll - only $9 Was the perfect amount for two people! Was also pretty good quality as well... not to the level of say Uchi or Kenichi, but we also weren't paying the ridiculous prices from those menus. We also went with a few glasses of their house wine... I mean who turns down $4.50 vino??? Not this girl! read more

The fish is very fresh. Best I have found in Austin. Don't let the look fool you. It is pretty good.

Food is good. Nothing Exceptional. They do you have a good coconut margarita. He walked in and there is a bar. Behind the bar is restaurant seating. They also have outdoor seating. Parking does suck around that area. And there is a really good bartender there I believe his name is Paul. read more

I went here on a whim and was not disappointed! Great food great ambiance and spacious seating gave less wait times than places around. Definitely would recommend read more

Visited here for the 1st time while visiting Texas. OMG one of the best sushi I've had and I've had a lot. Customer service was good, sushi was good, drinks could have been a little bit stronger but still not bad. Spent $200 and received a $25 gift for 2nd visit. Next time Im in town will def visit here again read more

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I loved the music here, the DJ that night was sick, I also loved the atmosphere and the people watching. Service was excellent. What? The food? Mediocre. read more

Bar Chi has woven itself into the night life debauchery but also manages to some what be classy about it. Where do you go for affordable sushi downtown thats also good? Bar chi. Where do you go for sushi happy hour? Bar chi of course. Their happy hour is very extensive and delicious. Bonus, they are puppy friendly with outdoor dining read more

Sushi was pretty good! Yellowtail, salmon, and some appetizers was fresh when I ordered it. Took a long time for food to come out though. Almost like 40 minutes! But I guess it's ok since they do have takeout orders and other patrons. read more

One of my favorite sushi places in Austin! Great sushi every time and the happy hour menu is THE BEST. spider roll, samurai roll and lychee martini on the hh menu are highly recommended :) read more

During a recent business trip to Austin I stopped at Bar Chi for an early dinner. I was able to sit on the terrasse and appreciate the great sushi with a cold drink while taking in the fine late September weather. Thanks to Bar Chi for a perfect evening. read more

Wow, this play is nice for their happy hour. Went with two other people and between us all we went through 4 rolls, two appetizers and two of us had drinks other than water. After all of that the bill was only about 50 bucks and we all left full. Let me repeat that, we all left full. That is a key point to make with sushi. In the past it seemed that no matter how much I ate I wouldn't get full but we all managed to do it for 50 bucks here. I will be returning at some point. Try it out. read more

BarChi Sushi - Shrimp Crunch roll, Chi roll and a piece of salmon. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Love this place!! Never too busy, great service. My go to sushi place in austin. Not to mention the happy hours on Sunday!

Overall, I was satisfied with the food and price, service was little on the low quality side, hence 1 star off. I was in town for a conference, and decided to give this place a shot on Sunday. Considering it was Sunday, the restaurant had a good amount of traffic mid day. The menu selections were little bit above average, saving grace being that I happened to be there at the time of Happy Hour! My usual beef with sushi places is that they over sauce everything and the rice is dry. That was not a problem with BarChi. I enjoyed the fact that the sushi wasn't covered in sauce of some kind, it was well proportioned, and neatly presented. I ordered the Agedashi Tofu too, because this is one dish I'm critical on...if I see that its offered. Most places don't do it right. I actually enjoyed their Agedashi tofu. It was well done! Like I said earlier, service was underwhelming. I maybe saw my server once or twice. Not that I needed a whole lot of attention, but still, it's nice to be asked if I need anything. Anyway, if I'm in Austin again, I won't mind coming here again. :) read more

Dope atmosphere. The sushi was super tasty. You have to get the tuna pizza! That was one of the best items we had.

Frozen store made pot stickers Better chicken yakitori at Wattsons or 7/11 in Japan. The sushi was a little warm. The place was really dark. Needed a flash light in the bathroom. Food was blah... Service was nice and friendly but the food really could be alot better. read more

Favorite sushi spot in Austin, mostly because of their bomb happy hour. I have tried a handful of their specialty rolls and they are all great! It's never too crowded, so unless it's a Friday night during happy hour you can typically just walk in and get seated. I also love their fruit infused saki! I seriously crave this place every other day. read more

BarChi Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great service. Kind of loud but we didn't mind it. We had really tender calamari to start. We loved the volcano & shaggy dog rolls. The Luigi and love at first site roll was unique. A little pricy. read more

BarChi Sushi - Shaggy Dog @ Volcano roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

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We came in without any reservations and got seats at the sushi bar. We tried the garlic chili edamame, cherry blossom roll, wild king roll and the flaming dragon roll. The flaming dragon was the best one of them all. Our server Phil was so attentive and sweet! Definitely coming back! read more

Went here on a whim while visiting Austin and everything was incredibly tasty! The service was great and the food came out promptly. Even with the water ban that weekend, they were still able to serve food and we just got Topo Chicos as drinks. The waiter was great and even recommended a bar for us to try which we did. We got a couple of things and I was very satisfied with everything. read more

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Best sushi happy hour in Austin! Get the lychee martini and the calamari. You'll thank me later

Either people are being stingy with their star-giving or I have no shame...this place is 5-stars in my book!!! Barchi must be a hidden secret, because up until recently, I've never heard of it. Now that my friends have introduced me here, this has been my go-to place for some awesome reverse happy hour DT. Let's start with the minimal cons: parking is a b****, but so is everywhere else in DT Austin. There's like a $4 garage a couple streets down, which is good. The wait can also be crazy, but I always get there as soon as reverse HH starts to get a good spot.....if not, I'd say you're SOL cause this place gets crowded towards midnight. PROS! Inside, the place looks modern and chic--it definitely encompasses the Austin-DT-nightlife feeling. As soon as you walk in, you're in the bar area with a couple of tables and the DJ booth playing house/dubstep music. What a great entrance! In the back, there's the large dining area where most of everyone is seated. There's also additional seating outside for when the weather is good. Besides the decor, you can't beat the HH menu. FOOD: There's so much to choose from on their HH menu...from dumplings to skewers to sushi rolls to calamari. I've had their calamari (delicious sauce), scallop and bacon skewers (OMG....SO GOOD), spicy salmon roll, austin roll (a MUST-GET...salmon, tuna, escolar, and avocado), and shrimp crunch roll. Everything's super cheap!!! Price is an average of $3-4 bucaroos. DRANKS: Goodness....let's start with their $1.50 sake bombs. WHAT.....let me rewrite that. $1.50 SAKE BOMBS. I also get their Lychee martini, which is also delicious (and strong, might I add). SERVICE: One word: AWESOME! Even though the place gets crazy, the service here is always on point. I've been here a handful of times and never had a bad experience. Staff is friendly, always smiling, and offers true advice as to what to order (versus the whole, oh everything is good here). All in all, Barchi is a great place to hit up before a great night downtown with the buddies. From their wide (and CHEAP) selection of food choices for the sushi- and non-sushi lover, drinks that are strong, and the DJ pumping awesome music--this is the place to be for late night HH! read more

BarChi Sushi - Spicy salmon, Austin, shrimp crunch, calamari, and scallop/bacon skewers - Sushi Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

So I was introduced to Barchi during a recent trip and before my stay was over, I was back for seconds. Quality customer service and the food was delicious. I went during the happy hour and was quite impressed with their selection. The Friday evening I went there was a Dj session in full effect and made the atmosphere even more enjoyable. Great for any size party. I certainly will be back read more

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I can't get enough. The food and signature drinks are amazing. I wish they opened earlier tho.

One of my favorite happy hours in Austin! They have an extensive happy hour menu with great deals on food AND drinks. The sushi quality is far better than just "happy hour" sushi. I love coming here! read more

Phenomenal place!! Everything on the menu has been delicious! Not only the sushi, but the rest of the menu is delightful. Highly recommend the beef Carpaccio (add a little drizzle of soy sauce if you'd like). Their Happy Hour is incredible. But Paul the bartender is LEGIT! He knows everything about the food menu, he knows the liquor/beer/wine selections, and kills it behind the bar. I wanted to come back while in town, but Paul made it 100% certain I would. He also gave local spot recommendations for after hours, which were great!Next time I'm in town, I'll be back, again and again! Paul effing rocks!! read more