If I ever come back to Wellington, THIS IS THE PLACE! I still dream about their salmon sashimi, to…read morethe 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.

Authentic sushi joint, limited menu and an assortment of the features fish for the sashimi plate…read more 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.

This food is very good, choose what you get and they have friendly workers and okay prices, GET THE…read moreLEMONGRASS CHICKEN

My favourite is their California Roll (#2) which actually isn't a roll but a huge bowl of rice,…read moresalad, salmon, avocado and caviar. I add plenty of soy, wasabi mayo and ginger to really make me happy. Just be aware that when you order this, there'll be a bit if a wait...up to 10-15 minutes, but it's worth it. Free cup of Miso with this one. $17 total.

My husband and I lived in Japan for a couple years. When we travelled to NZ at the beginning of…read morethis year we stumbled upon Kazu when we were looking for a place to have dinner. This was the last leg of our trip and for the most part we had done things pretty well on the cheap. A visit to Kazu cost us three times as much as any other meal we'd had for the simple fact that everything was so good and we were on nostalgia overload. When we stepped into the izakaya, we were immediately greeted with the familiar "irrashaimase!" The decor was definitely authentic. Most of the restaurant was Western-style seating with tables and chairs, but there was a raised platform section covered in tatami where you remove your shoes to sit cross-legged on a zaisu (legless chair). The walls were decorated with Japanese calligraphy and ukiyo-e prints as well as some Japanese beer advertisements which are always a little hilarious. We were seated by a friendly young Japanese woman and given the menus. So many pictures of delicious foods! And the alcohol menu was one of the best parts: a double-sided A4 page full of Japanese beer (including Orion from Okinawa, which we've never seen in Melbourne), sake, shochu, umeshu, chuhai and red and white wine!!! There was even ramune for the non-drinkers! Our eyes popped out of our heads. I had a few chuhais and my husband loved the Orion. We ordered edamame, spicy soft shell crab, chicken kamameshi rice, a sushi roll, and a few other things. For dessert they had my number one favorite Japanese sweet of all times: taiyaki! I hadn't had a yummy fish-shaped pancake filled with red bean paste in far too long. After dinner we had a little chat to the owner in Japanese and told him how much we loved the meal. He was friendly and we loved the chat. This was, hands down, the best meal we had across 10 days on the North Island. The only sad part was leaving knowing that we wouldn't be back for a while. We didn't even mind that we spent around $150 between the two of us just pigging out and indulging on food we rarely get. It was a feast and I highly recommend this place to everyone.

Authentic Japanese cuisine cooked and served by Japanese staff with excellent service and food…read more Well impressed. These days wherever you go (except Japan) it's hard to find a Japanese that's authentic, they're usually fusions or with Chinese influence. Kazu's menu has a great selection of food and drinks, many types of soju to choose from as well as chu-hais etc. The decor was simple and cosy, they also had an elevated tatami seating area at the front of the restaurant where customers remove their shoes and sit crosslegged at a low table. The food was banging!! We were an interesting party of four with one pregnant and one gluten free and found the menu to be accommodating for all. The sashi platter was amazing, super fresh raw seafood. The dumplings three ways was also delicious. In fact, everything we ordered was delicious. Would definitely come back again.

We have been here at least a dozen times and their food is consistently excellent. We have not had…read morea bad meal here. If you love spicy ramen get the Tom Yum soup spiciest level if you can handle it. (you have been warned) They have a nice variety of salads, beef and chicken dishes and their sushi is very well prepared.

Great food at great prices. Yummy, fairly authentic Japanese food. Casual atmosphere with a good…read moreselection on the menu. Family friendly, good service, and the best donburi I have found in NZ.

Great food - Very healthy alternative…read more Highly recommended About $20 a meal and you will walk out feeling healthy

Dipping ramen had super strong flavors. Excellent with the cucumber and very sour mushrooms. GreAt…read moreif you have a sour tooth. Noodles firm but tasty. Black garlic ramen was done well. Good broth, could have used a little salt but overall tasty. Definitely recommend!

Excellent ramen We ordered the Tan Tan ramen and it was…read morefantastic. The broth was rich and tasty and the noodles were perfectly cooked - firm and chewy!

Day 6 of our NZ trip. Craving little warmth due to periodically cool sprinkling rain. We stopped at…read morethis place. A girl with a weird eye makeup took our order. She was NOT pleasant at all. We might as well been better off using venting machine to order. She never made an eye contact with her mono tone voice and zero facial expression. Scary huh. Nonetheless ramen were decent. I would have given 5 stars for the taste of food alone but service makes a big portion on restaurant business in my humble opinion even though there is no tip system in NZ.

I found origimi through google reviews because I was craving some vegetarian friendly ramen. When…read morewe arrived it was me and my husband and one other couple, we were given water and menus. I ordered the Aubergine vegetarian ramen with green curry- the menu was a bit confusing so I double checked which was vegan or vegetarian. They also had what they call Dry Ramen which is seemed interesting to be but I wanted regular ramen. When my Dish arrived it was big! Had a half eggplant in the whole thing but it was delicious!! I really enjoyed the flavor, it was creamy, spicy, and warm! I just wished I had a microwave so I could warm up leftovers because I wasn't able to finish the whole meal. The staff were very kind and on our way out we decided to get one of their pastries- which was also delicious. They also had sushi which my husband got and enjoyed. I'd recommend this spot if you're vegetarian and in need of some ramen in addition to the Japanese pastries!!

We took one look at the menu and knew this would be a perfect spot for a nice dinner in the city…read more Our high expectations were met! We started with an order of Takoyaki (always happy to see those rare octopus balls on a menu outside of Japan). They weren't as good as the ones in Japan but that's to be expected. But they were still very tasty. We also ordered the yellow noodles with beef and their version of fried chicken and rice. I oversimplified the menu. The names were all Japanese so it was hard to remember but basically look for the ingredients I mentioned. Plus they cook the food with egg and onions and their sauces so it all comes out incredibly delicious! I ended up mixing the rice with the noodle dish and that made an excellent combination. We wanted to find dessert somewhere else but the ones at the restaurant looked amazing! And the people around us ordered some and they seemed to enjoy them very much. Maybe next time for us!

Great to see a new and interesting restaurant for paraparaumu. We were excited to try the new…read moreoffering but unfortunately underwhelmed. The 4 entrees ( including 1 soup and s pulled rabbit broth) sounded nice but were not light options or conducive for sharing. As s consequence we waited eagerly for our mains. 2 of us had beef rump which was a little tough and served almost cold. There were two tiny bits of broccoflower which and a lot of sauce. Although ok, a disappointing offering. Not side dishes of vegetables were available, but we did get a bowl of extremely over deep fried potatoes. One of our party had the mojo fish. It was tasty but again lacking vegetables, a sentiment echoed by our fourth who had the braised lamb shoulder- delicious but lacking. Overall not a 'rush back' experience. The ambience is a bit bare/stark with lots of hard surfaces so very noisy. Look forward to checking it out in 6 months once settled in a some of our feedback dealt wirh

Arashi was a nice surprise when it comes to authentic Japanese food in Wellington. I recommend the…read moresalmon nigiri. The salmon that we had seemed fresh and was buttery. I ordered the tempura set and was satisfied. The tempura wasn't cooked too oily and the rice portion was perfect. The salad and miso soup were also good. Shredded daikon and wasabi would have been a nice added touch but it was good for what it was. The tempura portion was also pretty generous. We ordered Otokayama sake also with our meal and to my surprise it came out hot. I prefer Otakayama sake chilled, so I was surprised when it was served hot to us. I wish they offered to enjoy it both ways. The service was at least good. Our waitress was helpful and friendly. The ambiance also felt like being in a traditional Japanese restaurant sans the bidets in the restroom, but all good :)

Good skewers. Nice veggie tempura. The ramen was good also but you probably normally wouldn't…read morenotice it on the menu because it is at the very bottom of the noodles section. Needs a better menu layout. Nice restaurant atmosphere. Good sake selection.