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    Izakaya Amu

    4.5 (272 reviews)
    PriceyJapanese
    Closed 12:00 pm - 10:00 PM

    Izakaya Amu Photos

    IZAKAYA AMU ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Intimate
    Classy
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Izakaya Amu

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    Maria M.

    Loved that we had to take our shoes off. The sashimi was delicious and I can't wait to go back! Service was excellent.

    Adam G.

    Soba 10/10 I came here specifically for soba, and it didn't disappoint me. 10/10 would come back again Ambiance 10/10 The section by the bar requires to take off your shoes, just like the Japanese restaurant. It just made the experience so much better Service 10/10 It wasn't as busy when I came on Thursday night, there's only one person serving the food and it was plenty. She did a great job

    Black sesame ice cream
    Stacey L.

    Love the traditional Japanese Izakaya feel, including taking shoes off at the main portion of the restaurant! I miss my go-to Izakaya place in San Jose after moving to Denver a year ago, and Amu filled that void. Came here with 3 others and we all opted for omakase so that we could have our server decide our dishes and portions for us. Instead of it being served as individual courses, they served it family style and then charged prices a la carte, which I appreciated the transparency of. We had a total of 10 dishes (they brought out two portions of the soba) including 2 desserts, so I won't list everything we got but I will list the dishes that were stand outs: Dipping soba with duck - amazing! Broth was light but flavorful. Noodles were cooked perfectly. Sashimi - we had salmon, hamachi, bonito, albacore. All were super fresh. Seared duck breast - perfectly cooked with some pink and lightly seasoned Sesame ice cream - strong sesame flavor and a light touch of sweetness We also ordered a full bottle of cold sake to go with our meal. Our entire meal was nicely paced and we were full but not overly stuffed. They add an automatic 20% tip, but the entire check still came out to be reasonable overall. Will definitely be back and maybe to try their sister restaurant next door!

    Maria S.

    Great sushi and great location! This was my first choice place but they did not have reservations available so I made a reservation somewhere else hoping to stop here first and get a table. Soo happy we did! Was busy for a Saturday night. They were able to seat us in the traditional tea room- Not recommended if you have bad knees though . My girls had a craving for sushi and I am always happy to partake! The rolls were great and we all enjoyed the meals. I always love agedashi tofu so I was happy to see this as an option. Sushi tasted fresh and well done! We all devoured the salmon skin hand roll! Feels very authentic for a Japanese restaurant in the middle of Boulder! Thanks Yelp community for steering us here!

    Menu July 2021
    Ryen B.

    FAB Japanese restaurant near Pearl St in Boulder. Wear clean socks because you'll be leaving your shoes at the door. We sat at the community table in the back. It's a bit of a challenge to get seated if you aren't flexible, but comfy once you are settled in. The menu is amazing. Come with a group that likes to share and order a few plates at a time. Even though the restaurant was busy, the food comes out pretty fast. Sake flights are a fun way to try lots of things on the menu. A few dishes we loved: Ebi Shumai (steamed shrimp dumplings), Tsukemono (pickled veggies), Tako Sumiso-ae (sliced octopus with sweet miso), Amu Salad, Kaisou Salad, Maguro Avocado (tuna sashimi), Gindara Kasuzuke (grilled black cod). The daikon salad and scallops from the special menu were also very good. The only one that I didn't love was the Yaki Onigiri (grilled rice balls); good, but a little dry. Other than that, every dish was a winner. Recommend!

    Baked mussels
    Justin P.

    We went here on a date night recently. The service was fantastic (we sat at the bar). We loved the ambiance and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our dinner. We got great recommendations for sake and food. It was pricey, but we expected that. The food was outstanding. We will be back.

    Kamo Soba
    Juliet S.

    It was so amazing to enter into a restaurant with traditional Japanese traditions. Taking your shoes off took me back to actually eating in Japan. The tables you step into. The food was delicious and served family style. We got several courses, which made us keep wanting more. The chili shrimp was spicy & delicious. The miso soup had a variety of seaweed. We also got the Kamo Soba as well. The broth was delicious. It's traditionally eaten with the noodles and broth separately. The blackened cod was delicate with exceptional flavor. Really, you can't go wrong with anything here! I'd definitely go back.

    Eggplant
    Adrianna S.

    Really good food! We are used to going to a Japanese sushi restaurant. We decided to try something new and loved it. Service was great. We sat outside and enjoyed a beautiful night. If you go into the bar/restaurant area, you have to remove your shoes.... not really our thing. We ordered the tuna hamachi, mussels, eggplant, and shrimp dumplings. We loved all of it. Mussels were our favorite, followed by the eggplant. I've never had eggplant that creamy before. Must try!

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    Amazing sake selection, great food, excellent service from our sever Avery. We sat outside on a beautiful evening in Boulder.

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    Izakaya Amu Reviews in Other Languages

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    Japango - Salmon hand roll (left) hotate mayo (right)

    Japango

    3.7(558 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$

    Came here on a Friday afternoon for lunch. We went there early and were seated quickly, however…read moreservice was a bit slow. What we swallowed: *UDON NOODLES: This was good, a bit salty but had good flavors. *MIXED GREEN SALAD: The leaves were crisp and the sesame dressing was great. *GILDED BEE *WILD SALMON, HAMACHI, MAGURO BLANCO, MAGURO: Each piece was tasty and fresh. *EL CORAZON *HAMACHI JALAPENO: Always a favorite, this did not disappoint. Tasty fish and the sauce was great. We really liked it here. Although service was dragging, it was a great experience.

    Japango is a solid sushi place in the heart of Boulder on Pearl St. It was my first time at…read moreJapango so I wasn't familiar with their cocktail program and it blew me away. Sushi joints aren't known for their cocktails but Japango takes it very serious. There are so many options on the menu it was hard to choose. I started with a fun spin on a Mai Tai called Mai-Tide. It was delicious and complex with some fabulous vacation garnish. Yes that is a seaweed strip. (Photo #1) My second was Yorokobi Joy, a spin on a Vieux Carre which is a classic whiskey/cognac recipe. It was boozy in all the best ways with some incredible ingredients. The first sip is the best because you're not ready for the herbal flavor explosion. The Japanese whiskey and cognac balance well with some wild flavors provided by a lovely Amaro (Cardamaro) and Saffron-Plum bitters. The kicker in a Vieux Carre is the Benedictine which glues all the amazingness together. Delish!! Because Japango is on Pearl and it was a football weekend, we had the perfect patio table on the sidewalk for the Friday night Stampede where the CU Buffs band and cheerleaders march down Pearl. What a great night. Go check out Japango when you make it to the always amazing Boulder. Salute . Sorry I didn't get pics of the inside but we were seated outside and there were a million people around since it was Parents weekend. Go Buffs Mai-Tide Nori Infused Cane Rum Planteray OFTD Rum Ferrand Yuzu Curaçao Small Hands Orgeat Lime Tiki Bitters Yorokobi Joy Hakushu Japanese Whiskey Hennessy XO Cognac Cardamaro Benedictine Japango Saffron-Plum Bitters Peychauds Bitters

    Photos
    Japango
    Japango - Magic Mushroom

    Magic Mushroom

    Japango - Yorokobi Joy

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    Yorokobi Joy

    Sushi Hana

    Sushi Hana

    2.9(74 reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$

    You can gauge the overall quality of a Japanese restaurant based on its miso soup alone; miso soup…read moreis an extremely easy to make and high margin product for a restaurant that a low quality miso soup means that the restaurant most likely skimps on the quality of their other offerings. The miso soup was heavily watered down - needed either more dashi and / or miso paste to bring it to an acceptable level. I rarely have a good experience with ramen offerings at a sushi place and this was no exception. The "tonkotsu" ramen broth was anything but; it didn't taste anything remotely that would be considered tonkotsu and the noodles looked like it came out of some western version of packaged ramen noodles. The beef "teriyaki" lunch bento was awful. The "teriyaki" sauce tasted watered down and they would have been better off with the 99c bachan's teriyaki sauce from Costco because this sauce was the worst I've ever consumed. I was struggling to taste the components of teriyaki in it. It didn't even have the viscosity of teriyaki either and was this watery mess. The dipping sauce for the potstickers was also some strange spiced anomaly; the sauce that we all know and love isn't hard to make either - it's 1:1 soy sauce and vinegar, and they should have just went with that. The california roll included was ok. It's just overall I feel sad for the folks that live around here as this may be their only exposure to Japanese food and none of it represents anything that could be remotely considered decent. They need to remove the dim sum and ramen options and focus on what they are - a sushi joint.

    First Off, the wait time is outrageous. Their max capacity is similar to a school bus. The ambiance…read moreleaves much to be desired, and their food is just subpar all around. I would recommend if you want to waste your time.

    Photos
    Sushi Hana
    Sushi Hana
    Sushi Hana

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    Osaka's - Sabe and salmon belly nigiri

    Osaka's

    4.5(272 reviews)
    0.9 mi
    $$

    Always a great experience and just what we hoped for my husband's birthday dinner. We ordered some…read morefavorite appetizers during happy hour and the had our favorite main,okonomiyaki with seafood for our meal. It was loaded with scallops, shrimp and squid. Of course we always take the bonito flakes which arrive dancing on top of the food, to wave in the escaping heat of the fresh seafood omelet. They have a roasted barley tea I love that has no caffeine as made without a decaffeinating process and so different than herbals common in Boulder. It has real substance. As we started to eat our pork gyoza and Ebi shumai we saw a lit candle in some food being carried across the room. Having eaten here baby times over the year, we were surprised as we had never seen this here. The entire restaurant broke in singing happy birthday to someone too far for us to see. As a server was passing our table, I mentioned we were celebrating my husband's birthday too. He said meh!d let someone know. As we were waiting for our dessert later, the owner who we've met before , with one of the servers who was carrying an ice cream mochi with a flaming birthday candle arrived and placed it in front of my husband and all the patrons broke out in sing again! Who knew this was a tradition here? The owner, who is almost always on the floor had an instant camera and too a picture of our table with the candle celebration. He made a copy for us to take home and one for nh husband to sign which will go up on some wall I had never noticed. We'll be sure to check in the walk the next time we are in. It's such a fun place with really good food. Do make a reservation these days. It's always busy, the now are only open Wed- Sat for dinner. As we were leaving on a very cold night, there weee people packed into the little entry way waiting for seats. One woman was shivering as she had just flown in from FL she said, unprepared for the recent shift back to winter today. Shocked me this morning too.

    This is such a cute Japanese restaurant. Really nice ambiance. Great place for a date or to go with…read morefamily. Servers were extremely friendly and they have a button you press when you're ready to order/want the check which was really convenient. Food came out fast. My favorite sushi was probably the salmon nigiri. It was extremely buttery and fresh. Also the eel was great. I wouldn't recommend the maki/rolls as much as the nigiri. They also had a lot of options that weren't sushi like ramen, salad, rice dishes, okonomiyaki, and more. Definitely some menu items you can't get at any Japanese restaurant. I would definitely recommend coming here.

    Photos
    Osaka's - Restaurant

    Restaurant

    Osaka's - Okinomiyaki

    Okinomiyaki

    Osaka's - Cucumber and salmon sushi

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    Cucumber and salmon sushi

    Izakaya Amu - japanese - Updated May 2026

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