Despite being so close to Japan, it appears to be oh so far, when it comes to getting legit Japanese food in the Philippines. So when you finally do come across a restaurant that's very authentic, you take note of it and such a place is Ogawa. It's right here in Bonafacio Global City (BGC). Their vast menu is quite impressive and the sashimi was super fresh and they had two types of sea urchin (local and from Japanese waters). We had both and by far, the imported uni from Japan was much better in texture and taste. I also enjoyed the nigiri set and I haven't had toro (fatty tuna) in soooo long, I'm glad that I splurged and had that too. That was incredibly soft and fatty. We had a party of 6, and we were able to reserve a private room, that was special. There's a big pahking lot and that's uncommon. I would definitely come back here again for a real deal, Japanese meal. Arigato Ogawa!! read more

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We were in the BGC area and craving Japanese food ans found this restaurant. We ordered a few items. The Tuna sashimi was delicious! Paired so well with the Ponzu sauce. I ordered the hanger steak and it was ok. The texture of the meat was good but it was missing something. The chicken teriyaki wasn't grilled but slightly battered. The tuna maki was good. The service was a little slow and there weren't that many customers in the restaurant. The restaurant is clean and has a nice ambiance. read more

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Food: 4.5 stars. Food was tasty. Portions were good. Prices: I think it would be kind of pricey for locals but with conversion it was okay. Service: 2 stars. Took forever to refill our drinks or get our check. We didn't have reservations so we sat at the bar/counter, and it was impossible to wave down waitstaff. Ambiance: 4 stars. Nice decor. read more

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Great place to get your sushi fix. Reservations highly recommended for they are very busy. Bar seating available where you can see the chef cook the grilled meats. Sushi and sashimi are fresh and nice presentation. Service is ok.loved the grilled oysters. Plenty of expats and Japanese dining here. Highly recommended. I didn't give a 5 bed had to wave to several servers before our teas/water were refilled. read more

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The food was good but they tried to charge us 4000 pesos for items we didn't order nor receive. When we discovered the scam they didn't even apologize and they said "That's why we ask customers to check the bill". What a shame. read more

Walked across Ogawa before when visited another Japanese restaurant nearby. The exterior design of the establishment was classy. The restaurant was located on the 2nd floor, below is the Modern Sichuan Restaurant. The restaurant is always full and created an interest for me. My visit today was due to a client meeting. The restaurant is classy with its minimalistic design and a nice entrance door, over a traditional Japanese wooden bridge. Since it was a private meeting, I was directed to the reserved private room, but outside in the middle of a restaurant stood an open kitchen, with a great view of the chefs skilfully making their best dish. The dishes were nicely plated, fun to look at, and the quality and freshness of the ingredients can be tasted. However, the taste for me is just right, with a few that missed the mark. Moreover, the price was too expensive for a regular visit. For the dishes that I have tried: Ebi Tempura Moriawase, Seafood Chahan, Salmon Sashimi, Seafood Okonomiyaki, Chirashi Don, Unagi Don, and Black Sesame Ice Cream, the okonomiyaki missed the mark. The Japanese pizza dish was very floury and lacked flavor. When eaten, it became a mush that is difficult to swallow. Salmon Sashimi was fresh but I have had better. I like the tempura in a way that is was not oily, but it is simply a properly-cooked tempura. I guess I can say Japanese cuisine is somehow difficult to prepare because of the use of the freshest of ingredients and the right skills and technique. For this, Ogawa certainly passed the mark. I would still recommend this restaurant if you want to impress. read more

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My friends and I arrived here way before dinner time, so we still got to snag some seats by the sushi bar. Most of the other seats (like the booths) were already reserved for those who booked beforehand. We decided to go with the set meals since we were really starving at the time. I got one with the breaded (almost tonkatsu-styled) shrimp and the salmon sashimi. It comes with a salad, some fruits, pickles, miso soup, and chawan mushi. Let me just say: the sashimi did it for me. I savored every piece of it in my mouth (IT MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH!!!). At about Php 500 for this set, I think the sashimi made it all worth it! We loved our seats by the sushi bar because we could see the sushi chef make beautiful creations in front of us. I'd like to say that we spent about 60% of our time there staring at how they made the sushi and their sushi formations and basically trying not to drool. It just gets really packed, though. No wonder why people reserve in advance. The ambiance is kinda classy, but since it gets packed with families and workmates out for dinner, it gets pretty noisy. read more

Ogawa - Set meal! Yum! - Japanese Near Me - Taguig, NCR

This restaurant is not very big so it is best that you book in advance. We got the set and it was really quite good. A bit more expensive than the usual fare but it's worth it just for the decor and the ambiance. The service is really fast so expect your food within 15 or less. read more

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A very good Japanese restaurant in BGC! It's a bit hard to find this place - it's on the second floor of the Strip, so look for a door to Thai BBQ and then take the stairs (to your right) up to the second floor. There you'll find hostesses and waitresses in bright pink kimonos. Ambiance-wise it's A-OK. The outfits, the gong when you enter, and the constant exclamations of some Japanese phrase I couldn't catch, they're a bit much. It's juuuust short of tacky, but nowhere near the themed restaurants of Florida. The menu has something for everyone. I had a tempura set which was affordable at around 480PHP but I had to order an extra side of tempura since I have a hearty American appetite. My fiancé had assorted sushi which was around 1800 PHP but apparently this was the good "supreme" stuff. He enjoyed it and was thankful that the wasabi was actually spicy - many sushi places we went to in Manila had this weird non-spicy wasabi-type paste. The menu lacked inventive sushi rolls and chicken dishes but I'm going to chalk that up to this place being "authentic." Still I think they could add more katsu dishes. A few tips - make a reservation if you don't feel like sitting at a "bar" right in front of the chef's cooktop. This must be one of the few places in Manila that requires a reservation. Sitting at the bar isn't so bad since the ventilation is very good, so you don't end up smelling like food... however, when we entered around 7:30pm we were told that all the tables had been reserved. All the tables were empty so we figured the diners would start trickling in - but around 8:30pm when we left the tables we're still empty! Not sure what was up with that. Since they were out of the sake we wanted to order, we ordered soju (sochu) instead. It was, as soju can be, pretty bland. But our waiter suggested squeezing some calamansi into our glasses and it was great! Definitely take it with the calamansi. Anyway, overall, 4 stars. Better than your average Japanese restaurant. Would go again. read more

I sampled the Jo Chirashi Sushi Tsukiji and spicy sashimi santen during their soft opening months and it was really fresh! I didn't make a reservation in advance, but they were able to seat me in just five minutes at the sushi bar, but it was right behind a pole, so it wasn't the most comfortable. But I guess that's what I get for just walking in. I think that's also the reason why it was so difficult to get the attention of a waiter. Note: the sushi bar is right next to their smoking room, so that can be a bit of a bother. They have an extra long menu, so it can be a bit intimidating, but on the up side, you'll never get stuck ordering the same thing over and over again! I'm heading back again tonight and I think I'll have their tempura set. Or maybe something from the teppanyaki section? I'm telling you, so many options! read more

We were taken out for dinner here by our friends and were so pleasantly surprised! Our friend recommended the "sets" so we all got one! We got a sushi one (#8 on the menu) and a beef udon one (#9 on the menu). The amount of food for the price is great! I was so so full after it all and each set is about 500 php. There is an open kitchen in the middle which is awesome to see them cook some food right in front of you! Really great experience! read more

Recently, Ogawa Traditional Japanese Restaurant opened at The Fort Strip (There's an actual sign!) to the delight of many diners around the metro. Its namesake, Chef Kiyoshi Ogawa has a stellar resume which includes being the head chef of Senju at EDSA Shangrila hotel and Marufuku hidden in Ortigas Center, among other international establishments. It was about time the renowned chef's name appeared at the forefront. My parents and I arrived for lunch on a Sunday which I predicted to be crowded. We did get lucky though and got seats at the main bar which is separate from the sushi bar. Patrons at the sushi bar get to see Chef Ogawa in action as sushi and sashimi is his specialty. We ordered many things as usual since I'm not the only matakaw person in this family and wanted to try many things on the menu. The menu is definitely loaded with dishes that are uncommon to other Japanese restaurants in Manila. For example, kamameshi (釜飯/kettle rice) is not something I see often here and boom the kamameshi station was right in front of me. That robatayaki (炉端焼き/fireside cooking) station was also visible from where we were seated so it was nice to see them grill stuff up front. We ordered a bunch of random items and started with kaki isobe-age (deep fried Hiroshima oysters with seaweed). The oysters were huge (Yuge? Hey Trumpers) and sweet! The batter was green as you'd expect from the seaweed. However, I didn't expect the batter to not be crispy/crunchy. It was soggy at best maybe cause it stayed out too long after frying before it got to our table? Would just like to peel the batter away for the oysters inside. We added orders of okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake) and hamachi kabuto shioyaki (grilled hamachi head with salt). The okonomiyaki had way too much flour, cabbage, and not much else. Boo. The hamachi head (and the collar too!) was simple and delicious. We cleaned it out as much as we could and I will admit that a fork and knife are always necessary to clean out such a big fish head! There always more meat to pick on the inside of the fish head. Mom thought the fish wasn't super fresh though (even if it was cooked). I'm not very good at telling freshness if the fish is already cooked but she can sense it a mile away. Classic Hong Konger. Finally, we also ordered some sushi because it's Ogawa, c'mon! Dad got the kaisen chirashi sushi zen bento and I got the gokyujo sushi hamacho (assorted special premium sushi). Dad did not enjoy his bento at all but I enjoyed my sushi platter. All the fish was goooooood although the salmon could've been better. Can't have it all! I will have to say that there is a larger (than I expected!) price difference between the bento and the sushi platter and at this point it's basically you get what you pay for. In premium of course. In my honest (and probably unpopular) opinion, I don't think what we got was worth what we paid for except for maybe the sushi platter. From what I know of Chef Ogawa when he worked at Senju is that he really specializes in sashimi/sushi/rolls. I guess different chefs and all so not as consistent. Sad day. Better luck next time, perhaps. read more

This restaurant is a real treat, it's expensive but so worth it. I would recommend getting the set menu options as they offer more bang for your buck. At around ₽690 each it's far better than ordering everything individually. The ambiance is beautiful and you could be anywhere in Japan. Definitely give this restaurant a try if you are after some unique Japanese nosh. read more

Ogawa - Japanese Near Me - Taguig, NCR

Taste- 4 Service- 5 Price- 3.5 A decent 4 for the taste for it was not perfect but is satisfying and rich. The rice in California Maki was not sticky enough to hold it though. It felt like it would break while dipping it. The pork skewers however were perfect as well as the US beef tenderloin. Grilled to perfection indeed Tempura fans, you'll probably get your tastebuds breathing after having a bite of their ebi's. Service was great. Didn't need to call the waiters attention for anything. You can see them stationed and on standby to cater to your needs. Good job management! Plus the cooking time was quite fast with 20-30mins wait time for all our meals!! Price was crazy considering the serving size per order. Approx 1k++ per person. read more

Favourite Japanese Resto in BGC. Claire, is super accommodating and efficient! Highly recommended!