We tried the salty salmon ochazuke, ebi onigiri, and miso butter onigiri. We also ordered the curry noodles (which I don't recommend it was super watery and not flavorful). It a small restaurant and there was a wait when we went for dinner time but it wasn't too long. I really liked the ochazuke, reminded me of home cooked food. But next time I'd prob go back to try multiple onigiris since I think that's what they are really known for. read more

Onibaba - Salted salmon - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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the rice is amazing and the karage is so crispy！！ best japan restaurant ever in Seattle read more

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Tried this new onigiri restaurant yesterday for lunch, and it was great! Here's what we had: Unagi onigiri - 5/5 the eel was really flavorful and the sauce made every bite delicious! Ajitama (cured egg) onigiri - 3/5 It was basically just half a cured egg with the rice and nori. Without a sauce of any kind, the onigiri seemed a little dry especially when compared to the amazing unagi onigiri. Shoyu butter yaki onigiri - 5/5 The grilled exterior was crispy while the rice on the inside was so flavorful! Shoyu and butter go so well together! It's a must try! I could eat this every single day! Salmon ochazuke - 4/5 I've heard about this traditional Japanese dish before but have never been able to find it anywhere before now. Was very curious, so we had to order it. We initially wanted the saba (mackerel) but they were out, so we went with salmon. Sometimes ochazuke is served with tea, but they use a dashi broth here that is very tasty and well seasoned. The idea is to use up leftover rice by pouring tea or broth over the rice and adding toppings. It is served here with soft tofu in soy sauce and daikon pickles. Overall I can see why this is considered Japanese comfort food. It's a very warm and yummy dish with lots of umami. Give it a try! Edamame - 2/5 This was by far my least favorite dish. The beans were mealy and overcooked. I wouldn't get this one again. Overall, I really enjoyed this restaurant, but it is pretty white rice heavy. I wouldn't bring my diabetic friends here, but as a rice lover myself it was great! read more

Onibaba - Salmon ochazuke - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Came here for lunch after hearing my friends rave about this place, so I gave it a shot. Went for lunch on a Thursday and waited around 30 to 45 minutes for a table for 2. A little longer than I would have liked to wait but regardless the food was good. All the dishes we ordered were fresh and the rice was high grade and well seasoned. However, the best thing was the karaage salad. The chicken was juicy and the salad was well dressed. I think this a definitely a place to order to go and eat it at a park rather than a sit-down place. The space is on the smaller side and it just feels a little tight. I am excited to hopefully try it again for dinner. I want to try their ochazuke and donburi. read more

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Great food, cute place, kind staff. Went on a first date there and it was ten out of ten :)

Delicious food with an amicable staff. You may need to wait because space is limited, but it is worth it. read more

I thought this place has some good Japanese food that isn't raw fish or sushi. If you love rice but don't love sushi, this place is for you. Meanwhile I love veggies and raw fish, plus I make onigiri at home. So I probably won't be coming back here, but I think it's a nice spot with good service, fresh food, and would recommend anyone checking it out as a new experience. Probably great too drop by for a quick to go order as well. read more

The onigiri is worth the hype. I only needed one, but given the effort and wait, I figured I should get two. A spicy tuna with green onion was in special. The rice was soft and warm. Just delicious. Yaki doesn't have nori, but rather is dipped in butter and then fried to have a crispy crust. That one was decadent and shareable. The trick is the wait. It's an hour. Don't come with six friends as the place is small. But, don't leave if the wait is too long. Get onigiri to go and picnic. Also, no ramen. The mom makes it for the staff now and then. So keep asking for it. Maybe it will come back as those who've had it know it needs to come back. read more

We got there around 7ish and the wait for was still 40 mins. We ordered fried and seaweed one to try and a few other items. The grilled saba stand out the most, cooked to perfection and flavor. The adegashi tofu was interesting...it has a thick broth vs the clear broth that we're used to. The set was good but small and seem pricey. Service was good and the place has very little seating so prepare to wait for group of 3 or more. read more

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The best thing I got was the shoyu butter yaki onigiri. It was so perfectly crisp on the outside. I loved how it was butter-forward and had a strong soy taste. It was so good, we ordered it twice. #2 was the Saba ochazuke with soy dashi. The stock tasted very flavorful and rich by itself but gets a little lost once you pour it over the rice. The pickled eggplant that comes with it is chef's kiss. The seaweed salad has two different types of seaweed. One of them was a little tough. Flavor was good. The agedashi tofu had a thicker sauce than I'm used to, but it was still delicious. The tofu is soft. The rice in the spam musubi was a little dry. Otherwise, Iove me some spam. We came on a Friday with a group of 6. It took around an hour to seat us. The atmosphere is warm and inviting inside, just a bit small for large parties and in general. Giving a 4 just because I wasn't wowwed by multiple dishes, but I'd come here again to try more of the onigiri. read more

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We went there on a Sunday afternoon for takeout and the tables were all still full. We got two oyako onigiris, one mentaiko onigiri, and an unagi onigiri. Our favorite was the oyako which had salty salmon and salmon roe in it. The pricing is definitely pretty steep but we're happy with the amount of filling in the onigiri. We're looking forward to going back to try other items on their menu. read more

So glad that the family behind Seattle's beloved Tsukushinbo is back! While this new spot specializes in onigiri and ochazuke, their rice dishes from their time as Tsukushinbo are still on the menu and are still really good. I ordered the katsu curry and a tuna mayo onigiri. The katsu is some of the best I have tried in the Seattle area. The flavor, crisp, and the portion size all get high marks from me. Service was a bit slow though and the waiting system was not the best, as it is first come first serve. They are still working some things out as they just opened only a while ago but I am happy they are back! read more

Onibaba - Katsu curry - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Let's start with the food ....delicious! Prepared with care and excellence. Everything was delicious and a delight from how it was presented to the taste. The service was lovely. Friendly staff who were attentive and personable. Pride in the restaurant and also in giving wonderful service. The place is small, welcoming and created space to enjoy without feeling crowded. I love supporting local businesses and especially those that take such care. read more

Onibaba - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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food: 4.5 service: 5 ambiance: 4.5 tried onibaba for the first time, we came on a monday night around 6pm and it was pretty busy. we didn't have resos/didnt call, but luckily we were able to get a table with a 10 ish min wait. it's a pretty cozy restaurant and it's probably better for groups of 4 or less, or you can get food to-go which a lot of peopl were doing too. we got two ochazukes (onibaba serves theirs with broth instead of tea!) and each came with a side of pickled radishes and tofu in a soy sauce. i got the oyako which had salmon and salmon roe, and it was delicious and definitely a good amount of food, especially if you finish the whole tea pot of broth! our friend ordered two onigiris and a fried soy butter rice ball, which was crispy and tasted like brown butter, which is a fun flavor to try! we also ordered the small plate/appetizer of gobo, which was good but a little pricey for the amount in my opinion. we also ordered chu-hi's and you really get a bang for your buck, it's a pretty big cup and both the lychee and calpico one are very yummy (def on the sweeter side if you like that sort of drink)! overall really good flavors and a lot of onigiris/menu items to choose. a but pricey (esp for the onigiris, but i'll give it a pass since they make them in house/to order and it has a good amount of filling!), would def come back to try their curry dish/more onigir flavors. read more

Onibaba - kelp and natto kimchi onigiris - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I've been wanting to try Onibaba for a while now and decided last minute to eat there Friday night for dinner. The restaurant is really small and it took a while to get seated (got on the waitlist around 7pm, did not get seated until 8:30pm), but we just grabbed a small bite elsewhere to help pass the time. Overall, the food was pretty good! The onigiri were prepared really well and had solid ratios of filling to rice- they were my favorite dishes of the night! The yaki shoyu butter onigiri was a bit too buttery for my taste (I wish the shoyu flavor was stronger to help cut the rich flavor of the butter) but I still really enjoyed the chewy texture of the fried rice bits. The chicken karaage breading was just the slightest bit soggy, but it was seasoned well and juicy, and I also liked that the pieces of chicken were bigger than the usual bite-sized karaage I'm used to. All in all, this place has really good food, although I'm not sure if it's worth an 1.5 hour wait. I would recommend coming at a more odd hour to dine which would hopefully result in a shorter wait time, or ordering takeout. read more

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I tried the unagi and mentaiko onigiris. I was pretty underwhelmed compared to other onigiris that I've tried. The ratio of rice to filling was high, and the onigiris I got were pretty salty. The staff was really nice though! I would go back to try the other items on their menu. read more

Overall (4/5): Small, cozy restaurant with yummy onigiri selections, as well as other Japanese dishes. Whether you're looking for a to-go snack or a full meal, Onibaba is a great option! Food (4/5): We ordered a bowl of karaage, and for onigiri, we got tuna mayo, unagi, ebi mayo, and oyako. The karaage was crispy on the outside and so tender on the inside. I really enjoyed the unagi onigiri; the eel had so much flavor! The tuna mayo onigiri was delicious as well, but I wish I could've tasted the mayo a bit more. My friend got the ebi mayo and oyako onigiris, and she enjoyed both! Service (5/5): We waited in line for about 40 minutes. The waiters were all very attentive! Ambiance (4/5): The restaurant has low, warm lights that give it a cozy feel. I would suggest not coming with a big group as the restaurant is pretty small. Instead, you could grab onigiris to go for a picnic! read more

Onibaba - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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YUM! This is just a tiny little hole-in-the-wall kind of place, easy to miss. Park in the nearby parking lot, it's cheaper than street parking. The interior is tiny but cute and decorated with a Japanese flair. We were seated pretty quickly and we ordered a few rice balls and my friend got the soup. Everything was fresh (they bring it out as it's made) and really tasty and flavorful. The servers are pretty nice and fast! We got the eel rice ball, salty salmon with roe rice ball, katsu pork rice ball and soup that I can not recall the name of. We were pretty happy with everything we got and the price wasn't too bad; you could try a variety and not break the bank. We will be back if we're in the area again! read more

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We were so sad when Tsukushinbo closed and thrilled to try Onibaba! The initial plan was to try a few onigiri to go but there happened to be an open table so we ended up sitting down and I'm really glad we took the opportunity to try more than just the onigiri. The oyako ochazuke really wowed, and the Katsu curry was one of the best in the city. Unagi onigiri was very very tasty. Glad we decided to try the iced lychee oolong tea which was larger than expected and very refreshing. We are huge corn fans and the corn butter yaki onigiri was good but not a standout so we will probably trial some more onigiri options next time instead. read more

Really busy restaurant as we had to wait for 40min for next table seating for 2 persons. Staff was friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the food very much! We ended up being seated to a corner which we liked. Great ambiance and cute table setting. I thought the salted salmon was a little on the saltier side of my taste and my friend also thought the same. Still enjoyed it nevertheless. Would love to come back and try their other onigiris or rice balls next time! read more

Onibaba - Agedashi tofu (pictured on top left and our favorite dish we ordered!!) salted salmon ochazuke (bottom)--such great comfort food! - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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I went with high expectations because it's a popular spot, but the taste wasn't worth waiting in line for. I didn't use the parking, so I'm not sure about it. The staff were friendly. read more

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Order take out since the restaurant was busy on a Friday night. Waited outside since the place is pretty small. Got the Ebi Ten, Sake, Unagi. Out of the 3 I got, the best was the Epi Ten since it was crispy and the taste was good. The sake was pretty plain, nothing special. Unagi also wasn't anything special, the sauce was kind of the only thing that I tasted. read more

Onibaba - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Came here to eat with my boyfriend on a Saturday around 6pm. My boyfriend was telling me how much he loved the previous restaurant so we decided to swing by and give the new spot a try. We got lucky and was able to snatch the last open table as the restaurant only has 8 tables for seating. Unfortunately when we came everyone had just been seated before us. The downfall was there was only 1 server tonight holding down the floor, taking orders, bussing tables, handling the cashier. The server was very calm even though he had alot on his plate, big kudos to him. Our server took orders for 5 tables back to back non stop before taking our order. We also didn't receive any water for 10 minutes. Ended up waiting 1 hour from the time we sat down before finally getting our food. The wait time is definitely way too long. Hoping management see this and puts at least 1-2 more person on the floor. The restaurant is still new and there is definitely room for improvement. Will I be back? Most definitely but I hope changes will be made when I make my next visit. Another weird thing to mention is they don't have a waitlist? There was a straight line formed outside. I would say it's really inconvenient to not have a waitlist and force your customers to stand for 30 min-1hour in line and not be able to get out of their line. Now onto the food...we ordered a variety of food from karage, onigiri, musubi, udon and Katsu curry. Everything was great except probably for the curry udon. I thought it was underwhelming. The highlight for me was probably the masubi! Even though it was just spam egg and rice which one can make at home it tasted really good! The karaage was crispy and the meat was very juicy on the inside, I would definitely recommend ordering as an appetizer! The Katsu curry plate was BIG and I mean bigger than the size of my hands. I enjoyed this a lot, the pork cutlet was crispy and curry was tasty. I only ate half and took the rest home. I ate the remainder the next day and it was still really good. I do wish they gave a little bit more curry. Food: 5/5 Service: 3/5 read more

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Delicious onigiri restaurant. I love the plating, very Japanese. Ochazuke is done with dashi and not tea so just beware. People here were lovely. While the portions don't look that big, it will fill you up with all the rice. Would highly recommend. read more

Onibaba - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Service: this was to go order. Ambiance: Small quaint little setup. Could be a casual intimate meet up here Food: I felt the onigiri was standard and not too inspiring in flavor but I might have waited too long to consume one. Honestly 7-11 onigiri in Japan might have been better. But nonetheless it's very cool to have an onigiri shop. I am going to hold up on upgrading to a 4 start after I try it again. read more

I just had the takeaway onigiri. The salmon one was decent, but a bit pricey. However it seems like the restaurant/izakaya vibe part of it could be pretty great, although not many tables so would recommend coming early. read more

Onibaba exceeded my expectations! For sure worth the wait. The staff was super friendly and even though the dining area was small it felt cozy. The rice to fish ratio was perfect and the rice was soft and the nori was crunchy. The eel was amazing the best by far I have had in the city. The way it is cooked to perfection and it just melts into your mouth with flavor. For sure will be coming back again :) read more

Onibaba - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Small restaurant, tight seating, but luckily we were seated quickly. Service was great and she was attentive. Food was good, a bit pricey, but the rice bowl was a good portion and was filling. I won't come back to the area just for this place, but was a good one time try. If my friends wanted to visit, I wouldn't reject! read more

Onibaba - Unagi and EBI MAYO - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Overall, great experience. Interior is quite small and tight, but the staff was very kind and attentive. All our food was delicious (pork belly donburi, pork katsu donburi, karaage, and karaage salad, and salmon onigiri). The onigiri is huge -- so a little hard and awkward to eat when they serve it open face, but the portions are worth the price! read more

Onibaba - UR: pork belly donburi R: pork katsu donburi Bottom: karaage L: karaage salad - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

It is a little funny to me that this is such a fancy joint with a long wait time upwards of 45 minutes, for what is essentially stuff Japanese moms make for their kids for school or something you can get at a convenience store--basically like a sandwich. Thankfully it's priced reasonably, and the portion sizes are filling. I had the yaki onigiri with cheese and agedashi tofu. Reviews here say that the cheese onigiri tasted like gas, but I didn't taste it at all. I do wish the cheese were higher quality though, but that could just be my picky taste buds. I figure if I'm going to disregard my lactose intolerance, I would want a more interesting complex cheese than something very standard. Additionally, I feel the rice wasn't really "yaki"d enough. It wasn't crispy the way you'd expect rice to brown; they had a layer of crispy fried cheese do the work there. I wasn't a fan of the agedashi tofu. Not because the broth was thick, but because the outer layer was gelatinous and not crispy. The service was super nice and when they saw I hadn't touched mine very much, they offered to take it back and refund me for it. The to-go options look really good. I would definitely want to try their big spam musubis and their onigiris. read more

This review is based on our late arrival = very limited menu selection. We walked in at 2pm not realizing they close 2-5pm and reopen at 5 for dinner service. This split operation hours was not listed on the website when I checked that morning, so it was a surprise to us. There were people sitting at the tables still working on their lunch and it smelled so good! I grabbed a sake and tuna mayo To Go since we had no choice, but I was happy to be able to try *something* so our drive wasn't a full bust. Got home and - I know this is going to sound strange but - I did not like the amount of topping/filling. I also have an issue with it not actually being a filling. At this point it's a triangle shaped Musubi IMO. The tuna mayo was oddly mushy soft like a paste, and it tasted like just mayo and tuna. Spent $15 for 2 onigiri and 20% tip and I am left feeling sad and disappointed. At this price i was expecting the nori to be separate, like the Japanese Combini store onigiri. We'll need to come back and try their entree items and update this later. But for now, I'd not recommend here if you're expecting fancy onigiri (i know, I know that's like an oxymoron lol) read more

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Took us a while to find this place. It's not spacious, and there aren't many tables. But the food is good! read more

Onibaba - Curry udon - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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little pricey. warm, hearty, and filing meal. place is small and hidden but fast and kind service. I go with 1 guest I feel like more than 4 would be difficult. read more

Very friendly staff and amazing food!!!! There is also a cute onigiri station where you can quickly grab and go. They ran out of curry for curry katsu don despite it being 5:30pm (just 30min past dinner opening) (apparently their curry takes 3-4 days to make!!!!) so unfortunately i had to save that for next visit BUT the regular katsu donburi absolutely blew my mind. It was so delicious. The portion is pretty generous so i couldn't finish it at one go. The unagi onigiri was on a whole another level. The rice was perfectly seasoned with salt, seaweed so crispy and the unagi just warm and flavorful!! Wow. These are the best onigiris i have ever had (and ive been to japan few times and eaten onigiri there..). Their lychee soju drink was delightful and the tori karaage perfectly juicy and crispiest breading agedashi tofu (a little too sweet for my liking) skin perfectly cooked. I am excited for Tsukushinbo's next evolution as onibaba and i already cannot wait to come back and try the curry katsu don next time read more

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2 stars because of service, availability of items, and flavor. We never expect overly sweet customer service; the issue was lack of service. We came right at opening on a Saturday evening and several items we wanted to order were unavailable. We ordered 6 items and I'll rank the items here: (1) Sweet miso onigiri - my favorite; great flavor (2) Unagi onigiri - good flavor, tastes as you'd expect and decent fish to rice ratio (3) Shoyu butter onigiri - pretty good flavor wise (4) Miso soup - good flavor but over-priced, especially since there's no tofu (also came at the end of the meal) (5) Karaage - really decent portion compared to what we were expecting, but I've had better at a cheaper price point. Could really benefit from a condiment. (6) Sake onigiri - the salmon is cold! Not salty- no flavor. All in all - wouldn't recommend. read more

I've been wanting to try Onibaba for a while, glad I was finally able to do so! My friend and I came for dinner; the space is super small but thankfully a table for 2 had just opened when we walked in. If you come with a larger party, you will probably need to wait a bit. For Onigiri, I got the Ajitama and the Oyako. My favorite was definitely the Ajitama (the egg is so good!), the Oyako was fine but it fell apart pretty quickly. I really liked biting into the roe and feeling them all burst! Next, we decided to share a Saba Ochazuke, since they were out of Unagi. The Ochazuke was so interesting; you pour the dashi broth on top of the dish before eating! I thought it was cool, but preferred the Onigiri to the Ochazuke. Next time, I think I'd try the Yaki Onigiri; even though they're similar to the regular Onigiri, they are sweet and more saucy. Loved my experience and would definitely come back read more

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My bf really wanted to come here. The restaurant is cute, but there's not a lot of seating. We came at 5:10 so we were seated right away. Service is good, they definitely want to churn people out as quickly as possible since it's small. The whole experience was meh, I was disappointed. We both got the salmon ochazuke and it was bland. Presentation was good because it comes with a pretty teapot with the broth and a tray with sides but wasn't worth the money. Like their website says, they are known for their onigiri so stick with that. I really enjoyed my Ebi ten onigiri, I wish I got 2 of those and skipped the ochazuke. It was much more worth it, but I won't go out of my way to come back. read more

Wow this place had an hour long wait even on a random monday. That's how you know a place is good - its such an unassuming storefront from outside to the point where it lacks even a sign but inside it was bustling and so lively. We put our names on the list at 6:30 and when we came back at 7:20 (their system is all on paper so we just came back at about the hour mark they had estimated for us) it took a few minutes for them to seat us. I got the unagi yaki ochazuke because A) I've been chasing after a good unagi since I went to Japan a few years ago and B) the ochazuke was new to me and looked so fun! For both those factors, the dish gets 10/10 for me. The unagi is probably the best I've had outside of japan both between texture and taste, and it really was fun to eat between all the components and getting to pour the broth in from the teapot myself. The grilled rice ball added another crunch factor to the dish, the tofu in soy sauce was a needed punchy flavor every couple of bits, and the radish was just good. Good as a palate cleanser and good in general. Love getting to try new dishes I haven't heard of before and getting more cultured in the process! read more

Onibaba - Unagi yaki ochazuke - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Cute and cozy little restaurant. Not meant for large groups. The onigri were tasty but the nori was a tad chewy and soft. Kaarage chicken had a nice crispy fry and juicy interior and the pieces were huge! I love me some agedashi tofu but the sauce was thick and "goopy". Still confused by this... Service was good, food arrived fairly quickly despite a full house. read more

It's. So. GOOD. Rice is a nice warm in 22F degree weather, the Cod has a nice flavor profile, slightly sweet spicy roe mixed in fluffy rice and a seaweed that easily tears when biting and chewing. Tuna Mayo was great, a very generous amount so that every bite has a bit of tuna! read more

Onibaba - Spicy Cod onigiri - Japanese Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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