What a surprise! I was looking for a bite to eat late one evening and happened upon this wonderful…read moresushi restaurant in CBD Melbourne. It wasn't obvious from the sidewalk a night, and I wasn't sure what I'd find as I walked down the steps to the basement location, however I was amazed at the size and cool vibe as I turned the corner into a large and modern restaurant. The food and service were great, Including offering to provide 1/2 servings because I couldn't decide between the two recommended main dishes. Definitely an "I'll be back" experience.

Disappointed with this choice. hard to find with just a simple easel sign in an office type…read morebuilding entrance. Absolutely empty on this Tuesday night. Red flag. No one at the sushi bar or anywhere else. Moldy smell throughout which is a problem since this place is below ground. But to save a star, a great selection of sake. Menus are dirty and disorganized. Not easy food selections. Food was just ok. Too many other better options in the areas.

Stay far away from this place. The food is below average and the service is outright disgraceful…read more The waitress with glasses was extremely rude, got our drinks wrong, and never once bothered to check on our meals -- and this was when the restaurant wasn't even busy. What makes it worse is the blatant double standards. White customers were treated differently from non-white customers. When I tried to give feedback, the so-called manager claimed she "wasn't working" yet still happily took our payment. My concerns were dismissed and ignored. This is unprofessional, unacceptable, and reeks of discrimination. Do yourself a favor and go to Okami instead -- the food and service there are miles better. First visit, and without question, the last.

OK it's Saturday evening on Sydney Road and you're in the mood for trying a new place to eat. Well,…read moreif this happens to you get yourself here. Food is amazing (even the wife is convinced of the merits of Japanese food). Great atmosphere, lively, even happy hour Sake and beer if you happen to roll in at 6-7pm. This place is definitely a new fav. Do yourself a favour and sample the various starters and skewers (as we did); shame we were too full to have a second main as they sounded great. Food heaven. Why haven't I tried this place before?!

Excellent. Had a lunch course to remember! Great service and…read morerecommendations. Nice venue overall.

Looking at the web-site for Miyako we saw the pre-theatre option which is a choice of 4 bento…read moreboxes. I had the salmon and dining partner had the beef. The price includes miso soup and an appetizer. It was good but didn't blow me away. The sashimi was the highlight in the box. The restaurant offers an a la carte menu and looking around people had some very interesting dishes. Next time think I will go for that option. Teppanyaki is the other option. Good views of the river and city and very friendly and helpful staff.

I felt conflicted about leaving this review, wary of spreading negativity, but this needs to be…read moresaid. I don't want to bottle it up & I need the closure to move on from this. My experience began with awe at the amazing retro aesthetics & lively atmosphere. After a 10min wait for a table (peak hour), the waiter at the door gave us a 3 seater table. Another waiter asked us if someone had seated us there, as if we weren't supposed to be there. We didn't think much of it, & said the first waiter directed us there. A waitress gave us menus & took our orders at 1:10PM, based on the timestamp on my screenshot of their Insta. I was chatting to my friend (both of us were one of the few Asians there at this point) when we were asked to move to the upstairs bench so a group of 3 could be seated there instead. We carried our own water, napkins & cutlery upstairs. We lost track of time chatting until it was already 2PM; 50 minutes had passed since we first ordered. We should have checked after 30mins, but making sure they had our order was not our responsibility. My friend checked on the order, stating that about 1hr had passed since we ordered. The waiter replied, "what did you order? I'll look into it", & later to his credit as she was walking away, "sorry for the wait, our kitchen is really backed up at the moment". Good hospitality practice would have been to apologise sincerely & fast track a forgotten order to the start of the queue. Depending on restaurant protocols, complimentary drinks or a discounted meal would have been a reasonable goodwill gesture. Upstairs, a pair of white-presenting girls had just been seated & asked me if they go downstairs to order. I told them we had been waiting for 1hr; they should go downstairs to order if they want food. To our shock & dismay, both of them got their food within 15mins, while we were still empty-handed. The white-presenting trio we were bumped from our first table for were already halfway through their meal. This demonstrated that our wait wasn't simply an issue of kitchen inefficiency. It wasn't that the food was not being cooked, they had just chosen not to serve us. I am still in disbelief about the blatantly selective hospitality existing in Australia in 2025. What is disappointing to me as someone who has had 8 years of hospitality experience is not just that they lost our order -- but more importantly how they handled it. It happens, but the way a place responds shows their integrity. As a place that calls itself Japanese, there was a startling lack of Japanese hospitality -- it was saddening to see the nonchalant attitude, dismissiveness & lack of proactivity in solving our issue apart from, "its coming soon". By 2:30PM (1hr 20min later), we had tried to remain as positive by laughing the situation off & listing things we were grateful for in life, but it was becoming too much so we decided to leave. On the way out, she told the waiter we were leaving, to which he replied casually, "oh they haven't given you your food yet?" -- no further apology or investigation on what actually went wrong. It took us until after 2:37PM for us to get a bite, from Huxtaburger instead. Seeing Reviews, it made sense the extended wait time was a regular occurrence during a busy lunch hour. What didn't make sense was, the majority of customers who had a 40-60min+ wait time were non-white. Surnames like Yang, Hutama, Jang, Teh, Yun, Yen, Singh, Ding, & Tangtanawit. Whatever the reason, this reads like discrimination as other reviewers have pointed out, & isn't a good look, especially at an Asian eatery partially staffed by Asians. Am I wrong to feel indignant about yesterday? There are worse things in life than what happened. This review is not intended to be vindictive. While these events won't hurt the business, they've repeatedly hurt customers. I hope this prompts them to improve their practices, so these issues are minimised & managed well when they do occur. While I have lost 1.5hrs of my life I will never get back, this doesn't have to happen to others. Wabi Sabi, please do better.

We stumbled upon this place when we found out that Josie Bones a few doors down has closed…read more The service is really nice, very authentic. The food was pleasant, nothing too fancy. The decor and atmosphere was what I liked the most.

The service is impeccable here. I'd advise booking ahead on the popular nights like Friday and…read moreSaturday. The food was fabulous as well, hot fresh and tasty.

Being a fan of Japanese food I was very excited when I discovered Yokoso Izakaya in my local…read moreneighborhood. We ordered soft shell crab sushi roll which was delicious. When the waitress discovered we were sharing it she offered to to ensure the roll was sliced into six rather than five so we didn't have to fight over the last piece! We ordered a warm sake and were delighted when it came out in a cute little pourer bottle in the shape of a man. The food was fresh and tasty and we'll be going back for more!

Visiting from California…read more This is what sushi is supposed to taste like. Everyone is Japanese here. I had the omakase. They took so much attention to each piece. Each one had its own personality with a sear, a marinade or a garnish. Rice flavoring was perfect, as well as rice to fish ratio. Price point was reasonable as well. I'd come back next time I'm in Melbourne!

This place gets 3/5 from me because I had a special -50% discount on TheFork. At full price, it is…read moreprobably a 2/5 for me. Japanese restaurant by the harbour. Most of the dishes were good, except for the sushi. The fish was fresh, but the rice was falling apart, indicating that the kitchen didn't have a good sushi chef. Service was also incredibly slow - took ages for food to arrive. What should have been a fairly quick lunch meal stretched for more than 2 hours. Worth going if there's a good discount available on TheFork, otherwise I think it is slightly pricey for the quality and the service levels.

My wife and I are visiting from the States. We love sushi and were lucky enough to find Shoya on…read moreour first night. The fish was incredibly fresh and delicious. We sat at the sushi bar and watched Chef Shigeo work. What a treat! The man is wizard with a knife. I think we're going back tonight.

We would never have discovered Shoya at all had it not been for the small write-up it received in…read moreThe Age Good Food Guide. So off we ventured to Melbourne's Market Lane one Friday night with a strong craving for good Japanese food in our bellies and our minds. Shoya is a large, multi-levelled restaurant so there's never much trouble getting a table. We opted for a regular table rather than the horigotatsu style (sunken tables) or seating by the sushi counter. I have now been to Shoya twice and the only seating I've yet to try is the by the sushi counter, but I can tell you that the sunken tables are more fun than the regular ones. Their sake list is excellent and I really recommend overlooking the wine list for a good sake (not that the wine list isn't good, but you know, when in Rome/a Japanese restaurant...) or placing your order with your very professional waiter and letting them match a sake to the dishes you've selected. By the way, if the menu gets to be too much, there is no shame in opting for the degustation or omakase. This way you know you're letting the chef show-off his best and finest dishes to you. Order from the menu though and you will be rewarded with immaculately clean and balanced flavours. Try the agadashi dofu and the Hokkaido spider crab legs (lightly battered and fried, and to die for).

We ended up here after our trip to the nearby pier to see the adorable penguins. It was a weekend…read morenight and we didn't have reservations but they were able to find us a table which was very appreciated. The interior is nicely decorated, with a big outdoor terrace that overlooks the water. It was pretty chilly so we stayed inside, but one nice day it's definitely worth doing. There's an extensive sake list, and plenty of beer but I stuck with iced tea which changes regularly. Mine was a lemon rosemary which wasn't too sweet at all. For food, we started with edamame that came with a lovely spicy dipping sauce. That was followed by some skewered meat which they specialize in and you should definitely get - they're reasonably priced and a great accompaniment to drinks. Finally, we had a rainbow roll from their well curated sushi menu. My husband said it was some if the best sushi he's had recently - definitely very fresh. Service is friendly, and if you aren't inclined to dine in there is a dedicated take out area.

I must say, my last visit here was the most disappointing. Your restaurant is only as strong as…read moreyour weakest link, and there was a few weak links that night. The food is always good. It's always fresh, and tasty and beautifully presented. In this regard, they didn't let us down. But the service was so incredibly bad. They clearly forgot someone's entree, and instead of just owning it and admitting it, there was every excuse under the sun and most didn't even seem plausible and varied from wait staff to wait staff. I'd rather just know for sure that something has been forgotten, so we have a realistic expectation of when to expect it. I just don't think they either cope when very busy, or their staff just need more training. Other than the bad service, I have to compliment them again on the food. Every dish was delicious and looked good too. My favourite was the Tuna Tataki (picture attached). Really, really good. Pricing is a teeny bit high, but I guess average considering Japanese food is a bit pricier than other cuisines. Parking isn't always great, so I like coming to the earlier seating so there's a better chance for a parking space. The decor is good, but the chairs a bit uncomfortable and heavy to move when adjusting yourself at the table. But overall, I think if the food at a restaurant is good enough, it sometimes outweighs some of the negatives.