Conveyor belt sushi; relatively large menu for a la carte hot dishes; good and friendly service…read more(though we had to ask for chopsticks); cozy decor. Choice available for table seating or for "bar" seating (at the conveyor belt). The wait staff spoke mainland Chinese. Menu is in English and Chinese (but not Japanese). There are reasons to think this place is owned by Chinese. Dishes are ok but not authentically Japanese.

I visited Sakura, a Japanese restaurant located in Botanic Avenue over the weekend. This was only…read moremy second visit and since starting a vegetarian lifestyle this year I wanted to find out how their food fared for vegetarians. Being a sushi bar the vegetarian options did initially appear a little limited and sadly Sakura do not have a separate, dedicated vegetarian menu which is unfortunate. However, our waiter did advise us that the Chefs could do any dish on the menu as vegetarian, so that was a huge bonus. Nonetheless, clearer 'suitable for vegetarian' labelling on the menu would help. We opted for deep fried avocado and tofu tempura roll starters and mains of stir fried ramen noodles with mixed vegetables. The food as absolutely delicious and fresh tasting, wine (pinot grigio) lovely and service impeccable. I did notice a 'Chinese Kitchen' section towards the back of the main menu which included options of mixed vegetables with black bean, Szechuan, satay and salt and chilli sauces. I'm looking forward to a return visit and to trying out Sakura's lunch and take away menus as the food was scrumptious. Plus the restaurant itself is beautiful with Japanese décor, relaxed atmosphere and reasonable prices.

Came by myself on a Wednesday night without a reservation. I had to wait a little bit but was able…read moreto get seated. It is very loud, both from people talking and then with music once that started. This is more of a vibe place than a good food place. Misoshiru has too much miso. The mackerel was a bit disappointing, the vinegar flavoring is light and it has that thawed from frozen texture. The rice is good, much better than I typically see stateside. The tuna was oddly sweet and didn't have firmness. The hamachi was spot on though, not sure why the other two were misses. The signature dish is fried monkfish in something similar to sweet and sour sauce, honestly not that impressed. Cheesecake is not as dense as American cheesecake and not fluffy like a soufflé, I think it was a good middle ground. Not too sweet.

Very different (in a good way) dining experience. Dimmed lights, extravagant Japanese-style design…read moreand glorious decor on your way to the toilet upstairs are definitely memorable! The food was simply amazing and arranged like a work of art! We were quite a big group and the food arrived at the same time. The menu is quite varied - from more traditional Japanese style dishes to quite modern cuisine - I for one had a meal called 'Mad crab' which was a selection of seafood with a delicious cheese sauce and poached oak Choi with oyster sauce. The service was very attentive.

I've been here a few times recently to take way. It has an upstairs sit in but I've not yet been…read more What I find really good about this place is that the food is always tasty, it is usually made to your order, as you wait, and this time for me it was 3 choices: goma ae, 6 maki rolls (tofu) and a temaki hand roll filled with spicy salmon and vegetables (£10.90). The maki and temaki come with kikkoman soy sauce sachets, pickled ginger and a generous splodge of wasabi. The goma ae is always superb tasting with white miso and sesame oil enhancing the taste. The tofu is a small piece served cold but has been pre fried so it looks like and has a texture like pieces of omelette. The salmon in the hand-held roll is chunky and it too is delicious. The fact is that here you can get really tasty food and just along the street you can go to grim take out only Yangtze, for very poor food that sits in Bain Maries for certainly over an hour, yet prices are fairly comparable. This place has a very small ground floor area with a few steps down to go in; you couldn't lie a phone box horizontal inside, length or width wise, so once you pay on order (cash only) the lady serving ushers you out to the street to wait with undue haste. The sort of shove of 'there's a fire' so what's keeping you. She seemed not to realise that having had to go to my bag for cash to suit their convenience I had to take some time to put my cash away again. Rally worth trying as long as you don't mind a gentle nudge on to the street, which I found funny on a summer day. I'd imagine winter I might have a different view.

I visited Obento Japanese Express today, Sunday 29 May 2016 for a quick lunch. It's a tiny spot…read morewith limited seating upstairs. I ordered the Tofu Bento Box and was not impressed. The tofu was jellylike and bland with a slimy batter. Mushy sticky rice, a couple of tasteless vegetable Spring rolls and a handful of bland salad topped with salad cream completed the box. Even lashings of soy and sweet chilli sauce didn't help much. Sadly it really wasn't good and I will not return. Extremely disappointing poor quality food and definitely not worth the £7.50 I paid.

We were craving some Asian food after a week of eating a mix of European meals and found this cute…read morerestaurant while walking around. We went in on a Saturday afternoon for lunch and glad it wasn't crowded at all. We ordered 2 of their bento meal sets, a steak yakisoba and one of the sushi boat (the celebrate one) for the 3 of us. Everything came out in a timely manner and the service was very friendly! We enjoyed everything that we ordered including their delicious fruit smoothies! Highly recommend for anyone in the area! They also have other stir fry dishes and ramen for those that aren't a fan of sushi.

great sushi and ramen. friendly and helpful staff…read more lovely design. Been few times with friends and family and definitely coming back soon again.

Food delivered late by a Surly driver who was not very pleasant, Photo's below of cold inedible…read morefood, £23 wasted!

Visited here last night to try the new live Teppanyaki restaurant and was very impressed! First…read morerestaurant of its kind in Belfast - a great addition! The place is called 3 Levels as it has a cafe/bar on the ground floor, Chinese restaurant on the second floor and Japanese restaurant on the top level. The Japanese restaurant is set up with 2 separate Teppanyaki grills stations, surrounded by customer seating, so everyone is facing the chef who cooks & performs tricks right in front of you - perfect setting for a team night out/social event. You can choose to order from a set menu which has 4/5 courses, or you can order individual items such as starter and a main. They have a great selection of meat, fish and veg options, including sirloin steak; chicken; duck; salmon and sushi. They also have lobster which we seen cooked on the grill at the next table - looked impressive! I ordered the tempura prawns to start, amazing. Then I opted for the salmon in plum teriyaki sauce with egg fried rice, so good. I got to sample a little of the steak and tiger prawn mains too - all so flavoursome! The staff are all very friendly and attentive, couldn't do enough for you. And the chef provides great entertainment throughout the evening. The only reason I didn't give the full 5 stars was only because there was no background music to provide a perfect, relaxing atmosphere. However, that's me being picky, I wouldn't let this deter me from returning. Can't wait to go back to give this place another go

Came here while in Belfast, and was left expecting more, but not terribly disappointed…read more After arriving they were able to seat us quick as it was just me and one other. However, there was a line nearly out the door after we showed up, and people were waiting a while for seating, even though there was a good number of tables open. The food itself was subpar, with a lot of cost for very little Sushi. The pictures they advertised were much larger but for £8 you get a plate smaller than your hand. Additionally, we ordered water with our dish and never received it. Finally, they have a "Treat Yo Self" conveyor belt of sushi that you can take and be charged depending on the color of the bowl; however, there were only about 5 plates on the entire belt, none of which were reasonably priced. The staff were alright, but the facility was understaffed. Not enough cooks or hosts to accommodate the size of the place. I don't blame them, but rather management. Was also hard to find a waitress to take our order. The atmosphere was nice, but definitely felt rushed and hard to enjoy my meal. Will probably not come back to the establishment unless they fully staff the venue.

The sushi here is absolutely delicious and so was the squid. The one server they had on shift was…read morevery polite and was rushed off of their feet but they could've definitely of done with having more staff. The food was all made fresh and came to the table quick. The only issue I had was the booths are very very small and uncomfortable to sit in.

Oh dear, oh dear, I got a tempura King Prawn bento box (at £7.8) and this is one of those unusual…read morefood places; what makes it so for me is that it rather stupidly shoots itself in the foot. It's just about 2 stars, chiefly because the food was mostly served cold. I mean it should be totally perfect as the food portion was reasonable for the price paid, and the ingredients were mostly excellent. Imagine serving crap, cold food from top notch ingredients and thinking it's acceptable. The oriental place right next door sells cheap food, cheaply and it had a queue of not fussy customers, yet I was only one of two customers who bought here the whole time I was dining. The king prawns (3) were great quality and the tempura batter was light, properly seasoned, crisp and free from oil. They should have been cooked to order, like all fish. The rice and sushi on the side too were darn good quality as was the pickled ginger and wasabi. I chose fried rice so it was well laced with fried, whisked egg but, like the tempura prawns, both were far too cold to be great tasting. The price also included a vegetable spring roll that, despite being burnt on cooking (see photo) was also stone cold and pretty much devoid of filling. I'll not return, but as a tip, if you go and you intend ordering hot food, be sure to say that you do expect your food to be hot. There's a recession on the way and if this is the standard they aspire to it'll all end in tears.

Yikes! I think the first thing to mention about this place are the prices. It is probably the…read moremost expensive restaurant I have been to in Belfast. Consider this - starters costing up to £13 and main courses at around £26 for something like monkfish which is what I had. Yes, really. In Belfast. I go to London a couple of times a year and would expect to pay those prices in an upscale place there, but not in Belfast. Even the set menus are priced at £40 and £60 per person and don't include drinks. The wine list is expensive too - where else would you pay £16 for a bottle of Jacob's Creek? Having said that, the setting is impressive (although with a view of the River Lagain rather than a habour) and if you go for the Teppenyaki style of cooking, the food is nothing short of spectacular. With the Teppenyaki menu, the chef will prepare and cook the food right at your table which is like a little show in itself. I was stupidly excited by that and also by the choices of meat and fish - all top notch stuff like seabass, scallops and venison. My advice? Do go, it's amazing, but either be prepared to pay a lot for your meal, or go for the much more purse friendly set lunch at just £9.95 each. Better still, visit when someone else's business is footing the bill as I did!

I am a huge fan of Japanese food but this is the first such restaurant I have ever been to in…read moreNorthern Ireland and I am comparing it with others I have been to elsewhere. The food is fantastic and the menu has something for everyone including a good choice for vegetarians, most of it is prepared in front of you (in the teppanyaki style) and that is great entertainment, especially if you are in a large group as you are seated around the hot-plate ready for the chef to start firing food your way. The staff are also very attentive and are keen to help with any queries you may have but a star is missing for 2 reasons. Firstly, the restaurant is positioned right on the Lagan River which looks great but means there are limited parking spaces which can be a big problem unless you are getting a taxi there. The other issue is the price, this is a very expensive restaurant and although the food is great and the show in front of you is also great to watch it doesn't justify the price. To be honest I would rather take a star off for both of these issues but I don't want to take too much away from the food which was excellent.

You know your onto a good thing when you walk in the rain to get there. I have been told so many…read moregood things about this delightful little restaurant that I simply had to give my new-found Japanese craving a bit of a go. The ambience is excellent. The place is chilled out. The menu has everything and anything. The sushi is quality. Everything was going exactly how I wanted until I was asked a question that changed the night... "Would you like to adopt?"... Nah I'm only messing. I was actually asked "Is this as good as Zen?" and then everything came into focus. The place simply isn't as good as Zen. Zen is arguably the finest eatery in Belfast, if not certainly one of the finest. Ginger Tree has a similar atmosphere, similar menu, similar style. And from reading John M's review, Zen may have come after, but it still is better. I'm all for breaking into the unknown and Ginger Tree is great for that. But we went to Zen a few weeks before, and I raved about it to everyone. The Ginger Tree, if you have never eaten Japanese, is stunning. But it can and has been beaten by a restaurant a mile down the road. Really very good and great prices. But not the best in Belfast.

The Ginger Tree Japanese Restaurant on Donegall place is amazing! Their sushi really is awesome and…read moreon par with that of Zen. They do a special offer on a thurseday evening where you can eat all the sushi you want for £20!! This is an absolute bargain considering the quality of food and then the sheer amount of different sushi on offer on the night! We went there as a group of 8 and the staff were great and more than able to cope. The sishi was fab as always and we were there for quite some time trying out everything! It's agreat idea for thoses new to sushi who want to find out what they like! And you can be really adventerous because there'e plenty more there if you select wrong! Amust go to for sushi fans!