LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

Shocked by the low reviews. Our waitress was lovely and the owner shigae is the coolest most gracious guy!! We loved the karaage the most. I’m bias but thought the waygu coke was out of this world. No misses on the drinks or food! A much needed addition in the area for a date night, girls night, friends night, any night! We did sake shot on the house before we left. I’d keep my group to 4 or less!

Food was not bad and drinks were not bad. Nothing except for the ceviche mosaic stood out. 

This place is new but they can work on a few things: 
1) Pacing. They recommend 3-5 dishes for two people but everything comes out at once so they can’t fit it on the table. It made the experience feel stressful. We had to help them jigsaw everything. 
2) Presentation. The pastrami tartare looked like cat food and their lighting didn’t help. I felt they could’ve done more to make some of the others look more appealing.
3) Concept. They haven’t even decorated their custom shelves yet (near the tables- don’t think this is the case by the bar). Such a beautiful space but it feels unfinished. They claim to have japanese influence but the space looks mediterranean-inspired. Their branding isn’t quite there and the fact that there’s nothing that they’re known for muddles the identity further.

absolutely loved this bar! the food and drinks were so beautifully done and the bartenders were so incredibly kind. excited to come back and try more! just wish the music was a bit quieter lol

“Love thy neighbor?” I agree. This is the perfect place to send your downstairs neighbor with the noisiest dog and your upstairs neighbor who loves tap dancing at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. This bar is like the six-foot-tall, seven-figure-salary, eight-pack-abs, and nine-inch-(somewhere) textbook Hinge date you saw on the app. On paper, it’s a great idea. In reality, it’s an absolutely miserable experience. I booked the nook area three weeks in advance via email. When my party arrived, we were informed that we could only stay for 1.5 hours, sharp. Interesting—that was never mentioned beforehand. I would think a two-hour seating window is a perfectly reasonable expectation for a reservation of six people. (Ok! Fine, my fault, I was able to come up with an extra friend, so seven). We still decided to give this “neighborly” place a chance. We ordered nearly the entire menu, three to four cocktails, and a bottle of wine—exactly what you’d expect from a large group. The service, however, seemed determined to rush us out. Our reservation was at 6:30pm. Our bottle of wine, arrived finally at 7:20 p.m., with only four wine glasses despite there being seven adults at the table. I suppose because three of us are short, we somehow only counted as four people. Tsk tsk, we dwarfs, I know. Our last dish arrived at 7:30 p.m. By 7:35 p.m., the bill was already on the table. At 7:45 p.m., another waitress began clearing our plates because we apparently had to be swept out the door by 8:00. By the end, we all felt like Cinderella racing to catch the pumpkin carriage before midnight. We rushed through our food, chugged the wine, and hurried out because, apparently, we had already overstayed our welcome after just 75 minutes. Even my meanest aunt would have let me stay an extra 15 minutes! At this point, I’m genuinely surprised this place has a four-star rating. The patrons must be exceptionally generous. That said, credit where it’s due: this is indeed a very trendy bar with a cool interior. But like any flashy startup CEO would say, it’s the “people” who make the difference. And indeed, the staff made this experience absolutely unforgettable. I’ll be talking about this bar for years to come. Just probably not for the reasons they were hoping for. To counter the owner’s point here, everyone is already there and sitting and eating. We ordered the whole menu. I showed up late, but I don’t have to baby all my friends as they are already there. We were given 1.5 hours only, not two hours. Next time, which there won’t be, please don’t let us sit down and do us a favor. So we won’t be charged for this shitty bill as well. If you don’t want the business, don’t let us sit down. We would rather go everywhere else but here. At the end of the day, this bar charged us money that we paid fair and square, and we were somehow treated like we were just lucky to be in their presence. If you don’t want the business, tell us to go. Don’t pretend you are better, but charge us and be extra snarky about it for the duration of our stay!

I hate to leave a bad review but hopefully the establishment will make use of this feedback. I ordered the Tokyo banana punch. The menu description: Tiki, banana vermouth, shio-koji, kokuto and Miso. The drink arrives and to my surprise, it's got a pretty strong coffee flavor. No where on the menu does it mention coffee, which is a pretty strong component that it's not something you could just leave out. Also, no one asked if I have any allergies or dietary restrictions before taking our order. I've given up caffeine because it gives me heart palpitations, so this was a pretty major oversight. They offered to replace the drink once I asked and confirmed that the drink indeed has coffee, but I had dinner reservations and didn't have enough time to wait for them to make a new drink. To add to the disappointment - our drinks were tiny. If you're charging the equivalent prices of a 50 best bar, then at least make sure you're giving something equally creative or unique. This was just an old fashioned variation and pretty run of the mill. $56 for one round for two people and our drinks were finished in 15 mins. Definitely not worth it.