Kinka Sushi Bar Izakaya Roppongi (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★☆☆☆

Christmas is a big thing in Tokyo so not surprisingly, there were a lot of Christmas countdowns going in the city. To avoid the crowd, I have already planned a casual dinner on the quiet side of Roppongi. With the restaurant just walking distance away from our hotel, I thought we could take a relaxing walk back after dinner and in the process, stay away from the hustle and bustle of the metro.

Our dinner venue was Kinka Sushi Bar and Izakaya, a modern Izakaya and sushi bar 6-8 minute from Midtown Tokyo. After having ramen, tempura and tonkatsu on the first 3 days, I thought it would be nice to check sushi off the list too.

Once we got seated at the far corner of the restaurant, we began to realize that we were in no man’s land. No one came to take our orders and when somebody finally did, service was very very slow. We asked for an extra cup and it took 30 minutes to arrive. By the time it finally showed up, we no longer needed it. Anyways, enough on the service; let’s focus here on the food for a moment.

Otoro fatty tuna sashimi – Decent but not fatty enough for Jelloman’s liking.

Wagyu sea urchin – The wagyu and sea urchin were served on a sheet of nori. Thought the flavors from the sea urchin didn’t really stand out as we first expected.

Salmon roes – This was actually OK but little nugget didn't like the fact that it was wrapped with a shiso leaf underneath.

Scallop – Probably one of the better sushi here tonight.

They have an array of blowtorched pressed sushi 🍣 called Aburicious and each of them came with a special sauce. I thought they looked pretty cute in these rectangular shape.

Salmon Oshizushi – It came with a homemade aioli sauce, or mayo. Okay.

Avocado Oshizushi – Came with the same aioli sauce as the salmon sushi and an extra slice of tomato on top.

Ebi Oshizushi - The basil sauce came with some extra sweetness which boded well for the shrimp.

Kinka roll – A house special roll with sea urchin, salmon, snow crab and cucumber. This was another rare dish that managed to get a passing grade tonight.

I know it’s Christmas Eve but the fact that a ton of dishes on the menu were already sold out at 7pm simply doesn’t cut. Service-wise, I thought the servers were friendly but complacent and inattentive, which was rarely seen in Japan. All in all, it was not a pleasant dining experience. Although none of us was full stepping out of the doors, we were just happy to end our night here as quickly as we possibly could.

Food Rating: 4.3/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 2/F, 7-6-20 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Roppongi

Tel: +81 3-6721-1469

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:30pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 3:30pm (Sat - Sun);

5:00pm - 13:00pm (Mon - Sat), 5:00pm - 10:00pm (Sun)