Imanishi Japanese Kitchen

We walked in on a Friday evening and we were able to get bar seating for 2. They have a patio in the warmer months if you prefer to sit outdoors.
We went during the weekend of Do West Fest, so there was a special menu.
We got the anchovy potato salad & chips (more like anchovy flavoured potato salad), karashi ribs (with spicy horseradish sauce), corn kakiage (sweet, salty, crispy), and Tokyo toast (simple and delicious).

The dishes we ordered were all solid.

Each dish was a small tapas size, great to share with one other person.

Washrooms are downstairs.

Service is good, the bartender was friendly and they were attentive with refills and serving our food at the right time.
Prices are reasonable. By the way, it's hard to get a reservation here, so don't be afraid to try to walk in for bar seating!

This review will be mainly about the terrible service we received this dinner.

I had been wanting to come to Imanishi for years now after hearing how amazing everything was - the food, the vibes, the atmosphere. I was super excited and had high expectations. I booked a reservation for 7:00pm. I quickly locked into the menu and decided everything I wanted to order - drinks, food, and dessert all ready to go. Our waiter came to us, offered to let us know about the sake specials. I said you can tell us but we already know what we want - he quickly said okay and took our order. We also gave our order for the food, and I had requested the appetizers come at the same time and the mains to come at the same time (since theres limited table space). Its 7:30pm, our pickles and corn fritters come out... no cocktails in sight.... ok cool. Thankfully they came about 5 minutes later (still odd in my head, usually drinks come first). While we enjoyed our starters, a new couple sat at the table next to us (this is about 7:40pm). We waited... it was about 8:15pm at this point and no sign of any new foods coming to our table. However, the tables all around us were getting their food no problem, including the table beside us who got seated way after us and ordered similar dishes. So... why did they get theirs and we didn't get anything? I'm not one to say anything, but I had to at this point. It was around 8:25pm, we had been at the restaurant since 7:00pm and how are there still not entrees for us? When I asked our waiter for an update on our food, he claimed "its coming, dont' worry" in a condescending way. Like as if I had asked multiple times about when our food would arrive (even thought I only asked that one time). Immediately after I asked, our food started coming out. Funny I had to REMIND our waiter that we had ordered food and THEN it starts coming out. I was annoyed but hungry so we ate in silence. 10 minutes pass its about 8:40pm, the same waiter comes to the table and says "we will need the table by 9, do you want to order any more food?" EXCUSE ME??? I have to rush my dinner now because YOU forgot about our main dishes and made us wait an hour for them? We quickly finished our food and told him to bring the dessert since we only had about 10 minutes to finish. Once the bill came and I went to pay, the only tip options were 20% and 22% - absolutely not. There were no apologies given about the wait, no remorse about anything. This makes me feel like this type of service and long wait times are normal, but it was my first time here so I have no idea (I didn't read anything negative about this spot). There was no warmth from our server at all throughout the evening - not while we were eating, not when we were leaving, nothing. I left the restaurant that night feeling so bummed and disappointed. How can a restaurant with such rave reviews leave me feeling so uncomfortable? I definitely won't be back here for a long while (not to mention how expensive it is for small portions... I'm very much not used to that).

To end on a positive note, the food was really good and tasty. Quality was really fresh and good quality. I'd recommend the corn fritters, red snapper carpaccio, and the tokyo toast of course. Drinks were meh, I couldve skipped those.

I really hope this customer service issue gets resolved because I would really want to come back here but I'm afraid we will be forgotten again and receive this poor service once more.

i've been seeing this restaurant all over instagram and tiktok from my local foodie friends and other influencers, so i was super excited to try Imanishi and went on my birthday.

the restaurant is small, with bar seating and limited table spots. the vibe is more romantic with the lights off and candles at each table. my server was very kind and attentive, but the one taking reservations and incoming customers seemed more on the careless side.

Onto the food, the first three dishes we got were great. The monk fish liver pate, corn kakiage and tai carpaccio were excellent. I still think about the pate and bread since they were just that good however, the rest of the dishes we got fell short.

Maybe it was our fault for not ordering the right things (again, the first three dishes were good) but the nagoya ramen and karashi ribs did not do it for me. The ramen was fine, but it tasted like something you can make with an instant pack at home... nothing impressive. The ribs were very tender and fell right off the bone, but were super salty and the mustard was too overpowering.

Now for the dessert - everyone raves about the toast, how it's the best they've ever had, and how they'll return here just for the toast, but I found the toast mid at best. The toast is quite literally deep fried japanese milk bread.... with some T&T taro ice cream on top. I don't know which influencers hyped this up so much but i'm here to de-influence you... your local hong kong cafe has better toast than this, trust me. I'll give the toast some points for not being too sweet but again it was just bread with ice cream with a hint of nutty flavour.

Although my meal didn't go as planned, I'm still glad I visited this restaurant and was able to try it and share my thoughts. If you are to visit, i'd def recommend the tai carpaccio and monk fish liver pate.

food regret is the worst regret, but that didn't happen to me this day bc I ordered allll of it. I originally came here after dinner only for the Tokyo toast but ended up ordering a whole meal cuz how could I not?

I would say the saba miso-ni was my favorite dish and definitely merits me to come back just for that. It was umami-ful and tender with just the perfect mackerel. The ribs were really tender and came with a rich and slightly tangy sauce which would matchwell with rice.

the prawn and cilantro salad was very tasty but I can't justify ordering it again as it's a similar price to their meat dishes, which I enjoyed slightly more

all in all, the one Tokyo Toast I trekked here for did not let me down . It's reminiscent of a lighter HK french toast with 2 scoops of ice cream on top. I would come back for it and that miso saba any day and die on that hill.

Can't believe I only discovered this Izakaya recently. They offer great selection of dishes and sharing plates at reasonable prices. We enjoyed all the dishes we tried and had a delicious cocktail. The place is a little small but cozy, which is perfect for date night! Service was quick and staff was very friendly!

What we tried:
sakoku - on the sour side but very refreshing
corn kakiage - sweet, salty and crunchy. Interesting and worth a try!
pork belly miso katsu - very tasty!
saba miso - portion was bigger than expected, but didn't find this very special
ebi fry - sooo good with the tartar sauce!
tebasaki - less crispy than I hoped
Tokyo toast - must leave room for this dessert! Love the combination of the Japanese milk toast, taro ice cream and toasted soba bits!

Everything was delicious at Imanishi; it had me wishing that I had more space in my stomach to try some of their other dishes. We ordered Monkfish Liver Pâté, Tofu and Mizuna, Saba Miso-Ni, Gyudon, and Tokyo Toast. Everything pictured I would definitely order again, and I enjoyed the other two dishes as well. The service was friendly and quick; we did not have to wait long for the food and our glasses were often filled with water. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the interior because it has a very cosy feeling to it. I would definitely return to try some of the other menu items!

Reserved a spot and came here on a Tuesday night. The vibe of the restaurant would be perfect for a date night, with candle lights on each table.

My top 3: Eggplant, Curry (it was a tie between curry and tai carpaccio), and Tokyo Toast

Sashimi ($32 for 9 pieces)
It came with Hamachi, Scallop, and Snapper. The pieces were tasty and fresh. It felt a bit expensive, but they were good.

Cold Served Agedashi Eggplant ($9)
I love eggplant, so I made sure to order this. My friend who wasn't too keen on ordering this said it was the highlight of the dinner. lol
It was well soaked in dashi broth, well cooked, and tasted quite delicate but very tasty.

Gailan Gomaae ($9)
I liked how cooked the gailan was (not overly cooked with a nice crunch), but it tasted a bit too vinegar-y for a gomaae. I'm pretty sure it's because of the dressing they use, but I would probably not order it again.

Beef Tataki ($21)
The beef seemed a bit too cooked, and the fried chickpea added for a nice presentation, but was very dry and crusty for it to go with the dish personally.

Tai Carpaccio ($19)
This went REALLY well with the vinaigrette and salsa. I liked it much more than the tataki.

Anchovy Potato Salad & Chips ($10)
Great price. The anchovy taste was quite faint, and I found the potato chunks to be too big. I liked the idea of adding the taro chips, but I would want a potato salad that's a bit more flavorful and perhaps creamy.

Corn Kakiage ($9)
It was good. I love corn and I love kakiage in general, so seeing the reviews, I was definitely overly hyped about it. But it tasted like it looks. I do wish there was a bit more corn.

Tebasaki ($15)
Great value and pretty solid taste. The meat was quite juicy as well.

Saba Miso-ni ($13)
I was surprised by how much I got for $13. It was also very well cooked and the sauce was great.

Karashi Ribs ($16)
The meat was tender, juicy, and fell off the bone with ease. While, I thought this would be my highlight, the karashi mustard overpowered the dish a bit.

Pork Belly Miso Katsu ($16)
It was good. I personally liked it more than the tebasaki, but it might be because I am very used to the taste of the tebasaki since I've made similar ones at home.

Gyudon ($15)
It was good but nothing special. The price was good but felt more expensive than the other dishes we ordered.

Imanishi Beef Curry ($15)
Great fruity Japanese curry gravy. I loved it. I just wish they put more beef chunks as it was hard to find the chunks.

Tokyo Toast ($9)
This was definitely one of my favorite. I did not expect it to be that good. The toast was a bit crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside, with a nice combination of icecream and the texture and taste of toasted soba.

I found this place to be a very affordable place for the quality of food you get as well. I'm also glad that they were transparent about how many pieces comes with each dish. And how the server was telling us it might be too much food for us when we initially ordered, and explored food menu options that might be better for the first round of ordering. They were also very prompt in changing the dirty plates for us as well.

Really excellent food and flavours! On the expensive side but overall cozy, delicious, and highly recommended.

There's been so much hype about this place, especially on Tiktok, so my expectations were sky high but I would say Imanishi managed to meet them.

As soon as you walk in, you know you're in for a good meal. The decor is cute and cozy izakaya vibes, and it feels like you're sitting down to a homestyle Japanese meal. The menu is fantastic, as they have a wide variety of small share plates that include some great creativity. There weren't any bad bites, I'd say every single bite I had was at the very least good. All the ingredients (especially the sashimi) were high quality and were very thoughtfully put together. A few of my favourite bites included the hamachi sashimi, beef tataki, curry spring rolls, and most of all the gyudon which felt like a warm, cozy hug in every bite. Their famous corn tempura dish was good but also the only dish that could have obvious improvement with some sauce. For dessert, you have to try the tokyo toast which was a sweet deep fried toast topped with ice cream.

Overall, this was a great meal from start to finish which was capped off by some great service. I'd definitely come back here.

Highly recommend a this sexy yet cozy Japanese restaurant. Great vibe and crowd. Perfect for date night or dinner w friends.

We tried several dishes and must say everything was delicious. Cilantro Shrimp Salad was so fresh. The pork ribs fell off the bone. Monkfish pate was so rich. And the Tokyo toast was to die for.

Definitely come here. I reserved through the Resy app.