Dashi Ramen and Izakaya Cocktail Bar

Best traditional ramen around. Sit upstairs got a different experience. The wings are spectacular. Sam was an amazing server who offered superb guidance and helped make our evening extra special. We love this place.

DO NOT EAT HERE. $18 bowls for horrible food quality. Ramen broth is watered down and tasteless, just salty. The only thing that was acceptable about the bowl was the noodles. The pork, toppings and broth are extremely poorly prepared. Takoyaki hushpuppies also tasted like frozen crab cakes at best, an embarrassing imitation of takoyaki. Thoroughly disappointing meal and waste of money and calories.

Dashi Ramen is a gem in downtown Durham, offering a cozy and inviting atmosphere perfect for a casual meal. The space is charming, with a warm, intimate vibe that makes you feel right at home. The service was friendly and attentive, adding to the welcoming experience. Sitting at the bar gave me a front-row seat to the action, where I watched my meal being freshly prepared. Everything was made from scratch, and the attention to detail was clear in every bite. The food itself was fantastic—rich, flavorful broth, perfectly cooked noodles, and fresh ingredients that elevated the dish. Despite the lunchtime rush, my order came out quickly without sacrificing quality. If you’re in Durham and craving top-notch ramen with great service, Dashi is absolutely worth a visit!

A Durham must! The ramen is so good and well priced! There is only one vegetarian option and it’s good. The appetizers and house-made drinks were delicious, as well! Seating can be a bit limited but when we went on a weekday night there was no wait although a large group might have a harder time. Overall, a fantastic experience!

Dashi is great! Wonderful atmosphere and great food! Very clean, good selection, good drinks too! The only reason it's not 5 stars is because they have raised the prices and lowered the quality (but it's still some of the best ramen you'll find in NC). I like sitting upstairs more than downstairs. The liquor selection is wonderful. The apps are great!

I was craving Ramen while in Durham and found Dashi. At first, I was a little bothered because I stood at the entrance for almost 10 mins before I was acknowledged. I almost left, but then the waitress showed up and seated me quickly. I ordered a Tonkotsu ramen. They have a good menu, but I only tried the ramen. It was ok. I’ve had lots of Ramen before, and this one was just ok. The place is pretty cool though. The seating area is small, but spacey the way the seating is arranged.

Nice little restaurant, a couple blocks from DPAC. The food, drinks, and service was awesome. It was a great place to eat dinner before our show! I would definitely go back again.

Would recommend the tofu buns (the tofu is extra chewy than usual) and dumplings (part of their special menu). I had the vegetarian mazemen which I liked. The vegetarian ramen was not that flavourful. We had sake which was really nice and the vibes were great.

Wow, just wow! This place was fantastic! As a ramen enthusiast, I had high expectations, and they were fully met. The broth was incredibly rich, warming me to the bone--perfect for the chilly day. The pork belly was outstanding, with a perfect crust and tender texture that absorbed the umami flavors of the broth beautifully. The edamame and house-made kimchi were fresh and delicious. The edamame came with a chili crunch that packed a punch, and the kimchi had a bold gochugaru flavor that was absolutely on point. I'm excited to come back and try the omakase menu; it looked phenomenal. I also recommend trying the house-made hot sauce--it was a great addition. The ambiance was super trendy, reminiscent of a spot you'd find in NYC, but fitting right into the vibe of Downtown Durham. The decor was thoughtfully designed, and it really enhanced the experience. Our server was sweet, guiding us through the menu and providing efficient, timely service. I'll definitely return to explore more of the menu next time we're in Durham!

I tried Dashi with my roommate last night with a reservation in place. We liked the concept but less so the food. As we stepped in, our eyes took a bit to adjust to the dark lighting and we struggled to see the menus. The seating was very dim, but spacious enough that we could sit comfortably. I didn't love that I could overhear the table next to us. We shared a takoyaki hushpuppy starter and enjoyed it. I thought that it had a good balance of savory and sweet. However, the ramen that I ordered (shio) and my roommate ordered (tonkatsu) didn't have that great balance- it was much too salty to our tastes. We also both wished there was more broth in the soup! The ramen felt unauthentic and a bit high of a price point. I'd come back for the ambiance and the starters.

I had a pretty good experience at Dashi! I had been here once before and really liked it. We visited on a Wednesday night and it there were a lot of people, the only seats available were at the ramen bar. Our server came to visit us pretty quickly and we got our orders in. The boiled peanuts were really good and so was the popcorn. I ordered the Miso ramen, which I had last time and it was just as good as before. I also had a prickly pear kombucha which was amazing. Parking is also easy to find since there is a parking garage right across the street, and some street parking as well. I will definitely be back!

Went here a few times but the most recent is for the New Years Omasake dinner. I love the decor of this restaurant, it's like you are transported to Japan. The service was really good. They are able to explain all the dishes on the menu and they tell fun stories about the dish. For example when describing the drinks they told us how the have a celebratory tea in Japan. The food itself during this time was really good and carefully curated. It was interesting to have a bunch of different types of meat and flavor profiles. From a seafood started to beef, to roast pork. My favorite thing was the beef and the dumpling. The dumplings were so delicious and filling. I've had many things here and they are all delicious and fresh. I definitely hope to go back again soon!

My daughter and I had their Tonkatsu Ramen when I visited her in Durham, NC. It was amazing!

There was a private party upstairs so this was the first time we've sat downstairs for dinner. We made a reservation before a DPAC show - love that they take reservations! Food was great! I think the highlight for the four of us was the KFC - Korean fried cauliflower! It was delicious! The boiled peanuts were also very tasty! The pickled veggies were good, but probably not something we'd order again. I had the vegetarian ramen, which is usually what I get here since all of the other ramens have meat/fish in them that are not my thing. The vegetarian one is good, but honestly there are ingredients in it that aren't my thing. I think next time I might try something new and get that KFC side instead of ramen for my main meal! The rest of our party all devoured their ramen dishes. It's fun to come here on a cold/rainy night - it just seems really cozy!

Dashi is at best just ok, but the prices are scandalous for food that is just ok. The dining room is quite beautiful and I think that sort of tricks people into thinking the food is way better than it is. The ramen is both bland and a salt bomb. They give you the option of putting a pat of flavored butter in it for extra charge and that goes improve the broth by giving it some body which it otherwise lacks. In general they just drown everything in soy sauce rather than using an cooking technique. Their noodles are cheap. All the appetizers including the edamame are sooo extremely oily. It's a place where you can go to dinner, pay $100 per person, and leave both salt-bloated and still hungry.

This was fine! There are a lot of fun things on the menu. (Lots of cool meats and seafood especially). And the flavor of the food was good! I would love bigger portions, though. I like how there is a downstairs space and an upstairs space. And I'm good with the fact that it's kind of random which one you get. But I didn't think the two spaces were that different? I wish they were a little more unique. The service was probably the best part!

Stopped in for some apps that were great! Lots of great options here that were delish! Also very cute vibe upstairs that was more quiet. Cocktails and sake were yummy too. Waitress was attentive and nice.

Specifically a review of the Omakase: Incredibly disappointed--or, better said, extremely underwhelmed. We are fans of Dashi's standard offerings and had heard about the highly regarded Omakases (this review is only 2 stars rather than 1 because we like their conventional dining experience). Made a reservation weeks out all to arrive and have to stand around waiting for close to 20 minutes. All that wait was for an uncomfortable seat at the bar. Ordinarily this would not be an issue were it not for the fact that the 5 course meal (which did not include dessert) took close to two hours on a Thursday night. One dish in particular (cilantro rice) took nearly half an hour to come out. During this time, we were incorrectly brought food that was not ours twice--as though they were mocking us. In a moment of desperation and hunger we half joked that we would keep it and were told that was not possible, which was especially unfortunate since it was our favorite dish of the night. Other little things: tons of bone in fish that should have been deboned and, with each dish, our small pairing of sake was poured 5-10 minutes before the food arrived and got warm by the time we could drink it with our dish. To put on my critic's hat: The food was generally not as good as our favorites from the standard menu--and certainly no dish felt special. Having dined at Dashi several times before, I feel qualified to say that this tasting simply felt like being served 5 small portions of something one would find on the menu in the ordinary course (again, sans dessert). Fine but uninspired, and doubtful whether it was worth the Chef's trip over from Japan. The expense of this uninspired menu contributed to a general sense of dread that intensified as the waiting dragged on with each and every dish: desperation mounting as we foolishly hoped that something would make the price tag we knew was coming worthwhile. Unfortunately, that something never came. And salt was only added to the proverbial wound when the bill came with a 20% mandatory "gratuity" (a real kick in the teeth to close out a meal during which the wait staff and bartenders repeatedly issued apologies). Want to say I will return for the Dashi with tasty ramen and great value on whisky that I know and love, but, as a loyal customer this omakase experience really left a sour taste in my mouth.

I was so excited to try this place given my love for ramen but I was very disappointed. The place is so nice and authentic, the staff is super friendly and accommodating. We went on a Friday evening without a reservation and the hostess went above and beyond to find us a table. We ordered the vegetarian ramen, it was loaded with mushrooms, bok choy and squash but lacked any flavor . We ordered the mushroom skewers, which had potential but were a little too salty. The chicken skewers were delicious and a hit with the little one. The pickle plate was okay too.

The culinary experience I had with the tonkotsu ramen and pork belly buns was nothing short of heavenly. The tonkotsu ramen, with its velvety, pork-infused broth, was an absolute delight. It enveloped the springy noodles and tender slices of pork. As for the pork belly buns, they were an exquisite balance of flavors and textures. The succulent pork belly was expertly charred and paired perfectly with pillowy, steamed buns and a medley of fresh, crisp vegetables. I enjoyed the way the toppings were served separately and we were able to build our own. The staff was attentive and the ambiance was very cozy, my favorite part was the choice in playlist. Well suited for a millennials ear

The Tonkotsu ramen was okay because of the broth but the pork and eggs were pretty good. I think this place is better suited for their small plate apps.

Nice location, stylish interior, friendly staff and very average ramen. I tried the Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was mild, the noodles were limp and flavorless. The pork belly was good, more NC BBQ good vs Tokyo good. This place is fine if you need a ramen fix and are desperate, but not a destination place.

The cooks were very fast, not packed at all, service very fast. Ingredients are fresh, broth is soooooooooo good, ramen has the best flavors and different types. They also server different foods such as chicken and beef. Feels like being in Japan even though I've never even been to Japan. You can see cooks cooking food, dimly lit, music and club downstairs.

Was here with friends for the chef special dinner. It was really very good. Served upstairs in the active but cozy bar/dining room. 5 dishes were served, my favorite was the first, fried shrimp with soba on a bun. The tomato salad was a miss for all of us. Fried chicken was great, crunchy outside, tender inside. Ginger pork was nicely done, lots of flavor with a little slaw on the side. Really liked the last course, chirashi, the tuna, avocado and cucumber were tasty and refreshing at the same time. We'll go back to try the regular menu sometime. We were seated after our reservation time, but after being seated, the service was perfect.

Really cute ramen spot in a great location in downtown Durham. We sat downstairs and that atmosphere was really nice, I loved the open kitchen concept. The ramen was pretty good and the service was great.

We went here after attending a show at the nearby theatre. It was a very nice meal with some beautiful flavours. Though the chicken wings seemed a little salty at first, that didn't stop me from scarfing them all down as it still tasted pretty great. Also, the ramen they offer are served with such fresh and tasty broth. I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone in the area.

We went here a bit late around 9 PM when everything else was closed, half expecting to wait a bit to get seated but to our surprise we were seated right away. We got in and order the wings and shio ramen. The ambience was amazing, but the food left us a bit wanting. We were wishing for it to be a bit spicier even after addithe chilli oil, but thats just personal preference and I wouldn't hold it against the restaurant. All in all it was a great meal, but the best one Ive ever had.

My classmates and I (10 people total) visited Dashi for a weekday lunch. The interior is pretty small and cozy - definitely good vibes. When we arrived, there was only 1 other party so we were quickly seated. I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with pork belly chashu instead of roasted pork belly. We also ordered takoyaki hush puppies and karokke to share. I should've taken a closer look at the ramen description, because I wasn't expecting the mustard greens or pickled red onions. The ramen wasn't what I had expected based on when I've gotten tonkatsu ramen at other ramen restaurants. However, I did really enjoy the takoyaki hush puppies and karokke. Overall, we had a good experience and I would recommend trying the takoyaki hush puppies!

One of the best bowls of ramen I've had other than in New York !!! Will definitely be going back soon!!!

I've heard many people raving about Dashi for years and am so glad that my husband and I finally checked it out! I'll start off by saying the appetizers that we got were just alright. The Korean Fried Cauliflower and Spicy Miso Chicken Wings were a bit too salty for my liking and the wings weren't spicy at all, like the name would suggest. But the Vegetarian Ramen was so good and had a surprisingly rich, smoky taste to it - I guess a lot of flavor came from the smoked radish! We added spicy chili butter to it and it was a great addition. The Chicken Katsudon was absolutely delicious and might've been my favorite dish of the night.

I've been here twice now and I absolutely love this place. Both times I was seated upstairs and I love vibe and the atmosphere! Cocktails: All their speciality drinks have super cute names- which is a winner for me cause I am a sucker for marketing and naming. I got the intergalactic robot kitten and it was super refreshing. My boyfriend had the mama cat which he really liked (honestly wasn't my cup of tea but I'm glad he liked it). Food: I thought the food was bomb. I decided to try the pig liver cause it was on the weekly specials and it was 4$ so why not. Honestly not my favorite. I should have known livers wasn't going to be good, but hey sometimes you got to be adventurous . Ramen was good both times I ordered. But man, all the previously reviews were ruthless and harsher on the food than I would be. Yes the broth was a bit salty - but I feel like all ramen places have very flavorful salty broths ‍. I enjoyed it. Last note is that the wooden spoon is pointless. It's impossible to actually eat from it since it's so wide, so that is definitely for looks, not for functionality.

Well the food just is OK but its our only Ramen joint so we need to try and support them. Other dishes were decent but its hard to justify coming back. We will, but big hopes its a game changer next time!

Ordered takeout from them, and it was a subpar experience. I may be an outlier, but I have an allergy to mushrooms. So, I scoured their site to order something without mushrooms. They listed mushrooms as ingredients on many of the products, but they did not on the Miso. Since I am also wanting the ramen to counter a cold, I ordered an additional chicken stock as this was my way of having something better than boring chicken soup. I knew better than to order vegetable stock since that often includes mushrooms (not a vegetable!)... However, when my partner picked it up, not only did the Miso have mushrooms but they gave me Vegetable Stock as well :( So, I couldn't eat any of it. I tried calling, and got busy 5 times in an hour. I assume they are popular, but in this case, it's a problem. I won't order from there again. My partner swears by the food, which is probably fine, but their online ordering is a hot mess. So disappointed. Please do better.

This ramen is legit! I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews here, but I think this place is spectacular. We ordered the shoyu and tonkotsu ramen, and both were fantastic. The tonkatsu ramen broth was a little on the salty side, but not by too much. It had a very deep and rich taste, and also had some incredibly high quality noodles. Personally, I liked the shoyu ramen more. It just had a more subtle broth and the ramen noodles were more QQ (chewy but in a good way).The topping choices on the ramen were really interesting, mustard greens on the tonkatsu and pulled pork in the shoyu, unexpected but definitely enjoyed. Since we went on a Thursday, they had a 3 skewer deal for $10. Out of the three, the bacon wrapped mochi was by far my favorite. It just was such a unique experience and different from anything that I've tasted before.

The food is amazing. We did the $$$ monthly menu for June and ate in the upstairs dining area. The food was great but the music was godawful. It really detracted from the meal, like REALLY detracted from it. When you are enjoying a delicious tasty dish and are distracted by the background music that is not a good mix. I do not know if this is a normal for them. If so, we would not return. The meal was expensive with set menu and drink pairing with each dish. It could have been so much better. :(

I had a horrible experience here. The menu was unclear regarding a special item and we asked about it. The manager came over with a condescending attitude and was unwilling to listen. She obviously did not care what the menu said and just cared about what she thought it should say (which it did not). She wasn't willing to remove the item from our bill and offered no solution. Ultimately she asked us to leave, which was wild. I've never experienced anything like it in my life. Dashi needs to work on their hiring because the people they have are not meant for public facing work. My experience echos the comments from a lot of the other reviews here on Yelp about bad service. I hope they figure it out because it would be great to have a decent ramen place here in Durham. About the food... The pork belly is overcooked and tough as leather but the broths are okay.

Went for the November Omakase experience and was deeply disappointed. First, we had reservations for 630pm but we had to wait 30 minutes because our table wasn't ready. They say us downstairs at a table for those thirty minutes where we received no service, no one even offered us a drink. We just got to watch other people eat. No one apologized for the wait either. The food itself was meh. We go to the Dashi Omakase events for good Japanese food and good pairings. This one was the Whiskey pairing. However, there was no pairing, it was just four whiskey's that you could "eat with any of the dishes". Not impressed to say the least. The food was mostly standard American type food - pork sliders, short rib with mashed sweet potatoes. The chicken was essentially Korean fried chicken. The chocolate chess pie was grainy. Nothing was particularly inspired. For $100 (plus a 20% required tip) it was super not worth it. We had a wonderful experience and a previous Omakase (the NC seafood based one), so I know they can do better. Very unhappy with the whole experience.

I find it weird that they decided to add fried sweet potato chunks in the veggie ramen as both texture and flavor are off. Soup is a bit too salty. Otherwise generally a pretty good place, at least comparing to other ramen restaurants in Durham.

There are few things more comforting than a hot bowl of ramen and a whiskey drink on a cold evening, and Dashi does both of these exceptionally well. They boast over 200 varieties of whiskey, bourbon, and scotch and create an awesome experience whether you are having your liquor neat or in a specialty cocktail. I personally love the $15 Old Fashioned (which is only $12). However, I've finally made it on a Whiskey Wednesday and my life has been dramatically altered. First, a little about Whiskey Wednesday: you can try an ounce of a featured bottle AT COST. We are talking super expensive and/or rare bottles for a fraction of what you'd pay anywhere else. I've never tried better whiskeys (nor could I afford to buy a bottle and risk not liking it...), so Wednesday will be my preferred Dashi day! Menu is small, but incredibly well-executed. Food is flavorful, fresh, and warms me to my soul. A good friend and I took to Dashi to celebrate his PhD defense and we still send each other pictures of our food that night because it was such a wonderful experience. Staff has always been awesome and really make Dashi the gem that Durham deserves.

Upon walking in the place looks great. Lovely brick wall, anime wallpaper and a nice ambience. Menu wise they have some small plates, 7 or 8 different bowls of ramen, cocktails and Japanese beer on draught. We had kimchi, bluefin tuna, tonkotsu ramen, chicken wings, takoyaki, bun of the day, and a couple beers. To start the chicken wings we're superb. My partner rarely eats wings but she loved these. Ramen was good. We ordered the chili butter addition, but tbh it didn't add much spice. The bluefin tuna was over a crispy rice and was very good. The kimchi was phenomenal too. Draw back wise, the takoyaki were just straight up hush puppies with some squid. The receipt even said hush puppies. Maybe I read the menu wrong but I was expecting more of a traditional takoyaki. As with what some of the other reviews have mentioned, the food did seem awfully salty. It didn't offput the taste or anything but we just seemed to notice when we left. Altogether, we had a lovely date night with some very good food and it didn't break the bank. Will go back again and try some more dishes for sure.

Tl;dr: Great location, awesome ambiance, lackluster ramen for me. Sorry. I like to think of myself as a ramen afficionado; even a noodle-soup afficionado so I write this with heavy fingers. I had high hopes when we walked into a full lower floor and had to wait to get upstairs to the bar. I got the tonkotsu and my gf got the miso ramen. We also got an appetizer of bacon wrapped mochi. The bacon wrapped mochi was great! You could taste the japanese coals they used to grill the skewer . The fat from the bacon helped to grease the mochi and help the blistering process for the outer skin of the mochi which gave it great texture mixed with the soft inside of the mochi. The tonkosu ramen and miso ramen were meh. The tonkotsu broth was milky and had good mouthfeel, however I think I needed a more stand-up tare to cut through the saltiness of the broth. My gf had the same issue with the miso broth, too salty to enjoy. She also did not enjoy the ground pork topping that they used because it added more saltiness to the already salty broth. The noodles for both were cooked well; I am a stickler for appropriately cooked noodles (esp ramen). Both came with a soy soft boiled egg which I enjoyed. Overall, the restaurant was great but the main act did disappoint us. We may not give this place another try, but who knows? The location was great and we are in that area quite often.

(Was) consistent...our place to go for Ramen, and used to have a couple good salad options for vegetarians, altho they removed one of the better, replaced it with non-vegetarian and lost the attention of my two teens, so that's like half our visits lost. But for the non-vegetarians, a good choice with a contemporary vibe.

Food tasted fresh and yummy. Pork belly was was thicker than what I normally see in other places. Service was great and food came quick. Ambiance was good, very cozy.

I've heard really polarizing opinions about Dashi, and after dining there, I totally get it. But I find myself on both sides of the aisle simultaneously, rather than coming down on one or the other. If you don't like salty food, you won't like the food here - even the 'fresh' appetizer, Japanese cucumber salad, tasted like it had a particularly garlicky version of Trader Joe's Everything Bagel seasoning dumped on top. So much for refreshing bites between broth sips. But for the ramen, it works - even though it's salty, it's at least an interesting sort, provided by pickled onions, mustard greens, and a well roasted pork chunk. Why are there pickled onions and mustard greens in a tonkotsu bowl? Not sure, but it's nice to branch out and try something new once in awhile. (And I love mustard greens.) The noodles for my tonkotsu broth were skinny and spaghetti-like, whereas the noodles for my companion's shoyu broth were thick and chewy. I liked his noodles better; he liked mine. It's a matter of personal taste, obviously. However, I thought his broth was only good for about three sips, and then it was like drinking soy sauce. And I was straight up offended by the 'NC catfish kamaboko', which had a very upsetting mealy texture. The yuzu olive oil cake was basically a muffin.

I had relatively high hopes considering this place had so many reservations but everything was overly salty or just not.. great. The environment was cute but the food was overpriced and disappointing. The ramen was basically a salt broth and the ribeye was very overpriced especially considering how a large portion of our meat was comprised of fat. The sando and the takoyaki hush puppies weren't bad but I wouldn't order it again. The karagge tasted pretty good but the portion was very small. The skewers were not bad! ‍But they're probably the only thing I would order again on the menu (the mushrooms were great and the pork belly was flavorful).

The place is really cute! It is kind of narrow inside but it's downtown so that's understandable. Service is also great. The food itself though is alright... It definitely fills you up. Only thing is the broth can be pretty salty so I didn't finish. Also didn't like the greens.

Atmosphere was really nice and waitress was good. The water that came out tasted like sewage. I know this sounds kind of strange but being used to well water it was very off putting... For such a nice ramen place I thought they'd be able to afford a water filter. Wish portions were a bit bigger for the price as well. Other than that fairly good experience.

The atmosphere was nice but I was disappointed with the drink that I ordered (amoretto sour - too much sour mix and not enough amoretto) and the food just wasn't for me.

Food is not good. Ramen was lukewarm. Overpriced. Service was slow. I liked the environment and location. I will never go back unless I have to... highly disappointed...

Oh dashi- I want so badly for it to become THE place to go for ramen in the triangle, but it only gets worse and worse. First time back after a few years, figured maybe the owners would try authentic ramen in a major city to emulate, but no dice. Part of the bad experience was a particularly bad and inattentive server... never checked on us. It took over 45 minutes to receive that ramen after ordering on a not-crowded night. Irritating but it is hard to find good help these days I know. I'm ok with poor service if the food is good. But the ramen was just so bad. There was far too little broth for a bowl of ramen as you can see below. I have never seen anything like it. This was the regular tonkasu ramen not a pure noodle dish. Maybe that is ok, since the broth tasted so bland. Like inadequately salted water. The chili butter did not help. Noodles were cooked just fine. But too much noodles. Way too much toppings. Way. The soy eggs came very beat up looking (no I didn't do that to it). The pork was a big chunk of meat - not the usual roasted pork that should come in ramen. Was a ton of food, but ramen needs balance between broth, noodles, and toppings. It is shocking how bad the ramen was. We all ate about a quarter of it and gave up as we are all in disbelief. I can only guess that the owners are neglecting it and/or bad manager. Sad. I'm giving up on dashi.

On the hunt for gluten free options is difficult, especially if you love asian food. Thankfully Dashi has gluten free menu items and our waitress was so attentive and knowledgeable about celiac diet .. I was impressed. She offered different alternatives to the soy sauce egg and I appreciated that. The tonkotsu ramen was good and very flavorful and creamy. The GF version was made with rice. The sashimi special was (for me) was garnished beautifully and had sea grapes that had an interesting and bright texture to it. The mochi donuts were great, i would've loved some sweetness to it but they really nailed the texture down. The space is darker and dimly lit but I loved the atmosphere. Great experience after a Hamilton show at DPAC.

Really enjoyed the food at Dashi! The restaurant was very cozy and on theme for a Japanese experience. Our waitress Xenia was so sweet and helpful with the menu. I'm vegetarian so I had a lot of options. I will say some items were a little pricey, but worth the treat yo self moment! Customer service to me was what really stood out outside of the food. Everyone was really welcoming. I will definitely be back again for sure!

Normally, I would let my review stand, but the Dashi response was so false and untrue I'm compelled to respond. I never used foul language, I was never asked to leave. in fact you wanted to have the "executive chef" cook me another meal. the chef BTW agreed that the food was unacceptable. I refused because the attitude of the cook was so condescending I did not want to stay. Look at the number of 1-star ratings you have received in the last 6 months- that says it all! Maybe if you put your energy into training staff, food preparation and handling, you would not have so many negative comments. instead you choose to lie about the encounter in a way to dismiss a negative experience. shame on you. Dashi was the darling of Durham, unfortunately not anymore.

The atmosphere and service at Dashi were both good. However the food wasn't great--not bad-- but nothing I would want to go back for unfortunately. We ordered the wings, miso and tonkotsu ramen. I did enjoy the wings however the ramen lacked flavor.

Cool restaurant with great ambiance! The bacon mochi was fun and delicious! The ramen itself was just okay. I had the kimchi ramen and it was good, but not great. The tonkotsu ramen was kind of flavorless, I wouldn't get it again.

Did the omakase, which included 5 courses. My main complaint was the portion size, which was more like 5 tapas instead of "courses". For $75/person we both left unsatisfied. The ingredients were a bit lackluster for a specialty service. Large bits of fat on steak medallions, and questionably authentic/real crab meat. The tables are a bit cramped together. Although we technically had out our table, we effectively shared a table with the couple sitting 1 foot to our left. The flavors were very hit or miss. Some were exceptional like the murasaki potatoes with hollandaise sauce, Chilean sea bass and the anticicho miso sauce. The staff was very pleasant and accommodating, A+ across the board.

Obsessed with their ramen and whisky cocktails! Ambience is peaceful, staff is cool, calm and collected. Usually they are able to fit us in within moments of arriving, which is a plus, despite the fact that most seats are filled (they have great bar-seating). Go wild with the small plates before diving into a steaming bowl of ramen! Enjoy the delicious olive-oil infused cake for dessert; the perfect balance of sweet and savory.