Izakaya Matsu

Edit: I've now went here over 10 times (all the udon photos are from separate visits) in the past 2 week but I will never go back. In summary, the only thing good was the tempura udon, but the past 2 days I went the tempura was cold and chewy! It used to be the best tempura I ever had - hot with the perfect crisp and crunchy. About the other dishes, they are nothing special. In fact, they aren't even good. The katsu sando meat is too chewy and way thinner than shown in the photos - maybe they've been cutting costs. The sushi is decent but very expensive. The appetizers I tried, I didn't even finish. I also hate how tight the seating is. I constantly bumped elbows with the person next to me. The service is good, but some of the servers are a bit cold. ___ Original review (gave 5 stars) I got the tempura udon and spicy chicken. It was one of the best udon I ever had in my life. The tempura udon is insane, it's the best I ever had. The broth is so flavorful, but not overly salty. Only issue was the tempura got a bit soggy sitting in the soup. The chicken was just okay. It's very salty. The coating separated from the chicken when I bit into it, leaving just coating in my mouth. Price is very reasonable. I will be back.

Visited late at 9:30pm on a Monday night, place had just 2 seats left for walk in which was great. It was cold that day so I got sukiyaki udon and the ramen, both were delicious (and I’m Asian so I know what good noodles and broth are!) I loved the udon, it was hearty, had veggies, mushrooms and diced chicken with a shrimp tempura (I didn’t eat the tempura) but it’s perfect for cold weather, isn’t super salty like the rest of Brazilian food and was a welcome respite amongst all the blended soups of São Paulo to finally taste a clear meat broth. Highly recommend!

Excellent place! Super tasty food, fast service and great vibes. Had the tonkotsu with dumplings and miso aubergine to start and was absolutely delicious. The deep fried chicken balls were so good with ginger and garlic. Great service and excellent food 😋

Thank God this place was next-door to the restaurant that I originally tend to go to. The restaurant was closed and I literally thought they were closed as in not opening for the day but it turns out that when they are full, they are closed and that’s something I was not aware of. Since I don’t speak Portuguese yet, I don’t know if it was mentioned the website or if it’s first come/1st serve. Anyway, I’m just grateful that restaurant was next-door so I can get some real authentic sushi. If you want to get real authentic Japanese food, only get it in São Paulo in this restaurant has it. Do not go outside of São Paulo because they’re committing crimes against gastronomy there with sushi, particularly southern Brazil with the abomination sushi that they call “sweet sushi” with Doritos, Nutella, nuts, chocolate, strawberries and skittles candies — if it doesn’t have things that should never go on sushi, the sushi is loaded, overloaded with cream cheese — to the point of that’s all you taste is the cream cheese, which make me question whether it’s to mask bad quality or bad ingredients. Thank God for this place, because I thought I would only have to go to Japan town in order to get traditional Japanese sushi, but I did not.

Horrible service and food. Orderd Sara udon and it wasn’t possible to eat so I had to give it back to the kitchen. No taste whatsover and the textures were totally off🤮

Their bento boxes are filled with authentic Japanese flavors!! I’m very surprised by their tasty dishes in our bento boxes, literally every single dishes were really good, even the dressing for the salad! We tried Syogayaki bento, Tonkatsu carê bento , Nasubuta Itame bento, Katsusando bento this time, they were fantastic! I felt like I was back in Japan while I was eating!(I’m serious!!) Unfortunately the restaurant only accepts delivery due to the pandemic. People are looking forward to the day they reopen!!

The yakisoba was so good and tasty! The fried chicken was spicy, juicy, and flavorful, great kimchi also. Arrived at 7pm and had no wait but when we left about 8pm there was a line of about 10 people waiting to be seated. No desserts :( next time I will ask for the spicy food to come last. The udon soup was nice but after the kimchi, fried chicken and yakisoba, we couldn’t taste the delicate dashi broth. Service is really fast.

Went for the katsu sando, stayed for the rest of the food. This hole in the wall place came highly recommended, especially for the katsu sando. Matsu is located in a nice neighborhood that felt safe to walk around. The place is a typical Izakaya, so small and expect to wait for a table. The pork shougayaki was delicious and the katsu sando was absolutely first class. Food was very reasonably priced

I'm visiting a friend who lives in Sao Paulo, and she took me here as a must-try! The ambience is an authentic Izakaya Experience, which made it really fun and special to dine here. (We don't have a place like this in DC, at least not yet). We ate in private area shared with another party. We didn't mind as it still felt separate from each other. Around the restaurant there are a lot of photos of Japan, and there was a displayed video of those Walk-tours of Japan on the tv screen. Overall a fun vibe! The food itself was very good. We enjoyed the katsu sando! Very crispy fried bread on the outside, juicy chicken inside. The sara udon was not your typical large noodle but rather pan fried noodle in sauce, so once submerged in the sauce the noodles turn from crispy to soft. It had a lot of good veggies and the squid and pork was tasty too. My favorite dish was the tempura udon. It was a classic dish, and it hit the spot for me. The sashimi bowl was good too, but I've had better. The pieces I had were bit dry and chewy, so it didn't taste very fresh; to be honest, it was not the best sashimi I've had. Good service as well! We got our drink orders and food rather quickly, aside from the tempura udon which came last. It is really busy - you sign up on the waitlist outside. But the line goes fast!

Fun fact: Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese population in the world outside of Japan. With that fact in mind, we knew we had to check out a Japanese spot while in town. I had a guidebook which recommended Izakaya Matsu as the best izakaya in Sao Paulo so we Ubered over to the Pinheiros neighborhood for dinner. For those unfamiliar with izakayas, they're narrow bars that serve food. I was luckily enough to hit up a few when I traveled to Tokyo. Izakaya Matsu was no different. We had a 20-minute wait or so as the restaurant was full and spots are limited. After being seated, I started off with a sake capirihinha. Nothing like having Brazil's national cocktail with a Japanese twist! From there, I had the pork katsu. A classic Japanese dish, I was lucky enough to dine where it was invented in Tokyo. Pork katsu is a deep-fried pork cutlet served with a brown, sweet sauce. It was served with rice and a salad. The portion size wasn't large but it hit the spot. Service was standard.

As far as to-go options go, this Izakaya has pared down its menu to have items that travel well either for pick up at their window or delivery by numerous options. I got the Karaage Bento--tasty well seasoned boneless fried chicken pieces with finely shredded cabbage, garlic chives with egg, thinly slice marinated bamboo shoot, 2 pieces of tempura roll, kimchi, and sushi rice with a sour plum . I tried to order another bento next evening via food delivery but the restaurant had closed

Authentic japanese atmosphere. Some of the dishes were great. Many items in the menu were not available.

My favorite Izakaya, with the best Takoyaki! The staff is amazing. I really love this place