Lava Y.
Yelp
I love Musashi and Capel street and me and my friend stumbled upon this place by total accident after trying J2 sushi which was fully booked. The menu is somewhat smaller than the Capel street branch, and the main thing I liked here was the sushi despite the more limited variety. We shared Ebi gyoza, Unagi and Tamago (egg) nigiri sushi x2, salmon sashimi, Tako Sunomono salad and edamame, all of which were pretty good. I loved the salmon sashimi a lot, and the sunomono salad was better than expected.
I wouldn't say this restaurant is authentic in the slightest and nor does it stand out from other Japanese restaurants, but it makes an ok attempt at trying to mimic Japanese food in that they are one of the few places serve ramen in addition to a bunch of the usual sushi. The only thing was that the selection is much less, and they only have salmon or tuna in terms of sashimi.
However, the rest of the menu was just takeaway style food like yakisoba/udon, fried rice and tempura which was kind of a let down as I expected a few more healthy items on the menu besides just the sushi at a Japanese restaurant. A lot of the items were also practically the same, the only difference being whether it had meat, fish or was vegetarian.
The prices are pretty high. We paid around 40 euro for the above which is expensive since we didn't order that much.
The service was excellent and very efficient. Our food was quick to come and the staff were very polite, promptly clearing out each plate as soon as we finished the food on it.
The atmosphere and location would probably be the main point about this restaurant. It's right near the quays and the Luas, the atmosphere was very lively on the Saturday night we came, and the decor is lovely. The place is also very spacious with two floors and plenty of seats, so usually reservations aren't that necessary.
Overall: Ambience wins over the food here, but not bad in terms of quality.
Food: 3/5 -doesn't stand out from the other hundred or so Japanese places in Dublin.
Variety: 3/5
Price: A bit high
Service: 5/5
Ambience: 5/5