Ann-Marie Brauch
Google
The first visit to 'The Izakaya Restaurant' in the Palatinate had sparked some expectations due to the reviews and due to the website appearance.
As a Japan lover and connoisseur, as well as pleasure eater of the upscale cuisine, the expectations were high. Even the name of the restaurant is inconveniently chosen, because anyone who has ever been to Japan knows that Izakayas are Japanese pubs - that is, small and dinky with a very family atmosphere.
The impression when coming in had already ruined this, because the restaurant is too big for that - you enter and have some tables in the first room, then you go up 2 or 3 steps and there are more tables.
The tables in the upper area were unfortunately very awkwardly placed, you could not sit opposite each other, but were diagonally towards each other, which was not good for your back.
Also the impression of the waiter was unpleasant, because he had an arrogant appearance, which did not fit in any way to a Japanese behavior - and this is expected in a restaurant with a Japanese name and the claim to bring the Japanese aura to Germany. However, upscale prices should never tempt one to act arrogantly.
Furthermore, the website advertised the 'Omakase' style, with which this menu unfortunately had little to do. Yes - ultimately it means that the chef decides. But omakase to me also means that the ingredients are in harmony: Japanese cuisine is not over-seasoned and certainly not 10 courses long.
That was ultimately what we found. The dishes themselves, unfortunately, had no Japanese flair for me - yes, for example, they used sauces from Japanese cuisine and tried to copy things from Japanese cuisine, that was it.
I dropped out when both the female waitress and the chef completely mispronounced Japanese words (such as the citrus fruit yuzu) when explaining the dishes. Something like this simply must not happen if you have the aspiration to incorporate the aura of another country in your cuisine. Then you have to be just as knowledgeable about how to pronounce the dishes or ingredients correctly.
As you could already read in another review, the music was much too loud, so that you had no 'cozyness', apart from the fact that the chosen music also did not fit to an izakaya. Accordingly, you had to speak very loudly to each other.
We almost fell off our chairs when the 'Catch of the Day' was told that the fish had been flown in that morning - so much for regional. It may be that other regional ingredients were used and, for example, the wine comes from the Palatinate, but such information can spoil the mood. And no, it's not cool or hip to have the fish flown in in the morning.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately, we can't recommend the restaurant. The only Japanese thing there was the name and the design of the walls. For a birthday dinner, this was - not only considering the upscale total price - a bitter disappointment.
And as it was already written: for people who do not know it is certainly a great experience.
Fazit:
Wir können das Restaurant leider nicht empfehlen. Das einzig japanische dort war der Name und das Design der Wände. Für ein Geburtstagsessen war das – nicht nur in Anbetracht des gehobenen Gesamtpreises - eine herbe Enttäuschung.
Und wie es bereits geschrieben wurde: für Leute, die sich mit japanischem Essen, der Kultur, der Aussprache und dem Auftreten gegenüber Gästen nicht auskennen, ist es sicher eine tolle Erfahrung.
