Uchibā Austin

"Part of the Uchi/Uchiko empire, known for its dumplings and izakaya dishes." - Nadia Chaudhury

"Austin Monthly’s best new restaurants issue includes Uchi spin-off Uchiba." - Nadia Chaudhury

"At Uchiba in Austin, pastry chef Anne Quant makes a kakigori reminiscent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 'It’s playful and fun in nature, and we were excited to feature it in a way that is hopefully unassuming yet familiar,' she says. Rather than flavoring plain ice, Quant blends fresh strawberries with water, sugar, and lemon, then freezes it into an ice block for shaving. It’s piled over nutty black sesame ice cream and topped with a big dollop of black sesame foam. 'It provides a nice, soft, whipped-cream-like texture, mimicking Mt. Fuji with its snow-capped mountain peaks surrounded by clouds,' she says." - Amelia Schwartz

"From the teams behind Uchi and Uchiko comes the red-hot izakaya-inspired restaurant Uchiba. It’s not a new concept—the original location of Uchiba is in Dallas—so it hit the ground running in a bespoke mid-century-inspired space downtown. The menu has the crowd-pleasing Uchi and Uchiko hits (hot rock, hama chili, and all the sushi you can imagine), but then there’s a bunch of new dishes including grilled yakitori, and a whole mess of exquisitely prepared dumplings, bao, and buns. While the Uchi restaurants in Austin famously only have wine- and sake-based cocktails, Uchiba has a creative liquor-based cocktail program, alongside the fun “perfect pairs,” in which a tiny app gets paired with a tiny cocktail. " - nicolai mccrary

"In a city where the names Uchi and Uchiko have become synonymous with date nights, anniversaries, and special occasions, Uchiba had big shoes to fill—and it hit the ground running. Despite the slightly more casual, izakaya-ish menu at Uchiba, the midcentury-inspired dining room Downtown—built around a massive, backlit 270° full bar—doesn’t feel like the type of place you want to show up to in a T-shirt. Expect to find a combination of Uchi/Uchiko classics, plus a bunch of new items. Show up for fancy cocktails and sushi after work, or dress up a little and make dinner out of it, starting with a few “perfect pairs”—a small menu of tiny apps, paired with tiny cocktails.  " - nicolai mccrary