Shigezo Izakaya

My family’s favorite sushi restaurant! We love the firecracker roll and the ramen. While not as fancy as Bamboo sushi, it is not nearly as expensive and just as tasty!

I generally have liked the food here but the service has gotten *awful*.
Went there Wednesday night with a party of 7 and ate in a Tatami room. One of our orders (the $ 30 large sashimi plate) never showed up. When we asked about it after all the other food came, the waiter checked and said the sushi counter never got the order. We were out of time and couldn’t put it in then. The waiter cheerfully told us that, since we didn’t receive the sashimi, he would gladly take it off the bill (he was being serious). This would have been funny if I wasn’t still hungry.
I asked for the manager. He came by briefly and apologized, but never offered to do anything to make the experience any better (even rookie managers know to offer a free dessert). He said that 1 out of every 50 sushi orders was getting lost due to a software glitch. He made it sound like a long-​term problem, not just that night. Seems to me they should have a solution for this, not just excuses.
Miso soup was lukewarm and bland. Tasted like dish water with salt and tofu.
The automatic 18% gratuity was just insulting at that point.
Too many good ways to spend money on food in this town. Not going back here.

The food is absolutely fantastic and the atmosphere is outstanding. However, avoid the server «Zeth» at all costs! Me and my girlfriend are both servers and we were patient and polite but the last job on earth this gentlemen should have is a job as a server. After waiting 45 minutes and watching him talk to his host friend for 30 I asked him about our ramen to which he said «I’ll go check» and I watched him go ring it into the computer. Then after an hour and a half and waisting our whole night we finally ate. I asked him if there was anything he could do to compensate us to which he said no there’s nothing he could do. Do go here! Best ramen I’ve ever had. Do not sit with Zeth

Went to Shigezo on a one day trip through Portland and was very impressed! They have two separate dining areas, one with traditional-​sit-​down Japanese-​style seating, and the other with a sushi bar and tables. Awesome atmosphere and the servers are all extremely nice. The food was great and I would recommend the ramen to anyone! For most of the dishes, they have vegan and gluten-​free options. Wish I had been in town longer, or I would have gone again!

The seaweed salad was the best part. Everything else was «meh». The ramen broth was underwhelming.

Food was great and worth the 45 minute wait just to receive my ramen. Service was not the best by any means.

Good happy hour options, fresh sushi, and tasty drinks.

Food was terrible, BLAND and overpriced for «happy hour» items. I ordered several things off the menu: bacon wrapped quail eggs, gyoza dumplings, fried calamari, flank steak, fried tofu, miso soup and ramen. My ginger ale had more flavor than all these items combined.
Bill was around $ 30 which was extremely disrespectful for the lack of seasoning and bland personality of my waitress .
Don’t recommend.

Great happy hour specials if you sit in the bar (a starter, a ramen bowl and a beer for $ 15). Their chicken karaage is a very tasty starter and all of their ramen bowls are great. The food and price has always been offset by the service, unfortunately. Aside from the time the hostess forgot we were waiting for a table and sat people as they walked in while we continued to wait, average wait time from the moment you order a beer is 10 minutes. Difficult to get water refills here too. We will definitely be back because the price is reasonable, but don’t expect to be wowed by the overall experience.

Already a fan of Maru. Came here for evening happy hour. we came after a crowd so service a bit slow to begin, bit real friendly towards the end, with the place sparser. tasty miso, well done salmon hand roll, & Jim’s dry ramen was very generous and he loved it, Bigger space than Maru. Good happy hour prices. Try the Tokyo ramen any time.

Keep in mind I’ve only been here once, so my rating can be judged as biases from my overall inexperience.
THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!!! The atmosphere and interior of this Japanese restaurant is just !!! It’s honestly like nothing I’ve ever seen. Their attention to detail is also on point. The food! OMG! THE FOOD!!! I had a large Kumamoto Ramen, which I didn’t think I could crush but I totally was incapable of stopping once I started it was so delicious! The nigiri could’ve been packed a bit tighter but overall the flavor met my expectations as far as what i wanted from a quality mackerel and salmon nigiri. Only drawback was the potsticker appetizer which was a bit greasy and a bit cumbersome to grasp with chopsticks, but the filling wasn’t heavy and tasted delicious. That’s my only gripe. Oily won tons.

I’ve only been here a couple of times and I must say its pretty good. The service is slow and even slower to get your food. The wait alone for this restaurant can be pretty bad as well. Make a reservation when you can, or come when they first open. The servers are very nice and friendly. This is a huge reason why I cannot give this place 5 stars.
I’m not a sushi snob, but as soon as I picked up the roll, it started falling apart. No matter what I did, that roll wasn’t keeping it together. This was a real test of my chopstick skills of 20+ years.
I would say this is one of the best ramen I’ve had in town. The portions aren’t too big and not too small. Flavor is good and it’s just the right amount of savory and umami. There’s constantly new ramen places popping up but I find them over hyped.

I just drank at Shigezo, I didn’t have a meal there. But, I had a nice time nonetheless. After dinner one night we were out looking for a bar near our hotel, the Heathman. Well, in this particular area of downtown, there’s not a ton of bars open after 10. We happened upon Shigezo and told the hostess we wanted to drink but weren’t eating. She invited us to sit at a small bar that was kind of separated from the rest of the restaurant. There were maybe 8 seats at the bar, and it had a projection TV showing a baseball game.
There wasn’t a permanent bartender at the bar, which was understandable given its size. But, we never went wanting for a refill. The bartender serving us was super friendly, as she was cleaning up for the night (they close at 11), she talked TV and movies and whatnot with us. She was also very quick with the water refills. We had fantastic service during the hour or so we were at Shigezo.
I had one of the house cocktails and we ordered a bottle of wine. They didn’t have a huge non-​sake selection of wine and they were cheap. We had an Oregon pinot noir and paid $ 36 for the bottle. It certainly wasn’t a great bottle of wine, but it was well worth $ 36. It is a cozy space, but comfortable. We had a great time and I would return for dinner.

Nice place, very authentic taste!
Happy hour menu is good with small portion (actually the Ramen is not that small) the skewer is so good! Must try!

Lunch or dinner, a consistent delight. I keep focusing on the delicious sushi, but there is so much more to try! Ramen, skewers, noodles… Fortunately it is the kind of place I will want to go back to; it is like an affordable trip to Japan. Much character and friendly service.

As many locals know this place is the best. There is a huge menu and it is kind of like three restaurants in one. We ate at a table in the sushi bar. The people were friendly, the service was excellent and the fish was delicious. We will definitely go back to try the restaurant side. There are also private rooms that can be reserved. I especially loved the Portland roll and the fresh wild salmon.

I have returned here several times since my first review and I continue to find this place excellent on all fronts. I really like the pepper and mushroom skewers. The choice of sake is great and lots of fun.
My top Portland pick for light, healthy food late in the evening.

Went here for the first time last night and had a good experience. Good, but not great. My server was fabulous-​polite, attentive and knowledgeable. He was new and made the Konichiwa Kitten cocktail for me-​his very first time– and it was strong and smooth. I had the $ 15 special, with the Tokyo ramen and seaweed salad. I don’t drink beer so the server was nice enough to let me choose a cocktail in it’s place and pay the difference. The $ 15 special was listed as a beer and a 4 piece California roll OR ramen with a small salad-​kind of pricey for what it is. I would have been really happy if it included the ramen and the 4 piece roll. 4 pieces alone doesn’t seem like enough to make anyone full. We came for happy hour and on my budget that would be the only time I would come to this place. I agree with some previous reviewers that their prices are high for happy hour. Some of the rolls are $ 10 – 12, which are full prices at places of a similar caliber outside of downtown, but all of the food was incredibly fresh. I do wish they had more rice based options and highlighted gluten free dishes on their menu (*pollock fish, soy sauce and ramen noodles are made with gluten). The broth however was made from scratch and not watered down at all, and the pork was tender enough to melt in my mouth. My companion ordered the spinach salad with his special and it was good as well. It was served with a peanut sauce and had a different texture than the seaweed but it was refreshing to have a little variety.

I was pretty worried when I previewed Unilocal reviews which were recent. Sat at the sushi bar today after a very short wait and ordered the Tokyo ramen and edamame.
Each were wonderfully flavored, hot and delicious. The pork in the ramen was tender and highly flavor able. The ramen was excellent
Very handy if you are in the Park Blocks for any occasion.
They offer several ramens, sushi, and a really yummy looking chicken katsu.
BYW the toilet seats are heated!

This place is really expensive, so go during Happy Hour. When we arrived, there was no hostess at the door and we were waiting around with no acknowledgement for quite a while. What happened to the loud «irrashaimase!» I expect from an izakaya? Eventually we were seated… in the bright cafeteria lighting side rather than the darker, wooden Japanese side (you only get the nice side if you pay full price).
Even though HH is a bit cheaper, it’s not really a deal. A small bowl of ramen is still $ 10 and everything else is $ 3 – 4. Beer on the other hand is a 22oz beer for $ 5, so a pretty good deal.
Of all the items, I’d mostly recommend the karaage; it was some of the best I’ve had. Usually, it’s just lightly salted, but this once had a sauce on it. I got the ramen with soft boiled egg because I’ve had bad luck with ramen-​eggs in the PNW. Can’t I get a properly done hanjuku egg in Portland?! The answer so far is no, and this is no exception. The tiny bowl was ok, but nothing really incredible.
Overall, I’d have to give this place a solid, just ok. Not really an izakaya feel, but plenty of decent tasting, but over-​priced items.

Mediocre Japanese food. I recall being disappointed when I came four years ago, and was bummed that I wasted a meal in the foodie paradise that is Portland.
Edamame was overlooked, pickles were bland, tsukune slathered with sauce too sweet. They were out of a number of beef dishes they told us were specialties.
The age-​tofu (fried tofu in warm broth) was good.
The ‘American’ Japanese dishes were OK, like spicy tuna and salmon skin rolls.
Nice people, as Portland people are. Won’t complain about the service, despite the tray of water they dumped on our table, though that didn’t add to the experience.

My friend and I cam here for happy hour. The prices were kinda high for happy hour sized plates. We had the Chicken wings, Salmon belly, Quail egg bacon wrap (meh), Pork belly, small Tokyo ramen, small Shiro abu ramen. The ramen were housemade noodles.
My favorite dishes were the salmon belly, pork belly, and Tokyo ramen.