Ikiiki

I“ve walked past this place many times at lunch and it seems pretty busy, so we tried it tonight for dinner. Won’t be going back! We had tempura that was tasteless and the portion was small, the agadashi tofu was flavorless with not enough broth, and lukewarm at that. Worst of all was the beef phở-​first of all, it took way too long to come out of the kitchen, and it too was substandard and expensive at that.
Save your money-​there are so many good Asian restaurants and this isn’t even in the running.

Great lunch specials.
Chirashi bowl is only 10 dollars during lunch. They have other great options on the lunch special menu. They serve Thai, Vietnamese, and Japanese. I only tried the Japanese food and I liked the quality.
Came here at 12:30 on a Friday afternoon and didn’t have to wait long for the food to come out.

I have very high standards for sushi. The miso was very good, hokkigai was ok, but not thrilled with the hamachi or escolar. They did have gluten-​free soy sauce which is always a plus. Customer service was very good. Our regular place was closed, so we thought we’d try a new place. We won’t be going back.

I was surprised when I ate here on the happy hour))) very good price for a perfectly delicious food!!! I’ll recommend this place to my friends!!! If you want to eat real Japanese food and don’t want to pay a lot money — go to this place! You will be happy!

I was in a real rush, in an unfamiliar area, and needed take out fried rice in 10 minutes or less. To be honest, I didn’t even look at the menu, went off the good reviews, and ordered fried rice with no meat over the phone. They did have it ready in five minutes! She did ask me if I wanted egg — and I’m glad I said yes — because there is literally nothing in this takeout carton except rice, oil, and egg.
It is certainly a huge container, but it is hardly worth almost $ 11. Be sure to ask if you want other things in your fried rice!

Love this restaurant! So good! HH on Saturday from 12 noon to 5pm! Honey Walnut Prawns are my favorite!!! Hugh is the best server! Take his advice on food & wine pairings!!!

It is not quite the same as Chinoise Café, but still have some of our favorites. Staff is very friendly and quick. Golden dragon roll and Vegas roll are the best:)

Okay food, average sushi
Smoky air coming out by vent hood, made room stuffy
Tofu dish had slightly turned tofu
Nice staff

Fantastic sushi! Everything tasted fresh and was artfully presented. We ordered the dragon roll, caterpillar roll and the rainbow roll and it was memorably delicious. Even the miso soup had excellent flavor and was piping hot. The server was sweet and super attentive. I’ll definitely be coming back to visit next time I’m in Queen Anne.

Decided to try this place, we really liked Chinoise, but we’re very disappointed. The food was not as good as before! We had the blossom roll, while pretty it was not tasty at all. The fish quality is poor and needed to drench it in soy sauce and wasabi to eat it. Thankfully we weren’t eating much and just wanted snack. We will not be coming back to this place.

Great place atop Queen Anne hill, with plenty of free 2-​hr street parking next to it. I’m very impressed with the wooded interiors, and front outdoor seating with umbrella shades. The sashimi was cold and refreshing and the bento is a great deal that comes with miso, and delicately placed sake sashimi (salmon), salad with onion, deep fried gyozas, Cali roll (excellent), and a carved orange. I will return fosho. They have way more than just sushi!

We were let down. We gave it a rating of 2 because the philly was good. Hama Hama and ocean city were not that good. salmon nigiri was over seared.

We ordered the Chinese Fried Rice and the Thai Fried Rice and sad to say it was really, really bad. The Chinese Fried Rice tasted like it was white rice with a little soy sauce added. It was even grey. The Thai Fried Rice looked like the same rice, but because it had some basil leaves and onions it tasted a bit better, but not much. Spending about $ 10 each for grey, mushy, flavorless rice was not a good experience. I really wanted to give it one star, but because the other items I ordered were good, I went with 2 stars.
On the plus side I got the Udon Beef Noodles and they were pretty darn good, we also the egg rolls and they were better than your average egg rolls for sure.
I really want to try the sushi here as it looks great and has good reviews, but I am staying clear of any of the fried rice dishes.

The service was great and the food potions were good! It made my boyfriend’s tummy upset only because his stomach doesn’t handle certain foods very well but I was fine! Recommend but watch out people with baby stomachs! Lol. He got the broccoli and beef and the hottest they could make it and I got the house special chow mein!

Came here and got the curry chicken katsu with rice, the portion is much bigger than I thought it would be. It seemed to have a gravy like taste, and the chicken was tender and fried just right.
Enough food for 2 meals!

I work close by and come here for lunch almost weekly. Their food is always fresh and tastes great! Their lunch Bento Box is vey filling for a great price! Their Cherry Blossom roll is delicious and the presentation is amazing!!! Lately the service has been better too.

A great place for lunch on a sunny day! The service is good on most days. The sashimi is to die for! Try the escolar, it’s like butter! They have great lunch specials and have a well landscaped outdoor patio. The seaweed salad has a perfect crunch to it and the dressing has a perfect flavor. The bento box is very filling and is a great deal. The green tea is delicious!

New management, new name.
The owners are very sweet, and friendly. This aside, I was sad to see the changes to the menu. I miss the spicy garlic shrimp served while they were Chinoise. It was my usual. These last few times I visited, I’ve ordered, curry udon, sashimi, regular chicken udon, tuna poke, and salt & pepper prawns. All were mediocre at best. I was most disappointed with the salt & pepper prawns. It was neither salty nor peppery. I really wanted to like this place since the location is so convenient. There aren’t too many choices for lunch in the neighborhood, so I’m sure I will be back when I get a craving for udon (as this is the only place that serves it on the hill).
I probably would’ve given this place 2.5stars, but I rounded up for the friendly staff.

Ikiiki has replaced Chinoise, our beloved neighborhood «go-​to» spot in Upper Queen Anne. My boyfriend and I went in expecting Chinoise and realized that we could no longer expect to get «the usual» from our favorite server, who served us for years. It is hard not to compare Ikiiki to Chinoise, especially since the decore hasn’t changed one bit. On the plus side the owner of Ikiiki used to work at Chinoise before she opened her own restaurants… So, there is some similarities in the menu options and food. Despite our disappointment we decided to give Ikiiki a try with an open heart and hungry tummy.
The sushi is amazing. Hands down Ikiiki has a much larger sushi menu than Chinoise ever had and the sushi is fresh and delicious. I recommend trying the Sunshine Roll, SO GOOD! However, the General Tso’s Chicken wasn’t nearly the same as Chinoise, which was disappointing. Perhaps this is something that will get better with time. The Gyoza is very good and comparable to Chinoise preparation.
We were in a week ago and Ikiiki didn’t have their liquor licenses yet… I believe they are working on it. So if you are in the mood for cocktails, make sure to give them a call in advance.
We will be back for the sushi and if you are a sushi lover, I recommend you give this place a try!

Let me say I’m sad that Chinoise Café is gone. They had great food and were completely dependable.
But the good news is that Ikiiki is just as good if not better. Ikiiki has been open for about 3 days and yet everything runs incredibly smoothly. Apparently, if I understood correctly, one of the managers at Chinoise bought out the business and converted it to an Ikiiki — by the way, it means «Full of Life», not «Icky! Icky!» — though that would be a hilarious though counterproductive name.
We started with some sushi — all from the Signature Maki Menu because, hey, this is for SCIENCE! — uh I mean « Unilocal!». We got the Hama Hama Roll (spicy negihama, cucumber, avocado, topped with sashimi yellowtail and super-​thinly sliced jalapeño). And the Double Tuna (Isn’t that «Too much Tuna?» NO!) — it has spicy tuna and is topped with albacore. And lastly, the Sunshine: 5-​spice Salmon Tempura, cream cheese, soy paper topped with more salmon and peach sauce (really? apparently, yes), spicy sauce and fried onion. See attached photos.
Then we had the Sukiyaki with beef and the Vegetable Delight with Chicken. «Vegetable Delight with Chicken» sounds like an oxymoron, but if you know me, you know what makes vegetables more ‘delight’ful: yes, MEAT.
About the Sukiyaki — delish with transparent yan noodles, veggies and mushrooms. They didn’t skimp on the beef. PLUS — bonus — $ 2 less than the same dish at Chinoise Café! Served very quickly too — as a non-​European I appreciate fast service.
OK, there you have it: my sadness at the loss of Chinoise Café has been converted to joy and anticipation of further dining at Ikiiki. I should again reiterate that the prices were very reasonable and service completely perfect. We’ll be back!