Miyabi 45th

The food was conceptually interesting but flavors didn’t deliver, service was nice albeit a bit slow, and overall, a bit pricey given the underwhelming food. 3 stars because this is not likely a restaurant we would come back to with everything all said and done.
The meal started with an amuse bouche of a creamy cauliflower soup, which was unexpected and nice. The menu is setup tapas style so we ordered a few dishes.
The first up was the uni and foie gras tofu — sounds super interesting and we love uni (sea urchin). This dish ended up more about the texture than the actual flavors. The texture was very smooth, slightly firmer than a mousse, but the only real flavor we got was smoky. The salmon roe that was served with the dish covered any semblance of the delicate uni flavor.
2^nd up was the uni gnocchi. The gnocchi had a great chew but the sauce was overly buttery, again masking any uni flavor. (I think this is the «French» part of this Japanese restaurant).
3^rd, the $ 30 sushi sampler. The sampler came with 8 different pieces. The uni was good served on a tempura chiso but some of the other fish were super firm. One of the sushi was chopped up o-​toro (tuna belly). We imagine it was chopped because the quality of the tuna wasn’t great? It didn’t have much flavor. Given we had 2 people, I think it’d be better if they served 2 pieces each of 4 varieties vs. 8 different pieces making it easier to share the dish.
Lastly, we had the duck soba. The duck breast was nice as was the foie gras sausage. The broth was also delicious. However, the soba noodle portion was pretty small.
For dessert, we had the matcha parfait featuring green tea and vanilla ice cream, mochi, red bean paste, and some cake. The green tea ice cream had formed ice crystals so the texture was off.

For our last date night as Seattlites, I wanted something low key and delicious. Miyabi did not disappoint! Every single step of the way we grew more and more satisfied.
Let’s start with the beverages. I went with the cucumber cooler, which was light and BEAUTIFUL! Seriously, look at the picture. It was so pretty to look at I almost hated to drink it. Almost.
Octopus Yaki — the star of the show! So tender, and well matched with the mashed potatoes and dashi. One of those dishes that make you want to lick the bowl.
Tempura — shrimp, maybe sardines? and some veg. My favorite was the seaweed tempura! How have I never seen that before?!
Wagyu Tartar — another seriously amazing dish. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Potato Dumplings & Uni Sauce — the most random thing we ordered, but it was actually pretty good. A bit out of place though.
Tororo Soba — something about the texture was just so satisfying. It was the perfect dinner for a cool spring evening.
Kamonanban — the duck sausage was freaking delicious! Loved the flavor of this one, but the fiancé had to add a ton of their seasoning salt to give it enough kick for his liking. I loved that they gave us separate little bowls so we could separate a little bowl of it free of added seasoning.
For being a small plates style restaurant, some of the prices are a bit high, but every last morsel we ate was delicious. The service was attentive, helpful, and enthusiastic. I really can’t complain about anything.
The real star of the show? Apparently the bidets in the bathrooms. I had drank a bunch of water and had to pee as soon as we got there and was shocked by the warm, in a not creepy way, toilet seat. I came back to the table and told the fiancé he needed to go to the bathroom and when he came back he told me that he loved bidets and that he needed to have one. I didn’t really know what to say so I just nodded and said, «ok dear.» He even considered going to the bathroom again just to use it. Weirdo. But yea, bidets.

I want to start by saying that the food is actually good, but over all it just didn’t felt like it was worth it at all. We must’ve waited at least 45min for everyone at our table to get our food (6 people) and the LAST one to come out was the green tea soba. I don’t know how soba are made… but I’d expect the green tea soba to come out pretty fast — especially when it was literally just the tiny portion of soba that’s it and nothing else.
We also ordered the sashimi sampler ($ 15) — we didn’t expect anything fancy or huge… but for $ 15 all we got was 5 or 6 pieces of small sashimi that’s it and it didn’t taste any fresher or more special than what we usually have. For the same price you can easily get a chirashi @ Musashi’s next door and have triple the amount of fish!
Anyway it tastes good, but just not worth it at all I think.

Had omakase dinner for $ 50 per person and the meal exceeded all expectations. We had 9 courses total including the uni shot + monk fish liver + foie gras tofu counting as a single course. It was just a divine experience and an incredible value. Can’t wait to go back.

So sad about the new menu. Guess the incredible soba centric menu wasn’t a good business model? Have to say even the tsukejiru (the dipping sauce) lacked the taste from pre-​cleaning era of this restaurant. We are disappointed to the nth degree. What’s the point in just offering boiled noodles without any of the yummy stuff? Wonderful handmade noodles deserve to be treated right. AND you guys obliterated what was fabulous and unique restaurant into some «let’s serve pork belly bao» like everyone else… slice up some fish… oh boy so original and takes hardly any culinary skill set to use a knife type of cuisine.
I can fry up my own pork, chicken katsu. Even put it on a stick. Make my own koroke and yeah on and on. But the noodles made with heart and soul enveloped in an amazing dashi based sauce/​broth is unattainable in this city filled with places serving trendy, cliché, not even that good food.
Yeah this change is making me seethe. We feel like you broke up with us and didn’t even give us a post-​it to tell us this is what you did.
Maybe you could have eliminated the curry… but otherwise we are demanding that you put it back! Not asking nicely. Just put the soba dishes back and we will move past this atrocity you concocted up.
On the other hand, congratulations to Soma San and her family. Perhaps you might consider an apprentice and get back your original concept of serving magnificent bowl of soba. When you do, we will come back. Until then, shopping trip to Uwajimaya and will open up a bottle of wine instead.

Came in with a friend, and we were immediately seated with the help of what I think was the busser there. We were later greeted with our server and ordered our appetizers from her and our sake before our friend were to arrive. Ordered 3 Uni shots and the gnocchi with uni and a sake which I forgot the name of, but we ordered a large, 24 $. Everything came out shortly after my other friend had arrived. All the apps were fantastic! The sake was also delicious, not too strong. We then decided to order 2 cold tororo soba noodles and one hot, which we thought would come with tempura veggies and shrimp, but didn’t, because it usually does at most places, even here. The quantity of the soba was so tiny that we still felt hungry towards the end. Quite frankly, we were utterly disappointed with this experience.
We came in expecting good service, but our server seemed like she wanted to rush through taking our order, and didn’t wear a smile throughout. Even with other tables, she did not seem like she was enjoying her job. The only one helping our table was the busser, wearing all black. The Uni dishes were awesome but soba dishes really disappointed us. Though saying its homemade, the noodles were really hard and the broth given was not flavorful.
We will not be back. It was better before than now.

Miyabi is dopeeee! One of my friends was visiting from out of town and we decided to go here and mannn did we make a great choice! The soba is exxxxcreeeeleleleenetnttt and their pork belly bao was just melt in your mouth delectable. The presentation of the bao was super sexy and just seeing the line of sauce leading to the bao made me hangry.
They also have these hilariously interesting containers for their sake which have their own separate compartment for ice… I was frozen by how utilitarian and nifty they were.
Definitely a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend!

I am very happy Seattle is blessed to have a wonderful place like Miyabi 45^th! The dishes are a masterpiece after masterpiece and not only is the presentation beautiful but tasty and balanced, the prices are affordable as well.
Soma –San will leave her post soon to have her baby, so please visit very soon!
You will be missed very much Soma San.
Please come back soon.

Been here twice now. I’m sad that they will close and that the main chef might not return from maternity leave (what I heard, not sure if that’s really true). We had a 5 course omakase meal at my most recent visit. We were able to select what style of food we like and the chef catered to our taste buds. It started with a complimentary butternut squash soup, soba noodles, hamachi, mochi daikon, green tea profiteroles and a goat cheese cheesecake. The taste was just right and a fantastic price with a Groupon. Service was superb. #oishi

I have been here multiple times for lunch since it’s so close to my office and it never lets me down. The soba noodles are made fresh daily which is such a delicious treat!
This evening my friend and I were able to walk in around 6:15 without a reservation and got a table but it was fairly busy for dinner already.
I love the pork hot soba noodle dish with a marinated egg and leeks and the Japanese curry with pork katsu is pretty amazing too. A must try is the tofu foie gras!

Ha, saying I’m into this place would be an understatement. I’ve been here a bunch of times (with vegetarians and meat eaters alike) and frankly, this review is overdue and also, due to the 5000 character limit, will likely not do Miyabi justice.
Identifying itself as a gastropub (possibly for some of its quirky, creative and not-​entirely-​Japanese dishes), Miyabi 45^th is one of the only places that I know of in the United States where you can get handmade traditional buckwheat soba noodles, thereby rendering hungry people like me huge, happy fans. If good food, like design, is all about restraint, this place has reached some sort of master sensei level. Every little detail, from the plating to the ingredients to the prep, is so expertly and simply done, I could cry.
I am a huge fan of plain naked ingredients, which could be prepared in an understandably blandish way (and that would even be alright by me on most days), but Miyabi’s dishes are never that… and come out of the kitchen completely balanced and totally the essence of whatever ingredient-​thingy it is. Take the cold ten zaru, for example: It could be dull, but it’s an event. Per Japanese tradition, the components come out plated separately: the tempura vegetables, dipping sauce, delicate and hearty soba, and small disc of «kick» (aka onion and actual real grated wasabi). You can mix and match flavors as you like, or enjoy each flavor as a palate cleanse from the previous. Up to you. I’ve done both and both ways are frankly delightful.
Let it be stated, tempura can be executed sloppily, a sort of Japanese go-​to veneer on any street food that, when not in masterful hands, can be thrown around like a teenager trying on makeup for the first time. If the soba here is this place’s secret weapon, the tempura here is this place’s… other secret weapon? It’s so light and tastefully done you can put the tums away, and is so good, you’ll, guilt-​free (it’s friend, remember?), say you want more. I don’t know, I’m not a big fan of fried things, but the tempura’s an ineffable thing of beauty; you’ll just have to try it.
At the end of the meal, per soba-​eating tradition, you’ll be brought a small pot of sobayu (the soba water in which your noodles were cooked). Add some of this to the dipping sauce and you’ll have a sort of comforting flavorful broth to sip on. The meal will draw out, but hopefully you’ll still have room for a dessert or two… and I would highly recommend trying a dessert, preferably a green tea one. The green tea flavor is extremely subtle and just sweet enough. Also, the dessert portions are small aka reasonably sized, and, like their savory counterparts, are nuanced and restrained, always leaving me wanting more, like a child.
Overall, this is the restaurant you visit when you’re looking for something a little special and different, the irony being that in some places or times in the world, this is the norm. The restaurant encompasses many different ideas — existing at the intersection of past and present food movements, Eastern and Western ways of dining, and cuisine that is both unforgettable and yet, that, with the right company and great conversation, fades deliciously into the background.

Not sure why there aren’t better reviews for this place. I enjoy the variety of food they serve and the creativity. I’ve been here a handful of times and have liked every single meal here. I’ve come for appetizers & soba, their Wednesday ramen, and the 5-​course omakase.
Most recently I came with the groupon for the 5-​course omakase. I liked that they presented a little paper which you can select what you want out of the omakase (choices to have meat, seafood, dessert, adventurous?). We enjoyed all five courses, especially the ribs and dessert (pumpkin cheesecake with black sesame crust). Although the shrimp tempura soba broth was simple, it was perfect as our last savory course.
The cocktails here are also great, I especially like the grapefruit drink in which they serve you half of a grapefruit and you get to freshly squeeze it!

Appetizers were more interesting than the soba in my opinion. But maybe soba is just never that exciting. We ordered 4 appetizers to share, with the standout being the pork riblets — super tender and a generous portion to boot. The agedashi was very different, and it was only after I looked at the menu again that I realized it’s because it’s a buckwheat tofu. The texture was almost chewy like mochi, rather than silken like I was expecting. Still tasty though.
I had the duck soba (hot) and it was a decent bowl of noodles, but really not that interesting. The broth was kind of one dimensional (mostly tasted of soy sauce) and it got boring quickly. The duck was tender and the soba definitely had a different texture than store bought — almost slippery in texture. I might try one of the cold dishes next time to see if the temperature highlights the soba better.
Cozy place, service a little slow — just order everything at once and save yourself some waiting time.

This little gem is definitely a rarity in Seattle!
Why? because the Chef /​Owner Mitsuko Soma hand makes her noodles daily and not only does she do that but she executes the soba dishes beautifully.
Upon my last visit, we tried:
Kamo (duck breast) hot soba — the meat was rare, it cooked in the piping hot broth, and was perfect for the cold weather we’ve been having lately!
Hiyashi Chyashu — a cold soba noodle dish with cucumbers, thick cuts of jiro pork, and a slightly sweet sesame dressing… it was ridiculously good.
Uni Ikura Oroshi — another cold soba dish with sea urchin, salmon roe, cucumber, seaweed… so good!
Oysters on half shell *Kumamoto/​Shigoku/​Pacific* — They get their oysters from Taylor Shellfish and they are SUPER fresh, not to mention that the apple yuzu mignonette served with them were delicious as well. $ 1 all day tuesdays!!!
Although I am a huge fan of all the soba dishes i’ve tried so far, I am totally in love with their cold soba dishes because you can taste the flavors of the noodles versus it being all hot. GO THERE!

Came here after reading the Seattle Times review the other day. Can’t say that we enjoyed it. The glazed wings tasted like finger foods from the local taverns happy hour; the complimentary shots tasted like glue; the salmon Kama was not one of the better ones I have had, and I really enjoy yellowtail Kama; and the ramen was truly truly terrible. The pork had the taste and consistency of a leftover brisket (with absolutely no fat attached at all), and the so called homemade noodles were in pieces no longer than 2 inches at best.
The service was atrocious too. It was only our server and the only reason I left a 15% tip was for the other servers. We were the first to order but amongst the four other surrounding tables, we received our food dead last. Not to mention I was told they were out of my order only 15 minutes after… Not sure, but seems the other tables may have received the last of what I ordered, leaving me to resort to my second choice.
The place looks nice from outside, but the seating was cold, the server was horrible (never once checking to see if our food was ok… NOT ONCE).
It’s too bad. We were really looking forward to a great post thanksgiving meal.

Freshly made soba, seafood, sake and I’m pretty sure most, if not everything, was fresh.
Loved their uni shooter with a quail egg. You can taste that sea flavor and uni texture when swallowing. Mmhmm.
I ordered up their foie gras tofu, which I thought was atypical and the pleasure was all mine. The meshed tofu texture with that foie gras flavor, was just treasured in every mini spoonful. La la loved it!
I’m not a big fan of soba, but having it dipped with sauce and cold, was clean and refreshing. It has that buckwheat texture that was of the good norm for soba. Got their curry to try as well. It was of the standard — nothing special or bad to be said.
Service was nice and ambiance was warmly cozy. They offer happy hours on raw oysters, which I would have most certainly been down for if we weren’t limited on time.

Came for the 5 course omakase. Wait staff was very attentive and got great service. We got the following
1. Flounder carpaccio
2. Foie gras tofu
3. Salmon cheeks roasted with some miso
4. Some sort of spicy sticky ribs
5. Shrimp soba
Overall I think the food was ok and a bit pricey for my overall enjoyment. The tab came to 80ish after tip for 2 people. It seems like a lot of people enjoyed the foie gras tofu but I thought it really needed some sort of starch to enjoy it with. It was too rich to eat as is and I didn’t feel that great after eating the creamy concoction. I probably should’ve just boxed it and brought it home to eat with some toast. I’d come back for the soba maybe but I think I would go elsewhere for my other Japanese favorites.

We arrived here as a party of 3 at around 6:15PM, all of our first times. The hostess was great, asked if we could be out by 7:30pm, which we said we could. Thankfully we just caught the end of happy hour so we ordered the chicken wings — comes with 3 — so we each got 1! Amazing. Crispy skin, GREAT flavor.
We all got the soba. I ordered the fried chicken + soba, it was really delicious. The broth is hearty, but not overwhelming. Fried chicken was great as well. Would have loved some little veggies in it, but that’s okay. :) The soba is really good. I’ve made a lot of my own soba (from dried noodles) and they are good, but you can definitely tell a difference with these handmade ones!
Prices are just about what’s normal for Seattle and this type of restaurant. Really nice décor inside and presentation of food. Great service, we did not feel rushed as all.
Will have to come back for the ramen nights!

Generous three stars. I came here for dinner with some friends and was pretty underwhelmed. I got the hiyashi chyashu — cold soba noodles in light soup with chyashu pork and half an egg. This was my first time trying soba and since this is a soba shop and all soba is handmade in house (as our waitress shared) I guess I had higher expectations. The noodles were okay, but I’m glad I ordered a small, because it was almost too much. As for the chyashu, there was a good amount, four slices I think? BUT it didn’t have much flavor and was way too fatty! I know chyashu is supposed to have fat, but this was more than I’ve ever had before. I left the chunks of fat I bit off in my bowl :/​The meal overall was refreshing though but for $ 13 I’d rather eat a bowl of ramen with an extra egg!
Service was okay, except I heard our waitress tell the table next to us as we were leaving that there were $ 1 oysters! She didn’t tell us or I would’ve tried some — such a good deal! I’m pretty sure I won’t be back for anymore soba, but I may be back to try their $ 1 oysters and their «famous» uni shot…

Miyabi 45 was a spot that I never would have found on my own. But thanks to Eater and a craveworthy list of ingredients that includes truffle, foie gras, and uni, I knew we would have to stop by.
It seems to be a hidden gem, at least for lunch, as the spot only had a few patrons there. The lunch menu is a bit more limited than the more extensive dinner menu, but I did confirm that all of the above items I wanted to hit were served at that time.
Miyabi 45 is located in a typical small building location and the inside features a long bar area as well as several tables and seating areas. One waitress was working when we arrived and she was friendly and efficient. No high chairs though.
The signature item at Miyabi 45 is their soba noodles and it’s rare to find shops specializing in that even in the California Bay Area. As a soba fan, I was eager to try their hot soba, cold soba, and dipping soba (seiru). Our Order:
Foie Gras Tofu — $ 9. A small order of fresh silken tofu is served on a bed of delicious foie gras sauce. It’s an intense flavor as expected and very well done.
Uni Shot — $ 7. In San Francisco, I had seen a variation called Spoonful of Happiness at Koo and it’s similar here. A white spoon is filled with uni, a quail egg, and ponzu sauce. It really is happiness as the uni is super fresh and we had a few more. So glad they served this at lunch.
Truffle Mushroom Seiru — $ 12. Cold soba noodles are served alongside a hot bowl of broth flavored with truffle oil (may not be the real deal but the fragrance and aroma hits the spot). The soba noodles are excellent and its’ nice dipping in such a simple but flavorful broth. Be sure to use the provided flask of hot broth to dilute if the original broth is too strong.
Chya Shu Seiru — $ 12. Ramen style pork belly (three slices) is served in a steaming hot broth with the same cold soba noodles. The pork belly were excellent and as good as any ramen style I’ve had. The marinated egg was delicious although you can also order a sous vide perfectly soft cooked egg. Love the soba too.
Truffle Mushroom Soba — $ 12. Unlike the seiru, the soba noodles are cooked hot and served in a much larger bowl of truffle mushroom broth. Much more filling that the above and just a different style of eating.
I would love to come back for dinner and try more items but Ioved the soba focus as well as their foie gras and uni items. It’s a hidden gem and I would love someplace like this in the Bay Area.
Miyabi 45^th accepts credit cards, including American Express.