Warabi Japanese Restaurant & Bar

I’m BEYOND sad to see Warabi restaurant closing. I will miss Taka and his crew’s warm and friendly service and homestyle Japanese food. I’m very sad I won’t be able to have my favorite agedashi tofu in Seattle.

I’ve decided that I love this restaurant. I’m sad that they are switching management any day now… BUT I do hope that the food will remain relatively the same.
I tried their katsu don yesterday and ohmygod, SO GOOD. It was a huge portion in a bowl so I had leftovers and I’m eating them now as I write. I’m that excited about this restaurant and I hope that more people will come to eat here before they switch over… unless everything stays the same!
The service is very good as well, there’s probably only two servers but it’s a decent-​sized restaurant so they definitely can manage.

Sounds like they’re going to be under new management soon, which is a shame. My wife and I simply love this place and have been here many times for happy hour — in fact, maybe it was the great happy hour that drove them out of business. Quality $ 4 rolls that aren’t tiny are hard to find — but here there are some excellent choices, including a Seattle Tempura that satisfies the Mrs. in ways I never will.
It’s not the best in the business, nor the cheapest — but for happy hour, it’s a wonderful atmosphere and great value if you like basic rolls and a cheap beer or sake.

I was craving shabu shabu, so after reading some Unilocal reviews I decided to check this place out. The location is pretty sketchy considering it’s on Aurora Ave N. but the restaurant itself is very pleasing to the eyes when you enter.
I tried the all you can eat Shabu Shabu for $ 24.99 and left disappointed. The vegetables (cabbage, carrots & shiitake mushrooms) were already added for me. What’s the point of Shabu Shabu if I can’t enjoy the fun of cooking the food myself?!? The only other items they gave was thinly sliced rare beef, tofu and 2 different kinds of dipping sauces (Ponzu & Sesame flavored).
For me, it’s not the broth but the sauce that makes the meal. To my dismay the sauces were very watery & lacked any flavor. It didn’t even remotely tantalize my tastebuds. :(Another thing that bothered me during the hour I was eating, the flame went out on the burner 3 different times! Is it too much to ask if you are replacing the canister to replace it with a FULL one?
I also tried the spicy tuna roll and chicken kaarage which both were good. I’ll still give this restaurant another shot, I’ll just order the sushi & bento boxes.

Delish sushi and a huge bargain during happy hour. The spicy tofu salad is wonderful. Also enjoyed trying the black sesame ice cream. We will be back!

Yum.
Great sushi.
I’m going to go back for the Plumtini.

I was on the hunt for a late night, happy hour sushi place. Sadly, I Love Sushi is no longer doing their late night HH (even though it’s still on their Unilocal page, aww). Thankfully we called ahead and found this out.
So then I found this place for late night HH, from 9pm until close, which on Friday was 10.30pm. I don’t need that much time to eat, so we went there because it’s also in our ‘hood.
It’s in a tiny L-​shaped strip mall. It’s right in the CORNER of that «L» so you’ll first see a cash advance-​type place and a bubble tea (on the ends of the «L»). Parking wasn’t too bad, I didn’t turn into the tiny lot, but instead the street right before it (heading north on Aurora), where there was a row for about a dozen cars. Nice. At this hour it’s not a big deal.
The place is classy. Really nice and clean, kind of odd to have it in a strip mall on Aurora, but okay fine.
The server dude was nice, had an easy-​going way about him and prompt with the drinks (to be eligible for the HH menu, each person had to order a drink).
They had several rolls for $ 4. The nigiri /​sashimi pieces were $ 2.50−3.25 for 2pc and they had some other food like crab cakes, pot stickers, and stuff. The prices were reasonable, but we only ordered the rolls. Their regular menu had tons of other food.
Each roll had 5pc, nothing too memorable unfortunately. Nothing that made me go: WOW, I have to have more of this. NOW! But it was just good-​to-​bland.
I’m sure if we had ordered their other sushi and food, it would have tasted better (other reviewers seemed to like their non-​roll food).
It’s nice to know they are an option for evening sushi HH, but I think we’ll have to keep looking. Thanks anyway!

Wonderful sushi — the mackerel nigri (my go-​to favorite) was the best I’ve had anywhere. Just a touch of ginger, scallion and wasabi enhanced the flavor of the fish and raised it from good to great. The rolls were tasty too, although one of the specials (salmon with jalapeño and something else) was a bit bland and needed some soy sauce. The seared tuna appetizer was also amazing, and they make a mean wasabi bloody Mary. The tempura fried cheesecake bites seemed a bit out of place but, oh my God — they were HEAVENLY! Add a scoop of the yummy black sesame ice cream and I’m tempted to just eat that for dinner next time… whew!
Right now their special offer is happy hour all night on Monday.

WOW! Was not expecting the great meal that we had when rolling up to Warabi! Hidden away in a cluster of businesses on north Aurora we barely spotted it. Very fresh and skillfully made, hands down the best sushi rice I have had to date. Perfect amount of vinegar.
Have been back several times service is always super nice and attentive. They are never very busy and there is a slightly cafeteria feel to the space, but I am more concerned with the sushi itself. Better than Kisaku and any of the other moderately priced sushi restaurants I’ve been to in Seattle. Go and enjoy!

Warabi is by far the best place we’ve been to in Seattle to date. No, it’s not even close to what you can get in Japan. It’s also not as good as some places in L.A. But I dare say it’s better than any place I’ve ever eaten at in S.F. Well, maybe not better than Sushi Sam’s, but whatever, they’re pretty comparable.
Anyway, it’s really inexpensive and yet much better than any of the horrid trendy places that strut around the street corners near downtown.

So, I used to come to this place a coupla years ago when it was another Japanese restaurant. Same layout so it was all familiar to me.
I went with a large group of about 10 people and we got the private room for shabu shabu and sushi. I love that happy hour is all day on Sunday and there’s some tasty deals on the happy hour menu. In retrospect, I should have skipped the shabu shabu and just grubbed down on the sushi.
While the shabu shabu was good, it was a lengthy process and quite expensive. About 6 of us got the all you can eat ribeye which was $ 38 each! Quite pricey but we were ready to grub down… too bad they weren’t willing to serve up the meat fast enough. We waited f o r e v e r for the next batches of meat to come. We made jokes about how they must have had to run to the store for more or were busy slaughtering a cow in the kitchen. Anyways, it was frustrating. Plus they ran out of rice!
And they didn’t give us miso noodles for the shabu shabu broth at the end.
They said it was their busiest night but service was still too slow for even those circumstances. I had to ask the guy 4 times for a bowl. He was nice but still, gimme a friggin bowl so I have something to eat over.
Dinner took 4 frickin hours!

We took my mother here for her birthday and I’m glad we did. We went there about 1pm and there were no customers. It’s a cozy little place. Sushi bar on one side, bar at the other and tables inbetween.
I had ordered their Agedashi Tofu for appetizers. The tofu lightly deep fried in cornstarch topped with green onion, bonito flakes, grated daikon and ginger all swimming in the semi-​sweet shoyu sauce. Biting into the tofu was soft and silky with a little crunch was delicious!
For their entrée I had ordered Ramen, Gyoza and Warabi Salad lunch special. The salad was a mixed arugula greens with light orange citrus dressing and the gyozas were deep fried and drizzled with reduced shoyu sauce. Both were very good. Then came the main entrée, the Shoyu Ramen. The shoyu broth was just right and not overly salty. The Japanese noodles were perfectly al dente. The bamboo shoot, sliced pork and the kelp combined the ramen flavor all together.
My mother had ordered their Tempura. She had gave me her shrimp tempura and it was cooked to perfection! The light and fluffy batter and the light crunch — WOW! Tasty!
My bf had their Chicken Katsu. Of course I had to try it. The breast meat was tender and juicy and there was a light flour-​type coating. Not your typical panko coating — deeeeeeelicious! I had also tasted their curry potato salad, meh, I did not care for it too much and apparently, so did my mother.
I will go back for their Shoyu Ramen and next time for their sushi.
A MUST GO!

Dinner
Good food.

To prefix this review, I’ll say I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to sushi, and that they apparently had a huge party in the back of the restaurant. However, I feel like it doesn’t excuse the experience I had.
Tuesday night at 6:30 (JUST missing happy hour — argh!) myself, my boyfriend, and our visiting friend roll in for food. FIRST NOTE: Parking. Little of it, and not much space to turn around it to exit back to Aurora — just for those concerned. Hardly anyone in the place, and apparently only a single sushi chef and two servers. We get seated.
Five minutes pass after we get seated and get our waters (no big deal, maybe they’re waiting for us to check over the menu more), and we order tea. It takes five more minutes, and we get our green tea… which cost $ 2.50 a cup and tasted like it came from a tea bag. Okay, not superb. Maybe their food is tastier — beverages are hardly loss leaders anyway!
So we order. And wait. And wait. And see the sushi chef very leisurely slicing up food. SLLLLOOOOOOWWWWLY. See a plate of tempura — oh, our tempura? Oh, nope, that’s for the back room — pass on by, and more people file in and take seats. I did feel bad for the waitress, who seemed to be doing double-​duty as the bartender as well.
FORTY MINUTES pass, and we’ve gotten a water refill once — and that’s it. Finally I suggest we pay for our teas and leave, and my boyfriend flags down the server to see if we can get the bill. She goes to check with the kitchen, and apparently our sushi is ready — HAS BEEN READY, as it’s apparently the same one I saw sitting out on the sushi chef’s counter for the past 5+ minutes.
So we get our food. Boyfriend orders a cucumber roll and a natto roll (decent, but he did say they’re hard to mess up), I order an eel roll and some salmon nigiri (the wasabi in the nigiri was uneven, and the eel roll — UNFORGIVABLY — had BONES in it), and our friend ordered a pepper tuna roll and tamago (egg) nigiri (which looked grayish and was overdone). The rice in all of the dishes seemed to be a little undercooked, and the rolls were not very tightly wrapped.
After all that, we managed to make an exit — and went right to Indo Café for a GOOD dinner — which was cheaper to boot. I really, really wanted to like Warabi, and I could have forgiven the wait if the food had been exceptional, but it just seemed like we were ignored, our food was left to sit out until someone could be bothered to give it to us (the sushi bar was right next to us, and the CHEF could have even handed it to us, we were so close), and we basically felt awkward and irate for mediocre food. Honestly, I’d call this a skip, unless you get here possibly on a happy hour.

Solid Japanese food.
Their menu seems diverse for a small joint: udon, bento, salad (including seaweed), donburi, katsu, teriyaki, regular entrees, ramen, etc. The sushi is standard for Seattle, which is a good thing.
They even have an «Aurora Avenue Roll»! (maybe it’s a fave of the ladies of the night?)
Good service. Two small private rooms in the back.
They have cook-​at-​the-​table shabu-​shabu and sukiyaki which is always fun and tasty. I don’t know if there are many sukiyaki places in Seattle.
I’m always on the lookout for shochu — currently, it’s seems to be more popular than sake in Japan. I almost never see shochu on Seattle menus but Warabi has it.
I met the owner/​chef and he seems like he really cares about the food. He said they’ve been open for a year and «warabi» is a local fern.

Warabi is our local Japanese food joint. It used to be a place called Yamashiro under different ownership, for those turned off by Yamashiro, please give Warabi a chance.
The Atmosphere: Warabi kept a lot of the décor of the previous owner, very contemporary in feel with a full bar and private rooms for party dining away from the general dining space.
The People: I have to say it’s not the best service in town, but it is good enough. Some of the servers are better than others (as with any restaurant), this is the weakest part of the restaurant, but it’s still better than average service.
The Food: The food is wonderful, the quality of the raw fish is always good (the #1 sign of a bad japanese restaurant is bad fish).
This is my favorite spot in the city for Ramen. The noodles are perfectly chewy, and the broth (I prefer chicken) is both light and robust, with enough shoyu to properly bring out flavors but not overpower the chicken. They make their own Shinachiku and Cha Siu, and the Wakame is a delightfully crunchy addition.
Also as other reviewers have mentioned their happy hour is FANTASTIC, $ 2.50 for a pair of nigiri, and it’s not the bad stuff but the standard favorites, Salmon, Maguro, Hamachi, Unagi. Plus a great deal on other appetizers.
Overall it’s a good meal at a reasonable price (a steal during happy hour).

Well, is it because of all the good Unilocal reviews? This place looks like more popular. I know it because I go there almost once a week.
It was Friday night after 7pm, the place was almost filled but nobody was waiting. We sat and got menu, then 5 minutes…10 minute… then 15 minutes… Their waiter walked by several times avoiding eye contact. There were some people waiting for take out. A pair of ladies waiting for their dinner and one got food but another one didn’t…
So, we left. We were hungry and ready to eat their yummy sushi, but we had to leave and went to Old Village which was awsomely yummy and their service was so quick.
For Warabi though, only two servers on Friday night? They already have parking issues then server issue also?! I understand that they were busy but they couldn’t even bring water? maybe little munchies? or just say «Sorry I’ll come back to take your order ASAP!» that’s all I’m asking for.

My fiancé and I LOVE this place! They have fantastic sushi and their happy hour pricing is hard to beat.
Although the place looks unimpressive from the outside, the décor is modern and clean once you walk in. We have never had any problem getting seated promptly and the service has always been excellent. They have a large menu and we can always order whatever sushi we want from the chef.
If you are in the mood for good sushi and you are in North Seattle, give this place a try.

I’ve been on the hunt for Shabu Shabu restaurants in Seattle after taking a trip down to San Francisco and finding out about this amazing Japanese hot pot. I’ve only heard of a few places in Seattle that serve it and this was the second and I was quite impressed! A little pricey but you get a lot of food. Lots of tofu, mushrooms, thin slices of beef, veggies, yam noodles, and as a finale they bring you a big bowl of noodles to dump into the rest of the broth. The service was great although the food took awhile because they were busy, but the atmosphere was relaxed and I had a great dinner there. Highly recommended and I can’t wait to try other items on the menu!
Also saw there were some private, larger rooms in the back, great for parties!

The location for this restaurant, up until a month or so ago, was home to Yamashiro Sushi Bistro. It’s current resident is Warabi Japanese Restaurant & Bar, proudly hanging it’s «Now Open» banner.
I got there about an hour before they closed on a Sunday night, and it wasn’t very crowded. Baseball was playing on the widescreen LCD TV hung over the bar on one side of the restaurant, and the Chef’s sushi selections for the evening played on another LCD display over the sushi bar along the opposite wall.
The bartender seated me, got me a glass of water and brought over some really good green tea – the kind that brews in warm, tepid water – which was very soothing.
The menu was on good paper, minimal in design, not at all interesting to look at. I presume at some point this might be changed. The items on the menu, however, were very interesting.
Of course, there were the standard sushi selections with nigiri, rolls, sashimi, noodles, and Japanese dinner items. What interested me, and what I rarely see on menus in Seattle, was the family-​style Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki service that they offered for parties of 2 or more cooked at the table. Unfortunately, on this visit, I was by myself so I didn’t have a chance to partake (but I’m sure I will return, email me if you’d like to join me).
Having a hankering for something fried, I opted for tempura. And, a sushi lover as I am, I couldn’t pass up the chef’s sushi selections (aired on that TV I mentioned earlier). That night, the chef liked the Aji (Spahish Mackerel), Uni (Sea Urchin), and Copper River Sockeye Salmon. I thought the Salmon was out of season, but I figured the Uni and the Aji were nice for the time of year, so I got all three.
Yummy and tasty! The salmon was excellent, and the chef had a handsome way of showing off this beautiful fish. It was a deep, darker pink-​orange color, its flavor fresh and lean, garnished with a little lemon. The Aji was delicious as well, not too fishy tasting, and delicately seasoned with ginger, green onions, and ponzu. The Uni was as good as Uni is. With well-​seasoned rice, delicate nori, and the chef’s craft, the sushi was very good. I think the best up in that 145^th Street area.
The tempura was nicely portioned – shrimp, calamari, potato, carrot, and zucchini. It came with miso soup, modern-​style Japanese side dishes of sauteed vegetables and noodels, and a lightly-​spicy potato salad. The best part of the meal, however, was the rice.
Maybe I am wrong to be so particular about rice, but in my opinion, some Japanese restaurants get it and some don’t. And I was pleased with the rice at Warabi. The next time you eat at a Japanese restaurant, see if the rice can make you think of freshness, perfection, and attention to detail. Smell it, taste it, feel the texture in your mouth, and closely examine how well it is prepared. Not too soft, not too hard, a bit chewy, sticky, with an almost smoky flowery aroma… all in a portion that’s manageable to eat. That, my fellow Unilocalers, is good rice, and Warabi seems to get it.
Food aside, the service was nice and friendly, and my meal rounded out about 40 with tax and tip. Not too bad for a nicer Japanese restaurant, especially since I usually eat for one-​and-​a-​half people anyway.
I give Warabi 4 stars. The Sushi was very nice, the meal was well portioned, and the rice was exceptional. I will gladly return, and on my next visit I’ll try the Shabu Shabu or Sukiyaki, which could very well change my impressions.