Saito's Japanese Cafe & Bar
Seattle, WA 98121-2208
Phone: (206) 728-1333
- Price:
- $$$
- Cross Street:
- Lenora Street
- Best of Citysearch:
- Japanese Food 2006
- Hours:
- Mon-Fri 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-10pm, Sat 5:30pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Saito's Japanese Cafe & Bar – by Citysearch Editors
The Scene
This Belltown spot makes the most of its narrow space, brightened up considerably with light wood accents, a large skylight and a wall-length mirror that seems to double it in size. Seating is varied: Some diners opt for seats at the back sushi bar, others head to cafe tables in front or a cozy booth for two; there's also a large bamboo-ceilinged sake bar. Funky, hip servers are more than willing to walk diners through the menu.
The Food
Japanese classics like a lighter-than-air tempura and the buttery black cod kasuzuke are well-executed and deeply satisfying, but the real emphasis is on Chef Saito's superb, buttery sashimi. Diners at the sushi bar have the privilege of ordering whatever morsels catch their fancy, but other patrons will be happy with the varied and generous sashimi sampler. The rolls are also well-done, with all the standards well represented.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoReservations are recommended on weekend nights for dinner--patrons should arrive early for seats at the sushi bar.
What to DrinkThere's a large selection of premium sake; some also opt for a choice from the long cocktail list, like a mojito made with Japanese vodka and muddled with mint.
When to GoLunch brings in a business crowd for bento boxes and sushi.
User Reviews for Saito's Japanese Cafe & Bar
10/09/2008 Posted by underthesun
Sushi should be fresh, clean, and presented tastefully. With this in mind, we went to this restaurant based on some positive reviews and the distance to our hotel (the Westin). The meal started off well enough with sake and some nigiri. Service was decent - it was a Wednesday night, and not very busy. When we got our sushi rolls (rainbow, saito's spicy tuna, and pikoro crunch), my wife picked up a piece of the rainbow, and noticed a hair rolled in with the sushi. Even more disgusting, it was not the type of hair you would find on a person's head - for the sake of the reader's appetite, I'll just leave it at that. The server apologized, and the rainbow roll was removed from the bill. But let's be honest here, after finding that kind of hair, would you enjoy the rest of your meal? To add insult to injury, this was supposed to be the last meal for our wedding anniversary vacation. I've eaten sushi at Tojo's in Vancouver BC, Oiishi in Massachusetts, Saburo in Oregon, and even some sushi restaurants in AZ, and I've never had this happen to me before. Needless to say, this ended up being my worst sushi experience ever -Sushi eater beware!
07/24/2008 Posted by sattlefly
We sat on the counter inbetween tables and the bar. Sashimi was wonderful. They have an excellent menu and it wasn't busy on one of these sunny Friday nights when I went with my gf. We ordered about 30 pieces of Sashimi and some fried food, like crab tempura and baked hot oysters( my gf's tongue burned). Chef was very nice and staff were excellent. The bill came out less than 100 dollars with two large bottles of beer which i thought was normal. We usually pay that much when we go to like 'i love sushi' or 'umi sake' or many many sushi rest. Overall the dinning was excellent and we were treated so good. I think my gf was only non-asian person when we were dining which I thought it was more playful.
Pros: Excellent choices of sushi, great services
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