Izakaya Seki - Washington, D.C.

Food is good but service is poor. According to reservation, we arrived perfectly on time at 8 and five min afterwards we were urged to order because kitchen would close shortly. Menu is barely readable. We spent 35 minutes at the restaurant. If you call this dining out…

I visited here with a few friends on a Tuesday night for dinner. We had made a reservation in advance and based on how full it was, I recommend doing this. The food was good. Limited menu. Pricey. Ambiance was pleasant and like the real thing, much like the many Izakaya restaurants I visited while in Japan. Staff was efficient, though not very talkative. Recommended to try at least once. I feel like you really have to be in the mood for this kind of food and experience to enjoy it.

I love this place. i want to be here all the time but i cant because i spent all my money on bladee merchandise . the atmostphere is pretty cool . everything is so pretty here and you get to see all the food and then eat it. i love it. i love fish i love izakaya seki. meow. meow mrrp

Its deffo a meal to remember. We sat downstairs at the 'bar ' overlooking the kitchen. As foodies this was our preference. i believe upstairs is standard table layout. The food was freshly prepared and presented with love. Lots of people working the kitchen. Service was very informative, attentive and professional. It was probably our mistake to order all the dishes on arrival because our food arrived in very quick succession. It was after we had finished dining that the owner 'Seki ' engaged with us. He was in the kitchen throughout constantly scanning to ensure we were enjoying our meal. Its not cheap to eat here. 150 dollars for not a huge amount of food but the quality indisputable. My wife and I didnt feel comfortable in the surrounding area. Its probably fine for the younger crowd but we did feel intimidated. The restaurant is quite away from the centre.

Worth writing about because the food is so good. Toro sashimi was really plentiful and melted in your mouth. Potato salad and kimchi cucumbers were refreshing little bites. Flavor of Japanese steak was exceptional, but there was the occasional difficult moment in the cut. Crab korokke was a marvel. Shiso leaf was refreshing component of fried rice. Onigiri were very good — salty ume plum was particularly delightful! Dashimaki tamago was just cooked into the perfect texture. Yakitori were a great grilled flavor and served with a little bottle of shichimi togarashi (not sure what another review was upset about). Mushrooms with garlic and butter were perfect in every way — texture, flavor, presentation. The team was generally pleasant to work with. We were early waiting for our friend to arrive and someone made a point to come outside and get us in the door to our table. Our primary point of contact gave a thorough rundown of many menu items. Drinks came quickly and Toki highball was a perfect strength. Team was candid about kitchen closing times which is appreciated. They made sure someone in our party got the sake bottles that she wanted to take home to repurpose. Ambience is very good — a well cultivated simplicity that makes it easy to be comfortable for the meal.