Izumi

Amazing authentic Japanese restaurant that is family run. The sushi is some of the best in the Puget Sound area.

I ordered for takeout and the only reason I’m not giving five stars is because I had to wait an extra 20 minutes plus my original 15 minute wait time given. Beside that, the food is amazing. The fish is fresh and portions are fairly big. Will be going there again, dining in though!

Awesome food! Extremely fresh and prices for lunch are very reasonable. I have been here twice and eaten at the Sushi Bar each time. We will definitely keep going!

We parked right in front before 1130a but soon realized the door opened and folks can wait inside. What was annoying was the first group of five harping to get a table from the door, even after the nice granny explained they didn’t have tables that could fit without blocking others. Helloooo other folks are cold standing outside.
We got seated and ordered both sushi and hot food. I guess it was well intended but we got our food after patrons behind us maybe because they wanted to serve our food in one shot. Bad idea. Service was very courteous but they could tighten on smartness, like bringing extra bowls and plates for the sukiyaki.
Food — the soft shell appetizer was 5 stars as was the sukiyaki. Wished they added potatoes in the udon curry but excellent all the same. Japanese curry is more like a stew than soup like Vietnamese (also excellent). Sashimi was so so. The cuts are sloppy but they are generous. Tako poorly sliced. One piece uni was perfect, 2^nd was slinky. I decided geoduck was not for me.
I recommend this place but personally not one I would return.

So I’ve read the reviews here about this plave forever and I’ve been meaning to try it out forever, but I just never got to this neck of Totem Lake for dinnertime. Until the other night, that is.
My youngest wanted to go out for sushi for her birthday so I decided to finally come here. And it sure didn’t disappoint!
As the reviews note, it gets busy, early, so we waited outside for it to open for dinner service at 5pm. There were 3 or 4 other parties waiting as well. Once it opened, we were immediately seated at a table near the windows (clean and cute interior, but nothing special, aestheticcaly speaking). Service was prompt. We ordered a large sushi platter, the tempura platter, and a chicken teryaki with sushi dinner combo.
The little salads and miso soups came out first, and were very good. Then the main meals arrived and they were FANTASTIC: super super fresh fish, quite a few varieties (I’m not sure what kinds, but all were delicious), delicate non-​greasy tempura perfectly cooked, flavorful and moist chicked teryaki… Every dish was a winner, so much so that we ordered a second large sushi platter for more! It was that good.
The table beside us ordered some «hot pots» and they looked fabulous, and the family with kids behind us ordered some sort of platter in a wooden boat-​like platter, and everyone at all the tables around us were totally enjoying their meals.
Our family is already planning on returning. Delicious! Not the cheapest, but delicious! (And who really wants to risk having cheap sushi, anyhow???).
There was a huge line of folks waiting to get in when we left (around 6:30pm), so I, too, would advise on getting here early.
One last note: I had left my little to-​go box on the table by accident and it was so nice of the server to run after me in the parking lot to return it to me! Lovely lady, super place!

Great sushi spot for some pretty authentic Japanese food. I’d honestly give it a solid 4 stars but decided to bump it up because of some of the seriously ridiculous one star reviews. They didn’t give you a spoon for your miso soup!!! The horror! You ignorant, entitled American. They don’t have #$$%%^#@ ginormous rolls??? Again, get over yourself.
What they do have is good, quality sushi. (they are right they do not have ginormous, gluttonous, American style rolls). They have fresh, quality fish. I got the sushi combo lunch special and it was amazing. Simple, clean, tasty fish over rice. I highly recommend it if you actually like sushi. If you only like Americanized rolls this probably isn’t the place for you.

Several years ago this would have been a solid 5 for me. The fish is still very good but not as it once was.
Service remains excellent and the sake list is varied enough so you can find something within your budget. That said, don’t expect that from the entrees. Izumi is more expensive than $$ would suggest. Especially if you get into any seasonal cuts of fish.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good sushi. I’ve just had better and they use to be better than a 4.
Do try the eel hand rolls if you eat eel. They are fantastic.

Good quality, great value and a proper Japanese run business. While it does cater to Americans, if you order traditional Japanese dishes you get authentic food that is a decent quality for the price.
I’d rate it as better than Miyabi but not as good as I Love Sushi Lake Bellevue (when Massasan owned it)
It’s a bit hard to find so look at it on a satellite map before heading out.

Make sure to come here EARLY because this place fills up, quick!
I highly recommend any of the nigiris, but my personal favorites are the ama ebi (sweet shrimp) and albacore tuna. If you order the ama ebi, ask for the fried heads, they are crispy and delicious. There is also the option of having the chef choose a combination of sushi for you for a set price.
My next recommendation would be the rolls! I like the spider, spicy scallop, spicy tuna, and spicy salmon. If you are eating with a small group of people, order the spider to share; it is a good choice because of its portion. As for the spicy rolls, I suggest ordering at least a few. However, if the group is feeling fairly hungry, ordering both spider and spicy rolls is a safe bet.
Izumi also offers dishes aside from sushi that are equally scrumptious. Try the agedashi tofu or any of the udons.
What I love about Izumi is its consistency. Each time I’ve been here, the service has been attentive and fairly quick, the food, same great taste.

We read in the reviews of people comparing this place to Shiro’s in Belltown, and we have to say that we were definitely disappointed.
This place is located in a strip mall off 405 and the interior décor is what you’d expect of a place in that location.
We ordered the seaweed salad and miso soup to start, followed with sashimi. Everything tasted fine, nothing special to report. And then we ordered a few rolls (california, spider, crunch) and found it to be ok.
We didn’t have anything that was bad, but we also didn’t have anything that was spectacular. The comparison to Shiro’s is nothing close to the truth. This place is mediocre and will satisfy your sushi desire if you’re near this strip mall.
If I were to be honest, I’d rather spend my time in traffic trying to get to Shiro’s then come here again.

We went there for dinner last nigh; fortunately, we got seated right away. We ordered, appetizer, sliced octopus and seaweed, small sashimi platter, large sushi platter a soft shell crab roll and a spicy tuna roll. The miso soup came with the large sushi patter so we ordered more soups.
The flavor of soup tasted great and it is not too salty or cloudy. The seafood were fresh and delicious. The service is upbeat and efficient. It is also a good sign to see many older Japanese customers. You must try this place if you are in Kirkland.

This place is underrated!
Sushi quality is absolutely amazing!
Parking is free but can be limited if it’s dinner time. This place is always packed if you go during lunch, dinner time. So try to go in a little early or what I do is I place an order for pick up so I don’t have to wait in line. Price is pretty reasonable as a sushi place in kirkland.
And all servers are japanese and they are pretty nice. :)

3.5 stars due to mixed feelings about this spot.
The good:
The black cod teriyaki was melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. So soft, so buttery and so amazing!
The ok:
The sushi combo was pretty good in terms of freshness but the slices were way too large. On the one hand, it’s awesome– more fish!- but that’s not how sushi should be. That was bite-​size for no one.
The bad:
The service is terrible. I had to ask for water multiple times and finally, I had to walk to the hostess and stand there and wait for the water. The waitress was SLOWWWWW and said awkward things when I asked for a water refill such as «I’ll get yours later. Look– you have enough water!»
I’d come back but I would try to be seated in a different area next time.

So, this is probably the best sushi I have had on the east side, and it was just down the road from me, tucked away in a little strip mall.
We’ve tried to come here before, but they don’t take reservations unless you are in a group bigger than six people, and there is usually a line. However, this time we came in to see that there were only three groups ahead of us, so we decided to put or names down and wait.
It was totally worth it. We got the omakase, tamago, toro sushi, spicy tuna roll and some seaweed salad. The seaweed salad was okay, but the omakase and the sushi were both really fresh tasting. The flavors were really bold and interesting on the omakase, and the tamago egg was really sweet but you could also taste the nori distinctively, and the toro was so buttery it would melt in your mouth. Yum.
Service was really polite and unobtrusive, and our plates were quickly cleared as we ate our way through the sushi menu.
Next time I want to sit at the bar!

Sunday dinner at 6 pm: omakase (chef’s choice) at the bar.
We were asked whether we wanted 10 pieces or more each. We opted for 10.
Once the chef asked whether there was anything we did not like, he started our orders.
All very fresh, some he’d flavored so no soy sauce was needed:
Thai Snapper (left),
Striped mahi
Hen clams (top)
Geoduck
Shrimp (shrimp heads are deep fried): yes, it sounds gross but you gave to try it.
Mackerel
Hamachi
King salmon
Tuna
Uni
Had to have melt in the mouth otoro! Delicious is an understatement.
Perfect with nigori — unfiltered sake.
My go-​to place for sushi!

When I asked my soon-​to-​be 7-​year old son where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner, he said to a sushi restaurant. My heart was singing, because I had been wanting to try Izumi since I first moved to Kirkland back in August 2014. I am glad we got to try the restaurant on a weekday when it was less busy and there was no wait. Well, «busy» being a relative term, because even without the restaurant at capacity, the staff was bustling about throughout our meal.
I like that this restaurant is family-​friendly — there were quite a few families with children there for dinner. I’m sure the later it gets, there are less kids and the ambiance takes on a more intimate feel. It is on the small side, so I can see how there is a wait during busy times.
For our family of five, we ordered the agedashi tofu, large sushi platter (comes with miso soup), Manila clams steamed in sake, tonkatsu dinner (comes with miso soup and salad), sashimi dinner (comes with soup and salad) — and later in the meal, we added an order of ebi tempura.
The agedashi tofu was excellent — lightly battered, not too heavy and bathed in a tasty sauce. The clams were good quality but not very exciting when it came to flavor. The quality of the sushi and sashimi was good — but I would not say great. I was struggling to enjoy some of the pieces at the end of the meal. We also ordered uni a la carte, and although it was creamy and cool in texture, I tasted a slight iodine flavor that overrode any sweetness, which was disappointing. The tonkatsu and tempura shrimp were very good — they do fried foods well.
All in all, it was a very good sushi meal, but I can’t say it’s better than the meals I have enjoyed at I Love Sushi in Bellevue as an Eastside winner. But for the convenience of being in Kirkland, I am very happy to have a solid sushi option.

Went back to have an omakase dinner at the bar and it was an amazing experience. The chef created a combination of sashimi and sushi pieces for us and everything was so good!
It was very crowded on a Saturday night, and bar seats were the only ones left but you can’t order from the dinner menu — which was totally fine. Omakase is more fun anyway.
We had fresh scallops, some kind of special big clam, mackerel, king crab, amaebi, tuna, salmon, toro, uni and ikura. Everything was melt in your mouth amazing, and some of the fish pieces were HUGE! Like jabba the hut huge.
Service was a bit meh because they didn’t refill our tea/​waters, but that’s fine. The food was memorable and that’s what I care about.
I hear their lunch specials are great also!

I measure my Japanese restaurant experiences by how much it reminds me of my childhood. Izumi gave me straight up flashbacks to summers with my grandmas, so five stars from me.
We went on a Sunday night (no reservations) and had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. The waitresses are mostly older Japanese ladies wearing kimonos. Hearing their sing-​song voices talking to each other in Japanese and talking to customers in polite, old Japanese lady accents filled me with so much joy that I feel like I smiled during most of the meal. Our server was super sweet and attentive.
I had the beef teriyaki and tempura combo. The portion size was super generous (it felt like I was eating two meals). The meat was tender and the tempura was very crispy. My family also had the tonkatsu, sukiyaki, chicken teriyaki, and udon. Everyone loved their food and we all left with smiles on our faces and warm food in our tummies. If you’re looking for straight up Japanese comfort food — this is it.
The restaurant is on the smaller side, so I’m not sure if this is the best place for large parties. But this is the perfect place for a Sunday evening dinner with my family.

Seriously, Izumi is still the BEST place to eat sushi for lunch in Kirkland.
Came here for lunch during a weekday, this place filled up as soon as they opened their door.
Their Bento Box is so yummy delicious. For 15 buck you get a sushi, grilled chicken, tempura, bowl of rice, miso soup and salad. The appearance of the sushi was vibrant and shiny, super moist and tender. I ordered a side of Uni and that was just amazing since the Uni disperses once it hits your mouth and without having that pungent odor… yummy!
Service: Quick and they are so polite.
Price: For the amount of food and the high quality of sushi, the price were reasonable.
Highly recommended to anyone that love Sushi and near Kirkland.

Their sashimi is great! I didn’t really eat anything else, so I can’t judge on other dishes. I had toro, sake, hamachi, and geoduck there before and all were excellent. Highly recommended. Probably the best sushi place on the eastside.
They accept Amex!