Nobu

Our food was amazing but we were very upset by our waiter’s method. He asked us what we liked and how much we wanted to pay per head. We said $ 100 per person. There were six of us and he continued to bring dishes all evening without ever saying anything.
When he brought us the bill it was DOUBLE our limit — $ 1200!!! Yes, we had drinks, but not that much!!! He totally scammed us and what could we say then, when we had eaten the food?
Terrible terrible practice. Never again. Order off the menu every time.

Thanks to Nobu, I can’t truly enjoy Japanese cuisine in my hometown anymore. I’ve been ruined and awakened at the same time.
As advocated by our very knowledgeable and professional waiter, we had more of an experience than a meal. The usual inquires were made about our tastes and any allergies, then the rest was in the restaurant’s hands. I’m glad they took the wheel, and they did not disappoint.
We were served several courses, each topping the next, and as time progressed my friends and I were looking at each other wondering when we were going to hit the finish line. Needless to say I was quite stuffed at the end and so was everyone else.
The highlights of the night were:
–The Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, with a nice salty, citrus, and spicy finish to it. I wish I had asked for a second plate of it.
–Miso Cod: Dear Lord, I don’t know how to explain it. If I ever get framed for murder and end up on death row, I’ll chose this as my last meal. I can still taste that sweet and savory sauce with that flaked fish meat. Even the skin of it was amazing.
–Sushi Platter– Needs no explanation, the rice was at the perfect texture, the fish was oh-​so fresh, and i didn’t even need wasabi to add to it. I wanted to eat it in its pure form. Simply delightful.
The Mochi ice cream was a great finish, but I was too stuffed to try. My friends thoroughly enjoyed it though, and I trust their tastes. I finished my cocktail and had an espresso as a pick-​me-​up before starting my long night exploring the town.
Overall, I felt the food, service, and drinks were all on point. It was also moderately priced compared to the other restaurants we dined at, and given it’s in Vegas, I don’t expect anything to be cheap. We were content with our bill while being cognizant of the service and meal we received. I extremely look forward to eating here again when I return!

Nobu is probably hands down my favorite restaurant on the strip. Yes a little over priced, but comparable prices to any «upscale» restaurant on the strip. I live for consistency and Nobu never disappoints!
Every restaurant these days has a variation of Nobu’s menu items. Everyone now has rock shrimp, the jalapeño yellowtail, lychee martinis… but nobody can compare!
If it’s your first time at Nobu try the Miso cod. It’s phenomenal! The Rock shrimp (spicy) is a classic fried shrimp in a spicy mayo sauce (can’t go wrong) and not really so «spicy». I love that they use real lychee juice in their martinis rather than lychee purée or liquor.
No dinner is ever complete without dessert! We always get the chocolate bento box but this time they had BUBBLE GUM Ice cream! Very subtle flavor and anyone that knows me knows I’m a sucker for anything bubble gum or cotton candy flavored!
If you are debating on going! Go! You won’t be disappointed!

Overall great experience, emphasis on the experience. Menu is $$$$ so be prepared to drop some coin. The ambiance is loud — even for a casino. I wasn’t completely impressed with the food, especially for the price point.
Appetizers:
Blue Fin Toro Tartare with Royal Ossetra Caviar ($ 48) — The boyfriend absolutely loved this. It was his favorite part of the meal. I’m not a fan of caviar, so I wasn’t a fan of the appetizer, naturally.
Nobu Style Tacos ($ 6 — $ 14, minimum 2) — We chose tuna & king crab. The tacos are about the size of an egg, but the tuna taco was AMAZING. I could have ordered a dozen.
Big Eye Tuna Tataki with Tosazu ($ 28) — Nothing special. Same tuna tataki as every other sushi joint.
Hearts of Palm salad ($ 24) — This was refreshing. You don’t see hearts of palm much on menus, and it was a great starter to the meal.
At this point, I saw a table of 9 being seated behind us in our waiters section, and I had a feeling the service might decline. I was right. :-/​
Some tables around us ordered a dish that was lit on fire when served, and I had to know what it was. Our server explained it was the Wagyu grilled steak, the most sought after beef in the world. Priced $ 38/​oz, with a minimum 6oz order ($ 228). I HAD to try it, and with reassurance from the boyfriend, the waiter placed my order. (Side note on the gender bias… Is it such a crazy concept that I was paying for the meal? Why did he need the male approval??) The presentation was spectacular. The steak is brought out on 3 hot stones & they light it on fire table side. Quite a show! Hands down best steak I have ever had. (All 3 bites of it!)
The waiter said Nobu isn’t known for their sushi, but that it is excellent. We decided to make this our main course.
Yellowtail and Jalapeño cut roll ($ 12) — I thought this was excellent. VERY spicy! The boyfriend absolutely detests cilantro & at the beginning of the meal, the waiter specifically asked if we had any allergies or dislikes. We mentioned the cilantro, and he assured us our meal would be cilantro-​free. Not the case with this roll unfortunately. I don’t know why he would ask if he wasn’t going to follow through.
Toro (Blue Fin) and Scallion cut roll ($ 16) — Nothing special, just a normal sushi roll.
Tuna (Big Eye) with avocado cut roll ($ 12) — Again, nothing special. Just another roll.
We also ordered 1 piece of sashimi that wasn’t on the menu the waiter recommended. It was a slice of Blue Fin that is aged 14 days in an air tight, refrigerated cedar box. The waiter forgot to order it, so we had to remind him after all the other rolls had come & gone. Again, nothing special, just another piece of sashimi. ($ 14)
Overall, the food was average. Certainly not what I was expecting for a $ 500 meal. (Even for Vegas) The service really wasn’t up to par for an upscale restaurant either. I am thankful for the experience, but we most likely will not return. We’ll try something new next time instead.

This isn’t just a restaurant — this is an EVENT
First of all, let me say that I screwed up my reservation date and the Nobu staff was very gracious and understanding. They got us in without a problem.
The entire evening was incredible!
The feeling of the restaurant is contemporary and stylish, yet warm and romantic.
We decided to try the tasting menu, it was $ 125 per person, but worth every penny! My husband and I tried things that would have never crossed our palate had we not opted for this choice. I believe it was 8 courses, but I kind of lost track after four.
I really enjoyed the yellowtail sashimi with jalapenos, salmon tartare with caviar, cod (their signature dish) and the dessert of molten lava cake and green tea ice cream.
For drinks I had the Dalia and the Mango Passion, both were delicious, but the Mango was my favorite (It was recommended by our waiter). The drinks were kind of pricey at around $ 17.
This is probably not the kind of place you would go to every week, well maybe you would if you can afford that kind of thing. Our bill with tip came to about $ 400. I would highly recommend it for special occasions and for Vegas tourists that want a truly unforgettable experience!

Spent the evening at the sushi bar and the cook made special creations for us. It was sublime. Oysters and tiny deep fried crabs were the highight. See the pics.

Hands down Nobu became my FAVORITE restaurant in the whole world!!! I’m not even kidding or exaggerating.
I don’t really write reviews but I have to for this one. Ever since we finished eating here, I can’t stop thinking about this place.
This restaurant is interesting and very high end. You can either order straight off the menu or go with the tasting menu where they chose and pick which dish you should try based on your preferences and budget. We spent $ 80 a person and got to try about 10 items (not sure if this was discounted or not because we had connections). These items are a la carte and are served in very small portions. I loved how they came out with the dish one by one and fully explained what the dish was or how it was cooked, etc. They even served us some dishes that weren’t even in the menu.
Everything I tried was SO delicious. I was never disappointed and no dish was just «ok». However I did have my favorites: yellowtail sashimi, black cod miso, and the truffle spinach salad. I have a favorite sashimi spot in San Diego and Nobu definitely tops it!
Customer service was excellent! However our server assumed we didn’t want dessert because we said we were full. Ambiance, environment, and everything else was beyond excellent as well!
There has always been a Nobu in San Diego but never been there! I’m definitely going to try it and we’ll see if it’ll be the same. I’m going to take my fiancé here one day even though he doesn’t like sashimi. Maybe Nobu can change his mind!
I will definitely, definitely come back!!! Thank you, Nobu for ending my Bachelorette Party weekend fantastic!

Orgasmic experience.
Butter lettuce salad.
Watermelon tempura soft shell crab
There are so many favorite dishes I can’t event think right now! It is just so good. An experience.
Make reservations to go hear!
Ask for Jonathan, he is always our server… I almost don’t want to give his name out so we could keep him all to ourselves.

My man and I have decided this is ‘our’ restaurant. We come here so often, I’m pretty sure the staff knows us by name. The oysters are our favorites, but you can’t say no to sashimi peppers or their Lobster tacos. It can get pretty loud and I highly suggest you get a reservation on weekends since it gets busy very fast. I love it here, it holds such nice memories of our awkward first couple dates. I couldn’t hate it if I tried.
Also, I may sound like a bit of an ass, but if you can’t afford an expensive meal, don’t eat here because you’ll never be happy with what is given to you since you won’t be able to justify spending what you’re spending for the meal. There are some sushi spots that are cheaper (and pretty damn good), there’s a reason many locals opt to do that. It’s on the strip, in Caesars Palace… it’s going to be expensive.

The customer service here is superb. I needed to push my reservation later due to traffic and they were very accommodating.
We got the Nobu Signature Omakase, please note that the whole course would take around 2 hours or more. We were short on time, but they were also able to help us customize our meal to fit our time limit which I really appreciated! The fish was fresh and the quality was unbeatable. The Miso Marinated Black Cod was my favorite, it wasn’t too sweet or salty, and the fish was cooked to perfection! The other highlight of the meal was the lobsters, the meat was fresh and seasoned so well.
Besides what they have on the menu, you can also customize your meal according to your preference, budget and time. All the servers here were so helpful and friendly!
I definitely need to come back to try more things!

This is our 2^nd visit to this location. Having dined at various Nobu locations, we have always wanted to order Omakase –but had reservations on it since I’ve been pretty particular about my sushi dishes. I typically order the same things but definitely wanted something different. This time around was different as I was open to eating anything and everything prepared. It may be because I was unsure of what to order. Nobu offers three different levels of Omakase. We decided on the 2^nd selection.
We sat at the sushi bar, which allowed us to watch our sushi chef prepare each finite detail to our sushi dishes. It was nice that each dish was already prepared with its specific accoutrement –so there was no need to soy and wasabi it up. I definitely ate dishes that I wouldn’t have picked out in a menu –Omakase is the way to go for sure. With it being pricey, I would say for special occasions and as long as you are open to eating everything.
By the end of our meal, my dress fit a little more tighter. I tend to feel that when eating sushi I do not overeat, which is good thing, but I was definitely full and satisfied with the meal and service.

The food was spectacular. Every single dish was amazing. I came here for a late dinner with my colleagues and we opted for the Omakase Nobu Signature menu because the waiter mentioned that our group would probably easily spend $ 125 per person anyway if we ordered a la carte.
The omakase menu is basically a tasting menu. I forget how many different dishes it consists of but it was a good amount to get us all full. My favorites that stood out the most was the black cod miso, shishito peppers, and the hamachi in yuzu sauce. Those three would have to be my top favorites out of the course but every single dish was amazing and there was no complaints whatsoever.
The only thing that would’ve probably made the experience better was if the food came out at a more timely manner. In the beginning, the food came out everytime we finished a plate and then there was a wait time of maybe 20 – 30 minutes until the next dish. Then it came out back to back for 2 dishes and we waited another 20 minutes for the last one. Because we didn’t know how many courses were being served, we kept assuming that was it and nothing else was coming out. I think the wait time would have been okay if the server checked up on us and updating us on the status to let us know what we do have more dishes coming out and just explaining more of what the dishes were.
Would’ve been a 5 stars for me if the service was up to par with the quality of the food. Normally I don’t like to eat at restaurants in Hotels, but Nobu did not disappoint. I highly recommend! It is pricey so I’d suggest going if you just won some money at the casino or to celebrate a special occasion. It’s a real treat.

I’m still blown away with the dinning experience my friends and family had last night!
Nobu is pretty well-​known since so many celebrities love to wine-​and-​dine here, so I was super excited to have my Vegas experience, especially since we already enjoy going to the Malibu location!
Because this restaurant is SO popular, it’s highly recommend to put in a reservation… My brother made reservations for a party of 6, 2 months ago.
After arriving 15 minutes late due to Strip traffic, the restaurant was understanding and still got us seated pretty quick. Our Suhricka was absolutely on point last night and for her customer service alone we want to give 5 stars, thanks girl!
Time to get to the main attraction, the grub.
So the idea for this restaurant is to order multiple plates to share amongst the table, tapas style so by the time you leave your comfortably full without feeling too stuffed.
Everything that we ordered last night was ridiculously delicious. Things like yellow-​tail, which I normally wouldn’t eat, I tried and loved it!
Definitely stepped out of my comfort zone with a lot of the dishes, and I’m so glad I did! Please refer to my many pictures and feel free to hit me up on any further information about a specific dish. Like I said, everything we order was delicious to the starters, main entreès and to dessert, ALL AMAZING!
Book your next dinner here, you will not regret it!
Trust!

I had heard so much about Nobu and was so excited to try it. I will start by saying that the décor is absolutely beautiful. That is almost where my good review ends. We came here on ½/​16. The waiter was extremely condescending to us, and when he found out I was interested in ordering sushi instead of being served family style in courses (eating sushi would have lowered our bill considerably and he was constantly trying to upsell us on everything), he announced «WE ARE NOT A SUSHI RESTAURANT!». Uhhhh… really?! Because that’s the main food I’ve heard about from your restaurant.
After discovering I was ordering sushi anyways, the waiter kept asking, «do you even know what that is?» each time I mentioned a sushi roll (uhhh, yes. I’ve eaten sushi more times than I can count). My boyfriend just wanted to order a normal entrée as well since neither of us were overly hungry and we had tickets to a show and didn’t have time to eat a meal with several courses.
When he discovered we wouldn’t be spending $ 300+ on dinner, our waiter showed obvious disgust and barely came back to check on our table. We had each ordered a cocktail and were not even asked if we would have liked a second cocktail.
The sushi I had was pretty good, but to be honest, I had better sushi other places while in Vegas. My boyfriend had some kind of meat skewers, which he said were good, but were very tiny. Due to how mean our waiter was, he opted not to order extra and just got a sandwich somewhere else afterwards, which was ridiculous after spending $ 120.
I was so excited about this place, but the illusion is now over. I won’t be back. Nobu, please look into training your staff. The service we received for this level of restaurant was atrocious.

Nobu is among one of my top 3 restaurants of all time so please allow me to start off with a bit of background information.
Nobu is a high end Japanese fusion restaurant. Traditional Japanese dishes are blended w/​South American ingredients. Nobu is owned by celebrity Chef Nobuyuki aka «Nobu» Matsuhisa and is co-​owned by actor Robert De Niro.
Actress Kate Winslet says of Nobu restaurants, «it’s heaven on earth and sex on a plate». Madonna was even quoted as saying, «You can tell how much fun a city is going to be if [Chef] Nobu has a restaurant in it.»
Before Nobu, I did not eat any raw fish… I found it disgusting. Nobu is an exception because the food here is INCREDIBLE. My husband usually drenches his sushi in soy sauce and wasabi. So when my husband didn’t use any soy sauce or wasabi, I had to try it because I knew that meant something was very different about the sushi here.
Chef Nobu’s signature dish is the Black Cod Miso so this is a must try. You can request the black cod miso lettuce cups or you can try a larger portion of the black cod miso on it’s own. Try both! It is so delicious (melts in your mouth) either way but I prefer the lettuce cups due to the mixture of different textures.
2^nd favorite dish here is the Yellowtail Sashimi w/​jalapeño.
Other dishes that you must try:
–Salmon Sashimi
–Wagyu Sashimi
–Hamachi Kama
For dessert, they have the best shaved ice with red bean, fruit, ice cream and always 2 different types of sauce.

3 Stars — Reminder — 3 Stars isn’t bad.
OFF THE BAT
The two most DELICIOUS bites on the menu is. TORO (OTORO? = Fattiest part of the Tuna) Covered in gold flakes, cavier, and truffle. The comparable bite is the WAGYU BEEF. Literally those are the two most delicious things on the menu, and trust me we tried over like 40+ different bites. I say bite because from the picture you can tell everything came in small bites.
AMAZING WAGYU BEEF. If I remember correctly its from Miyazaki Farms
Cool Story: Kobe advertise in America is actually Wagyu Cows. There’s lots of farms that mixed Wagyu Cows with Angus Cows. Angus Cow Rib meat is very comparable to Japanese Black Wagyu Cows. In Japan Kobe Beef are just Wagyu Cows and Kobe, Matsuzaka, and Ohmi.
Nobu sells it by the oz and its 38 dollars per oz. In LA its around 30 dollars for 2 oz in most restaurants. At the grocery market it varies from 3 – 6 dollars per oz depending on cut.
Possibly the best Toro I have ever had
Very Very Comparable to the one I had in Japan at 5AM caught that day.
If you get it A la cart I think its around 28 – 48 and its definitely worth a try.
Coming in 3^rd place for OUSHI UMAMI (Taste and flavor) would have to be the Yellowtail jalapeño sashimi.
2 x Omakase
Signature (By Chef Nobu and its the same everywhere) (125 $ Here)
Chef’s Omakase (Head Chef’s own menu tasting) (175 $)
Prices are Post Tax add 50 for Tip
The rest of the meal was okay. Of the meal I think the only low quality fish was the Big Eye Tuna from Hawaii that was still fishy. The Aji (Jack Fish) was tasty and the Salmon was amazing.
There is a huge Variation of fish. From Steel Head Trout that looks similar to Salmon but much more lean (and chewy) to Black Cod sashimi and Fluke. A lot of the reviews mentioned the Miso Glazed Black Cod — For me it was too much flavor, like too salty. It looked pretty though. The Miso Black Cod part o the Nobu Signature Omakase however the fish for the Signature Omakase which I believe was Umami Sea Bass was MUCH MUCH Better. It wasn’t too salty and cooked perfectly.
Note: My meal was not de-​boned correctly
Here’s a picture of the fish bone they said was a bamboo from the chopsticks
You can see there’s still meat on the bone!
Manager Silva was a little patronizing but he did remove 50 dollars off the meal for the fish bone. (Mentioned EMT because the fish bone I chomped on punctured my mouth) — Makes sense right? I try to eat sushi the way it was meant to be eaten, 1 bite and I chomped on it. He offered a free bottle of Champagne which I did decline which is a super nice gesture. Although I totally understand his situation as he wants to crowd control their high standards.
Interesting Note: The group next to us ordered like 6 California Rolls.
Ending Notes:
For 350 $ You kind of expect there not to be fish bones in your sushi. Service by Jay was spectacular. He was very attentive and accommodating. Food Servers really explained the dishes well. The Variety is nice and overall the experience is a good one.
P. S. The Hostess was a TOTAL Bitch. Reservation was for 6pm and I tried to be seated at 5:45 and she made up some B.S. lie that she cannot sit me because her employees aren’t in until 6. I would understand if it was busy at that time but it wasn’t. But that’s not why she’s a bitch, just the overall interaction was very rude.
PRO ASS TIP: If you want to try a majority of the menu, get both Omakase because you literally get to taste like everything worth trying.

Nobu is actually Peruvian accented Japanese food, so it’s Japanese and South American food, and it’s meant for sharing. If you come here expecting Japanese food, it is not the place for you then. Peruvian food is actually very similar to Asian fusion food, especially cold and hot small plates, and cold small plates are the beautiful Nobu creations you should really try!
The ambience was pretty casual and relaxing, got seated at a comfy booth, started off with Badoit sparkling water, lemon drop martini and cold sake. Loved the cold sake container, it kept sake cold the entire time. We decided to go for Omakase, $ 225 per person.
Omakase courses:
Yellowtail jalapeño, spicy tuna crispy rice, salmon carpaccio with white truffles, whole Branzino with white truffles and truffle oil, mackerel sushi spread.
I guess because we went for higher price range so they made us a lot of truffles. To be honest I am not a big fan of truffles, but they tasted very good still. The whole Branzino was very delicious, just a little small for $ 125, I had a bigger Branzino for only $ 50 at a French restaurant the previous night. The mackerel sushi spread was my favorite, a few different kinds of mackerel fish, so fresh and tasty! Guess next time we will ask them to make us sashimi or sushi only! The cold dishes were all so yummy, the presentations were very beautiful too. Chocolate vodka dessert drink was bomb, loved it. The housemade hot sauce was amazing too.
Service was very friendly and attentive, food came out very fast. It was a great dinner, food was so good, but somehow I don’t think it was worth over $ 500 for the two of us. Just keep in mind, try to order hot & cold dishes in both apps & entrees, that’s what Nobu restaurants are famous for.
I still want to try Nobu Malibu soon, heard the views are amazing, if we were to spend that much on a meal, I would like some views too!

This is our first time visiting a Nobu Restaurant.
I did my research and read a lot of reviews prior to arriving, and really contemplated between order a la carte or going with their omakase.
The restaurant is pretty big, I wish we were put in a booth, but instead we were put at a round table that seats 4 in the middle.
We decided to order the 175.00 omakase and was told the difference between 125.00 and 175.00 is that 125.00 us based on items on the menu already. The 175.00 one are items created by the chef that are not on the menu.
First course was king mackerel with sweet potato chip, fried shiso leaf, ginger ponzu sauce.
Next was sashimi salad with barracuda, Bonito tuna, amberjack (this one was soooo good), wrapped Japanese Daikon and greens with Nobu vinaigrette. Everything was so fresh, and the sauce was perfect.
The little fried crab was super cute. It tasted like crab chips but had the texture like chewing on eggshells.
Next Nigiri, blue fin tuna, butterfish, trout, uni and egg. All were superb in their own sauce. Didn’t need soya sauce.
Next sashimi, 2 piece of blue fin Toro belly (melted in your mouth) with caviar and 14 karat gold shavings. Tako live octopus with rare Japanese mushroom with sesame oil.
Next was a course that needed our presentation. It was a Himalayan salt block with fresh yuzu and 3 pieces of sashimi. Was supposed to squeeze the yuzu onto the salt block and run the sashimi over the block a couple of times before eating. I found it to be too salty, I didn’t enjoy this course too much, it tasted better with just yuzu.
Next was Chilean sea bass with Bonito flakes and pressed rapini. At this time I was getting pretty full already. The fish was cooked perfectly and had a nice taste. It was in a ponzu sauce again, but went well with the fish.
Next was seared A5 wagyu beef with fried gnocchi. The beef honestly melted in your mouth like the fatty Toro belly. There were 5 pieces cooked medium rare and was really good.
Then it was an avocado chilled miss soup with king crab and tobiko. This was very interesting, came in a small cappuccino cup as presentation, the tobiko added a nice texture and crunch to the soup, and when biting down on the tobiko, there was a sour explosion. It was very nice.
Lastly dessert was Chai ice cream, blood orange Panna Cota, soya form, marinated Japanese pumpkin and shortbread. The ice cream was so good along with the short bread and soya foam. The Japanese pumpkin was really sour and didn’t really go with the dish.
Overall it was a great experience. Got to try many different dishes, the service was great!

Eating at Nobu is like breaking out an old record collection and revisiting classic tunes. Sure, I can get dishes like yellowtail jalapeño, rock shrimp and black cod with miso anywhere now. But there’s a special, fuzzy place in my heart for Nobu… it’s where I lost my «upscale sushi» virginity all those years ago in Tribeca. Every meal in any location has always been awesome and never has let me down. Just like vodka!
This particular location is very pretty and the big cocoon-​like booths look really cool. Why are they still at the Hard Rock? Does Mr. Hard Rock have nude photos of Mr. Nobu eating at Panda Express or something? They also have the most expansive menu that I’ve seen from Matsuhisa-​san, so branching out from the oldies but tasties was a must.
Their version of hamachi kama was the best I’ve ever had. Impressive in size, the heavy on the salt based seasoning and brick oven baked flavor was outstanding. The yellowtail meat was so tender that it had everyone gnawing on the bones with bare hands just to get every bit. The server almost lost a limb when he prematurely assumed we were done.
After very little convincing, so minimal in fact that I think I exclaimed «YES! THAT!» while pointing at the guy as soon as he said «chu-​toro», we got the daily special of the medium fatty tuna topped with truffle, crispy garlic and greens. They were indeed a divine couple of bites that had me wanting more. I love tuna more than life. Even my car license plate says «tuna» in Japanese.
Nobu still delivers after all these years!

In a way, it’s a disappointment that I’m not giving five stars.
Nobu is a name with weight. It stands for a world-​renowned chef and a decorated series of restaurants, many of which have earned Michelin stars. This one in particular has none, although that may be due to unfortunate circumstances, namely the lack of Michelin stars for years now in Las Vegas. Regardless, you can’t help but want to try this Peruvian-​Japanese cuisine for yourself, and you should.
We went to Nobu in Caesar’s Palace to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We waited an hour to get seated, we waited a bit too long to receive a menu, and we spent more time while trying to figure out what we wanted to get from the expensive menu. Let’s be honest — this isn’t a place that you try every day, but price is still a factor.
Our server was helpful in explaining the menu, highlighting menu favorites, and mentioning seasonal items and specials. I would have preferred more writing, but I understand that availability of fish can change often. Anyway, he said he could help work out a menu for us with the chef if we told him what sorts of fish and such that we wanted to eat, and he espoused the virtues of the omakase menus, but after a while we decided just to order and share specific menu items. Others may find that service useful.
Cold items and sushi were presented first, then hot items. And yes, I include prices in my reviews, so deal with it:
Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño ($ 29): this is a really good dish that’s not executed wisely. We were instructed to eat a small bit of cilantro with each of the six slices of hamachi, in addition to the jalapeño. See, the thing about piling all the cilantro in the middle is that one person grabbed a little too much cilantro for one piece of fish, which ended up depriving other pieces. This means that because they didn’t give extra pieces of a very cheap herb, they prevented the dish from being consistent.
Uni nigiri ($ 10/​pc): some of the best Santa Barbara uni that I’ve had. Has the essence of the sea, but not in an overpowering way. Sweet. If you haven’t had good uni, you haven’t lived, so you might as well try it here if you’re already gonna be here.
New Style Sashimi — scallop ($ 35): yeah, I don’t quite understand this. The soy sauce, oils, chives, sesame seeds, and ginger were interesting components, but I wouldn’t miss those flavors. Plus, the scallop felt like it was sliced too thinly. Maybe I should have gone with the beef?
Soft shell crab cut roll ($ 20): our server did warn us about this, or rather the entire sushi menu. He said that it wouldn’t be anything special compared to other places, and that he always recommends that his guests order off the cold and hot menus. He was right in this case. It was good, but it wasn’t worth it when you can get something similar at AYCE sushi places.
Black cod miso ($ 36): regarded as Chef Nobu’s signature dish, this is certainly the best rendition of the dish that I’ve enjoyed. Incredibly tender cod with sweet flavor, some of which is provided by the sauce that I still can’t pinpoint flavor-​wise. Regardless, this is definitely my favorite of the night and a must-​order.
Squid «pasta» with light garlic ($ 27): squid cut to resemble pasta. I was disappointed initially with the relatively small portion of tender and tasty squid, but thinking back, I’m sure the price would have to be significantly higher to have the right squid ratio. However, the dish grew on me as I kept at it. The vegetables were all executed perfectly, from zucchini to snap peas to the shiitake mushrooms. Strangely, the veggies remind me of kebabs that I’ve had. In a great way. I’d say that even though my expectations weren’t met, I was pleased overall.
Rock shrimp tempura, spicy creamy style ($ 26): I don’t know about this one. It was good, but it wasn’t as impressive as I’d hoped. The spicy creamy variant was described as the most popular preparation style by far (as opposed to butter ponzu or jalapeño), but I would have hoped for shrimp that was a little more firm. Maybe you can’t do that with this shrimp, but this veers a little too closely to feeling mushy to me. That, and the flavor just isn’t extravagant or complex and reminds you of versions of shrimp that are much cheaper.
Flourless bento box ($ 15): it was a very good chocolate lava cake (with white chocolate and shiso syrup). As expected, I did enjoy the blueberry and the piece of starfruit that I was able to taste, but I would’ve liked more blackberries and a more prominent role for the matcha ice cream. The ice cream definitely took a back seat to the powerful dark chocolate.
I enjoyed everything, so of course I’m going to go with at least four stars — but no higher, I am certain that you can get better food at a better value elsewhere. For example, there are comparable, even superior cold dishes at Yonaka Modern Japanese just a few miles away. Make Nobu a one-​time visit or a special occasion meal, and get the black cod miso.