Hokusei

I’m actually really sorry this place closed; I feel I looked a gift horse in the mouth. There isn’t a lot of good sushi in Portland and this was one of the best places in town.

I will travel from Oakland to Portland just to eat here. One of if not thee best sushi restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. I went on a Happy Hour Monday without a reservation (I do recommend making one!) had to wait about 20mins just for seating at the bar. This however didn’t bother me since I had a delicious cocktail while waiting and once seated had one of the best sushi dining experiences of my life. I recommend sitting at a bar with a date so you can talk with the bartender and learn about all the sushi you’re eating and drinks you’re being served. So much fun.

This was my first time actually dining in at Hokusei. I had ordered a deluxe chirashi for pick up in the past and was indifferent about it. Although I had high expectations due to the reviews from other users plus my fine appreciation for Japanese cuisine. I was quite pleased with my experience dining in this time.
We were dining for two. The service was excellent. The staff was friendly and attentive. I appreciate that our waitress was well versed in their menu and had thoughtful recommendations which we took. All the dishes were so good and presentation was beautiful. The enjoyed the pace at which the meal was going but it wasn’t overwhelming. Whats more? This restaurant has an open but very warm, and cozy ambiance.
The price per dish is higher than most Japanese restaurants that I frequent and the portions are smaller. However I do feel that the prices are fair for a number of reasons. The quality of fish is high, the variety of fish is extensive, and the inventory is kept very fresh.
Among the things we ordered that night.
* Tsukemono
* Seasonal matsutake mushroom soup (harvested locally)
* Sashimi Moriawase
* Spider Roll
* Nigiri | ChuToro, Oregon King Sake, Aji, Hiramasa, Kohada, Kurodai, Uni
Overall I rate this experience a ⁹⁄₁₀. Highly recommend this place.

Really underwhelmed with the amount of food we got for what we paid. The nigiri is not only ridiculously small (thin!), but you only get one piece per order ($ 3.50+) when you’d otherwise get 2 at other places. My friend ordered the beef tataki ($ 15) and got a 2 inch by 2 inch piece of thin meat.
I had to order a tuna avocado roll to fill up (and was still starving after) and it was almost inedible due to the amount of wasabi they put in it. I pushed out a pea size amount in ONE piece.
For my birthday dinner, I was left hungry and disappointed.

Have visited Hokusei twice now — both times we were delighted by the fresh quality of the chef’s sushi menu. The rolls are also to die for — deliciously complex flavored but still delicate. We plan to exclusively go there for sushi now, especially after we saw they do take out!

As you can see from my check-​ins (sometimes I forget to check-​in), I come here quite often to eat sushi. Sushi is one of my absolute favorite foods, and I get cravings for it pretty regularly. Hokusei is our go-​to-​place in the city since we are guaranteed good quality fish.
I also tried their occasional Kaiseki week night dinner and thought it was pretty solid.

I guess I should’ve gotten sushi.
I feel bad putting this place on blast, but it was a memorably terrible meal. My two friends and I landed late in Portland on a Thursday night and headed here after reading about their late-​night izakaya menu on Eater. Place was cute, easy street parking.
Two of us ordered the Akamatta cocktail. It was good, aviation-​y. For food we decided on a $ 15 price point per head, and then let the chef pick from there. I liked having that option, and that we were able to point out a couple items we definitely wanted included.
Tsukemono — Japanese pickles — Started with this one. My friends thought this was the best dish we had. I had no opinion because I’m not big on pickled things anyway.
Tofu — Bland. I ate it because I was hungry and thought the sauce it came with was ok, but I was the only one that could finish my piece.
Octopus — Super smoky. I wondered if they used liquid smoke because it tasted artificial. Also very chewy– none of us could eat this and we all love octopus.
Skirt steak — So weird. Rare steak, seared on the outside, on top of a bed of raw white onions. I tried a bite of this and couldn’t do anymore. Chewy, bloody mess. The majority of it was so rare that it concerned me. It wasn’t listed as a tartar type preparation, so I wasn’t sure that it was that grade of beef. Basically, I thought that it had to be a mistake. The raw onion was overpowering. We asked the waiter if the steak was supposed to be that raw and he said that it was usually more cooked than that and that he could send it back to be cooked more, which was nice. However, at that point we were so grossed out that we declined.
Tatsuta age — fried chicken — Not good at all. The coating was soft and salty, yet bland. The flesh of the chicken itself was gummy. Someone compared it to Tyson chicken nuggets, but these were actually way worse. Forget all of the deliciousness you have associated with fried chicken.
I don’t know what was happening in the kitchen that Thursday but it was epic bad. :(

Traditional style sushi. They paint the soy sauce on and put just the right amount of wasabi under the fish so there is no need to modify add sauce or anything. The chefs here know what they are doing and really embrace the art form of sushi… Great tasting food art!
The nigiri is priced per piece. Also, if you sit at the bar, they serve it by piece as well.
The atmosphere is pretty sexy too. Great for date night, but may also be good for groups too as they have a long community table in the middle of the restaurant.

Fellow Unilocalers, you disappointed me here. We arrived right when they opened at 5pm. The hostess was pleasant and seated us right away. That’s about the only positive thing I can say about this place.
Not ten minutes after we sat down in the empty restaurant, the hostess sat another couple *right* next to us – less than a foot away. We were basically dining with them! Very awkward, and my partner and I barely spoke to each other so the guy sitting next to us couldn’t eavesdrop while his wife was in the bathroom.
Also, I sat staring at a gray wall the entire time and couldn’t see anything going on behind me. Not the best layout.
The waitress was rude. She asked what we wanted to drink and my partner ordered a beer and his Sunshine Roll. I ordered my food (Sunshine Roll, 2 Chinook nigiri, 1 tamago) and told her I was fine with water (because I woke up hungover, had just gotten past my headache, and was probably going to be drinking later that night), and she snarkily said, «If you want to order any happy hour food, you’ll have to order a beverage.» Wait, excuse me? What about the beer my partner just ordered? That doesn’t entitle him to order off the HH menu (on my behalf)? Um, okay. We didn’t order any HH food anyway, so that comment was unnecessary.
A few minutes later, the two smallest nigiri I have *ever* seen (and honestly the most expensive I have ever paid for at $ 4/​piece) arrived looking lonely on a plate with a sad display of ginger (no wasabi). The soy sauce was also brought to us already in dishes. Apparently they don’t trust patrons to ration it out themselves; not to mention there was so little soy sauce in each of our dishes that my partner nearly ran out. What happens in that instance? Does he have to wait for the server to come back and then bring him a refill? Not efficient.
My tamago was not served with the salmon nigiri, which I thought was strange. I realize it is more of a dessert type of nigiri, but it also arrived well after we consumed our rolls on a lonely plate — well after my chopsticks had been cleared with the dishes. Awkward and again, inefficient. Just plate all the nigiri together next time! If I wanted it for dessert, I could opt to save it for the end of my meal or order after the roll was done.
The sunshine roll was nothing special. All I tasted was the lemon rind, which was weird. I added a lot of wasabi to make it palatable after picking the lemon off the top (I don’t use soy sauce, as I don’t consume soy).
We showed our server our Unilocal check-​in deal for 15%, and her response was again snarky: «Oh, you’ve got one of *those* things?» It was almost like a whine or a complaint. Very off-​putting. Why offer it if we can’t be made to feel comfortable using it?
Lastly, I don’t know if this place has a dessert menu, but I thought I saw one online. Our server brought over the check without asking if we’d like dessert. I thought this was weird because when I made our reservation (thought we’d need one given the high ratings y’all gave this place and the fact that it was a Saturday night), I mentioned I was celebrating my birthday. There was NO mention of my birthday during the entire time we were there. I don’t care, but at least offer the birthday girl dessert (or 50% off a cocktail or sake of you don’t have a dessert menu!).
We paid the bill and bounced. The second positive thing I can say is we made it out the door in 35 minutes flat. We won’t be back.

GO HERE NOW! :)
Loved the buckwheat soju, beef carpaccio, hamachi, albacore tataki, short ribs, and chirashi!!! I could probably eat here every week. The fish is fresh and the sushi rice is uniquely delectable! Great service too. Love the décor and the bathrooms are clean.
I forgot my credit card one night and they let me drop by the next morning before business hours to pick it up. Thank you!

Late Review
While visiting Portland last month with my mom, we had our last dinner here. The food was AMAZING.
We made a reservation for 6:30pm. When we got there, we had to wait an additional 10 minutes or so before getting seated. The food made up for the wait.
Our server was great. She was friendly and attentive, but not overly. My mom and I both ordered the omasake, chef’s choice. Since it was our first time there and we weren’t familiar with the menu (and after reading what Unilocalers had to say) we decided that the omasake was the best way to go. Unfortunately I cannot recall everything I ate, but I can assure you that all of it was good.
The pricing isn’t cheap, but I’d say for the quality it is very reasonable.
I definitely recommend Hokusei if you’re in the area. Definitely one of the best meals I had in Portland.

I’ve been wanting to check this place out for a while now and last night was my chance.
It was a late night hunt for food, I got on Unilocal and was like who is open !
and this place popped up and I am like ya… ok…in fact it was like 10 mins before closing and I felt no presser to hurry up, if fact it was more like an after party
kinda thing. (the music was turned up) and I likey that.
Right from the get, I was impressed with the lighting… very romantic and
I tend to look better in the dark. so i’ve been told… but I digress.
Let get to the reason you’re reading this… the food !
Because I am a Unilocaler, I was on my phone finding out what was good.
I read a couple of Elite Unilocalers reviews’ and Boom. I was ready
First up to bat… The Ginger Blossom ~ Mango Vodka w/​Ginger Purée… This was REALLY Good, I could drink 6 of these… easily. GET THIS
Next Up was the Sunshine Roll ~ Very fresh and had a nice spice to it.
Also had the Shinobi Roll ~ Nice texture to this roll, as well as flavor.
Now the Finale, was the Tatsuta Age (Japanese Fried Chicken) ya kinda different but, This was really good, not dry or greasy and had a real nice balance of texture and flavor~ GET THIS. Trust Me
Service was very nice, attractive and very attentive. I think she was the Manager…
I will definitely come back here.
Unilocalers… 15% off on check in.

Bad service, excellent fish quality, stingy quantity. That pretty much sums it up!
We had the chefs nigiri selection, an assortment of sashimi and the sunshine roll. The fish quality was melt-​in-​your-​mouth status — however this is only one of many components that makes an excellent sushi experience. The FTR (fish to rice) ratio could have been much smaller. Also, the pieces of sushi and sashimi and the roll were all quite small given the price and just small in general…
The service was pretty bad — we kept having to get the waiter’s attention; our food came out at very different times — never a good thing. Also the menu is very confusing because it’s all in fancy japanese names which makes it hard to navigate and the waiter wasn’t very helpful. Overall pretty terrible service.
Come here if you’re looking to spend a lot of money on really good quality fish in very small quantities.

Hokusei is my favorite Japanese restaurant in town.
The omakase (chef’s choice) is the way to go to try different things and I always suggest this for first timers.
Hokusei is for special occasions for me. I have brought friends from out of town, celebrated birthdays and planned a meal a with friends a month in advance because it is so delightful.
Everyone can find something to eat — even people that don’t get sushi.
The izakaya dishes are all packed with flavor and easy to share. You don’t have to get sushi or sashimi if you don’t like it.
I like sushi and sashimi so I appreciate the freshness of the seafood and also the delicate preparation of the food. It is perfectly presented. Kudos to the sushi chefs!

Omg this place was amazing! I will fly out to Portland to eat here again!
I ordered the five course meal here! They brought out a complimentary tofu dish to start out the dinner. The first course was five pieces of sashimi with a light vinaigrette. The flavor of the sauce perfectly complimented the fish! The second course was a pan fried fish with a miso paste and pickled radish to compliment it. The fish wasn’t very fishy and the dish was good. The next course was an egg custard with mochi sprinkled in and an oyster at the bottom. This was divine! The custard was so smooth and each bite just melted into your mouth! Rich flavors mixed in with such a wonderful consistency. The next course was an assortment of sushi. The chef picks five different fish for this course and accompanies this with their own soy sauce dipping! The last course was a green tea pane cotta dessert! This was so silky and smooth! One of the best meals I’ve ever had!

5 stars! YAY!
2 stars for the sushi chef! He was super attentive. He was so accommodating! We seat at chef’s table and he made a lot of suggestions. The lady, who seat next to us was Vegan, so he made a lot of interesting rolls for her on the spot. She was very pleased with how the rolls turned out.
2 stars for the food. It was amazing. We watched how the chef rolled or slice each fish. It was so fresh and they don’t leave the fish laying around! NO! They put it back in a mini refrigerator, wrapped in parchment paper with every single piece of fish! I had the Chirashi and my partner had the sunshine and sashimi! WOW! Also, we have their different sochu: Satsuma shiranami (sweet potato. very strong alcohol content, very distinguish, weird smell, but smooth, lovely, unique flavor) and Shiro (rice. very smooth and sweet, fragrances). LOVE IT!
Last star for the trendy décor and awesome atmosphere. It’s super relaxing and chill. Everyone seems to be having a good time. It is not pretentious at all! A bit on the pricey side, but everything is super fresh, everyone is super friendly, and the chefs make you feel welcome!
TOTALLY recommend it!

Perhaps the best sushi in Portland.
I’m going to be honest and say that I do not like Bamboo, the atmosphere, food, and service are not what I’m looking for when I want some good Japanese food.
But Hokusei does the trick for me.
The Omakasei (chef’s choice) + 10 piece sushi showcase some of the best that this restaurant can offer.
The restaurant offers a wide variety of fish with great presentation, and there are enough flavors among the many dishes that I was served where I finished the meal not only full, but very satisfied.
Some exceptional dishes and must orders :
Hotake (seared scallop) — seriously good, must order
Squid Salad — served as the first course (I love squid and this was done perfectly)
Crème Brule — great finish, not too sweet, but very flavorful
TIP: I came early on a weekday and did not have to wait, however the restaurant quickly filled to capacity around 7:30PM, so make a reservation or come early!
Next time, I plan on trying one of their cocktails,

I can’t remember the last time I felt so ripped off at a Portland restaurant. My whole party felt this way, as we left with empty bellies and wallets.
Lured in by some excellent reviews, a write-​up in a magazine and the promise of all-​day happy hour on Monday, my friends and I decided to hit up the fun sushi place and see what all the fuss is about.
I have no idea what all the fuss is about. Maybe everyone who comes here and ends up overpaying for tiny drinks and overpriced food makes themselves feel better by saying that it’s excellent quality or something special in some other way? I’m not sure.
To start, the place was pretty empty. That should have told us something. But we sat down and started in with the happy hour menu. Now, when I say happy hour menu, I mean the 5 items that have nothing to do with sushi. Of course, happy hour also means 15% off «sushi» but you have no idea what sushi includes. Plus, when the prices are inflated by 20%+, it’s not a good deal at all.
The menu itself is mostly in Japanese transliteration. As in, Japanese words spelled out in English that don’t actually explain what things are. This forces you to ask lots of questions of the server, who in our case seemed very put out by all the questions from the newbies. Tip: when customers are excited and asking questions, that’s the time to get them to spend money! But I guess if you know you’re going to be ripping them off anyway, you needn’t bother trying.
Now if the food had been spectacular and divine and all those creative adjectives, I would not have been so put out at the pricing. Good food is expensive, after all, and you pay for quality and the chef’s ability to mix flavors. The food here was fine. Average, if you will. I swear I think I’ve had one of those rolls from a grocery store before.
The slices of sashimi were tiny, I could barely taste the fish. The «special» soy sauce served with them tasted like the special part had a lot to do with adding extra salt. I won’t go so far as to say inedible, but I also love salt and could eat it on its own (gross, I know) so I’m not the best judge. But when I say it’s approaching too salty, you know the salt factor is way off.
Finally, the bill. It was a hot mess and the waitress refused to break it down by seat, or even really linger to help us get it sorted out. Remember when I said everything was Japanese transliteration? This is where it was even more annoying. Trying to figure out what everyone had after the waitress had taken all the menus (even when we wanted to keep one to order more food just in case). We spent a good 10 minutes trying to get it sorted out, only to notice she failed to take off the 15% and she had to run it again. Did the 15% come off each item, you ask? No. Off the total? No. There were just a bunch of rows below the total stating Happy Hour 15% off — $x. No idea as to which item that % applied. Hot. Freakin. Mess.
So there you have it. Three very good reasons to skip this place and head basically anywhere else (my money is staying at Bamboo, thank you very much).

My wife and I just had Valentine’s dinner at Hokusei and found ourselves comparing it with all the wonderful Japanese food we’ve experienced together in our 7 years of marriage. This is place is «ok» but considering what you are getting relative to it’s cost Hokusei is definitely in between «meh» and «a-​ok.»
We can see why «PDX Nation» is generally very happy about this place though, with its high ceiling, hipster ambience and a strong selection of saki and draft beers on tap. I liked that they played Erykah Badu & James Brown music; interesting choice for a Japanese restaurant but good! It is also located in a cool SE area of town. I can imagine in the summer months it is a great place to dine especially when they roll up the «window wall» and open up the sidewalk patio. Also a plus is the casual dress code, we were «overdressed» compared to our jeans wearing co-​diners. But while it has its charm, we found it to be overpriced considering the quality of the food.
The quality of the food was good but not exceptional. I had the sashimi maki (sushi wrapped in cucumber) and tatsutaage (which in most places is «karage chicken») the latter which had a nice grilled chili pepper across the top. Both dishes were well prepared and presented, but the serving sizes were quite small. We shared their version of a tempura shrimp roll, agedashi tofu and actual mixed veggie tempura, same analysis; well-​prepared very small portions. The tempura shrimp is typically larger and a much more dominant part of the roll; tonight we found that the other ingredients were dominant. My favorite was the anago roll which had avocado and eel; tasty and, like the others, dainty in terms of serving size.
Our server was good and the hostess was nice, the food’s presentation a-​ok, but the serving size left you wanting and the food’s taste quality was average and in many cases not as good as what you would find at a number of more reasonably priced and authentic places such as Hakatamon (4-​star) in Cedar Hills (at the old Uwajimaya location). Syun Izakaya (4.5 stars), which is a similarly priced place in Hillsboro that has much higher taste quality and even more authentic dishes served in generous portions.
It is definitely «hip», it undoubtedly has aesthetic appeal to a good part of the Portland foodie market, but I’m not one for aesthetics; for me its taste, soul and value. For me this restaurant came up short in all three of these core areas. In my judgement, this is between a «meh» and an «A-​OK» place, but not a place that is as spectacular as the cumulative 4-​star rating would suggest.

Itamae and owner Cody simply astounded with his omakase dinner served for 2.
He even did more work and created more nigiri pieces in order for us to be able to try more fish delicacies
Amuse was a black sesame paste with silken tofu and scallion.
Hamachi tiradito
Kani chawanmushi (had savory dashi, ginkgo, and mochi with the egg custard)
Beef medallion braised for 4 hours, with hachi miso
5 piece nigiri (10 for us)
Chocolate pot de crème
In addition, we were served miso soup and nanbansuke.
Fish tried included
Nama dako
Afi pike mackerel
Akami
Kohada (shad)
Chinook salmon
OR sea urchin
Place is small and very «Portland”– fam type place in small strip along Belmont.
Loved the Baniyan wood table chef finished and built as a main dining showpiece.
He’s great. Thankful to be able to try a memorable dinner here. Think it was $ 66/​person