Nakama Japanese Steakhouse

Doesn't Recommend

JustMarci

Joined 3 years ago

The place to go if you want to be "seen".. The sushi that they do have is serviceable enough - very safe choices for the crowd they attract. However, my request for uni proved futile, tobiko with quail's egg - no go. Neither of these are terribly exotic and I expect any sushi bar to have them available.

Too many sushi choices come sauced to death. Again, fine when catering to a crowd that follows the trends but not if you truly enjoy the cuisine. Any of the delicate interplay of flavors and textures is obliterated.

I didn't try anything from the hibachi as those tend to be fairly standard from restauarant to restaurant. Based on the sushi, however, I cannot recommend Nakama.

Recommends

JustineCosley

Joined 4 years ago

love it. Some chefs are better than others, but the food is ALWAYS good.

Recommends

Holly5

Joined 3 years ago

Best sushi & hibachi around!!. I don't know what these people are talking about..this place is excellent! It's the most "happening" bar I've been to since I moved to Pittsburgh. I had the Red Dragon Maki and the triple combination, and both were delicious. The service was great, too. I asked for more and more of their pink sauce and the manager brought it over himself. Other people obviously love Nakama because it was full of people who looked like they were having a great time, too!

Doesn't Recommend

veryoffensive

Joined 3 years ago

Drunk waiter. A year or so ago - my friend and I ate here. Our waiter was very intoxicated. Totally screwed up the check... Manager did not offer any sort of "compensation" or discount to offset the bad exerperience. I'd recommend that the management here take some lessons in customer service.

Doesn't Recommend

Puma311

Joined 3 years ago

the RUDEST manager EVER. My fiance' and I went there to celebrate my birthday the other night, when my fiance' was having worse than suspected allergic reactions to the food being prepared infront of him, and when we stated that we have to leave immediately because he was getting tightness in his chest, the manager came over and called me an idiot for bringing him there, called me a liar for not having him speak up about never being there before, and did nothing but complain that "this makes me very mad, im throwing alot of food and money right down the drain" and when I urged to let me pay for the drinks we had he just told me to "get out". I work in the food industry and I understand these things sometimes happen, and I tired to be sincere and apologetic but we did not want to take the food to go, we could not wait and just needed to leave. LASTLY, i tried to give the manager 10 dollars to give my server because she was not around and I did not want her to be punished for us leaving, and I strongly tried TWICE to hand him the money but he repeatedly refused and told us to get out. PLEASE DONT GIVE THEM YOUR PATRONAGE!

Recommends

RonnieStewart

Joined 3 years ago

Best Restaurant in Pittsburgh. Dined at Nakama this past Saturday. I have always enjoyed hibatchi dining and then I went to Nakama and realized what I had been missing. Wow! What a fantastic time. The atmosphere is artistic, the service is great, the chefs are highly skilled and food is delectable. I went with a friend and a bunch of people I had not met before. It was a great setting to talk and get to know each other. Nakama serves the most tender and tasty filet mignon that I have ever had. The presentation of the sushi is absolutely gorgeous. Customer service was great, and I love the decor and ambiance. One thing is always true, a great time is had by all. It's no wonder the place is always packed!! I highly recommend this restaurant for any and all. Don't forget to join and become a VIP member for great treatment by management and great discounts sent to you regularly!

Doesn't Recommend

CSMobileUser

Joined 5 years ago

Over rated. If you want to go somewhere so crowded you can't move and so loud you can't talk go to Nakama! The food, and service here is below average. This is simply a trendy place to "be seen" at. Little toyko bistro down the street has much better food, the service is excellent and you can actually enjoy your meal there!

Doesn't Recommend

International Food Lover

Joined 4 years ago

The WORST Japanese food I ever paid over $40 for!!!. I went to Nakama for lunch because I keep hearing that everything was so good. In short, shoddy service and horrible food is all I can say. But that's not fair - you the reader should know how bad it was in detail. Too bad I didn't take photographs!!!



First the tea came, the tea pot was missing it cast iron lid so the waitress thought to put a tepan sauce dish on top!!! WTF? Maybe she was just not too smart. However, the appearance was not the only thing that was horrible, the tea was just horrible too. It was supposedly green tea but it tasted like the paper tea bag. Unbelievable!!!



We should have left then...



We ordered four kinds of sushi, albacore, spicy tuna rolls, scallop rolls, and their spider roll (softshell crab).



The rice for all the sushi had a funk to it, and I don't mean good music type of funk, it was noticeably bad. Further the rice was not prepared properly, it fell apart while eating it. It just didn't hold together right.



The sushi, while served promptly, was vile. The albacore sushi was the first thing I tried and it was dry, over-sized and the fish fell apart while eating. It would have been better in presentation and eat-ability if it was four small instead of two huge portions.



The spicy tuna rolls were bombastic in a very bad way. The flavor was not properly mixed and was uneven as well being blah at one moment and overpowering the next. They make up the spicy tuna mixture in bulk, which is not uncommon, but I had the unusual "pleasure" of watching as a ham-fisted so-called "sushi chef" brutally squirted mayo and spice on huge slabs of tuna and recklessly mixing it together in a huge trough.



The scallop roll was next and did not have too bad a flavor, but the problem was it was too big to properly eat in one bite and furthermore the nori (seaweed) was all soggy and would not easily tear when biting so it fell apart. The scallop roll should have been made immediately after ordering and the nori shouldn't have been soggy. It looks like they had a lot of the open rolls made up in advance and it went soggy. Further the roll should have been actually four rolls instead of two oversized ones. The hotate was actually strange in that it was in mayo and cut up, perhaps this was how they infused their spice.



FINALLY, the spider roll. The spider roll is supposed to be a soft-shell crab and vegetables. It tasted like they used KFC inside. In fact if they had used KFC it probably would have tasted better!!! It was nothing short of disgusting. The KRAB fake crab was predominate and very dry. I am not sure if any real crab was involved, if it was it probably wished it wasn't. The fried portion was oily and overcooked. For this they charged $9.99!!!



To be honest, I found nothing redeeming at all about my experience at Nakama. The sushi chefs were had no proper training they must have been fry cooks they put out there because the real sushi chefs quit or something. I pointed out each of these problems to the sushi-master and he looked like it was the first someone had every said anything!!! He reassured me that those were the sushi chefs, and that was not reassuring at all.



The food was truly disgusting for the price. I would not have complained if I had purchased some supermarket sushi, but this is a restaurant that people say is good. The only way their food would be good is if a person was so drunk that they could not see, taste or smell. I chose to pay so that I would not be bought off and could have the privilege of writing this scathing review in good conscience.



BEWARE - wherever you go for Japanese food, DO NOT go to Nakama!!!

Recommends

PGHDiner

Joined 4 years ago

OH DO I LOVE ME SOME NAKAMA!. I love the food here and is a cool place to be. Good service and usually has hot people in the evening.

Doesn't Recommend

aliceL44

Joined 4 years ago

nah. Not for me. Don't buy the hype. It's overpriced, it's dirty, and they definintely do give coupons for good reviews; I've seen it.