Seattle 2011 - Maneki Japanese Restaurant

The winner of the Godiva goodie bag is Darren of Good Grub with Yam and DB. He and his wife write a lovely homecooked food blog. They're also based in the South Bay. Congrats and I will be emailing you soon. 

Onwards to my Seattle recaps. Finally! It's about 2 months overdue. 

Everytime I travel anywhere, I get a whole list of recommendations from friends who have been there before and usually end up disregarding most of the list. No offense, but in practice it doesn't work out to eat per an agenda. Our group found Maneki Japanese Restaurant, an authentic Japanese restaurant that is 107 years old! There's the little maneki neko beckoning us in.

Tako. Delicious as always. I usually like it sliced a little thinner though but hey, no complaints here.

($5.50) California rolls for Phil. These are starting to really grow on me. I still won't eat limitless plates of them like he does though.

($6.25) Chicken Karage. Another of Phil's favorites. Delicious to him as always.

($6.50) Oyster miso rockefeller broil. Oh so good. Oysters rockefeller will never replace raw oysters, but they run a close second for top ways to eat oysters. These oysters at Maneki were especially good.

($4.75) Spicy Tuna Roll. I think the girls ate most of these and loved them.

Cbear had this monstrosity of a yakisoba platter, complete with quivering bonito shavings and served sizzling hot. Very good. Yakisoba reminds me of my days working at the mall when my breaks either consisted of yakisoba or Cinnabon meals.

The nigiri pieces that came with my ozen variety meal. Pretty standard nigiri.

($13.00) Variety Ozen. This was my wonderful dinner platter. It also comes with rice and the 4 nigiri  pieces above.

Chicken-kuwayaki.Kuwayaki is a soy mirin sauce. I don't think I've had kuwayaki before. This was delicious!

Shrimp and yam tempura are my favorite things to be tempura battered and fried.

and a healthy salad on the side.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

While I wouldn't say this is the best Japanese food I've ever had, we all left feeling full and satisfied with our meal. I thought the prices were good for the portion size. The vibe was very authentic and the mood was quiet and calm. We flew in, found a place to eat, and sat at the bar like what a true Japanese salaryman would do. What a great night. I definitely recommend this place for Seattle. It's has good food for a good value, a welcoming atmosphere, and a nice place to drink sake and hang out with your friends.

Maneki on Yelp
Maneki's history