Daikanyama

The staff is super friendly . The sushi here is delicious. The ambience is friendly . The sushi place you can enter through Bloomingdale's at the chestnut-hill mall . Or through the main entrance it has a big lot it shares with other stores . So parking should be an issue . The price is moderate. The attire is polo casual .

Absolutely loved coming here when I lived close by. Amazing ambiance and great sushi options. Always a delicious!

we were excited at first because surprisingly the salad that came with the entree was really delicious and fresh. the dressing was pretty good. The miso soup wasn't salty at all, it was just right. Then came the agedashi tofu, which was really different because they put mushrooms in it. We also wanted to try the grilled pork belly. But that six tiny pieces definitely was not worth it. It was a bit dry too. We were disappointed with the pork belly. Then our platter and our maki came. The platter was a good decent size and good amount of sushi and sashimi till we saw the maki rolls. They were even smaller than kids size, it was definitely smaller than an adult's thumb. We were extremely disappointed with the size of the sushi itself. We were also not even near full when we were done.

Unfortunately, we sat at the sushi bar. The decline becomes explainable. I thought that the sushi and sashimi is pedestrian at best. Raw fish should never be pre-cut. Here they do. Even worse, the collection of sushi cutters (I cannot call them chefs) keep chatting while preparing raw fish. Great to get a free side of saliva. Now Daikanyama is out. Don't get me wrong. The age-dashi tofu is very good. The miso soup is low in salt (healthy but not my preference). Nice that they serve Echigo beer. But there are much better choices within driving distance. Hence, I'll only go back for convenience, not the food.

Daikanyama seemed to have a good rating, and most of the food was good, but there were some major failures also. The Age-Dashi tofu was good but only had a very light coating. Would have also been nice to have some daikon radish in the sauce. And I had the pork katsu for my main dish. The pork was nicely breaded but thin. What was worse though, is that the "tonkatsu" sauce was sweet and the exact same sweet sauce used for the Kaki (oyster) Fry. Tonkatsu sauce is NOT suppose to be sweet. Also they put mayonnaise mixed in with the shredded cabbage, another no-no! I was truly hoping for an authentic Japanese meal, but I think I got an Americanized version.

The food here wasn't as impressive, but the tab was. The items are so overpriced and none of them wow'ed me. A plain vegetable udon noodle soup was $20. What? It was super salty and sadly doesn't live up to its price tag. Would like to try their lunch specials one day but I'm usually not keen on non Japanese owned Japanese establishments. But will try the lunch here sometime and update!

Nice Japanese restaurant next to the mall. I got the nigiri dinner which was pretty decent. It was $25 and came with miso soup, salad, and edamame. I liked the variety of fish the dinner included. Everything tasted good, but wasn't particularly memorable. I was pretty full afterwards, which is usually not how I feel after a sushi dinner, so that was a plus. Service was good.

Poor hygiene with flies and tiny portion that is not tasty at all. Will never comeback again. The pictures are not reflecting what the experience is.

Upscale sushi but small portions. I had the fried calamari with garlic sprouts as an appetizer, and there were only 4-5 pieces of calamari in the dish. I thought that was a rip off ( see picture). I then ordered 2 sushi entrees and was surprised by the small size of both of them (see picture). I was still hungry after the meal and had to walk over to the Cheesecake Factory to get more food to eat. Bottom line...I would not go back as the value for the money is not worth it:

Not sure about the lower starred reviews for this place. If you are looking for big rolls just to satisfy big appetites, this is not the place. But if you are looking for really refined combinations of flavors and fresh, well rolled maki, and great hot food, this is the place. And what I appreciate is that their prices are reasonable even if their place feels like a higher end dining experience. I find the service to be friendly as well. Love Daikanyama as a neighborhood spot. Much more than "mall sushi". It's refined japanese food that happens to be in a mall.