A spontaneous suggestion for dinner here was a good idea! I walked in a little after 7 PM on a Saturday evening and was able to be seated right away. The tables are situated close to each other, but not so close that you're sitting on the people next to you. All the tables got filled within an hour and a half, and there were about 3 servers and the owner manager taking care of the whole dining floor, but despite the busy atmosphere, we were able to get our orders and additional requests without much delay.I loved looking at the blackboard specials that they have written on a literal blackboard spanning a whole wall and on a section of the QR code menu (very convenient). It takes me back to the actual comfortable izakayas in Japan where you were reading the menu off of the wall. If I had another few stomachs, I would have wanted to try dishes like the ika sugatayaki (grilled whole squid), harami (grilled salmon belly), doteyaki (braised beef) and nijimasu (grilled rainbow trout). I haven't seen these kinds of dishes in any other Japanese or Japanese masquerading restaurant in the area. The writing in Japanese of the dishes below the English names tells you someone Japanese is actually overseeing the menu.I bet you can understand how excited I was to see hamachi kama (yellowtail collar) on the menu. There is even a salmon kama with miso on the blackboard specials, which I'll return for. A collar of a fish is rare, understandable considering you can only get one from one whole fish, and it was a great opportunity to have it. The hamachi kama was tender, moist, just the right kind of fatty, a delight to pick at and share. If you don't get ponzu with the kama, ask for it, because it makes the fish so flavorful.I shared the Chika Special, which is listed as a plate of sashimi, nigiri and rolls for 2 and comes with 2 sides of either miso soup or house salad. First, the house salad is plentiful, fresh and lovely with the carrot ginger dressing. Second, this special is a banger of a deal, because for $66, or $33 per person, you get 2 whole rolls, 6 slices each of 4 kinds of sashimi and 5 sets of nigiri (as in 10 pieces of nigiri to share). We did not finish the platter, which took up our entire table haha, and I'm very excited to finish the leftovers tomorrow. Each slice of sashimi had good thickness, and all the fish tasted fresh. We liked some slightly fatty sashimi that we couldn't identify (it's gray looking?), then we found out from our server that it was wahoo. There is a lot of wahoo, sashimi and grilled, on the menu, which should definitely be something to try if you want a new fish. The rolls, California and tuna, were made quite well---the balance of the fillings vs. outside rice was sound, and they did not fall apart at all. I appreciate the inclusion of unagi and octopus in the platter. It was certainly a well rounded sampler.The only funky part of the sushi was that there is a lot of shari (rice) in the nigiri. Like the log of rice is a whole bed for the sashimi to lie on, end to end. We both removed some of each nigiri before eating it, or else we would have not gone very far into the platter.This restaurant is doing better to showcase authenticity of Japanese food, not just sushi, than many other so-called Japanese restaurants. You can get more unadulterated, quality food here than going to a froofy omakase. If you're in Coral Gables or have plans to be in the area, it's worth a try!
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