Taneda Sushi in Kaiseki

Updated that they no longer can accommodate gluten free, which is unfortunate. I am happy I was able to experience dining here and am hopeful that they have a gluten free option at some point in the future.

Absolutely one of the best if not the best out there. It is pricey now, basically $300 a seat, but to be honest it is so worth it for a special occasion. The food is amazing and top tier. One of the best experiences and I would love to go again when the next special occasion happens in my life. Everything just melts in your mouth and I highly recommend going at least once just to try! There are only 9 seats so it's am intimate setting and it's fun to talk to others that are there as well.Chef Taneda is fun to talk to and it's just a good time! He is also really knowledgeable about sake and curates the sake based on your preferences. All of the sake was just sublime. It is really hard to get a reservation so always follow their IG so you know when they release the next month reservations on Tock!

*Better-late-than-never review for my dining experience in August 2022 :p*My friends visiting from out of town was lucky enough to get a reservation for the 5:30PM seating on a Wednesday night (never had luck myself after many months of trying).Food was memorable, and to me better than all the sushi restaurants I've been to in downtown Seattle. I love that Kaiseki style offers a large variety of ingredients, not just limited to raw fish. It's always fun to try ingredients I've never had or even heard of before. Below is my notes from that evening, and thankfully I jot it down because I definitely can't recall these details now.·Scallop from Hokkaido with uni and sea plant jello ·Flounder 2-ways: sashimi and fin (cooked)·Horse mackerel·King Mackerel with onion sauce and green onion·Shad·langustine with Chinese wine sauce·throat of the seaperch (torched) ·cod roe with monk fish liver·skipjack ·hokkaido uni with Vancouver spot prawn·bluefin tuna from Spain (380 pound tuna, dry aged for 2 weeks)·chutoro·otoro·lobster from Canada and sweet corn from California·miso katsu Miyazaki waygu beef ·uni hand roll from north side of Hokkaido·huge hand roll with sea eelDessert:Mascarpone pudding with mochi and matcha

Thanks to one of my friend's quick hands, we were able to reserve a spot at the tough-to-book Taneda Sushi and I had the pleasure of enjoying the works of Chef Taneda. You can tell he cares about his craft as he carefully puts together each course with his assistant. I ordered the 3 sake omakase to go with my meal and Chef Taneda personally spoke with me and helped pick one of my sakes. He enjoyed speaking with us in general and seemed like a friendly guy. One of his assistants helped me pick the other 2 sakes and they were all great.The meal ran me over $300 and the question I've gotten from friends and family was- "is it worth it?" That's a tough one as I'm usually loathe to spend more than $100 on food and have a hard time judging what $300+ worth of food should be like. What I can tell you is 3 things-~ I had some of the most delicious melting-in-your-mouth fish I've ever had. One of the spanish tuna bellies we ate cost $350/lb according to Chef Taneda and you can see why. Melts right into your taste buds. ~ The food was put together really well. That delicious toro I was talking about in the above point? Imagine it sitting on some rice and topped off with some uni. Truly magical in your mouth. ~ It's quite the experience watching Chef Taneda assemble this all. It's not like it's a quick 3 course meal either. I estimate I had 10+ courses and you watch Chef Taneda make each one. All while conversing with the 9 people seated around him. I certainly didn't walk out hungry, and that's a concern I tend to have at restaurants where you're paying for the presentation as much as you're paying for the food. Really great night and lives up to the hype.

Words really can't describe how amazing Taneda is. The quality, the service, the alcohol options and sake pairings - everything was perfect. The omakase experience takes your palate on a journey that hits on everything from saltiness to sweet, from creamy to savory, from crunchy to smooth. My wife and I have been to several Japanese establishments for their omakase experience, and this, so far, has been the best. Getting a reservation is a feat in itself, but trust. TRUST! It's so worth it. My reviews tend to be long and thorough, but as I said in my intro, words can't describe how amazing this place was. So I'm going to let my photos do the talking. Enjoy. Don't think too much about it. Just go make reservations. They hype was and is real.

Apparently people would fly to Seattle to give this place a try. In the "west coast food desert", having a spot like this is... quite refreshing. I have given up trying to secure a reservation long time ago--getting a reservation is probably harder than winning the green card lottery. I'm exaggerating here, but you get the point. My friend magically secured a reservation for 3 during my birthday weekend. When I told the assistant chef about my past trying to secure a reservation, he laughed and told me the group seated furthest from me comes every single month. Y'all... it humbled me real quick.The reviews so far have provided more than enough context of this restaurant. I read none of them before coming, and there's something nice about having 0 clue on what to expect. I highly recommend you not reading too much into the reviews. I only have one tip for my girlies... eat an extra light lunch before this. The quantity isn't massive, but a bigger lunch will make you unable to finish the later courses.

Yummy and good service Tastes are surprising to me But too hard to book in the table tho

Spectacular Omakase experience that is out of this world. Words cannot describe. Yes, it is nearly impossible to get a reservation here. I got lucky after two months of trying to get in and being on the waitlist. After receiving a notification of a seat becoming available last minute the day before, I booked a flight for the following day. The four-hour flight from Missouri was definitely worth the trek to check out the hype of this restaurant. All the raving 5-stars are completely true and it is worth all the effort to try to get the elusive reservation. After dining here I can understand why they sell out within seconds when the booking window opens. I have had the opportunity to dine here on two occasions in April 2022 and October 2022 and was able to experience both their spring and fall menus. When I first tried this place out in April I was blown away with the omakase, and then in October I felt it was even better the second time around. I have tried other omakase's such as Shiro's and Suzuki when I couldn't get a reservation here, and Taneda still tops them all as the benchmark. Not only are all the 20-plus courses of the highest quality in terms of freshness and culinary artistry, the total ambiance is what also adds to the quality of the experience. The chef and wait staff are all genuinely interested in getting to know everyone and it feels as though you are being invited into their home and having a lively family dinner. With each course the chef will provide everyone with details on where the fish/course was sourced and it becomes an immersive/educational experience. There is an extensive sake list to choose from and the chef and the entire staff have exquisite knowledge of all the sake and how to pair them with each course. After each course it only leaves you with pure joy, and you can see it in everyone's faces around you as well. It definitely gives you that wow factor with each course that makes a difference.

This place probably has one of the best omakase you can get in the Seattle area much better than Sushi Kashiba or Shiro's. My other 2 favorite Japanese restaurants are Wa'z and Sankai in Edmonds. I would say Taneda is on par with Wa'z in quality although Taneda has more sushi. I cannot pick which one I like more between Tandeda and Wa'z! Sankai is simpler and slightly a step below in presentation and preparation but has excellent prices for huge variety of fish flown in from Japan.The thing that makes Taneda stand out is the sake pairing. 100% do get it. I didn't even like most sakes until I got the pairing from Taneda and now I'm hooked on Junmai Daiginjo! They will tailor the pairing to your tastes. I tried to find the same sake from stores and was told the chef must have gotten special rare bottles from his buddies!Service is kind of pretentious here. I got told off for putting clam shells on the sushi serving stone and a friend was charged $3 for water with a slice of lemon. I guess they can afford to do this due to the exclusivity and the quality of the food. I would not subtract any stars as these situations are avoidable.

In the top 5 omakase spots for Seattle (if you manage to get a spot)...Taneda's been on my radar for the longest time. Somehow, this place is exceptionally hard to book (on Tock) compared to other great omakase spots in Seattle, so it took some planning and agility+good luck to get a table. The spot has lots of character, for sure, but might not be to everyone's liking - it is smack in the middle of Capitol Hill, with all its je-ne-sais-quoi aspects (aka I would not have felt comfortable walking from the dinner to the parking alone in this area after dark).The staff and the chefs are most welcoming. The food was great overall, although both my dining partner and I found a few of the flavor combinations to be too creative for their own good and lacking a bit of balance. I really appreciated the creative plating though. And the overall experience was very pleasant for me.All in all, this place sits in the top 5 omakase spots for Seattle, with Suzuki, Ltd Edition Sushi and Sushi by Scratch as a somewhat more preferred alternatives for me from effort to book/$$$$ to experience ratio.