Izakaya Seki

I can't believe I haven't written a review for this absolute gem yet. This is my favorite restaurant in DC. It's an intimate spot with absolutely incredible food. Japanese cuisine is my favorite and it can be hard to find high quality spots. This place is a dream. This spot is like the cool kid of restaurants. The interior design is simple with beautiful statement pieces scattered about. The menu design is creative and dreamy.You'll want to do family style at this place. I found this spot after it was recommended to me by my favorite foodie friends. I don't remember everything we ordered the first time we visited, but we got the (NYT best dish award) mushroom dish, the whole grilled sardine, some pork belly dish, and some sashimi. I think I ordered some sort of highball and just remember it was a really strong drink. I also remember crying from joy the first time we came about how tasty all the food was.We came back on a recent long weekend visit to DC. You'll want to make a reservation for this spot. There is limited seating downstairs and a few spots upstairs. Thankfully, we were there on a less busy holiday weekend. I finally ordered the ojiya soba soup I was sad about not ordering on the last visit. This soup was heaven. It was perfect for a cold evening. We got the incredible assorted mushrooms again, the garlic-like sauce is heaven. And we ordered the sashimi omakase 7 types. I'm drooling thinking about the light, melt-in-your-mouth cuttlefish that came with this. I cannot recommend this spot enough. It's one of the best restaurants in DC to me.

Missing my mom's homemade Japanese food, I decided to stop by Izakaya Seki. The atmosphere really gives izakaya from Japan feel however the service was not the best. The female server seemed annoyed when I asked to order a drink and then annoyed when I wanted clarification on the tonkatsu plate.I got the tamagoyaki, tonkatsu plate, and a side of rice. I also got an ume chu-hi. The tamagoyaki was very juicy. Not dry and not bland. You can taste the sweetness but it wasn't too strong. It was thick pieces as well! It reminded me of my mother's own tamagoyaki. $13.The tonkatsu plate was pretty expensive for a lot of fatty meat. It was crisp and juicy however I don't think I would pay this much for it again. It was $27. The side of rice was disappointing. Japanese people love a good short grain rice and this rice was okay. It seemed to have been left sitting for awhile because there were some dry and crunchy pieces. The drink I got was not too strong and I could barely taste the ume (plum flavor). $12.Overall this was a nice restaurant. Nice place to have some Japanese food if you're feeling particularly home sick, but only once. Total $61.27. Without tip.

I visited Izakaya Seki on Sunday, December 8, 2024 around 6 PM. I had a Sapporo Beer ($8), Fried Oysters ($21) and the Sashami Omakasa 10 ($51). The fried oysters were terrific. You get 5 oysters with each order and they were lightly fried and juicy inside. It also came with a fried perilla leaf but that did have much taste. It came with a creamy dipping sauce that did not add to the dish. The star was the oysters and they were prepared perfectly. The Sashimi Omakasa came with tuna, squid, mackarel and octopus. Octopus is my favorite and I saved it for last. The fish was good especially the squid. However, when I ate my first piece of Octopus, it was rubbery and chewy, it tasted bad. Good Octopus should be tender. I left the other piece of Octopus on my plate and when the server came to collect it. I told him the problem and asked for another piece. He said the restaurant did not do that. I asked to speak to a manager. The manager never came to speak to me. The manager sent another server who said the manager did not believe that there was something wrong with the octopus. She offered me free ice cream. I was not interested in free ice cream. I gathered from her that the manager thought I did not like Octopus and I made it clear that I liked Octopus but that there was something off about the piece I ate. I paid my bill and left. I like to support independent restaurants. I am disappointed that the manager did not respect me as a customer enough to come to speak to me in person. The restaurant was not busy. I will not patronize this establishment again. It is a shame that a manager is willing to lose a customer over a piece of Octopus.

I found my neighborhood authentic Japanese gem. The food tastes the most similar to real Japanese food in DC, the employees are always smiling and super helpful and the athmosphere is super cozy. downstairs is only omakase-like seating and upstairs is small, cozy and warm tables next to each other. the food was delicious --light but tasty. I also love their sake selection. Overall, it was a lovely experience and already booked my next visit

One of my favorite restaurants in DC, hands down. A unique izakaya experience. Must-haves include whatever is on the specials menu for the day, which typically feature the following categories: raw, grilled, fried, skewers and veggies. Their raw options are always a stand-out, including fresh fish that isn't included on the standard menu. Everything I've ever had here is fresh and delicious, and I've been frequenting this place since 2018.As an added bonus, they now do a Tuesday wine night, featuring a curated natural wine list. Loved sampling the natural wines the last time I went!Final tip: I always get a rice ball (onigiri) to go. Makes for a perfect handheld breakfast the next day. I'm partial to the spicy cod roe and the salmon roe flavors, myself. You can't beat it!

Hands down some of the best izakaya I've ever had! Only tried a few things but was blown away by the flavors and incredible staff putting on a show in the kitchen. The best place to sit is downstairs at the bar where you can see them make everything!We tried the special hibachi gil, which was so tender--I had never had anything like this. Also loved the garlic swarmed ahi and garlic marinated beech brown mushrooms, the crab croquettes are also a must! Would recommend coming here with a few friends and ordering a handful of tapas to try together, this will be one of the best Japanese meals in DC!

Dinner at Izakaya Seki in Washington DC. Wanted try an izakaya for the first time and have heard rave reviews of this place. We got a wide variety of dishes - some absolutely amazing and some not as much. We absolutely loved the croquettes, soba, sashimi and the assorted veggies! You could tell the ingredients were really fresh and they let their quality speak for itself. However, definitely pass on the cod here, it was bit mushy and not really flavorful. Server was helpful and the space is nice, but rather small. Overall, a great dinner and would love to come back here!Apps: Oyster Tempura, Crab and Corn Croquettes and Grilled Chicken YakitoriEntrees: Toro, 7 Type Sashimi Omakase, Cold Soba Noodles, Warm Udon in Dashi and Black CodSides: Obanzai (Cucumbers, Eggplant and Seaweed)

I had dinner here on a Friday night. The inside of the restaurant is cute, with an ambient and intimate setting. There's a downstairs bar-style seating area in front of the open kitchen, but it was a bit smoky down there, and I could see the scent lingering on your clothes if you dine in that area. The upstairs, on the other hand, has more tables. It's a great spot for a date night.Obanzai - Cucumber, Beets and Citrus, Spinach Goma ae: Everything was fresh and enjoyable. The sesame dressing on the spinach was tasty, and the beets paired nicely with the citrus in a simple yet effective combination. (5/5)Steak with Fried Rice - The fried rice was made with sticky rice, and the steak was fatty with a thick sauce. I personally prefer a teppanyaki-style fried rice with egg. (4/5)Toro - The Toro was disappointing, surprisingly tough and chewy, which I didn't expect. It was underwhelming, especially considering the price. (2/5)Shima Aji - Fresh and flavorful. The fried aji carcass do after you finish the meat is fun and novel, but I wouldn't go out of my way to order it again. (4/5)

Stopped by for a quick dinner. We sat at the counter where you can watch the chefs at work. We felt like we were in Japan again. The server suggested a couple of their specials so we decided to go with those. 4/5 Kingfish sashimi - one of their specials - this was our first time trying kingfish. It was light in flavor and fresh. 7 big pieces. 4/5 Jowl of a grilled fish - this was one of their specials, but can't remember what kind of fish it was. The fish was nice and flaky. Sprinkled some lemon juice and paired well with the pickled veggies. 5/5 Unagi - perfectly cooked bbq eel. 5/5 Sashimi omakase - we ordered the 10 different types. Everything was fresh and delicious. My favorite was the toro.

My friend recommended we grab an early dinner and drinks at Izakaya Seki, and I'm super glad we went.This is definitely a high end Japanese restaurant, that has an authentic menu and vast array of sake options. The sashimi omasake was amazing, as was the mushrooms with garlic and butter. Honestly, everything that was had was delicious and we sampled a lot of the option from the menu.With the seating that we had, it wasn't quite chef's table seating - but certainly felt close to it because of our proximity to the kitchen and servers. This made the service great... There were no long waits between us placing orders and the food coming out... But with no compromises on the flavour and freshness.The restaurant space cover two floors, we were seated upstairs but the downstairs space looked equally spacious with lots of natural light.