11/13/07

Lovely

by chtech

O.K. So I will start off by saying that Nobu would definitely be what I would call a special occasion restaurant. Now for some that occasion might be of the "I just won the lottery" variety , for others, it may be of the " I just want to be seen with my 25 year old arm-candy" variety. That's one of the great things about Nobu, and Dallas in general, is the variety of people you will see. Onto the food - I am not a huge sushi connoisseur so I did play it pretty safe with my menu selections, while my husband having a more experienced palatte went like a blank canvas into the pre-fixe menu, letting the waitress guide him a quite a bit. With that said, having grown up on Peruvian cuisine I was bracing myself for dissapointment. Color me pleasantly surprised!! Everything about the food and service was perfect! Everything! The Ceviche, the Kobe beef, the edamame. My husband was a little concerned after the first few courses were heavy on plate, light on food. He soon grew to appreciate the perfect portions and timing of his choices and was very glad for the extra room for dessert. I honestly hadn't even thought of dessert when envisioning my meal at Nobu - shame on me! We were fortunate to receive a sampler tray of desserts, if you will, and relished in every single item. We're talking last meal on earth contenders. Yes, it was expensive - but you get what you pay for. Even the couple that were seated next to us, felt compelled to tell us how much they loved this place, even compared to their former fav - Steel. Of course, this was before she had too much wine and told him he needs to spend more time with his family and then stormed off to the valet to get in their Bentley. So, go ahead, bring your Honda Accord and valet. If mo' money means mo' problems then you might as well get rid of it on a good meal.

04/14/08

Excellent food

by shaft28

Went for our 5th anniv with high expectations and for the most part they were met.

Although we had very friendly service and were seated promptly when we arrived early...overall the service was very standard. Not amazing service like you expect from this level of restaurant. Nice folks, and at times on the ball just think I was expecting more.

The good - the hot and cold dishes were very good; the sushi great. I'll admit the tempura, California rolls and soft shell crab roll were very good quality but fairly standard in taste and presentation. Now you move into tuna and WOW. I mean WOW. If it had tuna, it was amazing.

The tuna with cilanto cold dish - fantastic. The spicy tuna roll - glorious. I mean I hate spicy tuna roll, tried this one and was blown away. Truly amazing.

We actually loved everything but there were 3-4 dished that just blew the rest away.

Dessert was great too. Delicious green te ice cream but the mochi ice cream was superb. Well worth the money and absolutely delicious. We will drive to Dallas (from Austin) just to have it again. Think $90-100 per person without drinks.

• Pros: tuna!, mochi ice cream
• Cons: parking attendants at hotel

03/27/08

Good as heck!

by btbam88

Pretty good food, great service, great managers. Was very pretentious though. Figures... full of Dallas's "VIP's". Not a complaint against Nobu, but the people whom it caters to are stuck up snobs.

• Pros: Food, Ambience, Service
• Cons: clientel

07/18/07

Money Ain't A Thing

by prestonandwendy

For the average Joe like me, Nobu was another harsh reminder that if you're not rich and famous, life just isn't fair. You're reminded of that from the second you pull your Honda Accord up to the valet and they park it beside the Bentley Continental GT and a Ferrari 599. From the time they sit you down next to the 60-year old, overweight man with the 20-year old blonde bombshell. And from the time they charge you 3x more than other average sushi places. This is a restaurant for the rich and carefree.

If you're open-minded and wanting to try a variety of things from the menu, go ahead and get the "Omakase" a.k.a. the Chef's Choice. For either $125 or $100, the chef will prepare 7 dishes for you based on your likes and dislikes. Tell him what you're allergic to and he will prepare 7 dishes accordingly. It's delicious, but also very pretentious! Besides the Chef's Choice, I also ordered some Washu Beef ($16 per ounce), which was worth every single penny. Yes, it's astronomically priced, but just like Kobe and Wagyu beef, Washu comes from cows that have had a very privileged life. Which means they get the best food, the finest beer, and regular massages. As a result, the beef is very tender and really flavorful - it's unlike ANY other beef you've probably had. It comes sliced and raw and you are supposed to cook it on this hot slab of stone. Don't overcook it. Just sear the meat for a few seconds on both sides.

For dessert, we had the "Bento Box" ($10), which consisted of chocolate fondant cake and green tea ice cream. We also tried the "Vanilla and Tofu Mousse" ($10), which is exactly what it sounds like covered with strawberry sauce and shiso foam. It is now officially my favorite dessert.

The service was decent, but not as great as i had hoped for a meal costing this much. I guess you wouldn't care as much though if you were driving the Ferrari 599, sleeping with the blonde bombshell or had money spilling out from your pockets.

• Pros: local hotspot, guaranteed action if you're on a date, and great Washu beef
• Cons: rather expensive - pretentious - loud from the arrogance of the rich and snobby

05/27/07

Just because you pretend to like it doesn't make you cool

by elfoodster

I have been here twice, around the time it first opened, and I have to say that I had high expectations. The restaurant is gorgeous, no denying that. I know a lot of people are going to go here (as I did) because it is the most recent LA/NYC transplant and they can't wait to people watch and (maybe:)) see celebrities. That is fine, but don't expect the food to be amazing. On second thought, don't expect good people watching either. Do you know what celebrity I saw when I went? That weatherman with the bow tie from the local news. The second time I went I saw an empty bar populated only with the usual uptown suspects- four blonde 50 year-old women whose fake jewelry and breasts most likely outweighed me by 10 pounds. Enough about the people watching. Let's talk food and service. First time I went the service was awesome, the waiter offered to bring me out a taste of a drink I was unsure if I would like. The hot food was delicious, not mind blowing, but yummy and the sushi was average. I am not sure who would ever call this sushi amazing except maybe a first timer. Granted, I am picky so if all sushi pretty much tastes the same to you, you should be fine. It seemed fine freshness wise. The second time I went not only did they bring my sushi out after my friends were finished with their meals, when we were finally able to flag down somebody, the manager argued with us. She said the sushi comes from the sushi bar (duh) and the hot food comes from the kitchen (duh) so they can't always coordinate arrival times of meals to the same table. That's great and all but I don't really care about the logistics of sushi prep. All I know is I am paying top dollar and if I say I want the sushi to swim to my table and jump in my mouth they better find a way to make it happen. She should have apologized and comped my sushi right away, which she finally did after she realized her previous tactics were going to lose her restaurant business.

• Pros: ambiance, hot dishes, you have to satisfy your curiosity,good people watching
• Cons: sushi, old Dallas cougars

11/20/06

good food and great ambiance!

by sonic35

This was one of my best dining experiences since moving to Dallas. The menu has a lot of variety, and you can pick a bunch of small dishes, which is great for anyone who wants to try more than one thing. The service was great, and the interior was absolutely gorgeous. It is a little pricey though. I will definitely go back.

• Pros: ambiance
• Cons: pricey!

03/02/06

Highly Recommended

by sino713

I had dinner at nobu recently and it was great. The food was amazing and the atmosphere of the place was so different, but in a good way.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: Parking

01/07/06

Fantastic Experience

by jefrezicus

I went to Nobu with a visiting Chef friend... I was not disappointed! I'm not usually a sushi fan, but the food blew me away. The waiter was very knowledgeable and made excellent recommendations. We visited 3 restaurants that night and this was easily the best. The atmosphere was very cool. I'd highly recommend to anyone who enjoys sushi or is looking for a new experience.

• Pros: food, service, atmosphere
• Cons: none

12/28/05

great

by mas782

Went to lunch at Nobu with four friends today. Ordered four dishes (all were great). The best were the rock shrimp and the miso cod. Our server, however, was far to attentive. That may sound odd... but he quickly overstayed his welcome, giving long speeches and endless unwanted suggestions. Luckily, he didn't detract from the overall experience too much. And the prices were much more reasonable than I feared. I will definitely be returning. Don't park in the Crescent, though, try the ugly strip mall across McKinney. It's free and easier to just walk over.

• Pros: great food, unusual atmosphere, reasonable prices
• Cons: parking, annoying service, $4 soft drinks

12/10/05

I was expecting better everything...

by jgroth1

The spicy tuna roll was not spicy, and tasted almost exactly like the yellowtail scallion roll. The tuna was not firm and cold, as in most sushi, but was ground tuna and was warm and mushy. We tried the house specialty roll - for $11 we expected something wonderful. However, it was a simple, large roll with all of the usual sushi ingredients: avocado, tuna, salmon, etc...nothing special. The waitress praised the miso soup, citing it as a favorite of many locals. Yet, it tasted the same as every other miso we have ever had. Our fruit plate dessert was the highlight of our meal. Don't let the Mercedes, Ferraris, etc...valet parked outside fool you. The best thing about the restaurant was the atmosphere - the ambience made us feel like we were eating at a posh New York restaurant. Overall, I would not recommend it.

• Pros: Good ambience, Good service
• Cons: Overpriced, Bland food