PHLReview

Omakase By Yanaga

Name: Omakase By Yanaga
Item: Omakase By Yanaga
Rating: 8.6

Candis R. McLean

November 30, 2022

Editor's Note: As of April 2023, Chef Yanaga has left the restaurant and it is temporarily closed.

At Omakase By Yanaga, there are only eight seats. The chef plates sashimi with gold Louis Vuitton chopsticks. Alaskan salmon is blow-torched with a David Blaine-esque pyro-and-smoker setup. It’s all a little over the top, and absolutely has the capacity to make you feel like Philly nobility. If you’re into that kind of thing–pampering, fawning, fresh fish, and shiny kitchen tools–then this omakase experience at the back of Izakaya By Yanaga is an excellent way to spend around $200 a head.

PHL Guide

Philadelphia's Best New Restaurants Of 2022

photo credit: GAB BONGHI

The atmosphere is swanky but never stuffy, and that’s the beauty of this place. SZA plays on the speakers while couples toast at the sleek wooden table and talk about their plans for the night. Seafood is flown in from Japan and served with gold caviar, but you can comfortably wear your favorite t-shirt and never feel out of place. Chef Yanaga slices hamachi with surgical precision while telling jokes about wasabi.

photo credit: GAB BONGHI

The 25 dishes include nigiri, like scallops coated with preserved lemon, a toro tartare served on crunchy milk bread, and crispy yellowtail topped in a miso caramel glaze. You can (and should) add the $85 sake pairing. The menu rotates weekly, but you can always expect outstanding dishes like Japanese sea perch with pickled daikon, a citrusy kampachi crudo, or Chilean sea bass with truffles.

There are lots of great omakase options in the city (including Hiroki, which is in our top 25), but here they offer a menu much longer than Hiroki’s and an atmosphere much livelier than the bare room at Royal Sushi & Izakaya. Yanaga’s omakase is more expensive than both, but the extra courses, unique sakes, and chance to ask the expert behind the counter virtually anything make the extra bucks a fair trade for such a memorable night.

photo credit: GAB BONGHI

Come for a special occasion, an unforgettable date, or when you just want to devour sushi and feel like a Greek god being hand-fed grapes in an old oil painting. Whatever the occasion, it’s expensive, extravagant, and completely exceptional.