Atami Japanese Restaurant Dundalk

10green bottles

Japanese restaurant opening on these premises at the end of April folks,signage went up today.

BettePorter

Just came on to say same!!!! Sushi at last in town!!!! I am so excited. I soooooo hope its good.

tayto lover

10green bottles wrote: »

Japanese restaurant opening on these premises at the end of April folks,signage went up today.

What kind of grub can we expect to be offered here?
Never had Japanese food before. Would it be much the same as Chinese i.e. rice or noodles with everything etc.

White Horse

tayto lover wrote: »

What kind of grub can we expect to be offered here?
Never had Japanese food before. Would it be much the same as Chinese i.e. rice or noodles with everything etc.

Sushi, noodles, tempura (deep fried) fish, beef, and pork. Great food for lunch.

Pighead

Good news. I was afraid it was going to be yet another Chinese restaurant. Good to have something different in town. Hopefully it's decent. To Bette Porter: just so you know there is already sushi in town. Asian Valley on Clanbrassil St. do it.

My name is URL

Wonder if they'll serve proper take-out Bento boxes

That'd be great

tayto lover

Forgot to ask if it's considered healthy or is it greasy and full of MSG?

BettePorter

Pighead wrote:

To Bette Porter: just so you know there is already sushi in town. Asian Valley on Clanbrassil St. do it.

Don't mention the war pighead! Been there done that. I am the least fussy eater in the world and I'll eat anything. Heard that they served sushi and was happy out! Got a selection of stuff, seafood bento box, noodles, Chick dish. It was literally the worst takeout ive ever had! I'm pretty sure they don't have one fresh ingredient or spice/herb in the place.

That's why I have such high hopes for this new place yet I'm praying it ll be done well! At least its calling itself an actual Japanese place (rather than a Chinese that does sushi on the the side) so at last we might have a place that does it right!

10green bottles

The good news is the owners are Japanese.

BettePorter

10green bottles wrote:

The good news is the owners are Japanese.

It's always a bonus!

MonkeyTennis

whats it called? anyone?

BettePorter

MonkeyTennis wrote:

whats it called? anyone?

Atami (Japanese cuisine)

Pighead

More good news for Sushi lovers. A new bistro opening soon on Park St specialising in world foods in clubbing Asian, Israel and something else I can't remember. Two guys were walking down Clanbrassil St yesterday giving out free Sushi. Think they said it's gonna be called Eskays or something like that.

BettePorter

Pighead wrote:

specialising in world foods in clubbing

?

Pighead

BettePorter wrote: »

?

To be honest Bette, I have no idea what that was supposed to say. One thing for sure is it wasn't supposed to say clubbing! I guess we'll never know what message I was trying to convey. Really hope it wasn't very important.

White Horse

Pighead wrote: »

To be honest Bette, I have no idea what that was supposed to say. One thing for sure is it wasn't supposed to say clubbing! I guess we'll never know what message I was trying to convey. Really hope it wasn't very important.

Predictive text strikes again.

I guess you were trying to type "including"?

MonkeyTennis

Japanese restaurants logo looks the same at this lot

http://www.atamisushi.com.au/

BettePorter

Pighead wrote:

A new bistro opening soon on Park st. Think they said it's gonna be called Eskays or something like that.

Saw it today when at lights. It is indeed called Eskays and is in the unit that deli lites was supposed to go in but never materialised for whatever reason. Like buses they're appearing now! I hope at least one of them is worthy! I'm salivating at the prospect!

tayto lover

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Japanese restaurants logo looks the same at this lot

http://www.atamisushi.com.au/

Hope the prices are not the same. Looks expensive for a takeaway.

10green bottles

Anyone get into sample Eskay's menu yet?Seems to be doing well (from what i can judge by passing it about 20 times a day anyway)
Atami opening soon and also hiring too for anyone interested.

BettePorter

Yes, me too, i've near rear-ended a few cars rubbernecking! Havent sampled yet but they have a facebook page and some nice appetising looking pics ( but then again instagram makes anything look edible) as well as a listed menu. Seems a bit pricey but i'd forgive that if it was worth it.

Cannot wait for atami to open however!

Pighead

BettePorter wrote: »

Yes, me too, i've near rear-ended a few cars rubbernecking! Havent sampled yet but they have a facebook page and some nice appetising looking pics ( but then again instagram makes anything look edible) as well as a listed menu. Seems a bit pricey but i'd forgive that if it was worth it.

Cannot wait for atami to open however!

It's opening up in a few days time apparently. I grabbed a menu from them on Monday. Looks good. Lots of different types of sushi and plenty of appetisers and mains.

kellso81

Pighead wrote: »

It's opening up in a few days time apparently. I grabbed a menu from them on Monday. Looks good. Lots of different types of sushi and plenty of appetisers and mains.

Is it a sit-in place or just takeaway?

kazoo106

The registered directors of ATAMI FOOD SERVICES LIMITED seem more Chinese than Japanese to me. Dundalk used to have a thriving Japanese Community, alas that's now gone 16 years since the Panasonic Hard Disk factory closed.

tayto lover

Pighead wrote: »

It's opening up in a few days time apparently. I grabbed a menu from them on Monday. Looks good. Lots of different types of sushi and plenty of appetisers and mains.

What are the prices like?

Pighead

tayto lover wrote: »

What are the prices like?

Hard to know if they're decent prices until you see what you're getting. Few pics of menu below. It's sit in and take away by the looks of the set up. Open til 10 during the week and 11 on weekend.

Pighead

Pighead wrote: »

Hard to know if they're decent prices until you see what you're getting. Few pics of menu below. It's sit in and take away by the looks of the set up. Open til 10 during the week and 11 on weekend.

Oops tried to attach pic but it said file too large.

My name is URL

Pighead wrote: »

Oops tried to attach pic but it said file too large.

Do they have take out bento boxes?

Like proper nice ones which aren't just a load of rice tossed over a pile of under-cooked fish?

Pighead

My name is URL wrote: »

Do they have take out bento boxes?

Like proper nice ones which aren't just a load of rice tossed over a pile of under-cooked fish?

There's a bento box on the front of the menu. They're €10.90. If you are to believe the description they are 'a delicious sampling of traditional japenese cuisine in every box'.

BettePorter

That's quite expensive for a bento box, oddly , exactly the price (10.90) of a bento box in a particular sushi place in Dublin. ( which comes also with miso soup)

It would want to be substantial!

Pighead

BettePorter wrote: »

That's quite expensive for a bento box, oddly , exactly the price (10.90) of a bento box in a particular sushi place in Dublin. ( which comes also with miso soup)

It would want to be substantial!

Is that the place on Parnell St. In the Shakespeare pub? Used to go there years ago. I seen rainbow roll on this new menu and it reminded me of that place.

BettePorter

Pighead wrote:

Is that the place on Parnell St. In the Shakespeare pub?

No its one of the places in Temple Bar . Which is my point. If they're charging temple bar prices for a basic takeaway bento box, they're not gonna be there long.

tayto lover

Most of the takeaways are too expensive for what you get imo.
8 euro for a curry i.e. chicken, curry sauce and a bit of rice.
6 euro for a small bit of fresh cod without chips.

Far too expensive.

My name is URL

Sounds very expensive alright. Wouldn't have expected a bento box to be over a tenner.

I'll reserve judgement til I've tried it though. Ya never know, could actually be worth what they're charging

BettePorter

Yeah I don't mind getting what you pay for. Its when they charge big money and then are mingy with the substance. I was looking at some of eskays pics on facebook (still haven't been in) but they seem very expensive for what u get. One fish cake, a mound of rice all surrounded by a mountain of (albeit pretty) salad, for 12.95 odd. Or a chicken tikka wrap for same price again pimped up with lettuce. I'm all for anyone needing to make a profit but don't take the piss like!

10green bottles

Opening Wednesday 01/06/16 -

cournioni

Walked past it this evening. Looked pretty nice, will check it out at the weekend I'd say.

BettePorter

Was in it twice today! Once to get menu and second time to book table ( phone number on menu isn't working yet ). I'm thinking the same menu applies to both take out and sit in so it remains to be seen if its good value. Menu has me salivating! Can't wait!

BettePorter

So went to atami tonight and have to say I came away happy. Was top notch. Personally I thought the pricing was fair and quality was good. By the time we left it was packed and a lot of people in and out for takeout too. ( though the wait time for takeout wasn't impressing some people ) seemed to be only one guy on the raw counter out front doing rolls etc and then perhaps another out back doing the cooked stuff.

My one criticism would be the lack of (in ignorance of the correct term ) a maitre d. It was a very young staff, with no discernable front of house which I certainly would have expected on the second day in business at least. Service was perfunctory at best. They were friendly but in no way chatty ( language of course being the obvious barrier ) but had we never been in a sushi joint before I'm not entirely sure they'd have been of much help. People coming in for menus were trying to engage the young guy behind counter in general chit chat about the new business and he was monosyllabic in reply. Same went for the woman beside us who tried to tell the waitress how pleased she was they'd opened. Needs someone with a bit of presence to meet and greet.

As I thought, the takeaway menu is exact same as the sitdown menu. Same price to sit in or out.

Overall id recommend it, and I hope it does well! So nice to have something a bit different than the usual stodge as an option!

tayto lover

What did you try Bette?

BettePorter

tayto lover wrote:

What did you try Bette?

We had .... a dragon roll, a rainbow roll ( both presented on one of those wooden bridge display things which tbh I'm not a fan of, id prefer a crisp white plate but how and ever) a salmon avocado medium roll and a tuna medium roll. A Japanese salad. Had a doggy bag home which was lovely for lunch next day. Had a takeaway lunch today from it of a calafornia roll and an ebi gyosa. Again all yum! Had a couple of asahi beers which were nice and refreshing. Had a quick look at the wine list. I might have missed the house one but from what I could gather the cheapest bottle was €25 which tbh I wouldn't pay for a house wine.

Mr Magnolia

I've heard it's fantastic too, looking forward to trying it. Will report back soon.

Very solid review Bette

White Horse

I went to Atami for lunch on Saturday.

I had sushi to start, the traditional nigiri was particularly delicious. Among the best I've tasted in Japan.

A lovely big bowl of seafood ramen followed. Lots of seafood and vegetables. it would have fed two.

This is a quality place to eat. As said earlier, the service is not great. It is a bit slow and the Japanese being very reserved people are very unobtrusive.

I really hope it works because we don't often get this kind of quality in Dundalk.

tayto lover

Have never eaten Japanese food before but certainly going to try it after reading these reviews.

MugMugs

Should really ask for the thread title to be changed. It's quite misleading. By rights it should be ACC Bank

Mr Magnolia

I have done so already via a reported post.

Edit; to be clear, I asked that it be split into a new thread after Bette's post. Hopefully the mods will oblige when they get a chance :-)

MonkeyTennis

tried both Atami and Eskays last weekend and really enjoyed them both.

Atami was packed and they need a better system but the food was really good.

Almost everything on the menu in Eskays sounded lovely, I had a lebanese chicken salad and was so nice and a welcome change

Mr Magnolia

Well I could wait no longer. Decided to get a take away from Atami one of the evenings this week just past. I was running late home from work and couldn’t have been annoyed cooking, there was nothing in the house anyway so I convinced myself that it was as good an excuse as any!!

The dining room seems nice, no air conditioning on and very warm but nice. It was about 7pm and appeared to be fairly full. I like the seating area at the front door for the take-away diners, it’s unobtrusive to those seated for a meal.

The take away menu seemed identical to the restaurant menu, even the prices which I thought very odd! Generally, a take away meal is cheaper in my experience as you don’t have to be waited on, cleaned up after etc but anyway, that wasn’t going to deter me.

I ordered the tuna sashimi to start. I also added the beef ramen and the seafood yaki soba, Mrs Magnolia was joining me though not on the sashimi!
The waiting staff seemed attentive though they didn’t have much to do for me in fairness. My order was placed and 15min later arrived. I paid, €35.30 and raced home.

The sashimi was fine, accompanied by the usual ginger and wasabi. The wasabi appeared fresh which was nice in comparison to the paste that I’ve become accustomed to.

The beef ramen was very good. Very wholesome and I’ll certainly be looking up some recipes to try and replicate, it’s a soup for an autumnal day though pricey at €14.90 take away. The oriental vegetables were totally missing save one leaf of pak choi though.

Next was the seafood cha han. 3 sticky prawns greeted me protruding from the box. They were plump, sweet and well cooked. There were also 3 pieces of squid within, 2 of which were over cooked and chewy, the third was perfect. No other seafood was detected, neither was the miso soup or fried egg that was supposed to accompany the dish. I’m no expert on Japanese cuisine but for my buck it was a little on the greasy side. It was tasty and moreish though, no doubt.

Overall, it didn’t impress me nearly as much as I’d been expecting after talking to some locals and reading reviews here but I certainly will give it another whirl. Not takeaway though. I would eat very well twice, well nearly twice, from the Punjab restaurant for the €35.30 paid here. I must check if their prices are the same for takeaway as they are for sit-in…

BettePorter

Mr Magnolia wrote:

I must check if their prices are the same for takeaway as they are for sit-in…

They are. Exact same.

Ive had one sit in and three takeaways from it now and whilst I love it I agree its dear for takeaway but then I only really order rolls.

I was in futuyama in Dublin on Tuesday and noted that prices were considerably cheaper than dundalk. I guess they have competition though. Hopefully seeing how popular sushi is proving we might get another eatery opening up elsewhere in the future and we ll get a bit of competitive pricing.

delly

Posts split from California Burrito thread. Arigatou.

henryporter

BettePorter wrote: »

They are. Exact same.

Ive had one sit in and three takeaways from it now and whilst I love it I agree its dear for takeaway but then I only really order rolls.

I was in futuyama in Dublin on Tuesday and noted that prices were considerably cheaper than dundalk. I guess they have competition though. Hopefully seeing how popular sushi is proving we might get another eatery opening up elsewhere in the future and we ll get a bit of competitive pricing.

4 meals since it opened it must be addictive!