Nori - Modern Izakaya - Japanese restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

We were staying at a hotel in the area and was craving some good Japanese Izakaya. We found this place and gave it a try. It was modern looking and lively. The sushi was fantastic and the izakaya items were also good. My “ Old Fashioned”drink was perfect. Hard to find good “ Old Fashioned “ in VN. Our server was new to serving and didn’t speak too much English, but she was very nice and attentive to our needs. We are so much sashimi that night, the manager gave us some special fish to try out. It was wonderful!!! We be coming back there next time we’re in the area. Thank you NORI

If you’re missing some Japanese cuisine, this is definitely the place to visit! We really enjoyed the food, the service, and the overall atmosphere. Even though the restaurant was fully booked on a Friday night and we couldn’t get our preferred seats, we were still seated surprisingly quickly. The food was delicious, the music created a great vibe, and the staff were friendly and attentive throughout our visit. So it was a wonderful dining experience. Highly recommend this place! 😊

Honestly, this place is definitely a ‘looks better than it tastes’ I’m not expecting this place to be the highest class restaurant but with the amount of positive reviews I was definitely expecting a bit more… The guy that took my order kind of rushed us, when I was obviously looking through the menu and writing down notes of the names of which ones I wanted he persisted me to order when I was still looking. I tried 4 dishes being the foie gras chawan mushi, crab paste with missi sauce, oysters and negi salmon. The only 2 I liked was the chawan mushi and the oysters. The foie gras didnt really taste like much but the chawan mushi itself was amazing, the oysters were fresh and tasted nice as well. The crab paste wasn’t really good… It was sickly sweet and too fat tasting like mayo. Wasnt that enjoyable to be honest. The Negi salmon was probably the worst dish I’ve tasted. It was fine at the first few bites but then it was extremely strong with a wasabi taste, like OVERLY powerful to the point I gagged sometimes cause I would get a big whiff of pure wasabi. I couldnt even finish the dish.I really think they should list more of their main ingredients on the menu cause I did not expect the salmon to taste like that… For the price of everything and the quality it wasnt really worth it…

Ugh, I am absolutely furious right now! The service itself isn't even bad, but I am slapping this place with a 1-star review because of the blatant extortion happening in their parking lot and my embarrassment with my clients. Here’s the ridiculous situation: I brought my Japanese clients here for what was supposed to be a chill, relaxed evening of Japanese food and drinks. I drove my own car, parked in front of the restaurant, and literally watched my parking fee get automatically deducted through VETC. Smooth, right? Wrong. We spend three hours inside, everything goes well, and the moment we step back out to the car, this security guard came up and demanding another "weekend parking fee". Are you kidding me? I was right in front of my clients, so of course, I just handed over the cash to avoid a humiliating scene and protect my professional reputation. It's not about the additional fee; it's the utter rage of being double-charged and scammed right in front of people I'm trying to impress. Why don't you just add such fee to my bill. To make matters worse, while writing this review, I saw another review with the exact same situation as mine from just 2 days ago—despite you replying that it would be fixed! Fix your shady staff and stop using auto-respond!

Food: It was a modern Izakaya style and the food was very fresh and full of flavor. I appreciate the food with a good quality presentation. Drinks: I think the cocktails were on the pricier side but they were good and worth it just plan to order a few. Super refreshing. Atmosphere: I enjoyed the outdoor area. It has a relaxed and stylish vibe that is ideal for hanging out. It offers a very nice and relaxing atmosphere and it's overall a nice touch. Overall, a nice ambience with great drinks, really good food and a fabulous atmosphere. I look forward to returning.