Review Shinjuku Japanese Restaurant - Brunswick

Lovely little place with good, albeit, simple atmosphere Genuine staff. Great value however with this type of value the food is more home cooked style - roughly chopped vegetables, a little gristle. Had the gyudon which was a little salty for my taste and would have preferred more rice. Overall, I enjoyed the experience :)

We have been enjoying Shinjuku for over ten years. I love the food at this place and always have the Sashimi, the S an S special and the California rolls. The prices are very reasonable compared with other Japanese restaurants. I think it excellent value for the money and recommend it highly.

I don't understand why it was so quiet, it's not your hip - upbeat modern kinda setting but I like that about it. The food came out fast and tasty, the sashimi was fresh and "fluffy"...(not my words) and the service was impeccable. Go! Try them out! It's a lovely atmosphere and I will definitely be back.

The place was quiet and nice. Some of the chicken was grisly and a lot of typical Japanese foods were not available. Some of the dishes had too much salt. Overall it was a pleasant place, but don't expect too much from the food.

Today I been there, service is alright. Food very salty n rough. We order beef dishes the beef very hard over cooked n salty. Bendo very bad as well. Specially Gyaza. Looks like broken dumpling. Maybe owner n staff Chinese as well instead of Japanese. Then they don’t know how to cooking. Anyway, I’m sure never go anymore as my life. I’m so sorry been here people. 😱😤😭😩😫😡🤬

I feel like these five star reviews may be from friends/family because this was honestly the most disgusting food I’ve eaten in a long time. Bit into a prawn that was actually rancid, seaweed salad terrible and pork dry and hard as a rock. Absolutely terrible

Staff very keen to greet you at the door, but then ignore you. Very busy on their phones. Departed guest's tables still have dirty plates when only 2 couples eating. Food is tasty, recommend chicken yakatori, eggplant with miso and agadashi tofu. Tempura is also good but hit and miss service, quality and price less than ideal.

I'm a regularly to this place (weekly!) Love it so much - very true to the Japanese dining experience, food is delicious and the chefs have been the the same since I was 3 years old so they know what they are doing.

Amazing service and amazing food � highly recommend.

Amazing fresh food, good prices and lovely staff. My favourite restaurant in Melbourne!

I feel bad writing this because the service was nice but the food was actually disgusting, served a rancid prawn I can't believe I bit into, awful seaweed salad and squid tentacles was actually frozen calamari. Servings also tiny...not that we wanted more : (

Shin-ju-ku! Simple, delicious Japanese food. You’re assured a great time here with the 90s Japanese decor. The food is awesomely priced and quality aint too shabby for what you’re paying, especially with byo. You go girl.

This is the probably the worst, unauthentic Japanese food I have ever had. We ordered the vegetable teriyaki and gyoza. The teriyaki was watery and more Chinese style than Japanese. The gyoza was gluggy, the skins were thick, chewy and torn. Avoid this place!

Very good.. <br/><br/>This is a quiet restaurant with good value standard Japanese food that is better than others in the vicinity.<br/><br/>We came in fairly late on a Saturday night and were pleased that our large sushi platter came out rather swiftly(especially considering we had no entrees to entertain us whilst the sushi was prepared). The sushi was very nice, fresh and great value.. <br/><br/>This place is an unassuming hidden gem, give it a try..

My go to place for take home sashimi.<br/>These guys do an amazing mixed sashimi and sushi platter for 2 people. Fish is really fresh, I'm preety sure they make it to order. The kingfish is especially delicious. And the wasabi is home made, of course. Wouldn't go anywhere else ☺

My partner suggested that we try this place out as we are local. I was a bit sceptical as I had never seen customers inside but wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt.. I should have read the reviews first. Biggest regret! Interior was cute, but the menu was limited and really did not impress. The items seemed over-priced but we decided to go ahead an order anyway.. We ordered the Tonkatsu, Whole Fried Flounder, Miso Soup and Gyoza with two servings of rice. First came the Gyoza. It looked like a very sad plate of steamed dumplings.. The skin was ripped in places with a gluggy texture, obvious that it had been frozen. The meat was beef which I felt was a strange filling choice, and to top it off it was sitting in a soy sauce/vinegar mixture. Completely soaked! I'm by no means a Japanese culinary connoisseur but I thought at least it would be panfried.. Next came the Tonkatsu which was a very sad, dark and dry piece of meat. The pork was tough and it was accompanied by thinly sliced cabbaged topped off with some sour sort of dressing. The chef had a heavy hand and the bottom of the crumbed meat was soggy. The katsu sauce was definitely bottled.. Finally, the whole flounder came. I felt like this was the most disappointing part of our meal. How can you go wrong with whole fried flounder.. It was topped off with the same sauce that came with the tonkatsu. Miso soup was powdered and came with sliced mushroom, a tiny amount of tofu and what i thought was bok choy.<br/><br/>All in all, really disappointed. Bill came up to $50 and probably worst fiddy I ever spent..<br/>

We never had such a bad meal in a long time. Shinjuku is located on Sydney road, next to Barkly Square and only open for dinner. We decided to give it a try on a Friday night after late late shopping at Barkly Square. The restaurant was not busy with a few diners. The interior looks quite warm and inviting but that's the only positive I can think of. The menu is not balanced ( missing udons, ramen etc) and seemed expensive for a local Japanese restaurant. We ordered tonkatsu chicken, bento sashi and green tea to share. Staff are not friendly ( looked moody?) and service is poor. The miso soup which was part of the bento was served first and it looked like a Chinese version of miso soup, served with Chinese green and cut button mushroom! Then came the tonkatsu chicken, it looked quite unappealing from the minute it arrived to the table. It's a thin and very dry piece of chicken with sliced cabbage salad. The crumbs are not crispy and looked like it's been fried in over used oil. It's very poor value for $15.60 and it didn't even come with rice. My bento arrived 15 mins later so we had to eat the tonkatsu as entree or it will turn cold if we waited for the bento to come. Each element on the bento was cooked so badly and you can tell just by looking at it! The sashimi pieces was all smashed and didn't look fresh! I had a small bite and it tasted off so I didn't finish it. The gyoza skin was coming apart, tasted more like cheap steam dim sim than pan fried gyoza. The tempura prawn was inedible too as it tasted off and batter was thick, not light and crispy. The ginger beef is dry. It was a very unsatisfying and expensive dinner for it is worth. Don't waste your time here, you better off going to Maccas next door. Very disgusted with the food here.

My fault for not checking out the previous review which gave this horrible place a 1.0.  I should have known, no customers on a gorgeous Saturday evening.  Rude staff, who do not even know how to greet their customers with a simple hello.  Dirty glasses and dirty chairs. Two waitresses huddled at the back counter all night whilst we had to ask for everything, from cutlery to bowls to glasses.  It was not as if they were flat chat.  We were the only table.  Once again, the sushi/sashimi was warm , just as Dave experienced.  The Yakitori soba came in oily and salty broth (more like water with MSG).  The Gyudon was atrocious.  The meat that the chef called beef is something you would not feed to your dog.  It was dry and tough.  Next came the Katsudon - crumbed fatty pork, once again dry and tough.  Both rice bowls had vegetables that were tired and should have been sent to the compost heap.  By this time, I had had enough and cancelled the last dish which was the Yakiudon. The waitress disregarded this and said it had already been cooked but came out 10 minutes later.  The chef/owner was called over to listen to my disappointment to which he simply argued "this has been the way I have been cooking this food for 26 years and if you don't like it, it is YOUR problem".  This place is a disgrace.  You get better and cheaper at a food court.  Avoid at all cost.

Service took long but well worth the wait, best nigiri and sushi I've had in Melbourne thus far!<br/>Insanely deliscious and big portion sizes. Highly recommend

Yakitori were the least bad part of a woeful meal. Fatty pieces of chicken with an unpleasant take on teriyaki sauce. Salmon and tuna sushi were warm, thick, hacked pieces of fish with the the largest veins of fat I've seen. Partner tapped out after one bite: I should have followed suit. Unagi (eel) sushi were vile. Jagged cuts of warm, terrible smelling eel. One bite of this and I was done and dry retching once we left.<br/><br/>Tried so hard to overlook the faults and just enjoy this. But my God... It was absolutely vile.

Staff are very sweet, we were seated and ordered we got a mix of tuna takaki, grilled fish, and a Californian roll - all delicious and the green tea was lovely too

We recently had dinner there with a group of friends. The menu is extensive and the beers are very reasonably priced.  We have tried their Japanese beers Asahi and Sapporo. We have enjoyed our dinner and the bill is only half of what we would normally pay at other Japanese restaurants. My favorite dishes are Shinjuku Queen Sushi and Sashimi special, gyoza and deep fried eggplant with sweet miso paste. Highly recommend this place.

Walk in with the impression the food will be nice. But is very dissapointed.. the miso soup is served with chinese veggie and mushroom. The bento sashimi is cut in a wrong direction is just discusting.. i dont event dare to eat that.. the bartered tempura taste weird and it make me wonder why they put teriyaki souce.. the gyoza .. no word to describe.. soggy coz its soaked in sauce. the beef is so chewy it feels like im eating a buffalo or just plain elephant meat (not that i have eaten before). this is by far the worst experience i have so far...for japanese.

Walking into Shinjuku actually feels like you've walked straight into a small piece of Japan. The decor, music and staff are all the real deal.<br/><br/>We started our food journey with Miso with delicious fresh onion and mushroom. Then we enjoyed the Tofu steak and the Vegetable Teriyaki with copious amounts of ginger and soy. Delicious. For us the real standout was the atmosphere and lovely service! Thank you to the Shinyuku team :-)

I hate to say it but I didn't even finish my meal. The rice in the nigiris was grainy and tasted old, and the fish was not right. The tuna seemed like it had been frozen and thawed, the texture was all wrong. The kingfish tasted off... I know it has a fishier flavour compared to other raw fish, but this was just not right. The yakitori was wayyyy over cooked and dry, and the gyoza was rubbery and under seasoned, it had that weird grey minced meat thing going on. On the upside the girl that served me was very polite and friendly, but yeah the food was nottttt good. Sorry :(

I am fairly regular here because its a local cheap eat for me. Getting good quality food with BYO and getting away for less than $20 is getting harder and harder to do nowadays but this place delivers every time.<br/><br/>The agedashi tofu, sushimi and vegetable sushi roll are really good for their price.

Dropped in for a quick date night dinner, the waitstaff were friendly and very sweet but lack the ability to ensure that the food ordered is coming out of the kitchen, it was just a rush of different staff dropping off food without any regard as to perhaps thinking of a good sequence, we ordered miso soups, Goyza, tuna rolls and a beef curry. The curry came out first, then Goyza then the miso - we waited and waited for the tuna they never appeared, no staff to follow up and see if all was ok - the food is tasty and cheap but service is disappointing, this place needs a maitre d who is an old hand and this place would be great, it has potential - amazingly the tuna made it onto the bill - we left hungry and disappointed

Menu in Zomato is out of date, current menu has limited choice. The sushi is worse than home made quality, nothing like the sushi you'll have in other real Japanese restaurant. The price is not reasonable and will not go back. Very disappointed.

Great little place. Quiet and cosy atmosphere. Menu is extensive and has everything you would expect, food is very well priced and tasty. Waitress was very nice and helpful. Will definitely be coming back. The vegetable tempura and tofu are my favourites.

Nice food and ambience. I have eaten at this place 6 or 7 times over the last couple of years (most recently a couple of weeks ago but just getting around to the review now) and have found the food to be consistently good. Generally I order a seaweed salad to start which is not the typical bright green seaweed but made with a dark style seaweed and is particularly yummy and healthy! The eggplant dish is also very tasty. The sushi and sashimi platters to share are well presented and I always find the fish to be fresh and there is a nice selection on the plate. The size of the platters (I order king size s&s between 2) is fine and goes down very well with a Kirin or two. The restaurant itself is nice and quiet and calming atmosphere. Sometimes the waiters do not have a great comprehension of english so make sure they have your order correct, but they are always very nice. As a Brunswick resident I am happy to have this restaurant close by on Sydney Road and will definitley be going back.

Not cheap and not worth money.. My wife and I decided to try this restaurant for dinner during the week since it's quite close to our place. <br/><br/>We ordered Unagi-don (Eel with rice), Prawn tempura, the green Japanese soy bean, the fried egg plant, and assorted sashimi. <br/><br/>- the green Japanese soy been is bad - like it's just taken out from the freezer then put in the microwave. Some of the bean was hot, while others were still cold. I can do this better at home with frozen bean bought from any Japanese shop.<br/>- the Prawn tempura was not crunchy and the powder inside was still wet - an indicator that it was not cooked enough.<br/>- the fried egg plant was good - I would rate it 8/10 but it's not cheap or worth the money for such simple entree. <br/>- Unagi-don had acceptable grill eel but the rice was terrible. It's not rice but more like half-cooked porridge.<br/>- Assorted sashimi were not good. The fish did not taste fresh, the cut in the fish were not good (if I don't say "amateur"). As a result, the sashimi did not provide tender, soft feeling when I ate but some were even chewy. <br/><br/>The only bright thing about this restaurant was about the quiet atmosphere and the very friendly waitress. The price were not good if I compare that to other Japanese restaurants in the CBD. <br/><br/>I will not go back here again.

Good food all year round. I have had many good experiences here. The atmosphere at shinjuku is really great - cozy, ambient lighting and traditional japanese music. Their gyu teppanyaki is amazing and a good price for such a large portion, with a bowl of rice or two even a larger man such as myself (6'1'') is left feeling satisfied.

Good Value, Yummy and Nice Atomosphere. Shinjuku is my favourite Japanese restaurant in Melbourne. As a local resident in Brunswick, I visit the restaurant often for many years. Food is always fresh, especially love Sushi and Sashimi from the Sushi Bar. Compared to other Japanese restaurants in Melbourne, Shinjuku offers the best value. The portion of the dishes is amazingly big. The music they play is very soothing.

Yumjuku. There's options to either dine in true Japanese style sitting on the floor on low tables or sat at the table. The latter option means you have to eat in a small room out back though! <br/>The wait staff are super friendly and it's moderately busy even on week days. The dishes are yumtastic, we enjoyed their BBQ chicken skewers and yakitori. One of the yummier Japanese fare in Brunswick. Only downside is the loo is located down a small creepy back lane (like many inner city suburbs) and parking is plentiful down dark smaller streets off the main road.

This is the second time I have been here. It's understated, good food and value.

Love it!. Shinjuku is definitely a japanese favourite I've found in Melbourne; the staff are lovely, the environment is very warm, the sashimi/sushi are always so incredibly fresh and the main meals are great for their price.<br/>Will definitely go back in the future.

Good Service. Good service, but I wish I could say the same with the food. Ordered Seafood Soba noodles and tempura basket (assorted). The soda noodles wasn't bad, but it wasn't really decent tasting. The seasoning was really light and lacking that flavor. The seafood was pretty bad. It didn't really taste like seafood. For example, mussels, squid, and even crabmeat tasted something that was frozen.<br/><br/>GF and I split the tempura basket, and it came assorted and freshly fried. It pretty saved a decent experience from going bad.

Meh. Had take away from this restaurant tonight and it was very underwhelming for the price I paid. Tonkatsu tasted like lemon... and nothing else, tempura vegetables were massive slabs. Wouldn't have bothered me too much if I wasn't $22 out of pocket for mediocre food.

Horrible food, nice venue. We were the only ones in the restaurant on a thurs night. Nice style for a cheaper place, staff seem nice and nice Japanese music.<br/>The Udon Noodle soup with tempura prawn and vegetables was unfortunately really awful, soup stock tasted terrible and the tempura was not light and crispy but oily and almost chewy and covered in BBQ like sauce.<br/>Soba Noodles with seafood was also just terrible, seafood extender was used, dry salmon chunks, an awful tinned mussel, sauce was horrible. My partner could only eat part of it before giving up and she is not fussy. I didn't eat all of my meal either. <br/>We were really disappointed, but understand why the restaurant was empty - if the food was good, like other Brunswick restaurants it would be packed.

I love this place. One of my favourite places to eat out in Brunswick. Very friendly service, relaxed atmosphere, never too busy, food always comes quickly and reasonably priced. All good honest food - don't come here expecting something fancy, but do come expecting something yummy. The Gyu Teppanyaki is my favourite - served on a sizzler plate and has plenty of veges and just the right amount of chilli to sent your mouth a-tingle. Tempura veges also a hit.

Terrible nasty place ever in my life. Food is below the average, service is terrible. I won't go back again.

Great little restaurant, cheap and cheap drinks for fresh and tasty sushi and hot food.<br/>Bento box is amazing, the teriyaki anything is also great as well as the gyu sashi.

Awful.. katsu don inedible, overpriced and terrible... gyoza seemed to be steamed from frozen...

Consistent noms. A++ would nom again.. My husband and I have been going to Shinjuku for around 3 years now. The staff are lovely, service seems to come very quickly! Food is great and priced really reasonably. A reviewer above said 'Japanese music (that Shinjuku play in the restaurant) is an acquired taste'. My immediate thought was 'I've been there enough times to acquire it!'<br/><br/>We've done takeaway a few times too, which is insanely speedy. However I much prefer the restaurant experience. It's really quiet and calm while you eat, a bit of an oasis on the sometimes zany Sydney Rd. They have BYO, which is great, as well as reasonably priced drinks.<br/><br/>Although new sushi places open all the time on Sydney Rd, Lygon St etc, for the quality and content provided Shinjuku is really holding up its own when price is considered.

Sushi and Sashimi is Yummo!. Friendly attentive staff. The Sushi and Sashimi $30 plate for 2 was fantastic. The hot food is nice, though I think maybe its a little better over the road, that said Shinjuku is cheaper than over the road. Well worth a visit.

Good!. I've been to Shinjuku (the actual place) several times, and although it isn't up to par with that, it's still pretty good. Avoid the hand-rolls though, they are out of proportion. Way too much salmon,

Wonderful.. Love this place, food is reasonably priced, menu is diverse, flavours are excellent overall.<br/><br/>Great Japanese!

Stuff are very friendly and great service. However, food was terrible. I won't go back again. It's just wasting of money.

Great little restaurant, you won't find five star Japanese cuisine here, however if you're after a really fantastic Japanese experience on a budget then you'll love it. I would happily return to Shinjuku!

Goya wee nice but did not really enjoy much else. A little over price for the quality

Nice place, well priced. Not the best Japanese but not the worst. Very cosy interior & well priced food with generous servings make for an enjoyable eating experience. A nice no fuss place for dinner

Horrible Food. Japanese food in Brunswick was always going to be a bad decision. We ate on a Friday night, the place was pretty quiet. Chicken Yakitori was disgusting, not fresh, fatty chunks of reheated chicken accompanied with blocks of not quite sure. Had a bite and left it. <br/>The fish teriyaki was dry and tasteless, apparently the chef didn't use the 'normal' fish. What the? <br/>We didn't attempt to eat the tired sushi. Hugely disappointing dining experience. <br/>The only pass mark with this poor excuse for a restaurant was the $3.90 VB's and they could have been colder. <br/><br/>Save your cash folks go to Maccas down the road.<br/><br/><br/>-----23 Mar, 2012-----<br/><br/>Horrible Food. Japanese food in Brunswick was always going to be a bad decision. We ate on a Friday night, the place was pretty quiet. Chicken Yakitori was disgusting, not fresh, fatty chunks of reheated chicken accompanied with blocks of not quite sure. Had a bite and left it. <br/>The fish teriyaki was dry and tasteless, apparently the chef didn't use the 'normal' fish. What the? <br/>We didn't attempt to eat the tired sushi. Hugely disappointing dining experience. <br/>The only pass mark with this poor excuse for a restaurant was the $3.90 VB's and they could have been colder. <br/><br/>Save your cash folks go to Maccas down the road.

The food is good, the music is traditional Japanese, which is an aquired taste

Fresh sushi. open 6 - 10.30 Sunday to Thursday and 6 - 11 Friday and Saturday

This place caught my attention, cause it's only open 4 hrs a day, and the menu was vague in it's descriptions, we all ordered bento boxes and drinks, while I've had better Japanese food this is still above average, the bathrooms are very nice, but they need to enter the 21 century, credit cards excepted but doing it manually?!?! Wtf???? No eftpos, so make sure you take cash.