Miyako Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar

I would give this place 0 stars if I had the option. When I was in college it tasted great (~12 yrs ago that's when I was introduced to sushi), but with all the new sushi restaurants popping up left and right I haven't been back for a while. My last visit will be my last.

My husband and I came out feeling sick eating their sushi, he comes from a Japanese background. The sushi was not fresh at all.

I do not recommend this place at all, there are so many other sushi restaurants out there now that is so much better. Miyako is just a chain restuarant and I forgot to mention the service was horrible.

Posted 01/20/09

Miyako is one of the japanese restaurants i compare to others. in fact when im at other Japanese restaurants. just wander why did i not just go to Miyako. they have everything that I like. service is good and food is always consistant. Keep up the good work 5 Stars

Pros: Crunchy Roll Rocks

Cons: Parking

Posted 01/19/09

Been coming here for years. great service, food and quality. CRUNCHY MAHI is off the chart . service is sometime slow. hopefully they will work on it. but 2009 is coming and sure they will fix it..... love this place. highly recommend

Posted 12/29/08

I read reviews and felt this would be a good place for my family and me to dine as we enjoy Japanese food.
We came last week on happy hour. The service was poor and it took forever to get the check. We never saw our waitress after she brought the food out. Salmon sashimi was good but their sushi rolls weren't good ---lots of rice. I would recommend this place if you love to load up on rice on your sushi rolls.

Posted 11/18/08

The food was tasty, the happy hour prices are good, but the service was so-so. I just heard on the radio today that they now have an extended happy hour; after 8pm, all food on the menu is 30% off. That's good news if you've been out at a club and want a little sushi before heading home.
.
One thing I find disturbing, though, is some of the unnecessarily xenophobic comments left here, especially by user "M1chelle". She says (in very poor English, I might add) "we dont have good diner at that time because we heard their manager,waitstaffs,host talking together very loud with alien's language", and she goes on to state"This is America,please be profesional ,speak with english language".
.
M1chelle, a) Miyako is a Japanese restaurant, and most of the staff are Japanese (or Asian) natives and Japanese is their first language; b) this is indeed America, and last I checked, people are FREE to speak whatever language they feel like here; and c) before you chide someone for not speaking English, you need to at least learn how to WRITE in coherent English.

Pros: Food, happy hour pricing

Cons: Service could be better

Posted 09/30/08

The atmosphere may not be what it is at some of the more chic sushi restaurants but it has the best sushi in the city. Their special rolls are incredible-especially with some sake during their happy hour. The service is usually pretty good.

Posted 07/15/08

I've been to Miyako three times and it gets worse and worse everytime. The very last time I went there, the food was horrible, not only the sushi was tasteless, the soy sauce is the saltiest soy sauce I have ever eaten in my life. On top of that, the attitude of the waitresses were just terrible. We had to wait for a long long time for the waitress to come over to serve us and the waitresses talked among themselves, it's as if you are not there. I don't know what happened because Miyako was quite good a year ago, but recently, it is getting really bad. Definitely not recommended.

Posted 07/14/08

I came eat sushi diner at miyako last week with my coworkers.OMG we dont have good diner at that time because we heard their manager,waitstaffs,host talking together very loud with alien's language and sometimes their eyes looked at our table.We dont know what they talking about but thats bother us.This is America,please be profesional ,speak with english language in your working area.

Posted 07/13/08

I must admit that I had huge reservations about dining at Miyako, due to the awful reviews I read. Ironically it was one review that had rated the restuarant very low that actually won me over. Before the gentlement went into all of the hype about what went wrong, he stopped for a moment and had to give them their props, THE FOOD WAS STUPENDOUS! I just relocated here from Baton Rouge, LA and until today, I would journey to B.R. at least once a week to dine at my FAVORITE sushi restuarant. Sushi is my addiction. The service at Miyako was great, the atmosphere was very inviting, and the happy hour prices were the bomb. Tsuanami might just be in trouble. I will definitely be back, possibly tomorrow.

Pros: Everything

Cons: none

Posted 07/06/08

This restaurant was not what I expected. Be warned before eating there. Take out might be the best option as far as I'm concerned.

Pros: you can take your food out instead of being slighted by your waitress

Cons: staff, price, food not that great

Posted 07/01/08

I would not recommend this place to anyone as a native Japanese citizen. I decided to read through some of the reviews before I put in my 2 cents. I'm surprised that there was actually a good rating this year. Must be one of the staff trying to boost things up. From what I have read of all the reviews this last year, minus one review, the service here absolutely does not match the food. The good reviews are ten months apart. That really tells you something. The first priority of this restaurant is to make money. It shows with the wait staff and it shows on the bill. I don't mind paying for good sushi, but there's a limit to how far I will bend over. And believe me, there will be a lot of bending over at this place with their $2 skimpy bowl of plain rice that is not even a rounded bowl of rice. The waitresses do not take any responsibility for anything that goes wrong and seem somewhat disgruntled to be working their with their forced smiles and reluctance to be successful in customer service. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't wish to entirely rehash my awful experience that ruined my evening, but it was such an affront to eat there that I felt compelled to write a quick note to the people at Miyako on their website. There was not follow-up at all. Read the other reviews about the staff and managers. They speak volumes of truth.

Pros: parking

Cons: service, price

Posted 07/01/08

I ate at the Westheimer location last night for the first time and I loved it. The tuna and salmon was the freshest I have had in Houston and I love the 50% off special rolls during happy hour. My waitress was very pleasant and attentive. All the sushi that I ordered came out fast and fresh. I will be going back very soon.

Pros: Happy Hour, Freshness of the fish

Cons: the Happy Hour is only till 7

Posted 06/26/08

We had several problems dining here. However, before I begin, I must be fair to say that the food was impeccable. But the unpleasantness of the staff is what entirely ruined the entire experience. I also would like to mention that I have been in the customer service business for over ten years, three of them which included waitressing, so I believe I know when I see bad service, as disguised as it may be. Our food came out at completely different times. The sashimi for one person was brought to our table followed by two of three hand rolls. Being polite diners, we wanted to wait until most of everyone's food came out so we would all have something to eat. However, I didn't get my food until about 10 mins later. At this point there was still one person's order missing and a hand roll missing. We gave up and began to eat, sharing our food with the person who did not get his order yet. A good 15 mins later, the last of the order arrived. The person who had the hand rolls discovered after eating the last hand roll that the first two hand rolls were soggy. She mentioned this to the waitress. When she did not handle it very well, the rest of us brought up the untimeliness of the orders coming to the table. She became extremely defensive at this point, babbling about how there were two different sushi chefs, so on and so forth. I stopped listening after the first 30 seconds. It was even more insulting because she explained it in a condescending manner as if explaining how to add one plus one to an infant. She didn't stop there. She proceeded to "explain" the "excuse" to us several times afterwards, as if the first time wasn't painful enough. There was not one single peep from the so-called manager. If the manager was doing his/her job, the food would not have come out at different times, and his employee wouldn't have to hide bad service from him. So the manager has time to tell people that happy hour is almost over, but not to make a courtesy visit to an unhappy table.

Pros: ONLY the sushi and sashimi

Cons: HORRENDOUS service with condescending attitude, food comes out at completely different times, staff is only concerned about making money off their customers and not about customer service

Posted 06/22/08

Miyako's is usually not at the top of my favorite 5 sushi places, but the happy hour prices in the evening is inviting along with eating some healthy food. The appetizer's are tasty and so are many of the rolls; really enjoy the gyoza and tempura. Outside of that, I'm not too fond of the sushi/shashimi. I would encourage not to eat the escolar, which is my favorite, but the peices that I was surved had an overtly fishy smell and the tast is not the usual cool, milky flavor. The manager did not have a problem with returning the escolar. When it came to the bill, the waitress charged me for that. Simple oversight and requested that it be stricken from the bill. When receiving the amended bill, it didnt have the adjusted price for the happy hour prices and that is where my rub is. It tells me she intentionally chose to try and rip us off.
I would encourage future diners to review your final tab closely!

Pros: Happy hour prices

Cons: Be mindfull of your bill to ensure your not overcharged! Parking

Posted 06/04/08

I have been miyako's customer since 2000. I like miyako but they changed.They just give customer wasabi only and not with ginger anymore.Ginger will be given upon request only.Thats so crazy dude.I go a lot of sushi restaurants and when you order sushi,they'll give ginger and wasabi automatically and don't need wait for customer asking for ginger.I just wondering,how come a big restaurant like miyako who exist for 25 years already still do like that?You need remember a lot of sushi restaurant surround you, so not only small thing make customer will not come back anymore.

Posted 04/27/08

my friend and i arrived at 6:46pm, a little less than 15 min before happy hour ended. i noticed the hostess didn't give us the happy hour menu so i asked for it. After receiving it, the frowning manager came to our table to remind us quite rudely that there were only a few minutes left before happy hour ended. and THEN, another waitress came to again, quite rudely, remind us that there were only a few more minutes left and that we had to order EVERYTHING at one time. pretty stressful way to start the meal, especially when we were expecting 5 more people to show up.

if it's THAT BIG OF A DEAL to order off the happy hour menu 15 minutes before it ends, then just DO AWAY with it instead of souring my appetite before i even eat. when i arrived at the kirby location at 6:58pm, the waitress happily took my order and was very friendly. these westheimer folks could use a lesson. if i am paying money to eat there, i should NOT be made to feel like a BURDEN. if i had come AFTER 7, it would have been a WHOLE different story.

i had previously given this place 4 stars, but after last night's visit, it's going down to 1 and i won't come back here if i can help it.

Pros: happy hour specials

Cons: udon, the manager (who probably needed a hug or something)

Posted 02/13/08

I love coming here for happy hour, which is M-F, 5-7 pm. They have good deals on certain rolls (caterpillar, california, the typical ones -- comes out to about $3 a roll) and nigiri (about $1 per piece). The fish is always fresh and I have never had complaints about their service. The only issue is their parking; sometimes you might have to park pretty far down the strip center and make your way over to Miyako.

Pros: Happy hour prices are great.

Cons: Parking is a bit difficult.

Posted 08/29/07

yes! the perfect combination, great sushi and a low price. plus the ambiance is great for the neighborhood.

Posted 12/03/06

for some reason, this miyako locale is a tad better in all aspects than it's locale on kirby. first off, the ambience is mesmorizing: it's quaint and cozy ... with a personalized touch to having an enjoyable dining experience. the sushi is quite interesting, though a tad bit pricey, but nevertheless the sushi is more than decent. go here if you want a nice romantic dinner for 2. the comfortable booths provide that opportunity to snuggle up.*

Pros: ambience, romantic

Cons: parking

Posted 11/20/06

I love Miyako before but not anymore. I was dissapointed last week when i came for dinner with my family. We need wait long time for our sushi order.At that time, Miyako didn't very busy but sushi men was busy drinking beer and talking with customer in the sushi bar so they took 30 minutes to cut our sushi.We suggest Sushi men are not drinking beer during restaurant hour.And one more thing, please tell 1 crazy sushi man dont make a noise with that drum very loud coz i could get heart attack right away.thanks

Posted 10/14/06

As previously stated, Miyako is way overpriced, the service is average to bad and the sushi is not that amazing. Even the atmosphere is gloomy and loud.

Pros: Cheap beer during happy hour

Cons: everything else

Posted 07/04/06

For the past ten years, this has been my sushi place, but no more! You can forget the insider tip about Miyako Bucks. They are a thing of the past. The sushi was never AWESOME, and the service was always horrible, but the price was great! That was until about 2 years ago. Now the prices are outragous and the sushi is still just alright. The menu is tired and they have even started lowering their quality of sushi by doing things like using crawfish tails in their rolls instead of whole soft shelled crawfish. THey are giving you less now and charging way more! Used to love it, but not anymore!!!

Pros: atmosphere

Cons: over priced, sushi not great, service

Posted 04/30/06

this is the more tastless sushi i've ever had the displeasure of eating. I cant believe people think this sushi is edible....

Posted 09/26/05

This is an o.k. place. The sushi was not the best ever. Everything was inexpensive. Kind of like a chinese buffet. Lots of it and cheap, but nothing special.

Posted 05/09/05

The food was okay. I liked the ambience, it's very romantic, but it's sort of crowded. If you want avoid the crowdness, try to sit away from the sushi bar in the middle. The sushi was one of the best, but not the best in town. Also, the service is very prompt, very nice people and friendly

Pros: service, ambience

Posted 08/26/04

I'm not sure how this place stays busy. No place to park and the food quality was extremely suspect. Try Azuma on Kirby in the Village. They understand how its done. It's a little more pricey but well worth it.

Cons: Parking, Food Quality, Service

Posted 08/09/03

We visited Miyako on Valentine's Day after leaving Wasabi Japanese Rest in Sugar Land. Wasabi had horrible service and we sat unattended for 1.5 at our table before getting up and leaving. Miyako, however, can handle the traffic on busy days and gets food out promptly. The service and value is excellent.

Pros: Good food, Value, Service

Cons: Parking

Posted 02/17/03

This restaurant is great, (Bay Area Blvd, Clearlake)large bar for sushie, large sitting area for regular menu, also in the back they have habatchi. If you go for habatchi, be prepared to wait. They have only two tables and they are always full. Other wise I would recommed it. It has always been a great dining experience. If you friends have never tried sushie, take them here.

Pros: fresh fish, skilled chefs

Cons: Driveway tight, a wait on habatchi

Posted 10/20/02

Ive been a customer at Miyako for over 10 years now...I have been to many different Japanese Restaurants around Houston but no other restaurant can compare to the outgoing environment of Miyako. The great Sushi specials that the kind chefs prepare daily, the cheerful greeting once you walk in, and the great food that comes out so fashionable. The Sushi specials are the best amongst the best. Creations that you can not find anywhere else in Houston. Great Food, Good Service, I am Speechless!

Pros: Great Food, Nice Employees, Inexpensive

Cons: Crowded

Posted 08/04/02

This sushi restaurant is not the best in the city. Are you kidding me? I have been probably over 10 times to both the downtown and the one off of HW59 and each time it has been good, but nothing special. The chef's always put too much rice on the sushi and not enough fish. The fish is inconsistant in regards to its freshness. If you are craving sushi and want a quick fix, and it is convenient to go to, then come here. If you want a special sushi experience, take your business elsewhere.

Pros: good prices

Cons: crowded

Posted 07/01/02

I love Miyako! Especialy the Skydiver Maki! THE best sushi in Houston. Could be more authintic but the food is great! (The Westhimer location is grate by don't care for the Kirby location)

Pros: Great Food, Cute Waitstaff ^_^, Big Big Selection

Cons: No Parking!, Crowded, Language Barrier

Posted 06/23/02

NO hot towels offered as in tradional Japanese restaurants.
Vietnamese hot sauce used, not seen in Japanese restaurants outside of Houston.
Salad dressing definitely NOT Japanese, contained excessive mayonaise. Avoid the salad if you want traditional Japanese.
Sushi was OK.
Sashimi was good.
Hamachi Kama was excellent.
Overall, on par with Benihana's on Westheimer.

Cons: expensive

Posted 05/25/02