The Sushi Bar at Shiro's
I know Shiro's has already enough glowing reviews around here, but I went again (it is next door) last night ans had a wonderful omakase experience with the lady. We started with the Belltown poke, then natu salad (miso sauce with salmon, cucumbers, tuna, etc), then a porcini muchroom broth that was steamed in a tiny tea pot that had exquisite subtle mushroomo flavor (the broth, not the teapot :)).
Next came melt-in-your mouth albacore nigiri, followed by maguro nigiri, followed by a piece of salmon nigiri and mackarel nigiri with a light ginger sauce and pickled onion slice (no soy), followed by a piece of squid nigiri with real wasabi (a customer had brought in a root), followed by a piece of abalone nigiri and scallop nigiri with sea salt (no soy). Next, but not last was two pieces of hamachi and finally a fried "dessert" sushi.
Everything was delicious and it forever ingrained in my head that you can only so Shiro's at the bar. We even had a nice couple conversations with Shiro-san. Sitting at a table is always disappointing for me and I've decided after last night to never do it again.
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Oddly, i've had the exact opposite experience in terms of bar/table...i've been there twice when visiting Seattle...the table experience was great, super-friendly service, wonderful fish, etc...the bar meal, with Shiro, was underwhelming, plus i was annoyed that Shiro totally ignored all my requests to avoid certain fish, have a sashimi course first, etc (i speak mediocre-but-throughly-understandable Japanese and usually have pleasant conversations when i do an omakase elsewhere, but twas not the case w/ Shiro)
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As the OP notes, Shiro is widely considered a sushi master who is a integral part of perhaps Seattle's best omakase experience, and having yet to try that, I can't really doubt it. I wonder whether this also means that those not fortunate enough to sit before the man are likely to get inferior sushi. I say this because I visited and sat at a table recently, and while the modest sashimi/sushi omakase ($20/30) we recieved was quite good (esp. the snapper and the hamachi), it was definitely less carefully assembled than a recent, similarly priced chef's choice from Kisaku. I would also say my experiences (at the bar) in Saito's were better. Since Shiro's prices are higher than these two, I have to inquire if Shiro's apprentices are really up to par, or if it is just a question of the interactive experience bringing it together. To be fair, I went late on a Sunday, and the staff in general seemed eager to get out of there.
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