Review Arashi Kushiyaki - Wellington

I was very sad when they missed an item on my delivery. After I informed them of the error, they were very apologetic and wrote a cute card!! So amazing! 🤩 After all the drama!! The noodles were delivered and they were so yummy!!! 🤤

This restaurant isn't fantastic, but I keep.coming back and have been doing so for nearly 10 years. Why? The food isn't anything special. At best, it's at the good end of average. The restaurant itself is often very noisy (especially if there are groups - it's popular with groups because they allow BYO), and the staff are busy. On the other hand, service is quick, and the prices are very reasonable. I think that's why I keep coming back. This place is reliable - not great food, but ok, inexpensive and fast.

My favourite restaurant by far! I come here often. The food is so good and well worth the price. Best teriyaki chicken I have ever had. The staff are so friendly and always ensure the customers are happy! Highly recommend.

Went there for lunch. Food was delicious for a good price (17$ /p) and staff very lovely. Don't understand the bad reviews because we had a great experience there !

Okay, Arashi Kushiyaki is honestly one of the best resurants I have been to ever. Great food, lovely people and did I mention great food? Very reasonable prices and a great menu with lots of options for adults and kids. Will visit again in the near future.

Service was delightful. Food unique and wonderful. Especially loved the potatoes croguette and the karaage and the grill salmon and the .... so it goes on. Food is light and fresh tasting. We’ve been a few times and not been disappointed. It can be noisy, but wasn’t this time.

Amazing food. Best in Japanese cuisine in Wellington. Top tier service too. Especially from the young chinese boy.

So I was kind of iffy about this place because of the reviews, but I really wanted to try their VISAWOAP crayfish ramen. Absolutely delicious. At first it was okay but the more I ate, the more I wanted. Broth was top notch. Ramen was cooked nicely with still a bit of chew to it. Service was okay, but looking at the opening times, they probably work 12+ hours a day 7 days a week so I'd feel the same way too.

The food was delicious - we all loved our meals - so good. On the skewers make sure you read carefully if you are getting 1 or 3 because they are mixed up. My friend got one not the three she expected and was annoyed (cuz they are good and you would want more ;) The staff was fine - polite. I had basic teriyaki chicken and rice and miso soup. We brought our own wine - no problem, just small corking fee. It's not cozy but it does have ok ambiance. If the music was chilled and traditional it would have been better. There is I think one table or two with seating on the floor as well.

Delicious. Tasty. Great prices. Quick service. I will definitely go again. Highly recommend

The chairs don't have any back rest which adds to the atmosphere of it being an authentic restaurant. But it's uncomfortable. The food is delicious and the staff were nice and brought our food quickly. I recommend the karage meal set, it's a delicious crispy chicken with rice with a side of miso soup and salad

Great restaurant! Love their Japanese food. Great place for group dining. 😁 Had the chicken karaage don buri - it was beautifully crispy and the meat was juicy and tender.

I highly recommend going to this restaurant the service is great, food is delicious and everything is at a reasonable price. It is a very busy restaurant but they somehow get the food out pretty fast and the plating is quite pretty. They also have lovely wines and desserts one of my favourite dish was the Kushiyaki skewers. Recommend going for a girls night out or even with kids for great sushi.

From the moment you step into Arashi Kushiyaki Bar, you are greeted with warm hospitality. The attentive service and delicious izakaya-style dishes make it a favorite among locals.

Soooo delicious! Miso- yum! Teriyaki chicken-yum! Salad-yum! Dumplings-YUMMY �

I'll be back it's good. Really good. Have to recommend the rare scotch fillet and simple but super delicious grilled salmon with mayo and soft shell crab

We turned up with more than we had booked so tables and benches moved to seat 15 of us altogether, food amazing and not a long wait as we had experience the whole time in Wellington this weekend . Worth a trip hidden jem

Not bad. Not bad service. Not bad food. Not bad staff. Not bad at all

Great food with many options, and very reasonable price. I will definitely go back.

Seriously delicious dumplings and sushi.

Food quality is good but service needs improvement. Especially to overcome a language barrier.

A group of 12 celebrated a birthday dinner at Arashi on Saturday night. The service was very slow and some others groups that arrived after us were served and finished before our main course began. We waited more than half an hour to place our orders only to find 10 minutes later that someone had been forgotten. Appetisers started coming out between 15-40 minutes later, finally followed by main meals after an hour or so. The food was really disappointing; bland at best. We shared a skewer of prawns with spicy mayonnaise. There wasn't much flavour but this turned out to be the best dish of our meal. Next came takoyaki, deep fried octopus dough balls with a smoky 'special sauce'. For mains, we had katsu don (pork) and teriyaki chicken don, both quite stodgy and with non-descript flavours. Despite creating separate bills for each diner, we were not allowed to use our Entertainment Book discount "because that's for the whole table. You can use it next time." No, there definitely won't be a next time.

My partner and I went today and it’s our first time eating in Arashi. We ordered their soft shell crab, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and teppanyaki beef set. We will definitely go back to this place to try the rest in their menu. 😊

I hadn’t been to this restaurant for years and we decided to order some takeaways. I had the teriyaki chicken set, we also ordered the takoyaki. I really wanted to like it but the sauce on the chicken was gelatinous and tasteless. Completely lacking in flavour, and tbh there wasn’t much chicken. It had been filled out by a crust that was all soggy by the time it was delivered. I’m sure it would have been nicer to eat there. But I’d have to say, there’s probably a reason why I hadn’t returned to eat at this place. There are so many great options in Wellington now, that I guess we’re spoilt for choice!

Good atmosphere, good staff, fun and good food with reasonable prices. Really busy on the weekends, great for BYOs. Katsu is really delicious and loaded. Great atmosphere and friendly hosts.

It was average food. Wasn't as good quality as I thought it would be and the food was expensive for what it was. The dumplings and spring rolls were nice, but again expensive. The Don bowls were ok but on the small side for the price you pay. I wont be dining here again, there are far better places then this.

You must pay for either 2 entrees or one main if you are doing a BYO and then $5 corkage fee too. Not great as a broke student looking for a night out on a budget. The food was nice but severely overpriced. I ordered the spring rolls which were tiny though delicious. Not worth $8. Every other meal was too small and overpriced. A group of 16 was sat around a table for 12 and it was very uncomfortable, to the point where meals could not be ordered because there was no room to eat them. Staff were a bit cold, they did have some bad customers but a smile and some time to deliberate when told about the two entree rule would have been nice

I used to really like this place, coming here quite often during lunchtime from Uni. In recent years though the standard has really dropped with the quality of food. It's definitely not Japanese but Chinese cooking Japanese. The Yakitori beef sticks were too chewy and gelatinous that it was so obvious an inferior cut of beef was used. I wasn't too impressed with the service too as they seem in a hurry to shoo us out from the premises as it got busier. Not sure if I'll be back.

Went here for my wedding anniversary. The service was amazing, chatty staff and great service. The highlight was definitely Teppanyaki Pepper Beef set and dumplings, so tasty and authentic. Highly recommend.

Have been here a few times and it's a great place (and good location) to eat at. The Chicken katsudon is a favourite of mine and would recommend that especially when they have it during their lunch time special. Can get a bit noisy during dinner time on a busy night but that's to be expected at a packed restaurant and on a weekend.

I have got food poisoning from this restaurant... Just too noisy and couldn't enjoy the atmosphere:( Staff were rude too. I do not recommend this restaurant.

I only ordered the eel dong and the eel was much thinner than I expected. The sauce was a little bit bitter and eel seemed not very fresh, slightly fishy smell. It was a disappointing experience.

I love Arashi! Always have a good meal here.good atmosphere, a great place for a byo. Have also bought takeaways from here which were great.

I'd been here once before and it was just as good then as it was this time. The tofu,though it seems small at first was deliciously filling. Both times I've had the katsu curry set which I haven't been able to finish. It's really tasty. What I didn't like was that when I asked the difference between katsu don and katsu curry, I was told the katsu don was a katsu don . That didn't help me at all. <br/> Being a byo Friday nights tend to get filled especially with bigger groups.

Went here for dinner and we were only ones there to begin with as they had just opened. The staff were friendly and recommended certain drinks when we asked about the Japanese alcoholic drinks. We also asked for two small plates to be served first and the rest afterwards and they remembered and did that correctly. Decor was cool and food was great! Only downfall was the portions on first sight compared to the price but we ordered quite a lot and I was full at the end. My boyfriends teriyaki beef was so tender too, very nice.

Meant to try Kazu next door but it is closed. Went here instead. It is packed and loud inside. Price is high, food served is average. Plenty of better restaurant around town!

Went with some friends and was seated in the front of the restaurant, sitting on the floor, which was actually really nice. The food was great and was out less than 10 minutes after us ordering it. We got a variety of dishes, and didn't have a bad one. They were all really well cooked, and authentic too. Overall, a really delicious meal, I'd definitely eat here again.

I'm a little bit unsure what rating to give Arashi but I think a 3.5 would be about right. As a group of four we shared a variety of entrees and mains, my favourites being the dumplings, sashimi set and the omu raisu. I also liked the fact that the plates were presented in creative ways. So overall the food was very good and the sparkling wine we ordered made it all the more pleasant. <br/><br/>The only critique I have is that one of the waitresses was a bit abrupt. After our mains we were still finishing off our drinks when one of the waitresses said 'you need to go now'. To be fair they probably were expecting a busy night but it would have been better for them to have advised us of an appropriate time to leave much earlier.

A fantastic evening with my boyfriend at Arashi on a Saturday night. We had been here before and had a less-than-pleasant experience being squeezed in at the back of the restaurant, full of rowdy 10+ BYO groups. However, when making a booking this time I requested to be seated at the front end of the restaurant, and they were very accommodating. We arrived for our 8pm booking and were immediately seated. The waitress gave us the perfect time to look at the menu and was friendly and efficient. We had soy beans, dumplings, octopus dough balls and sirloin skewers to start- all delicious and came out within minutes of each other. We both had set menu mains (sizzling plate, rice, miso, salad), bf had s/h crab and I had squid. All delicious, and came out together. We also had a large hot sake with our BYO wine. My only complaint (a very small one) was that we were very close to the next table- I could have reached out and touched their plates. However this didn't affects experience. All up the evening came to $88, which I was pleasantly surprised with, given the amount and quality of the food. Certainly recommend for groups or a date night- just be sure to request the front end!

One of a small handful of Japanese restaurants that have been around Wellington for a long time, serving similar food to what you would find at Kazu.  Most of the staff members here are Chinese, so do not expect the true authentic Japanese food here.<br/><br/>I was very unimpressed with the food here. knowing that they used the mircowave to heat up some of the food, as opposed to having it cooked fresh.<br/><br/>Checkout my website for an indepth review of what we ordered.

BEST CHICKEN KARAAGE EVER!!!<br/><br/>Great food, we were so satisfied at our table of 8. Ordered a plethora of entree's. Only thing was the service could have been a bit more helpful. Felt as though we were putting the staff out, asking to order, asking for water for the table, asking for plates that were missing from the table. Great food, great entrees!

Went to Arashi with a friend for dinner on Saturday night. When I saw the average rating of 3.2 on this page i started to nod my head in agreement. This is definitely not the best Japanese restaurant in Wellington, but it's not bad either. My problem with the service here was that they brought out our mains while we were still eating our entrees. The service was friendly though. The food was quite good but I was very hungry. I got the salmon skewers for entree which were delicious. For main I got the teriyaki chicken set. The chicken was crumbed which I thought was weird and unnecessary. My friend had the chicken katsu which was also crumbed, how katsu should be. So we both had chicken katsu I guess?? The prices here are fair and reflect the quality of food. I'd probably go back but this defenietly wouldn't be my first choice for Japanese in Wellington.

Went to dinner a few weeks back with a big table and everything was fine. Went back last night as a table of three, we booked for 6.30pm and when booking they asked if we could be off the table by 8.30pm, I said that was fine. One of our table was late getting to the restaurant, she arrived just after 7pm. Just prior to her late (ish) arrival we were asked if we were ready to order and we explained we were waiting on one more, the waitress "huffed" at us and checked her watch and left. Rude. We ordered our food once our third person had arrived, which came out at different times and we had to chase the waitress to ask where the meal was. We were still off our table just after 8.30. We were just made to feel unwelcome from the get go.

Amazing value for seriously yummy food!! Prawn wrapt in bacon skewers and pork belly skewers are a real winner!!!!!!!! Highly recommended for cheap, cheerful and delicious!!!<br/>

We visited Arashi as a group of four, on a Friday evening, it was fairly busy but the staff managed to find us a table. A couple of us had one of the set meals, the others ordered from menu.

I went here for my 21st birthday dinner and was great! We had a table of 15 and they really looked after us. Great service and always checking in to seeing if your ok and if you need more drinks. All food I had was amazing and such a great big menu with something for everyone! Will be back for sure!!

I went to there with my friends to have some small foods and drinks. Atmosphere was nice but, staff were arrogant service moreover bad attitude. <br/>Obviously they wanted to prepare to close. <br/>Meals were okay but, between prices and quantity is not match. <br/>We did want to stay there but we were uncomfortable. <br/>There was the worst Japanese restaurant I have ever. <br/>Disappointed. <br/>I will never go there again.

I still think they do the best tempura set in Wellington I have had since I lived in Japan, right down to the sticky rice and miso. Return regularly.

Will never recommend this place to anyone. Service was terrible and very rude. Had to ask for my drink half way through my main meal and they had forgotten it. The sashimi was terrible just chunks of fish on top of grated carrot a kid could have delivered better food. And what's with the parsley on everything? $80.00 bucks later and left still hungry

This place is great! Food was delicious and so reasonably priced! Will definitely be back :)<br/>I had some kind of teriyaki seafood hotplate which was amazing, I'm almost drooling as I write about it. Helps being a BYO restaurant as well, drinks are usually so expensive when dining out.

Fantastic! I booked on the day for a large group and were so happy to get a table, we arrived a bit late but the staff were understanding and seated us comfortably.<br/>Would highly recommend the edamame and prawns wrapped in bacon, yum! The service was prompt and the food was hot (although our mains came out one at a time and it was a while until the whole table had meals). The cost was reasonable too!

Went in here today for lunch, I expected great things from the look of the place, but after the edamame it went downhill. The dish I ordered was so distasteful I didn't end up finishing it, and the bathrooms are awkwardly located. especially the mens.<br/><br/>I'm not sure whether it was genuinely authentic, but it's no-where near the best japanese I've tried in wellington, and not even close to what I expected. Very disappointing.<br/><br/>Only nicely done aspect was the Edamame. At least it was done the way I like it, HOT and SALTY.<br/><br/>delicious, although not sure if the beans were the best quality edamame I've tried, but prep and presentation of edamame was on the money.<br/><br/>worth an initial chance, but not much more than that in my opinion.

Recently had dinner here and was very pleased with the way things went. They managed to squeeze us in even though it was on a busy night (before the Rugby match). The service we received were excellent as they kept coming back to check on us. It was also a pleasant surprise to be able to speak to an authentic japanese waitress.<br/><br/>For my entree i'd ordered the Arashi roll and the Katsu Set which surprised me with it's mouth drooling flavours.<br/>I recommend to try these. Love it!<br/><br/>Overall, the service and atmosphere were superb and was impressed by their knowledge in the rugby world cup (supporting All Blacks and Japan). Food were just amazing. Definitely coming back. <br/>Highly recommended!

Booked a table in advance for 7.30, because me and my partner plus a friend and his partner were dining out together on valentines evening. When we arrived we still had to wait to be seated. Once seated we had to wave down a waiter just to get drinks and then it was almost another hour before we were asked what mains we would like. We were given a pot of green tea which tasted disgusting and burnt. Undrinkable. I understand it was busy that night but this service was just terrible. The waitress actually came and asked us to move tables because the table we were sitting at was needed for another group of people. So we moved to a smaller table, which was uncomfortable and crowded for 4 people, and after asking several times were our meals were all we got was "sorry it's very busy tonight". We weren't offered any reimbursement or entrées while we waited. Our mains arrived almost at 10pm by which time we were starving. One of the members in our group ordered the seafood noodle soup. It arrived with COLD seafood in it, but with a warm broth, he managed to eat 2 bites before running to the bathroom feeling very ill. The other meals were fine except for the huge wait we had. I complained to the staff and we got his meal for free although we had to leave before finishing because he became so sick. <br/>This was a very sad experience because we had always rated this restaurant highly and now we don't want to eat there again.

Was recently at Arashi for a Group Dinner. For some reason we were seated on a very long table to fit up to 25 people but due to people showing up out of the blue it was a very tight seating arrangement. And also very hard to get out of the seat to get to the bathroom, people had to go under the table just to get out because of the tight seating arrangement. Food was average, service was good. Not sure why but they only have one toilet for females. It was a waiting game in the bathroom. People kept trying to crowd in the bathroom maybe they should invest in buiding a new bathroom or something. Overall two stars!

A great Japanese restaurant with an extensive and delicious menu. My partner and I dined at Arashi on a quiet Monday evening. We ordered 3 appetizers to share, 2 mains and 3 beers and it was a reasonable bill of $75.<br/><br/>We had karaage chicken, octopus balls and prawns wrapped in bacon to start off. All absolutely yummy, especially the prawns! Although we were expecting 2 skewers, but got 3 prawns on one skewer (perhaps we didn’t read the menu correctly). Definitely want to try making these at home.<br/><br/>My partner had a seafood noodle soup dish for his main (sorry can’t remember the exact names) and he really enjoyed it. The broth of the soup was really good, it tasted similar to miso soup but way better! I had the teriyaki salmon on rice. This was also delicious but perhaps had a bit to much rice.<br/><br/>The service was prompt and efficient. They gave us plenty of time to order and the food came out quickly. I will definitely recommend this Japanese restaurant to friends and will be back in the near future!

One of the better Japanese restaurants I've been too. There is a good atmosphere, even though it is always quite busy you can still have a nice dinner and conversation. The food is very good and within the expected price range. My salmon set was delicious, and had just the right amount of everything to be satisfying but not overly full or hungry. <br/>Good for groups, both small and large. Would definitely recommend.

Superb service and food. Quiet when we arrived at 6.30pm but absolutely packed by the time we left. Quantities of food represent value for money, and the menu has enough variety to suit everyone. Highly recommended.

Went there for dinner on a week day. The place was busy enough. Staff were nice, place was clean and tidy and the food was fantastic!! One of the best Japanese I have been to in Wellington. I would definitely recommend!!

Went to this place last night on a whim and I am so glad we did! The dinner menu is much more extensive than the lunch and you get rather a lot of different Japanese food which is unusual for one restaurant to serve.<br/><br/>The service was good and our food came quickly. It was presented well and in very cute dishes and it all tasted amazing!<br/><br/>They serve Sushi, Tempura, Ramen, Udon, Soba, Don (rice meals with meat and veges),Kushiyaki (for which it is named. meat on sticks!) and an assortment of entree foods such as dumplings and spring rolls. There is a Vegetable section too which include seaweed salad! yum.<br/><br/>Sake and Tea are in abundance though we didn't try either. <br/><br/><br/>The women's bathroom (downstairs) was in an acceptable condition and had two doors between it and the restaurant. I did not venture into the mens but my boyfriend told me it wasn't bad but is upstairs.<br/><br/><br/>I did not try the sushi!

I have now there twice. The first time, my eel was burnt, however this is somewhat excusable as the restaurant is a small one and we went as a party of 26 on a Saturday evening. On second return.. The food was average. The restaurant is a little pricey for what you get in my opinion, there are better choices for Japanese food nearby. The service however was by far the worst i've ever had. When confronting them about the extremely long wait time for our meals, I was rudely lied to and no apology was remotely received.<br/>Male toilets are located obscurely upstairs, condition is similar to that of cheap Chinese restaurants.<br/>Our table was also extremely close to the adjacent table which was a bit uncomfortable. I noticed that dishes were not removed from other tables very promptly at all.

I haven been here twice and I will never go back any more. The service is very bad. Staff are not interested in serving people at all.. When I ask him some questions about my order, he gave me a nasty look..Food was not good, just like normal takeaway food. With the money that you pay, and the service and food that you get, there is no point to waste your money there...bad, bad, bad...

Definitely one of my favourite Wellington restaurants! The staff are friendly and efficient, and the food is absolutely fantastic and not too expensive. I would highly recommend this place to anyone :)

I had one of my worst ever experience in this place!<br/><br/>I've been there before, the food and the variety is not the best (especially when you put the price into consideration, they are asking too much for what you actually get.) But it's sort of acceptable.<br/><br/>Been there on New Year's Day, BAD BAD CHOICE. I know it's public holiday, and i know it's harsh that you gotta work on a public holiday, but HEY! You get paid MORE! What's with the attitude?<br/><br/>The service is not slow, but the only waitress that was on spend more time talking to her friend than make an effort to make sure everything is okay with the customers. She was not friendly at all when we place our order, and slammed the plates and glasses on the table, and when she came over to pick up empty glasses she didn't even bother to acknowledge us and nearly smashed one against the corner of the table. <br/><br/>It's the whole " I don't really care" attitude that leads to the finale. A WHOLE BOWL of MISO SOUP (with lots of tofu and nori!!!) went straight into my BAG. What have i got inside?? My new book that i haven't read and is totally soaked; My camera bag half damped and bits of tofu stuck to my camera; my very expensive designer wallet; my cell phone and makeup bag...... etc I'll just leave out the bottom of my skirt, its nothing compare with the bag and its contents.<br/><br/>I was shocked! but i got furious when she just give the outside of the bag a quick wipe and ran off to do her other stuff. I was left there, with my friends, cleaning everything up. What did we get at the end? Waive of 15% holiday surcharge with my meal only.<br/><br/>It's got nothing to do with money (she can not afford to pay for my bag, my wallet, or my camera and cellphone), its her attitude and how things was dealt, i am just very disappointed and angry.<br/><br/>Definitely not the kind of place to go for a nice dinner out, and too expensive if you just want quick food （there's places around That's much better and cheaper). I dont even think they're authentic when it comes to Japanese food anyway.<br/><br/>So dont be silly and wast your money there, Kasu is much much better.

... an open relaxed vibe, friendly staff serve up excellent japanese food from sushi and sashimi to teriyaki salmon and udon noodles ...

Fantastic Japanese food served by polite and attentive staff. The menu is the usual Japanese dishes, with the addition of some mixed combo plates and Japanese barbecued skewers.<br/>I highly recommend the grilled salmon skewers as they were the best salmon I've eaten in a long time. The prices were decent though the atmosphere was somewhat sparse.