Food at Ginza was fabulous. The hibachi steak and shrimp was perfect, and the more traditional fare was equally delicious. Tea rooms are fairly authentic and a fun change from traditional American seating. Small differences from other hibachi/sushi restaurants I've been to (no complimentary salad or post-meal tea with a combo), but nothing I would hold against them!
07/08/2018: sadly this place has closed down, but they were really getting their act together at the end. Luckily, I enjoyed my sushi at the sushi bar, talking with the owner a few yrs back, just talking about business, how he's doing and what not. Sadly a few days later, he did have to close because there was too much competition, and Madison ppl do not have a good refined taste for sushi. They think, if you just slather it with spicy mayo, or dunk the whole sushi roll in soy sauce(ugh, eww), or give it a crunch by overloading a roll with fried tempura flakes, that it's good sushi restaurant. Perhaps it may taste good, but lots of times, these Japanese restaurants run by Chinese people in Madison do not serve fresh fish, and that is why they load it with sauces, to mask the fishy taste. Ginza did not do that. The owner had lots of integrity and would never serve me a fishy piece of sashimi or nigiri. Sad to see you leave and you are still missed by all my family members and me. We have to end up going to Tensuke Market in Schaumburg now to get goo sushi.
5yrs ago: I keep going up and down with this one. I LOVED the east side ginza the best and the west side sucked really bad. However, now that the owner has moved to this location the quality of the sushi has greatly improved, but it's still inconsistent. Sometimes the they are spot on with the spicy scallop rolls and other times they are OFF with the spicy tuna and ginza sumo rolls which when they're off, can be comparable to supermarket sushi, ugh. Thankfully my bottle of sriracha sauce can save those poor pieces of sushi. Also they can tend to rush the process of making the sushi, which means, for example the rice is still very warm, borderline hot. It should be just room temperature, which means they didn't take time to cool it down.
The service is generally good, except when you have a complaint, they kind of don't care, and give a very lackluster apology and don't even improve upon whatever may have been complained about, such as poor portions, poor execution of the sushi, etc. I loved ginza 3 wks ago, but 2 wks ago, I hate it again bc they aren't consistent. I love the bartenders. They are probably the most down-to-earth servers in there. The waiting staff can be inconsistent and stuck up or great and hospitable. They do have the best sushi though, when they're on. And it is the only japanese restaurant owned by japanese ppl, not by chinese people.
Been going here for over 20 years... Still the best place in Wisconsin for hibachi style Japanese. I've literally been to just about every hibachi on this side of Lake Michigan as well as many in Japan (although it is actually a rarity there.) Sometimes service is questionable but that happens with part time labor. Easily made up for with the best tastes.
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