Imagine a bowl of sashimi served with stale tamago (egg omelette) and fake crabsticks! If I want to eat immitation crab I can do that at home. I do not need to go to a restaurant that pretends that this is sashimi! If crab is expensive, they should omit it entirely and substitute it with fresher fish. Also, a stinky piece of omelette that has been cooked alongside with other dishes and has attained a certain smell is not the thing to do in a sashimi dish! This happened to me once, I thought it was a certain overlook, so I made the mistake to go again. But, alas, it was exactly the same, exactly the same low quality!

But I was adventurous. I did go for a third time. This time I order tempura. Tempura is not supposed to be dripping in oil, but that’s what it was. Also, some of the vegetables used were not fresh but taken from a tin. I tried to eat some, because I was hungry, but disgust overtook my hunger. I called the waiter who asked if I enjoyed the food. Saying nothing, I paid the bill, left, and vowed never to show up again.

I always knew there was some kind of weirdness/stinginess in this restaurant, but, being one of the few japanese restaurants in Edinburgh, also being (in the past) of reasonable quality, I used to frequent it from time to time. I knew that getting hold of some extra soy sauce is frowned upon. The waiters pour a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce on a little plate and immediately withdraw the bottle so you don’t have access to it. When you ask for extra, after being inquired why, you are reluctantly given some more. Well, these people run, it seems, on a shoestring budget. That I knew.

But now I also now, having experienced three times recently, that I will go past it.

You should only go there if you do not know what Japanese food is about. Then, perhaps, you may “enjoy” it, thinking that you are eating the real thing. But be assured that you are not!

But I admit to having been kind of put off Izzi by the scary little varnished (preserved somehow? Aspic?) food items in the window, although those are a lot more low key now than they used to be . . .