ottawa foodies

I went to Festival Japan last week for dinner with a friend of mine because he wanted to see if it was still as good as he remembered it from two years ago. Unfortunately, it was quite a lot of hit and miss.

I ordered quite a lot. I had the chicken karaage (crispy bite-sized pieces of chicken), katsu-don (breaded pieces of chicken served with rice, scrambled egg and veggies), spicy salmon roll, unakyu roll, hamamchi roll and a spider roll.

The chicken karaage was excellent. The pieces of chicken were moist and crispy. The katsu-don was excellent as well. I'm always looking for a Japanese restaurant in Ottawa that make a decent rice bowl. The breaded chicken was again moist and tasty. It was served atop a bed of rice that had eggs scrambled into it. There was also plenty of onions, shredded nori and sauce to go along with the chicken.

Unfortunately, the sushi was not consistent. The spicy salmon roll and the unakyu rolls were decent. I was surprising to find the spicy salmon roll was actually spicy considering my high spice tolerance. The unakyu roll (and my friend's unagi nigiri) had huge pieces of eel. The spicy salmon roll and unakyu roll were decent but lackluster considering their price. The rice in the hamachi and spider rolls was dry. They broke apart really easily as well. The hamachi roll was tasteless. The crab in the spider roll tasted like it was warmed up recently and not freshly cooked. In the end, I couldn't finish the spider roll because of the taste.

To sum up, I would go back to Festival Japan for their rice bowls and maybe their apps. However, I would go to another place for sushi especially considering their high price point.

The sushi is terrible. It is not fresh at all. Definately, pass on this restaurant if you are looking for good sushi.

Nothing to right home about - Sushi was good.
It was very quiet I went on a late Sunday afternoon. I was the only person there.

This was the first Japanese restaurant I visited in Ottawa. When I first moved here, I asked around at work as to where the best place for sushi was and got the reply "I never go ANYWHERE but Festial Japan! It is the BEST!", so I tried it. To sum it up - meh. I just didn't get the rave reviews. It wasn't gross or anything, but I found nothing to set it apart from other places: Average japanese style decor- not very modern yet not cozy and quaint either, uncomfortable chairs, so-so basic sushi- nothing very creative or astounding or fantastic tasting, boring iceburg lettuce salads were included in platters - certainly not the best place in Ottawa. I went back a couple of times with friends and found it just as meh the second and third time.

I would personally pass on this one and keep looking for "the best".

Festival recently added ramen to its menu and I am happy they did that! It comes in a nice tonkatsu broth (pork bone) with chewy and springy noodles, a slice of pork (chashu) and a large sheet of seaweed.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rich flavours and many steps up from a more plain udon noodle with clear broth. The pork was just ok - a bit tough - and that would be my only complaint which would not stop me from ordering it again as it could have just been a one time thing. It is also $11.95, a great lunch option!