Isshin Japanese House is a small but popular eatery in the eastern suburbs, with a large sign on the main road as the restaurant itself has low visibility. The restaurant serves a la carte Japanese menu items but is more well known for its all you can eat menu.
Sushi bar
We decided to book the $37.95 all you can eat menu for a weekday night as we thought that going to the restaurant while they were less busy would make it so that both the quality of the food and the service we received would be better.
Chicken karaage, ox tongue and beef steak
Beef tataki
The beef tataki, which was sliced and seared scotch fillet with garlic soy dressing was the standout dish for me. As a dish I love to try whenever I visit a Japanese restaurant, I made sure I ordered as much of the beef tataki as I could to satisfy my cravings.
Sashimi and nigiri
Vegetable croquette
Tempura
The food we ordered throughout the night was of varying quality, while some of the food we ordered when we first arrived was prepared well, the overall quality of the food declined as the meal progressed. The fried and grilled items were at the center of this problem as they became overcooked and dry even though the exact same items we ordered earlier were quite nice. For the price we paid the value was definitely there as by the end of our allocated seating we were all very satisfied and enjoying our dessert ice cream.
Before we dined here I had heard from others that the service at Isshin was not up to par and I definitely felt this during our visit. One of the staff members seemed like they did not want to be there and were quite rude, the other staff members, although quite nice managed to get our orders incorrect a couple of times. Hopefully this was just a one off situation, however as there are many other Japanese restaurants around Melbourne I would definitely look for an alternative before I visit Isshin again.
Food rating 6.5/10
Overall Rating 6/10