Shinwa Izakaya

A great menu for sharing delicious authentic Japanese dishes. Drinks menu kept everyone happy, including various sake options. Efficient service even at this busy time. If I could deduct half a star: agedashi tofu was not that great because of substandard tofu used (surprised by this given the quality of the rest of the meal). But everything really was satisfyingly delicious.

Great atmosphere and awesome food! It was very nice place to have some drinks after work with friend! The staffs were very very friendly. Go for a try, ask the owner introduce some nice wine to light your day!

I Really enjoy the nice Japanese restaurant, and tbh pretty impressed by the quality of food/drink, the decoration of the restaurant itself, and the details of the exquisite tableware. I especially like the SUSHI BOAT and drinks here, big recommendation and would like to come next time.:)

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE!

Ordered fried chicken, roll sushi, nigiri sushi, two side dishes and a sashimi platter, two glasses of sweet wine. Costed me $170 which it’s definitely over priced considering the food quality there. First of all, the spider roll is icy cold, the sushi rice was disgustingly soft like mash, like rice paste, which is not authentic I reckon. I approached the waitress there and she relied on my feedback ‘ that’s because we added vinegar’ Really? How much vinegar did you add then? Also, the nigiri sushi are all tasted awful as the sauce is overloaded. The tofu we ordered is soggy and the eggplant is cold and overloaded with some greatly thick sauce. Tbh, this is the worst Japanese I never had.

We loved having dinner here! It's such a cosy place! Great atmosphere!
The food was really delicious! Try the croquettes and the fried chicken! Yum!

Half size servings of over-priced dishes. Not at all happy with no compensation offered for being ripped off.

Very expensive, not Really worth it. Lovely esthetic and seating though.

I got the miso kimchi pork, which was more of a cabbage and onions with rice experience for 20$. Our other dishes were average at best

I've never been so frustrated at a restaurant. I came here tonight for my farewell party and I was so disappointed by the service.

My 4 friends and I came in at 7pm and we all ordered entrees and a main each, somehow 3 of my friends got their mains in 15 minutes way before the entrees came and then me and my other friend were waiting for our mains. The waiter comes to me 25 minutes after me ordering to tell me that they had ran out of teriyaki chicken? !? I then ordered a Salmon Don which my other friends was also waiting on, we were waiting till 8: 20 and the waiter then said "5 minutes", it still didnt come after 15 minutes so me and my friend cancelled our order so we could leave. 1.5 hours and they still couldnt serve me my food?

We also ordered the gyozas which I saw were not even fresh made in house. They were out of a frozen supermarket packet, which they were heating up and serving. How is this authentic? I go to a restaurant so I can be served fresh food made by a chef, I could easily just buy a packet from coles and heat it up myself.

I've been to many japanese places that charge way less money and actually bring quality food with fast service.

Terrible terrible “Japanese”restaurant…… Miso soup tastes like instant noodle soup and tempura was definitely overcooked which full of grease. Go have a look their kitchen you definitely don’t wanna go there again.

Way below average quality Japanese restaurant, ran by Chinese; terrible food:
- thick soggy tempura coating, one of worst I ever had
- sashimi boat has only three types of common fishs, NOT fresh, small cut
- sushi roll has rice that is stale and stuck to the plate
- chick Karagi is cold? ! - How do you have freshly made fried chicken cold?
- Agrdashi Tofu is done completely wrong, supermarket tofu with lazy coating, heavy, small (not a cube but rather a slice) and cold! … how do you have freshly made fried tofu cold? !
- even the salad is lazy; supermarket salad bag with random dressing - has a raw egg yoke on top of Salad; I wonder if they are confused the salad with sukiyaki?
- waiters are rude and slow, just chaotic.

Overall, a lazy, half hearted, unimaginative place - not recommend!

Good experience for having dinner here.
Be happy, they can still survive after Covid and so many times of lockdown. Also needs to facing the dramatic cost up and staff shortage. Some of my friends' restaurants even can't keep standing there after lockdown.

Please keep up the good job and hoping see you guys again.

Sad to say that I had the worst Japanese food here. I ordered the vegetable grill which consisted of a plate of cabbage with some stringy bits of carrot. The vegetable gyozo tasted so bad that I could not eat them. I didn’t think you could go wrong with gyozo but these were completely uneatable. I was refunded for part of the meal. The staff were lovely but what is the point if you can’t eat the food. This was my second time here and will most definitely be my last.

I never expected that this restaurant could serve some authentic Japanese food, but I still booked a table to meet my friends there because of the good ratings

I don't know if this restaurant is not for Asians, but I was pretty disappointed.

The food quality is way below average, but pricey— the sushi and sashimi boat costs $88+, with some small pieces of nigiris (with terrible sushi skills), some tiny little random rolls (about 8 pieces maybe? Half thumb size), and some sashimi from salmon, tuna, and king fish;
Chicken karage was cold; tempura was just flour taste (it’s hard for my to dig the shrimp out…) ; $22 salad with just lettuce, cucumbers, and tomato, etc.

And the service… well, no comment…. Let's just go easy on the young man, i think he just new and he did his best.

We spend $300+ for a terrible Japanese cuisine experience, and the sake made me headache.

I will never visit again and will tell my friends to stay away from this restaurant, unless there is no other options.

To everyone who reads my reviews thank you. Myself I'm very big on what the public has to say. I've walked into Shinwa Izakaya Japanese restaurant a few times, and every time l was treated like royalty. The owners husband and wife really go out of there way to make you feel at home. My last night I was served by a waitress Angelyn, she really worked hard at her job. This has to be the only restaurant where I've seen the waitresses almost run to serve you. Their food and the staff are incredible. If you like Japanese food, have a look at their website. That will give you some idea of what you can expect from the restaurant. As individuals we have different experiences regardless of how your night goes, at the very least you tried the restaurant. I don't write bad reviews, if l don't like a place l don't go back. Take my word for it, try Shinwa Izakaya, l think you will be more than happy. Check out their website, find their address and have a great experience.

Food was good, service was terrible. We waited over 40 minutes for our first drinks - all our food (entree and main) arrived before drinks. This was despite asking the staff 3 times and only ordering beers and lemonade - nothing fancy. Very disappointed with our experience.

Felt really rushed off our table and gyozas were dry. Sushi boat looked wonderful and tempura was delicious but don't think I'll be back as customer care was just not there.

We loved the food here. We ordered takeaway and the sashimi was beautiful quality and the our favorite were the prawn rolls. Everything was fresh and yummy. We actually called back to order more prawn rolls after we finished our first! Will definitely be ordering again.

Not recommended. Slow and terrible experience with careless impersonal staff and average food. 30 mins to get table service and below average food. Forgot our meals twice, errors on drink order, and waited over 30 mins for just 6 gyoza. Received no apologies. Food isn't great either, definitely below average for Melbourne Japanese.

I wanted to take my mum to somewhere special for her visit from interstate and this restaurant was great! Fresh food, authentic setting, lovely service. Highly recommend.

Delicious, we shared some entrees, the chizu frys were amazing. I highly recommend the okonomyaki and takoyaki!