Harukoma (Branch Shop)

By far one of the best sushi places in the region. I like coming here whenever I am within Osaka. Plus, now, they have bought the place next door to make it a waiting area with seating. The lines were always long through the other shops in the area but now the line is no longer visible as the people waiting are hidden LOL. The sushi is excellent quality and the service is quick. I always make sure whoever I go with to the branch store is as quick as me in eating. There are people waiting for a seat, c'mon peeps...be considerate. You can take time to enjoy your sushi but sushi doesn't take 2 hours to eat; that's like eating ramen for an hour when ramen should be eaten with minutes. People that linger are bad juju. 🧐 In addition, I like the branch store better than the main one as the line was always shorter but who knows what it's like now. I haven't been to the main brach in years.

The staff was friendly to foreign tourists. English menu is available. Use the pen and notepad on the table to order. Just write down the number and name of the item and give it to the chef. I had hamachi, snapper, flying fish roe, mackerel, sea urchin, eel, salmon roe, and red miso soup with clam. Everything was great, and the price was reasonable. The corner seat is the best place to observe the art of making sushi. The food was freshly made and delivered to your hand. 😄

Chanced upon this sushi restaurant before 5pm yesterday and a queue was already outside. Seeing the queue and its great reviews, we decided to return after 6pm to dine here. The overall dining experience was positive. The food was good in generous portions especially for the prices and the service was pleasant and efficient. We seemed to be the only non-Japanese there at the time in the vicinity, which was fantastic. Even so, menus with English, Chinese and Korean languages are available. Here comes the 1st problem: not all food items are on this menu. We saw on other tables some dishes that we wanted to order but couldn't locate them on this menu. We did try but eventually gave up translating the Japanese menu written vertically. 2nd problem: by the time we made our 1st order around 6:15pm, more than half of what we ordered were already sold out. Better to visit earlier especially on a weekend or holiday. 3rd problem: each order is written on a piece of note paper on a notepad and passed to the staff who orders for you. If unlucky, they'd inform certain items have been sold out. The process is entirely manual so very prone to errors but very common in Japan. Although we meticulously kept a record of what we ordered, after a few verbal notifications that some items were no longer available, it'd take some efforts to straighten our record. REAL problem: we were overcharged! Although the ordering process is manual, we trusted the system that seems to have worked fine for so many diners without a single review mentioning its flaw. At the cashier we were given an amount, sounded about right so we paid and were given a receipt that wasn't even itemised. Since we took photos of all the little notes before handing over to the staff for ordering, and all the food items as they arrived, as we returned to the hotel we did our sum but couldn't tally with what we'd paid. The difference is the same as the price of one of the more expensive items we ordered but were told that it was sold out. I'm sure the overcharging was an honest mistake. Just wonder how many of their customers have checked their bills before or after paying?

Every time I walk by, there's a long line outside. The queue seems a bit shorter than at the main branch, but it's still consistently busy. I haven't felt motivated enough to wait in line just yet, but its popularity definitely has me curious. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to visit and see what all the hype is about someday.

We had a fantastic lunch. Was it the best sushi I have ever had. Categorically no. The tuna tartare was amongst the best bites I have had in a long time and maybe up there but most if not all of it was not the best. But it was excellent and at a fraction of the price of the best. I would suggest expecting that you will pay 1.5x what you plan to pay when ordering. It is very easy for the small upgrades to add up. If you order the more expensive pieces, I am guessing you can spend 30-40 usd a person easily. We spent about 12 usd a person (3850 jpy for 2 people) and had an excellent lunch.