it’s sushi e robata – Japanese Sushi Bar

Among the various little sushi bars in Napoli, I recently tried it’s sushi e robata in Chiaia, one of Napoli’s busiest night life areas. The tiny bar has a few tables outside as well as about 5 tables inside and only very few (maybe 6) seats at the sushi bar. Whenever I walked by, the restaurant seemed reasonably busy and patrons looked happy. This time, I gave it a try.

Quick Bites

As I entered the restaurant at 7 PM, I was the only one there and apparently the first guest of the day. After having a quick luck at the menu, I decided to try a 10 piece sashimi plate and some additional nigiri. The sashimi plate came with sake (salmon), maguro (tuna), suzuki (sea bass) and ika (squid). The salmon was very tasty and almost as fatty as salmon belly. The suzuki was also very good and a unexpected surprise. Unfortunately, the tuna was not so great. Not only did it taste like it has just been removed from the freezer, it had no distinct taste whatsoever.

So I was happy when I could move on to the nigiri, with 4 peices of suzuki and 2 pieces of ika. I actually ordered 2 pieces of suzuki and 2 additional pieces of unagi. When I got the plate I inquired and was told that the unagi was finished for the day. This seemed off since I was the first guest, but I would have appreciated being told in advance so I might have opted for some other fish to try. To be honest, this kind of killed to mood for me, so after the nigiri plate, I left.

sake (salmon), maguro (tuna), suzuki (sea bass), ika (squid) sashimi plate

suzuki (sea bass), sake (salmon) sashimi

ika (squid), sake (salmon), suzuki (sea bass), maguro (tuna) sashimi

suzuki (sea bass), maguro (tuna) sashimi

suzuki (sea bass), ika (squid) nigiri

suzuki (sea bass) nigiri

Sushi Guide Verdict

Overall the visit was rather disappointing. The atmosphere if the sushi bar could be quite nice, but since I was the only one it wasn’t so great. At first there was no music on and then the chef was watching TV. It didn’t make me feel overly welcome. The menu options are very limited but entailed a few surprises. The overall quality and taste of the fish was good, except for the tuna, which I definitely would not recommend to anyone. The drink options are simple but fitting and the service was rather average. All things considered, it is not bat but I would probably not go there again. There are plenty other options to chose from just meters away, Giappo Sushi Bar for instance.

Review date: December 5, 2017