Cizuka Seki

Uh, lass,

pour your Rick.

I: new whim.

Hooray!

She owe.

a lass, don rocks: ewe

all most come plea ted a prop

oar hike ew a bove

I received another very constructive Yelp review from a very discerning patron that I thought would help DR.com readers to decide whether Izakaya Seki was worthwhile.  *Please note that the underlined text is mine.

From Mei M

was overpriced for the quality.
i went here on a sat evening- arrived 7:30; party of 2 no reservation.  was seated immediately on the 2nd floor.  which is the usual western type seating arrangement- it felt very un-japanese (i lived in japan for 4 adult years of my life).  while on level 1 i noticed all of the cooks were NOT japanese.   the waitors/waitresses were not japanese as well (this is not a problem however they clearly were not trained on how to serve and interact towards customers in a japanese WAY which would make the experience more authentic.  when i lived in japan i lived in a traditional hamlet type neightborhood and each area has it's own IZAKAYA where usually local men over 30 go to talk and drink.  I visited several and it was a very traditional japanese experience (this place in DC was not) I will list what I had and what I thought of it:

UDON-  it tasted like something i can get at COSTCO
RICE ball withCodRoe - you can get better ONiGiri at a japanese convenient store
Sashimi Plate_- WAS NOTFRESH...  It has that unfresh slime on it.
KALBI-  Very good
Calpico Chohai - I asked for light ICe and my drink was extrememly Icey
Waitress-  She assumed we did not knw anything about japanese food and over explained everything-  also she pointed at my food very closely and talked over my sashimi plate (breathing hot air over my raw fish)  thisbothered me.

I had several other small dishes that are not at all worth mentioning.  We were a party of two and our bill w/o tip came to 100$.

I would NOT recommend this place to anyone.

TOKI underground feels more authentic and fresher food.

FURTHER NOTES:

**WE DO NOT HAVE LONG LINES ANYMORE!!

***We have immediately addressed all hot breathing issues with staff.  Mei accurately points out that not all of our cooks or servers are Japanese and I do not have them trained in the Japanese WAY.  I would argue, however, that our udon is decidedly not from Costco and our sashimi is very fresh.  and personally, i think that spending $100 for a sashimi platter and 3 dishes and an unmentionable number of small plates, plus at least two drinks is not that bad in this town....unless you also expected to be culturally transported to another country....which leads to:

****YOU WILL NOT BE  IMMEDIATELY TRANSPORTED TO JAPAN WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH OUR DOORS.  You will still be in the United States and we are fully aware of and embrace this technical issue.  there are, however, many local men over 30 who come to talk and drink, if that's what you're looking for.

khyber pass used to be one of *the* best venues to see shows in philly.  the bulk of bands from record labels like DC's dischord, chicago's touch and go, Olymbia's K records and i'm sure many many other great labels have stopped through on their tours.

sadly, they no longer have shows there: http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2010/07/29/khyber-philadelphia

i've seen the ex, slint, volcano suns, and skull kontrol there.

Izakaya Seki is a small, family-run Japanese restaurant located in the U St./14th St. NW area.

We specialize in Japanese comfort food, a diverse selection of sake and distilled alcohols, and Japanese craft beers.

We are looking for an experienced line cook (1+ year).

Health benefits may be available for full time employees.

Hourly wage commensurate upon experience.

For more information, please contact Cizuka Seki at sekidc@gmail.com or call (314) 968-9613.

We are definitely offering tuna tomorrow as well.....we actually sold out of 120 lbs.  but apparently, my dad feels bad so he's getting in another 150 lbs for tomorrow....and THEN we'll stop the deal until we sell out.

So, how was the tuna?

I got there just at 5 hoping to beat the crowds and pop in for a quick snack...needed to be out by 6.  But the place was already full.  Sorry I missed the party, but most importantly, congratulations Izakaya Seki for a great first year, and a huge thank you for bringing this gem into my neighborhood.

Rhone1998 -- I'm so sorry we weren't able to seat you :-(  i was naive -- who knew free tuna would bring out the masses like this.  we had a line at 4:30pm of 20 people and it just didn't end...it's still not ending...but thank you for the nice words and i hope you'll be around again soon.  I will post an update on the status of our tuna stock.  i believe we'll still be able to offer the special tomorrow as well.

This might be an extraneous and borderline insulting clarification for the thoughtful readers of this forum but I added a comment to the Young & Hungry piece stating:

Oh, hi. I'm KINMEDAI (金目鯛) -- splendid alfonsino -- and I just came in today from the deepest, darkest waters.

More AYU (sweetfish) arrived today as well:

What happened to the Sunday hh idea? Are you guys still mulling it over?

come in! we can pull something together for you.

I post this monthly information on my facebook page but I'll post it here too because I understand that facebook is lame and you're all much cooler than that:

Happy another year of Independence, America!! It's July and here's a list of the best seasonal seafood we'll have circulating on the menu this month:

abalone: awabi (鮑)
young japanese amberjack: inada (イí

Here's a direct line to the petition circulating to help the employees save the Inn.

We had Ten Qoo brand farm raised blue fin up in NYC at Inakaya which was fantastic. They had a special whole tuna cutting event for the North American debut of the product and it just happened to be the day after a wedding we attended up there. The akami was like chutoro.

We will be doing a whole tuna butchering (dinner AND a show!) on our one year anniversary.  It'll be a yellowfin though because they're smaller.  I'll announce closer to the date but you heard it hear first.  xx

We just got some very large tuna jaws (maguro no kama) in today from a Japanese farm outside of mexico. The tuna is bluefin and I am fully aware of the sustainability issues around tuna (even in the case of farm raised). Please talk to my dad directly about this......That said, it is delicious......

I had to take a saw to them. It was awesome. and exhausting. Each cut was 1/4 of the jaw and about 12 inches long, which is the size of the pull saw. So this tuna was probably about 400 lbs.

Also the jaw meat is TORO. Your choice of salt or tare (sauce).

FYinformation:

Izakaya Seki will be closed for the Fourth of July in order for me to consume as many racks of dry rub barbeque ribs as possible. See you on the 5th!

Hot damn this place is good. Except the drink options suck (maybe I'm spoiled by Izakaya Seki, but beers were limited to Kirin Ichiban, Asahi, and Sapporo, for instance).

...a skewer whose Japanese name I forget but it translates to "stew" I think because it's meant to evoke a traditional Japanese stew of beef, mushroom and tofu (it's a grilled skewer of very thinly sliced beef wrapped in a cylinder around mushroom and tofu) -- apparently an invention of this restaurant and not itself traditional.

you want even better yakitori, try tori shin.  their sake selection is also good -- not as good as ours, mind you -- but well, good 'nuf.   service is slow. also, that "stew" skewer is probably trying to evoke "sukiyaki", which is a classic hot pot of beef, mushrooms, tofu, and a bunch of other goodies.  and coverting this dish to a skewer is not a "thing" -- it's certainly specific to totto.

bernadette peters in The Jerk or madeline kahn in Blazzing Saddles?

Frankly I think this is one of the most compelling happy hour offers I've seen in a looooooooooooooong time. now if only I lived or worked closer and left work earlier.

Thank you. You might be interested to know that my dad wants to offer this on Sundays as well...I'm torn. Why does Sunday need a happy hour? Everyone except me is super happy on Sundays. On the other hand, if it gets people in the door before 7pm....

I FEEL THAT WE'RE DIGRESSING...

...and yet...there's the story about the snail who was sick of being so slow that he bought a car and went to a paint shop to request a big "S" painted on each side. The confused shop guy asked, "why an 'S'"?

Grinning, the snail replied "so that when people see me driving fast, they can say "hey, look at that S CAR GO!"

So I want a bearded and/or mustached plaid-wearing mixologist to make me some fancy cocktails tomorrow night. Food or snacks is a bonus. And I want to do this with anywhere from 2 to 7 friends. Yeah, I know. So where do we go?

I am sadly kind of behind on the bar scene these days. I really wanted to check out Whiskey Bar, but I can't seem to figure out if the bar is open tomorrow (they do appear to have a show going on on the other level). I've been to Hogo and would happily go there again, but I've never been to The Passenger so think that might be a great option but for the insane numbers of people (do you need rez for that place? do they take them?). Maybe The Gibson is worth trying if their patio is open? Anywhere else? I'd like to stick to DC (VA is too far), green line accessible is a super bonus since I am coming from MD.

lest you the booze hit you too hard, you should probably eat something before heading out for cocktails and there's a fantastic little japanese restaurant near a *bunch* of bars just off the green line. AND we'll take reservations if your party is 5 or more.

you can head straight down the street to the Gibson and but really, you should head north to Columbia Heights and hit Room 11 for your cocktail fix. I just had a bunch last night and they were delicious. There's beard, there's plaid, there's chunky glasses, there's sweetness and witty banter -- they have it all! and they have a lovely patio too. if that doesn't work out, El Chucho has some pretty tasty margaritas and mezcal drinks.

I've seen fresh trays of uni at H Mart in Fairfax and Hanaro Market in the Spa World shopping center (I think that's Centreville). They were either Chilean and Maine by the looks of them (i.e. smaller lobes).

Not great but I still bought a couple of trays. They were sold at a fixed price and incredibly cheap -- I want to say $9 a tray and I had no qualms about eating them raw.

HARRY PETERS, why hello there.

I refuse to surrender my excuse for being a sick, spiteful, unattractive man who believes his liver is diseased.

Besides, I seem to recall from the earliest days of the site, an official diktat proclaiming that names could be changed only in the direst circumstances.

[i've probably changed 3-4 people's member names in the past couple of weeks! It's not a big deal.]

Waitman, it's true! I originally signed up using the silly name "Yebisu" because I am not very creative and I also just wanted a beer at the time.

Don thoughtfully recognized that I would never become a `*:;★ STAR ☆☆í

I want to throw some love out to Cizuka, thank you for updating your website to address the whole address/map issue.

you are very welcome. i am the kind of person who will happily respond positively to reasonable requests.

LISTEN UP.

we started a happy hour today from 5-7pm, Monday, Wednesday, Thursdays.

we'll be offering DRAFT BEER or a glass of SHOCHU PLUS one small bite -- we're starting with the option of one yakitori skewer (kashiwa/thigh), mini tomatoes wrapped in bacon, or tuna sashimi for $5!!! holy jesus son of Mary!

so leave work early and play hooky with us!!

I love skate too, so I was saddened to find out it is over-fished:

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org//cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=147

Please don't take this as a scolding -- just sharing information.

ah! thanks for the update.