YAKUZA NORTE - 97113 Mérida

Best sushi in town

Lovely restaurant totally ruined by a nightclub above it…will never go back. Such a horrible mistake…thumping music shaking the ceiling. No

Not good food, for the price. Do not recomed going

The food was delicious, although pretty pricey. The service was good at first but by the time we finished it took forever for anyone to check on us and then another forever to receive the check. The noise of the nightclub above ruined the whole experience. I'll probably never return and it's a shame because the sashimi was amazing.

Just love this place. Delicious food and great cocktails. Attentive but not intrusive service and great overall experience

This is a premium Japanese restaurant, making a reservation beforehand is a must given there is very limited seating inside. Great ambiance and decoration. We ordered a Yakimeshi with Picaña, this by itself was a rare find and definitely worth the visit. Japanese beer available as well, very expensive though.

I’ve tried many Japanese/Asian restaurants in Merida and thought there was no good Asian food here so I didn’t hope up. But this place surprised me at the moment I walked in. Very peaceful and pretty. And as an Asian I can say this is the best Asian food I have had in Merida. It makes me feel like home. Maybe the owner made adaptions for the market, such as adding cream cheese to the rolls, but I think he/she understands the food. As for the price - there are two things you can’t get for cheap: tattoo and Japanese food. In my opinion the price is acceptable for the quality and experience it provides.

It’s probably the better “Japanese” in Merida in terms of taste but it’s not really Japanese, it misses the mark completely in terms of authenticity. The Karaage chicken was more American-Chinese style sweet & sour topped with chilies and sesame seeds. Typically in Japan the Karaage chicken is battered with a specifically seasoned batter which is very different to this and accompanied with some lemon and mayonnaise (Japanese mayo is often referred to as yum yum sauce). The chicken was nice, but it wasn’t Karaage. Shabu Shabu is one of my favourite dishes of all time, of any cuisine. It’s something that signifies winter season in Japan and I’d eat a lot after a day snowboarding in Hokkaido. I was excited to see Shabu Shabu on the menu because it’s not common to see outside of Japan but again, it really wasn’t correct. This version has a miso based broth, which sometimes you’ll see as an optional flavour at a Shabu Shabu restaurant but it’s more traditional to have a dashi base, which is more of an umami taste. The beef was also the wrong cut, there wasn’t enough fat to render when cooking and it was sliced FAR too thick. Typically the beef should be cut to less than a millimetre so that it can cook in the time it takes to say “Shabu Shabu” which is what kids like to say out loud when eating it in Japan, but this beef took a really long time to cook to the point I was waiting so long without eating that the waiter thought I was finished and came to take the plate away. The sauce was also wrong, it should be a sesame sauce but what I was given was a weird paste with a nutty flavour, maybe it was sesame but more something you’d spread on toast .. but it wasn’t the right sauce which makes Shabu Shabu so delicious. It was a complete fail. The Sushi, like every Sushi I’ve had in Merida, the rice was cooked in too much water and was stodgy. While the Sushi also wasn’t authentic, it was more American style, it was pretty good. I’d say the best sushi I’ve tried in Merida. If this were bigger urban city like cdmx I’d have given this probably 1 star but I think for a small city being so far from the pacific it’s ok. What really bothers me is that restaurants Instagram pictures are actually pretty authentic looking but the reality is so far from what they present themselves as. Literally Google Shabu Shabu or look at the Yakuza instagram where they show proper Japanese beef and then see what they serve you and it’s worlds apart.