Festival Japan Restaurant

This was probably the most authentic Japanese restaurant I’ve been too. But then again, I do tend to go to the cheap Chinese run sushi joints in Chinatown so that’s not really saying anything.
The décor was good. made me feel like I traveled to Japan. Service was not bad either.
A little pricey from what I’m used to paying but it really shows in the quality. I was confused when my meal came because there was no wasabi. After inspecting my bento box, I finally located the small dab of wasabi hidden under the ginger. I thought to myself, for such an expensive place, you’re gonna cheap out on wasabi? Thankfully, before I embarrassed myself, my friend pointed out to me that at authentic Japanese restaurants, they put the wasabi on your sushi for you. I lifted the piece of salmon from the rice, and sure enough, there was green. That’s when I knew: you know it’s an authentic Japanese place when they put the wasabi on the sushi for you.
Meal was delicious to say the least. I didn’t know there was a proper way to make shrimp tempura. it was just the right amount of crispiness and seemed to melt on your tongue.

Food was good. Service was slooooow. Even though the place was pretty empty. We waited over an hour to be served. The bento boxes doesn’t come with all shrimp tempura like the description said it would. It had some vegetable tempura added in. Which was disappointing. Atmosphere was fine. Nothing fancy. The curtains were really dirty and need to be replaced.

Don’t waste your time and money. The quality of the sushi is about the same as Sushi Go.

I had an urge for sushi and was lucky to find this place nearby my hotel.
I had the following items
Tako Su is octopus, seaweed, cucumber, colourful roe, noodles in a vinegar broth
Refreshing. I truly enjoyed this. You will a need a fork to scoop up the roe
The 5 piece sushi appetizer for the price offered low cost fish and the rice was kind of dry
Yaki-​Tori
Grilled chicken with onion on a skewer was dark meat grilled and was flavourful.
The restaurant had a nice setting with private booths and service was super smooth.
Pricing was unusually high but then maybe because its downtown that is normal.
I was not too impressed with the quality of the food as i have had a lot better at a lower cost.
As i made my way back to my hotel I had this feeling that I should have maybe eaten at the hotel restaurant.
I expect fresh fish whenever I have sushi and this time I can say it wasn’t that fresh

Festival Japan USED to be my favorite Sushi restaurant in Ottawa. Festival Japan is a somewhat fancy Japanese sit-​down restaurant. They are one of the few sushi places that have tatami rooms, which is pretty awesome,
The owner is usually there at night and she is delightful! The staff is generally super personable and the service is quick. The meal normally starts with a warm towel to wash your hands, which you never see in Ottawa but is common in higher scale restaurants in Montréal and Toronto.
In terms of the food, I have never been disappointed. The menu is great for sushi novices and sashimi lovers alike. If you’re vegetarian, your menu options are limited. However, they do offer lots of non-​sushi options for people who aren’t into raw fish.
The only two criticisms I would have are as follows:
1. In the last year, the prices have increased dramatically. I’m not quite sure why. Meals that used to cost 15 $ were increased to 22 $, which is significant.
2. My vegetarian roommate ate their and was disappointed. The leftover rolls she brought home were very poorly rolled and falling apart. As previously mentioned, she had few options to choose from.
Despite these negative comments, I continue to return to Festival Japan. Even though the prices are a little high, it’s still cheaper than Genji and offers very high quality fish.

Went on a Wednesday night and the place was nearly empty. Oddly brusque and off-​putting service. Bland, overcooked and undersalted edamame, poorly cooked rice. Good quality fish. Would not go back.

Friendly service, subpar food.
Salad was practically drowning in the dressing.
Spicy tuna temaki consisted of a tuna log on rice with poured spicy mayo over it.
Chirashi was expensive, with pretty basic rice (no seasoning on top, does not taste like proper sushi rice).
The fish was fresh, but not cut properly.
I would not recommend this place, I’m certain there are better sushi places to be found in Ottawa.

Quite expensive, average quality, slow (albeit friendly) service. Not worth the price of the food.

Being spoiled by the Japanese restaurants in Vancouver in terms of quality and price, I guess this is a good quality restaurant for Ottawa. It was still too expensive for lunch