Suga

Suga has a beautiful environment. I went in as a neighbor to check it out, they are not yet dairy and egg allergy friendly, but promise to be in the near future. We had the gyoza, which were amazing, and miso. Overall a great experience. Super nice staff. Looking forward to going back!

I love Japanese curry and had been looking for a go to spot in Seattle but unfortunately it won’t be Suga. A Japanese curry spot needs amazing curry and Suga’s curry tasted very different than any Japanese curry I’ve ever had before (I’ve had plenty of Japanese curry). Suga’s curry had sour notes and was pretty bland overall, disappointing.
The night also started out bad when Suga was out of the pork katsu, how does a curry place run out of pork katsu? It’s not like the place was jammed packed, but anyways. So instead, I ordered the beef curry. The beef was supposed to be braised and slow cooked so you’d expect it to be soft and moist — luscious. But instead the beef was dry, stringy and pretty flavorless. I showed the waitress that the beef was not cooked properly and, after talking with the chef, she came back and notified me that they were testing out a new braising technique — well I hope they scrap that technique. The staff did, however, replace my dish with the hamburger curry, which was ok.
Overall, the curry tasted funny so I’m not sure I’ll be back.

I’m giving it 4 stars because I think it’s a little overpriced, but it is Seattle and minimum wage is increasing. I had the katsu curry and it was tastier than I expected. It tasted like I was at my Japanese friend’s mom’s house who’s liberal with flavors and seasoning in a good way. The portions are larger than you’d get at any other Japanese restaurants. My girlfriend had the pepper beef donburi with brown rice. It looked great, and flavor was once again there.

Friendly service, kind owner, excellent chefs = 5 stars! I am Japanese so my taste for Japanese cuisine is very particular. However this place is authentic and unique and all the food tasted amazing. If you’re ever looking for some comfort food, look no further!

This was great! Be careful with the curry, it’s really spicy, but absolutely delicious.
I’m as naïve as it gets when it comes to Japanese food, but my friends have all been to that distant island and approved greatly of this place.
The wait staff was really attentive, and the food was good quality and exactly the price you’d expect for the neighbourhood.

A-​OK is an accurate description of my feelings toward Suga. There were some very high points: Their Katsu is fantastic, crisp without being oily and firm while remaining juicy. The homemade Gyoza were also flavorful and fresh (a little ginger goes a long way). And some low points: The karaage was undercooked to the point that the coating was still white. And none of the «Dons» short for Donburi which literally means «Bowl» were served in bowls…
I am a big fan of Japanese Curry and as such I have a very concrete idea of what it should taste like. Suga’s curry was different from my expectations. In some ways it was an interesting change, their curry is spicy and thick, almost chunky. Very different from the smooth homogenous curry I am accustomed to. But the curry also had an acidic quality I couldn’t place. It wasn’t bad but it felt out of place. I later realized that it was reminiscent of the acidity in an Indian curry.
The service is friendly but it feels a bit much for the neighborhood. I’d really prefer counter service with a more relaxed atmosphere. All in all a decent place to have in the neighborhood.

Maybe I’m still mourning the loss of Dot’s Deli… but I live in the neighborhood, and was psyched to have Suga move in. I’m all about comfort food, and Japanese comfort food is definitely lacking in the area. Reviews gave it high marks so I was excited to ask my friend who lives in Bellevue come join me for dinner.
I ordered the katsu curry and found the portion too small, the taste not that special, and price point way too high. My friend was also not impressed with her dish.
The ambience is clean (remnants from Dot’s), service was good, but nothing that’s going to make me go out of my way to eat here again.

Eriko Sugawara, the franchise owner of downtown Seattle’s Benihana, opened Suga with the vision of bringing Japanese comfort food to Seattle, and they didn’t disappoint. I’m no expert but I’m a huge fan of Japanese curry + katsu. When I lived in New York, I religiously paid homage to Go! Go! Curry. While Suika’s awesome curry has filled that void for me in Seattle, I still get really excited whenever I see a place that serves Japanese curry + katsu.
So of course, I had to try Suga. Parking can be tricky, especially on the weekends. We had to circle the block a couple times before finding parking on a residential street a couple blocks away. The ambiance is cute in a casual but cozy kind of way. The place is pretty small and probably won’t be able to accommodate large groups, but it’s a great place to catch up with friends. Service was very friendly and attentive. The menu has limited options, which makes decision making easy. I ordered the katsu curry, which was delicious. The katsu was crispy and juicy without being greasy and it was plated beautifully on a bed of fluffy rice with a generous portion of flavorful curry sauce. Maybe I’m a fat ass, but I thought the portion was not big at all. My boyfriend ordered the loco moco don, which was much smaller than my katsu curry. At ~$ 15 per entrée, Suga is kind of pricey but I think it’s a worthwhile ‘splurge.‘
If Fremont wasn’t so out of the way for me, I’d probably be hitting this place up way more often than I should.

It was 8 pm on a cold Fall evening, and my roommate and I were exchanging furtive glances inside Suga’s restaurant windows one night, trying to decide whether we wanted Japanese for dinner.
For one reason or another — perhaps the low-​key atmosphere, the friendly-​looking waitstaff, or my waxing of nostalgia as a former Japan resident — we decided to carpe-​diem our night and walked in with slight trepidation. Would this establishment meet two very picky, young and urban professional’s «foodie» standards?
Turns out, YES! Firstly, the staff greeted us with the proper «irrashaimase» salutation and invited us in with a warm, genuine welcome. We chose our seat at the bar, and instantly were served our cool sake libations and begun good conversations with two of their chef/​manager/​all-​around-​jack-​of-​all-​trade staff members.
Next came the food choices. While there wasn’t a specific gluten-​free option on the menu, they were wonderfully flexible and generous, taking the time to walk my roommate through her options and how they might accommodate her every taste-​bud whims. We salivated through…
…the Una Don (Unagi Donburi, a.k.a. Eel bowl). Brown rice (or your choice of white rice) topped with unagi, cooked well, savory and juicy, with a garnish of sweet yet sour carrots and radish.
…the Japanese Rice Omelet (Omu-​rice). Sautéed or pan-​friend brown rice (or white) mixed with chicken and veggies, topped with a thin sheet of fried, crêpe-​like egg, glazed with a ketchup-​like scrumptious teriyaki sauce.
Last, but certainly not least — dessert. Deliciously cold red bean, matcha, and strawberry mochi served on a glass boat with a tiny pink umbrella.
What can we say? It was certainly an evening of unexpected delights — super amiable and genuine staff, quick and attentive service in a clean, bright, and simple atmosphere. Look no further than Suga to fill your Japanese hankerings in Fremont.

Delicious Japanese comfort food that really rounds out the food options in this little cluster of Fremont restaurants. The donburi and curry are great and so satisfying in a rainy Seattle evening.
The staff is super friendly and so far everything had been just right each time we’ve eaten there. The food comes really quickly, so it’s a great casual option when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in a restaurant.

Friends have been suggesting this place for a month now and we finally decided to go. We were excited to try it out, from pictures we’ve been seeing on Instagram and Unilocal.
We ordered the Loco Moco Don and the Chicken Katsu Curry.
3 Stars because of the food was meh. Not bad, not great, just meh.
Curry: It was spicy and the texture of the gravy was interruptive.
Not what we were familiar with when it comes to Katsu Curry.
Taste was not fitting to the higher-​end cost.
Loco Moco was good but needed more rice and another egg. It was overwhelmed with gravy which was again pretty spicy. And I have a high tolerance for spice. The meat was very good, tasted like the hamburger patty you get in Hawaii, which is hard to find!
–Really Nice Staff
–Clean and Simple Atmosphere
–Great Presentation

I was excited to find a restaurant for japanese confort food near my area but ended up being not too impressed.
The food is mediocre, something that most people should be able to cook if they get the japanese curry paste from uwajimaya.
The portion size is just too small. I’d say one person can easily eat one entre and two apprtizer, if not two entre (and they mught still wish for more food.)
The beef curry was around ~$ 15 and there were about 6 little meat chunks in it.
I’d just drive to international district and have my yummy, full plate of japanese comfort food.

Man, some missed opportunities here. I absolutely love Japanese curry and curry dishes. There are times when I’m craving it but it just isn’t or widely available as I would like.
So when I saw Suga on Unilocal,I checked it out since it was new. Upon seeing the pics of curry katsu and the likes I told my girlfriend that this is where we were going to eat tonight, get ready cause it’s time to go.
Check out the menu, small but that’s okay. The prices though, all the entrees are above $ 10. $ 15 for a curry katsu? Seems a bit pricey but I’ll let that slide because if this place is delicious, I’m sure I would be back.
We ordered the Katsu Curry and the Una don (bbq eel rice bowl), both came with miso. Miso was decent, nothing crazy but it wasn’t bad by any means. The Katsu curry though, while also decent, was definitely not worth $ 15 to me. It had alright flavors but wasn’t quite as savory/​hearty like you would expect from a curry dish. The tonkatsu was nicely breaded, but wasn’t crispy at all in my opinion. If this dish was $ 10 I wouldn’t have been as upset with it, but at $ 15 I was.
The una don was a pretty small portion. Typically with donburis, you get a ton of rice and a decent amount of protein to fill you up. The dish had a good rice: protein ratio but that’s only because the serving was on the smaller side. My girlfriend thought the unagi was tasty, and when I tried it, it definitely wasn’t fishy which is good.
But after finishing our dinner and $ 40 later, we decided we were still hungry and contemplated going somewhere else to fulfill our appetite. Thought this had the chance to be my new go to spot, but I probably won’t return.
The silver lining is that the service was great and the staff was extremely friendly. I feel like it’s hard to give only 2* when that criteria is met but the food was a let down for how much I was spending!

A bit disappointed here, given the nice reviews from other Unilocalers. We ordered the beef curry, and a pepper beef bowl (they were out of the katsu donburi). The curry lacked the savory /​heartiness from the beef; it just tasted flat. The pepper beef on rice was OK, but it’s just a copy of a superior Chinese dish. Definitely not the «comfort food» that I expected. And the prices are too high for the quality and portion size.
The overall décor is off. Harsh white lights make the food look cheap, and the benches are uncomfortable. The setup feels like an American diner, but without any of the warmth or charm. Go to Yoroshiku, or Suika, or Maekawa Bar in ID to see how Japanese comfort food is done.

I’ve been to Suga three times now, so I feel like I can give a fair review at this point.
Pros:
— Wait staff is friendly and service is quick
— Good selection of sake
— Great karaage (Japanese fried chicken); the sauce, especially, is one of the best I’ve had outside of Japan
— Location is great; there’s lots of free parking on the side streets in north Fremont
Cons:
— The menu is smaller than I expected, and most main dishes are rather spicy. So far I’ve tried the beef curry, katsu curry, oyako-​donburi, omu-​rice, chicken karaage, the house salad, miso soup, vegetable appetizer and the gyoza. I’m not sure if the spiciness is a regional thing. I heard the owner is from the Shibuya area and I’m not familiar with Tokyo cuisine.
— Food presentation (for the donburi dishes). Echoing what someone else has already said, it’s incredibly weird to eat donburi on a plate. Again, not sure if that’s a regional thing or what, but it’s a bit off-​putting.
— Price. Considering that the fare is very simple, I was surprised at how much they’re charging.
— Overall ambiance. They didn’t remodel the interior much, and the wooden benches are incredibly uncomfortable. Plus, the look and vibe don’t suit a «comfort food» restaurant at all.
Overall, three stars for great service and decent food. I think this place has room for improvement, though. I hope they up their game a little because I’d love to see them stick around.

My girlfriend and I have been meaning to come in to Suga since they opened recently. We walked in and were greeted right away. The ambience is nice (although the lights are a little bright and fluorescent in my opinion). The staff was very friendly. We got our order in quickly, and the food came out in no time. We tried the gyoza to start which we found to be very tasty and the sauce that came with it was amazing.
My girlfriend ordered just a green salad and miso soup, both were good! My entrée was the Katsu Don. The pork came out on top of a pile of rice covered in pickled veggies, onions, mushrooms, and eggs. It was awesome! The flavor combination was perfect. Every bite tasted a little different, it was great!
Overall we had a great experience. We are glad we came in and will definitely be back!

Had a very satisfying first meal at Suga. As a neighbor and as a donburi fan, I am happy to have Suga in the neighborhood and hope it does week.
The salad was ordinary but very tasty — nicely dressed, cold and crisp.
Chicken KaraAge was the weak point, the fry being not crisp enough, but still hot, fast and tasty.
Katsu curry was very good, with a perfect cutlet and flavorful sauce.
Katsu don was very good, with another perfect cutlet. (I think donburi should really be in a bowl rather than on a plate, and maybe the egg less cooked, but this was very satisfying.)
There’s a nice selection of beverages and very gracious and hospitable staff. I felt very welcome, and well taken care of.
My only concern is that Suga does not seem to be promoting itself well. There’s no web page, no Facebook page and if you try to google map it you just get Dot’s Delicatessen which is closed.
People want to try your restaurant, but you have to let potential customers know where to find you, when you’re open and maybe even what’s on the menu.

Only four weeks old at the time of this review, and I can only hope this place remains a fixture in Fremont. Let’s just talk about everything which is «Japanese Comfort Food» because I have no idea what that is, but if the large plates of delicious goodness that is served here is that, then MORE PLEASE. I know what Chinese comfort food is, being I’m Chinese, but there is such a thing from Japan!?! Also, this stuff might be better served in a bowl (more about this later).
Answer is, yes, and it’s darn delicious. So it’s the Dons. These are probably akin to what we think about as Hawaiian food, Loco Moco and other foods that include an egg, meat and rice.
So what did I get? Oyako Don, which is a chicken (diced and cooked), egg (binder that keeps everything together), rice (that is squashed under all this goodness), saucy (which is covered throughout my place), fried mess. Also, a delicious, savory, perfectly seasoned, place of warm, stick to your bones, goodness. This take was an overly modern take, when really, it should be a simple, few ingredient meal. Overall, It’s a best of all worlds, Japanese flavors, in something that a southern kitchen would appreciate. My old friend who came up from Cali, had the Kaki-​Age Don, which was a vegetable tempura bowl. Her plate was pretty delicious too (as I had a chance to steal a bite from it)
It’s a simple set of dishes. Perhaps, if they are to call these 丼 or Donburi… then maybe they should be served in a bowl; being that’s what a «Don» is? eating rice off a plate is not as fun as you might think, and honestly, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean food not served in a bowl is weird to me.
I mean this is not fancy eating, or anything that you should cancel all your other reservations to come to, but if you are in the neighborhood, and looking for solid food, then this place is highly recommended. Keep in mind, it’s a VERY small location, with only eating for maybe 20−30ish people total, busy and the food does take a moment to come out, so don’t expect fast food speed dining.

I definitely don’t see this place lasting long. I’m not sure what the other reviewers are thinking giving this place high ratings.
My girlfriend and I came for dinner and ordered gyoza, katsu curry, and sanshoku don. We also got miso soup and side salad.
The miso soup was so-​so. Not very flavorful and lacking miso. I started doubting the place when I had the gyoza. It was understuffed and had more of a wonton texture. They way oversteamed it. At this point, I was just hoping our entrees would save the day… NOPE.
The curry was too thick and had a particular seasoning that was overpowering the other favors. I couldn’t quite put my tongue on what it was, maybe cumin? The curry tasted fine overall but I’d say it’s below average for my standards. Japanese curry is one of my favorite dishes and I’ve had it my whole life so I’m a pretty harsh critic of curry. This place did not deliver in the curry department. Nor did they with the katsu. It was too crispy and too thin. Also the pickles were something i had never seen served with curry. Usually, it’s fukujinzuke but they served pickled carrots and daikon like the do chua on bahn mi. Not a good combo to me.
As for the sanshokudon, when it came out, I was completely underwhelmed. My donburi came on a plate… Donburi literally means bowl. What the hell is this patty looking thing on a plate? $ 13 for some ground beef and egg on a rice patty I could finish in 5 bites. Hmmmmm.
But the biggest travesty and the sin of all sins was what they did with the rice here. I guess in an effort to liven up the appearance of comfort foods, this place squishes the rice into shapes to fit the presentation. That works to an extent, but not when you squish it so hard together that it breaks the integrity of the rice and becomes more of a mash.
I question the Japanese cooking crafts here. I did not get an authentic vibe nor feel any comfort eating the food I grew up with. I was more or less just pissed off that I spent $ 43 on some mediocre food that I could have made better at home. The food here does not justify the price.

Thought this was a sushi restaurant the first time I walked past it, but boy was I wrong in the best way. Food is fantastic. Japanese comfort food is how they described it. I can agree with that as all of the food is very rich and very flavorful.
Give this place another couple of months (or even weeks) and it will have a cult following. I came here with 3 of my friends and we all loved our meals.
Also for what its worth, they have a nice selection of Japanese craft beers. I plan on coming back here as soon as I get another chance.