Sake, The Rocks

Sake is one of my favourite restaurants and I've always had such superior customer service however on this particular visit - it wasn't as good as previous times. The food is always delicious and consistent with every experience I've had there. 

I came here with two work colleagues to celebrate a birthday and I have talked so highly about sake and all my great memories. We sat down and started looking at the menu.

Our waiter talked through the specials; although we had a good idea of what we wanted to order. The waiter kept on insisting we order one particular special and we said "no thanks - we'll go with the other dish on the menu". He kept on insisting and my assertive work colleague then said very firmly said no - we know what we want in a louder voice. It felt really awkward and set a weird vibe afterwards. We all ordered cocktails and changed the topic. 

We ordered the spider maki sushi roll ($20) however we were given a different sushi roll. I suggest we just enjoy the other sushi roll and leave the error behind us. I didn't want this to be an issue to impact our lunch and in particular the birthday girl. I put it down to that one particular waiter and this is a one off experience. I told my colleagues that I had exceptional and on-point service beforehand on numerous occasions.

As we discuss this, I forget to take a photo of the sushi roll. I know it's hard for the venue to get feedback unless you say something but in this instance - I put enjoyment of the lunch ahead as it was already a bit weird.

We order the Popcorn Shrimp Tempura with a creamy spicy sauce ($26). The prawn is lightly crumbed and is heavenly with that mildly spicy sauce. This is a great dish to share. My favourite dish is always the Hiramasa Kingfish ($23) with soy dressing, house made lime and japapeno kosho. I love the combination of the slight spicy from the japapeno with the zest from the lime and the freshness of the kingfish. It's just a great combination.

Sake also delivers really nice chicken kaarage ($17). The chicken is crispy and flavoursome. I just wished there was more of it. We also order some shiroky yuzu ($8.5) which is deliciously refreshing as it's like the limoncello of sake. It's quite addictive and we order some more!

We also share the yuzu tart ($18) which is a delicious yuzu and vanilla based tart with white chocolate. A highly recommended dessert.

This is a delayed blog post! I had also ordered a few other dishes but the menu has changed since so I've just blogged about the dishes still on the menu.

Summary: Sake delivers delicious tapas style food. I highly recommend the kingfish, popcorn shrimp and the yuzu tart. While I didn't quite appreciate the customer service on this occasion, I will still be back.

Price: $80ish per person

Location: 12 Argyle St, The rocks, NSW 2000

Opening Hours: 
Monday to Sunday 12pm to 3pm 
Sunday 5pm to 10pm
Monday to Thursday 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Friday, Saturday 5:30pm to 11:30pm

Weekend Food Escapes dined anonymously and paid independently. All words, photos and opinions are my own.