Niwana Restaurant

 

4

59

Shawn F.

Baltimore, MD

I know that a lot of people have bad experience at Niwana, but my visits have been, on the whole, relatively pleasant. Service does tend to be quite slow, but the food isn't too bad. Highlights include the shrimp tempura sushi and chap chae bap (vermicelli noodles stir fried with vegetables and beef). If you want to avoid the slow service of dining in, try calling in and getting takeout. If you actually like their food and would patronize them often, it may be worth it to get the frequent diner card that they offer, which costs a few bucks but whatever amount you do pay for it is applied to the card in the form of a reward credit that you can use to get discounts on future orders.

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3

23

jessi t.

VA

Atmosphere: C  (pretty average)
Bar: C (small bar)
Service: D (it was only her 3rd day, but seriously)
Food: C+ (slightly better than average.

We went up to Baltimore to see a show on the Johns Hopkins campus and wanted a place close by to eat. Niwana is directly across from campus and only a short walk from Shriver Hall, where the auditorium is.  

Niwana is a Japanese and Korean restaurant. The menu has a lot of sushi offerings as well as Korean favorites like kalbi and bibimbap. When you sit down, the server brings 4 little dishes of various kimchee, pickled japanese vegetables, and unagi sauce covered soybeans.   We are not fans of kimchee, so we didn't try it. The unagi sauce covered soybeans were good, but anything with unagi sauce is good in my opinion. Mr. JT tried a pickled vegetables (most likely daikon radish and carrot) and it made him cringe, but if you like that sort of thing, it's probably good.

We were waiting for 4 more people and knew they were stuck in traffic, so we shared a tempura appetizer and veggie dumplings while we waited. The tempura was pretty standard and the dumplings came beef instead of veggie. Oh well, they were still good.

With our appetizers we did not get plates or soy sauce. We tried to get the server's attention to get additional drinks, no luck. We tried to get her attention for little plates, no luck. We couldn't even flag down another waiter. Finally, Mr. JT grabbed them and we got little plates, but our appetizers were mostly gone by then.

Our additional party members were unfortunately stuck on 95 and were not going to make dinner, so we decided to eat without them. We waited a while longer and still couldn't get service. Since our show was starting shortly, we decided to pay our bill and leave. Unfortunately, I can't tell you about the other food, we were planning on ordering some sushi and bibimbap, because of the service.

I think we would try it again and opt for a different server because the food other servers were carrying out of the kitchen looked pretty good.

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0

2

J L.

Cupertino, CA

The service: D-

I have been to Niwana about five times. Each time I had a different waiter and each one was just as bad as the other. The service is very slow. Don't drink too fast because you'll be lucky to get even one refill.

On one occasion the waiter messed up the order and brought the wrong types of sushi. Instead of offering to fix the problem he argued with my party and then never returned to the table. The manager was not helpful either (after having to look around the restaurant to find him.) Even getting the receipt so we could just leave was a hassle. [On a side note: I was able to convince the manager to give a discount on the meal, but only after literally arguing with him in front of the entire restaurant for 10 minutes.]

The food: C+

The dishes I've had from Niwana are usually pretty good. They're not particularly special, but they're not bad either. I enjoy their box lunches and a few of the sushi items I've tried were good. Overall though, the food does not redeem their poor service. Plus, the poor service diminishes your happiness and makes the food less enjoyable as a result.

The building/environment: B+

The inside of Niwana looks very nice. The one time I used their restroom it was very clean. The outside of the restaurant is well done too. The inside gives off a nice Asian vibe that matches the Japanese and Korean theme of the restaurant.

Overall: D (not an average)

I have personally decided that I will not eat at Niwana any more. The food is simply not worth the frequently horrible service. Also, the food is a little too expensive considering its quality, so I don't feel like going to Niwana is really "worth it" in any way.

However, if you are in the area for a while and want sit-down service Asian food in Charles Village you could always give it a chance.

Just know that in my opinion Niwana survives on first-time visits and on the fact that it is located near Johns Hopkins so college students will stop in only because it's one of the few sit-down places around town. After my experiences there I don't believe anyone that lives here should go there.

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42

134

Josiah L.

New York, NY

must order the salmon skin salad, haven't had a better one anywhere else, aside from that, so-so restaurant, service varies, depending on the waiter/ress. it's a ok place to eat japanese/korean food if you live in the neighbourhood and don't want to go anywhere else.

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