Sawada, Tokyo

Note: I originally posted this review in reddit, with some edits. I figured I'd put it here for more visibility since it's a very popular spot, and there's not many recent reviews in English.

Sawada is one of the top sushiya in Tokyo, winning a Tabelog Gold for 2025 and is currently in the top 5 of Tokyo's sushiyas.

The restaurant is ran by a husband and wife duo and it is famous for being a "sushi temple" where photography and phone usage is not allowed. The atmosphere is very tranquil and no electricity is used in preparation of the meal. Despite that, Sawada san is a pretty humorous person and as the meal goes on the vibe gets more lively.

Reservations are taken via Omakase, and I believe they release slots almost daily, for the same day or next day. There are no notifications though, and the timings are pretty random so if you wanna eat here you have to keep refreshing the page throughout the day.

UPDATE: I have started getting email notifications about openings ever since. I'm not completely sure but either started blasting to everyone, or only have notifications for people who had visited before, and/or Omakase Premium users.

For 2025, nigiri only lunch is offered at 45100 yen, and dinner with tsumami at 56100 yen based on the Omakase page. I went for dinner.

English is spoken to a degree, and the wife had pretty good English. Currently Sawada san is learning English and Chinese to accommodate the large number of foreign guests. On my dinner visit the majority of diners were foreigners and only 5/6 seats were filled. This was a Jan 2025 visit.

Tsumami

  • Snap endou beans

  • Hirame, Engawa: Nice, but somehow the Engawa part of the fish is less fatty that what I'm used too

  • Aori ika: Aged 11 days, but I didn't taste that deep flavor of aging

  • Uni, from Fukuoka and Saga: The one from Saga had a deeper "uni" taste. Neither are particularly sweet. These can be eaten on their own or used as a topping for the preceding Aori Ika or the next Awabi course

  • Awabi: with it's extract sauce on the side, everything can be mixed together with the Uni. This one is a pretty nice Awabi

  • Saba aburi: Probably the best Saba I've had. Unbelievably fatty and melts in your mouth

  • Buri kama (collar) bacon: If no one told me what this was, I would've thought this is a supreme-grade pork. Again, very fatty

  • Boiled octopus: Massaged for hours, it was incredibly soft

  • (palate cleanser) Cherry tomato

  • Chutoro: On that night, all the tuna was from Oma

  • Chutoro with Bafun Uni from Aomori: I expected a more mindblowing flavor from this combo, turned out just okay

  • Kuchiko: Grilled dried sea cucumber. This has the flavor of uni (minus the sweetness) but amplified by 10

  • Kamasu maki: Kinda functions as a palate cleanser due to the freshness and crunch of the shiso/negi inside the roll

  • Maguro kamatoro (collar) aburi: Aged for 2 weeks. This had incredibly crispy crust

  • Tsuma daikon temaki: The chef made remaining tsuma daikon into a hand roll. Since he saw I still have some Kuchiko left, he offered to put it inside the roll. Turned out to be pretty good

Nigiri

  • Tai: A bit too chewy for my taste. This fish lets me taste the rice and noticed immediately that it is quite punchy

  • Akagai: Very crunchy and somehow has floral notes

  • Sayori

  • Torigai

  • Buri

  • Kohada: Meaty and not fishy, but it was very sour that it even overshadowed the shari

  • Hamaguri: Caramel-like sweet

  • Katsuo: There was an option between ginger and garlic topping. I chose garlic. It was just okay.

  • Ika Inro sushi: Shari stuffed inside boiled squid. It has a nice texture and sweetness

  • Ikura: The creamiest one I've had without any boiling or mixing with egg yolk, etc

  • Maguro zuke: The fattiest zuke I've had. Not even sure if this is Akami anymore

  • Chutoro: Fatty and smooth, among one of the better chutoros

  • Part between chutoro and otoro: Might be my favorite tuna cut of the night

  • Otoro

  • Aburi otoro: Very oily. I felt like this needs some kind of seasoning to bring out more flavors

  • (palate cleanser) Apple: At first I thought it smelled sour and tart, but turned out super sweet

  • Kuruma ebi: Insanely huge prawns. I don't think it was that sweet and might be my jaws are already tired from eating so much food, but it felt a bit overcooked for my taste

  • Murasaki uni: The uni gunkan here is best described as an overflowing uni tower! Noticeably sweeter than the tsumami but still not the best I've had

  • Half anago, with salt: It disintegrated as soon as it entered my mouth

  • Half anago, with tare: I prefer this sweet one

  • Tamago

  • Hozuki (gooseberry)

The legendary sign

Near the end, customers can get the "Sawada Special" where Sawada-san will pile all the cuts that had been served on top of rice until you tell him to stop, then he will wrap it with nori into a gigantic hand roll. My stomach had been way too full to eat something like that.

I didn't know if it was always like that but no one got any soup or tea in the end of the course (except for the customers who specifically ordered tea).

I found the course amount to be overwhelming, considering the nigiri is very large. By the middle of the meal nearly every diner had to ask for a "baby-sized" shari.

The price I paid was around 58000 yen with half gou of sake. I think it was pretty worth it from an objective standpoint since the quantity is overwhelming and you get seven tuna items. But it wasn't for me, since I prefer a cheaper price with smaller quantities, or at least more items that makes my mind blown. In the end, I think the whole experience of dining at the sushi temple that is Sawada is just as memorable, if not more, than the food itself.

Budget: ¥58000 with one drink
Score: 8.8/10


Sawada (さわ田)
〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo City, Ginza, 5 Chome−9−19 銀座ＭＣビル
Reservations: Omakase

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