Japone Restaurant

Japone is a great place! I’ve been there many visits at varying times of the evening. I often enjoy going there right after work when they have excellent happy hour deals and the downstairs area is generally quiet and relaxing after a long hard day.
All the waitstaff are nice and friendly with the exception of one or two in the past, but they are gone so good riddance! The happy hour specials are great and you can make a great snack of it for a cheap price. The sushi is fresh and tasty, and you can wash it all down with a tasty Sapporo or sake.
When I’m looking for a full dinner I have yet to be displeased with the quality of the food. I tend to stick with the traditional Japanese menu as those items are more to my taste, but the items I’ve tried from their main dinner menu have been just as delicious.
I also really enjoy going here with a groups of friends for dinner and then karaōke at the back bar! In fact we just had a recent trip there a few days ago with 14 of us in total and we all had a great time!

This place is so creepy! I have only been here for late night, but its definitely nothing special. There is fake snow/​ice all over the wall, really limiting the interior bar space. You’d expect a dive like this to have deals on drinks, but not so much. Avoid!

This restaurant desperately needs Gordon Ramsey or Robert Levine show «Kitchen Nightmares and «Restaurant Takeover.» We walked up just to see the menu and the waiter opened the door in desperation to get clients in. I decided to give it a chance even after the first whif of the musty smell. The décor was offensive from the mismatched chairs to the music theme which does not go with a sumo wrestler. The waiter was the only redeeming quality of the restaurant.
Food was mediocre, the sushi was underwhelming and the wasabi was not fresh, it had lost the horseradish kick. The fish did not seem fresh either. I would be really afraid to go back there and get sick. Overpriced for what you get.
This place really needs an overhaul, perhaps that is why the food is overpriced… they are trying to raise funds to repaint the walls or change the dreadful décor. The lighting was poor in an attempt to hide the dust. DC diners really deserve better and I would not be surprised if they don’t receive an A on their next inspection. Take your money elsewhere.

They were out of the foie gras custard, which was the main reason I went. (They were also out of the regular foie gras and the rockfish sushi.)
The sushi was mediocre and overpriced.
The only beer was Kirin and Sapporo in 20 oz bottles.
I’m pretty sure my credit card was overcharged.
The interior is fancy but dingy. White leather seats should probably be cleaned more than once every 10 years.

This place is kind of creepy. The service was ridiculously slow. The interior was dingy. The food quality was questionable. I really don’t know how they can stay open Friday night at 7 o’clock there were only about four people dining.

The web site looks good but it is not. The karaōke bar is mediocre with a small tv monitor. The underwater theme décor is a run down. The sushi is ok. Come early and order the half price happy hours. Pretty good deal.

This place has A-​Bomb happy hour (get it? No? Don’t worry, it’ll hit you). If you are just down with getting rolls, then it can’t be beat. Douches who only want nagiri and sashimi are out of luck. 22oz of Sapporo are like $ 4 too. For two people, two beers, like 24 rolls and tip, it was less than $ 30. And since I didn’t get sick, that makes it awesome. The crappy part is the 30 interns in there being super loud doing Sake Bombs. Enjoy that hangover on the hill tomorrow. I would recommend this place as a cheap happy hour (as goes to 8 so a late happy hour), but I don’t think I’d ever go there straight up for sushi. And the ambiance was weird. Like a Japanese Dive Club. If you don’t know what one of those looks like, stop by.

Totally disappointed. Upon receiving a Groupon, visited website and researched reviews prior to purchasing last year, and everything seemed good. Be forewarned!!! The service, atmosphere AND food here are HORRIBLE, to say the least. Really surprised. Makes Long John Silvers fast food restaurant look (AND taste) like an upscale locale. This was a complete waste of my money and time. Will NEVER go back, even though I still have a voucher that was given to me as a gift (perhaps as a WHITE ELEPHANT?) BLECH!!! BAD, FISHY TASTING SUSHI!!!

Randomly stumbled in here following pangs of hunger and a general affinity/​permanent craving for all things sushi.
The place did have an odd smell to it, but I just chalked it up to my hyper-​sensitive olfactory senses. The service was fairly attentive and helpful. We ordered up a storm of sushi and it was delivered fairly quickly. We ate everything that wasn’t bolted down and it was all pretty great. Prices were reasonable, too.
With all the negative reviews on here, it seems like we might’ve caught them on a good day.

The food was delicious and the service was excellent. It could be a bit cleaner and the menu had an odd smell. The California roll and teriyaki chicken were good but the gyoza was excellent.

Ugh, this place is filthy and unpleasant — there are other Japanese places on the same street — go anywhere but here. Japone advertises a decent happy hour, but beware: this place is dirrrrty. We went there on a Friday night and were the only ones in the restaurant. We were seated in a large booth in the corner, which seemed nice at first, but then we noticed the giant flies on the curtain. Ewww. The food was bleh, the service was awful and the overall vibe was icky. Go someplace else!

OK honestly, we didn’t even eat here. And I normally don’t like reviews from people who don’t even try the food/​drink, but there’s a reason. There was no one there except a few people at the bar, nearly 8pm on a Saturday night. It was dark and dirty, with filthy bathrooms per bf’s report. It was run by Caribbean people it seemed, and it just seemed like a front for something. And the sushi chef ran out with a bunch of plates of sushi while we were heading out. I have no idea what’s going on in there but I want no part of it.
Looked like they had good happy hour specials though — spicy tuna roll for $ 3!

Omg. This was the worst dining experience in a long time. We have NEVER had to wait this long to have our order taken, I won’t even go into how long it took to get served… Seriously? Get it together, people. Get more staff on the floor or do whatever you need. Hope this helps you improve.

I haven’t written a Unilocal review in awhile, but check out my previous listings and you see that I care about food. I’m just writing to warn people away from this restaurant.
While the «Café Japone» bar above «Japane Restaurant» is a great place for beer and karaōke, «Japone Restaurant» was THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCE I’ve had in the District to date. I’ve lived here for 6 years.
THE GOOD:
none
THE BAD:
— the restaurant is obviously a club first, and a restaurant as an after thought. The ambiance is laughable. No music, awkward quietness, and my party of two was seated in a bizarre canopy’d round table that should have belonged in Fur or Josephine.
— No one greeted us at the door. I stood there awkwardly, then wandered around to look for a maitre d’, then stood awkwardly until she finally came.
— This woman, who was also the only server for the evening, has no service skills whatsoever. No eye contact, smile, or helpfulness.
— 10 minutes before we received a menu
— Server forgot our drinks
THE UGLY:
— The room was not heated.
— I ordered ramen, expecting something like the wonderful stuff that Toki Underground makes. This ramen was literally made from an instant packet. Onions sprinkled on top to differentiate.
— Yakisoba was rubbery and contained questionable seafood, which was not included in the description on the menu.
— We ordered «oshinko,» pickled root veggies, and received daikon maki. At this point I didn’t even comment to the server, I just wanted to get out of there alive. And also because…
— There were two other tables in our dining room. The server had verbal arguments with BOTH other tables. If I had complained about anything, that would have meant a 100% complaint rate for this gem of a restaurant serviceperson.
— The door to the kitchen has a ridiculous, deafening groan which derailed our conversation every 30 seconds.
— Here is a transcribed exchange between the server and a customer:
(Server delivers something to the table, then starts walking away)
Customer: «Excuse me, could you come back for a second?»
Server (turns around): «Um, no, I’m really busy right now.»
Please for the love of all things holy, do not go here. Go sing karaōke upstairs instead.

SAKE BOMB! so good~

Amazing sushi! The fish was fresh and melted in your mouth. Some of the best sushi I have had. The manager and staff are really awesome/​friendly. I recommend the fatty tuna roll! Followed by some green tea ice cream. Mmm…

I love this restaurant so much! There is awesome Japanese Traditional food, tasty Beer and Sake! Sushi is also EXCELLENT, fresh and good deals. There is Japanese Sushi Chef so it is real one. Very popular Sushi and Japanese food not only for Japanese, everyone loves them. Especially I love their Ramen! Also, service is very great, fast and friendly!
There are Karaōke in both up-​stair and down-​stair. You can enjoy different atmosphere! People enjoy Karaōke together. Great place to hang out in group.
I often go to there to enjoy food and drinks. I do love there!
I definitely recommend this restaurant. One of the best Japanese restaurant in DC!

Listen,
I am from out of town… except for the female server/​barmaid I would say never go to this place.
The food was nice and the sake was affordable. But the owner an older Japanese Gentleman was extremely rude.
I first saw him come in looking wasted with 2 young underage girls under his arms. Then we proceeded from bottom front bar to back bar to do some karaōke.
I asked how to sign up he did not even seem coherent, nor did he seem interested in what we wanted to drink… he was more concerned taking pics and getting drinks for these two underage ladies he had brought into the bar.
I finally got some attention from him to get the song list and sign up sheet. I put a song down that I wanted to sing. There were no other singers ahead of me.
He started to amble over to karaōke area. when I see him not entering my song but a completely different song then he crosses me off the list. If I had not spoken up I would have never sang.
Don’t say your a karaōke bar! If your owner is to drunk and perverted to pay attention to his customers. I dropped about 100 in that place! Never again!

I can’t believe this place has been open for 10 years and I am giving it its first Unilocal review!
The sushi here is tasty, the service is super fast and friendly, and it has a cool/​unique interior that is like a throwback posh /​fantasy /​futuristic feel. The back area gives you the feeling of being in a cave made of ice. I guess you wouldn’t go here if you were concerned about being trendy or snobby. Also the AC could be a bit cooler ideally.
It’s a real laidback place to get some sushi and beer ($ 6/​$ 9 for ¹²⁄₂₀ oz) with no waits or pretension. For comparison, a California roll is $ 5.25 here.
I like this place.