Densho’s Sushi & Sake Fest

I received a refund check (plus service fees!) as promised.
One of my Unilocaler friends said they went three times prior to the 2009 event and it was fantastic. I’m sad that this year didn’t live up to the standard. I might go next year just to see if they fixed the vendor issues. At least I know they’ll act with integrity.

In contrast to the fellow Unilocalers’ reviews, I’ll say, «Yay! I’m a fan.»
I agree with the previous reviews in that there wasn’t enough food, the lines were too long, people were shoving a little, the traffic was bad and the sushi wasn’t all that good.
But as a Japanese-​American, I love stuff like this. I like being a room with all my peeps. I ran into a few friends. I actually liked browsing the silent auction. I liked contrasting the various sake. I went way over the 7 sake sample limit. (There was more than enough sake, so why was there a limit?)
It’s only $ 50, so you get what you pay for. If it were $ 100, I guess I’d expect more. Plus, if you want good fresh sushi, I wouldn’t go to a banquet hall in the Westin. I didn’t expect the sushi to be all that good so I guess that’s why I wasn’t disappointed.
I don’t know if I’ll go again, but I’ll probably consider it. I’ll probably just use it as a festive and charitable appetizer to a good meal in Belltown.

I too had a mediocre experience at the 8^th Annual Sushi + Sake Festival which made me quite sad. I had attended the two years previous and had a great time, enjoying food + drink with a lot of friendly folk.
But this year felt different, people shoved a little more and there was a distinct lack of civility in the attendees. There were less vendors offering sushi and samples of Japanese food than in previous years. I remember in previous years sampling miso soups, Beard Papa puffs and flavoured soy milks.
I was saddened by the entire debacle because it was my third year attending the Sushi and Sake Festival and I imagined my third year to be as good, if not better, than the previous two. Despite the hour long traffic from Broadview, my companions and I attempted to have a good time even though we arrived shortly after 6:45. We were going to sample sushi and sake with friends while also contributing to a worthy cause.
I could paste the e-​mail that I sent in response to the Executive Director’s but it feels like I’d be repeating what the previous poster said. The entire evening felt like a bust. It wasn’t worth the headache nor the cost so we decided to leave hungry. The night felt like a free for all for mediocre sushi and tiny shots of sake. We ended up going to Wann to sate our craving for Japanese food and to erase the previous event from our memory.
In as much as I was disappointed, I took two people that had never been and ended up disappointing them. They knew it wasn’t my fault but with financial times as they are, we would have preferred spending our ticket prices directly on sushi instead with a side donation to Densho. Unless I hear that the 9^th Festival has made changes, this is definitely my last year attending. I do not want a repeat of 2009 where my time and money are both wasted on something that wasn’t even fun.