Hana Restaurant

Got wayyy more sushi then expected. Was a little on the salty side but overall was very happy to choose sushi over its very popular brunch spot neighbor. Ppl were waiting out in the cold to be seated there vs being sat right away here.
Will be back!

I don’t find the sushi pricey, but maybe that’s because I’m comparing it to what I’ve experienced at downtown sushi places like Japonessa, Nijo, and etc. I like Hana! The atmosphere is friendly and local. Whenever someone from out of town comes to visit and asks for me to take them to a sushi place and then they reject Shiro’s because of the price (their loss), I take them here.
The staff is very friendly, and the sushi is fresh and delicious. I don’t think their non-​sushi items are that great — I’ve gotten katsu and udon here and was underwhelmed each time. But I’m never disappointed by the nigiri or rolls! Also, the hot tea is delicious.

I forgot how good HaNa is. I used to come here quite a bit as a student at UW. One of my friends from college loved their katsu don and we came here all the time to have that. It’s pork or chicken katsu with scrambled eggs on top of a pot of rice, which doesn’t sound like much, but is a really satisfying comfort food. I found myself back at HaNa today after craving Japanese comfort food. They have plenty of those on the menu and also fresh sushi at really reasonable prices. They also have sushi rolls, bento boxes and dinner combinations, but those are more on the pricey side, especially considering this is a more homey, no frills place. The building is older, making it look perpetually dark and slightly dirty.
I tried the curry noodles today. I thought it was supposed to come with udon, but I think they were egg noodles, which I didn’t mind at all. The dish was really tasty and I would order that again; the noodles were soft and chewy, and the curry was flavorful and more on the soupy/​less dense side. It was topped with thin slices of beef and some onions. Service was fast and courteous. I would recommend HaNa if you’re in the mood for some Japanese comfort food and/​or sushi.
Final note: The place is small and they share bathrooms with other businesses in the building, the bathrooms are on the second floor… And kind of creepy.

The Katsu Curry Don here is the one that made me fall in love with Katsu Curry Don everywhere. The sushi is alright at most, but definitely come for the curry.

Noone makes good udon, not like my okasa but this place… oishii!!! F**KING OISHI. everything else is subpar. if you don’t like soup don’t eat here but omg that udon was so good.

Small eatery on Capitol Hill. More for a small group over large groups. The establishment really had a local feel.
I ordered the assortment, it came with about eight pieces of the what is expected. The sushi themselves were fresh and flavorful. None of them were tough. The rice was decent and held together really well rather than crumbling. I liked the miso soup as there was enough tofu and seaweed pieces.

The food here is great and so is the service. They’re extremely friendly, quick, and consistent. We stop in usually once a week! A few reviewers have said that the sushi is expensive, I beg to differ, I’ve gone to several other Japanese places in the area who charged way more but provided sushi of far lesser quality. If you’re in the area I definitely recommend stopping in, you won’t be disappointed!

Likes
1) fast service
2) good bento. I highly suggest the ramen bowl.
3) atmosphere is laid back
Dislike
1) Forgotten my hot tea twice
2) the price for the sushi is pretty high. But the ramen bowl is averaging $ 8-​$ 10.

This restaurant is definitely one of the oldest and most traditional Japanese restaurants on Capitol Hill that I know. The food is freshly served and the chef is very friendly. I have been a customer here for more than 10 years and still love it.

I’ve been a regular here for… fifteen years?
excellent food, delightful service. they make amazing sake kama, and the seafood selection is fresh and simple.
if I could, I’d have lunch here everyday rather than once in a while.

This was our first time coming to Hana, and it was a hit! We ordered the poke salad and some assorted nigiri. The poke salad was really delightful; it included many types of seaweed, sashimi including tuna, salmon, and some white-​fleshed fish (yellowtail?), and a masago topping, all dressed perfectly with sesame oil and some green onion. The nigiri is a little expensive, and you order it piece by piece from a form you fill out. Our favorite was definitely the scallop (whole/​hotate, not creamy which we did not try). We also ordered surf clam, salmon, and unagi, which were all pretty nice. However, the chefs insert a little wasabi into each piece, which I did not know (not a huge fan of wasabi). So be warned! Overall, everything was delicious, the service is very good (and fast), and I consider this a pretty good location. We were very impressed by the poke, and look forward to coming back to try other Hana offerings.

To sum it up… too expensive for what you get. I could have gone down a block or two to another teriyaki joint and gotten the same thing for less.
Perhaps I just didn’t order the right thing… perhaps sushi would have been the way to go… but honestly they didn’t have a ton of rolls to choose from during lunch.
During lunch hours the chicken teriyaki is a whopping $ 13.75. You get miso, cucumber salad, and your typical rice/​chicken/​salad combo. It’s a lot of food don’t get me wrong but it’s still expensive when I know for a fact I can almost get the same food elsewhere for no more than $ 10.
The chicken was all dark meat (no choice for light) and still had the skin on which I found interesting… and had to proceed to take it off which took much of the overall flavor with it. The salad was cheap iceburg in too large of chunks and slightly wilted with dressing. When your lunch bill is $ 15 for water and a so-​so meal it leaves me unsatisfied and unlikely to return. Sad panda.

I wandered into this place with a friend, knowing nothing about it. We got one of the sushi combos and added a roll, and I would say it’s some of the best sushi I’ve ever had.
Don’t let the no-​frills appearance fool you. The sushi is great and the staff is very friendly. I’ll definitely go here again.

I happened to pass by this place while exploring capital hill, it was kind of tucked away but it looked promising. I ordered some sushi and a spicy tuna roll and it was better than I expected and the staff were very friendly!

Hana sits on Broadway in Capitol Hill serving well-​executed Japanese dishes for a reasonable price. The quality produce, and seafood exceeds nearby teriyaki joints (Teriyaki & Wok) in value and taste, while complementing nearby Ramen and Sushi venues by offering a variety of seafood specials and home-​cooking comfort food.
I tried two specials on the menu in late September and the Oyako Don-​all were delicious cooked with clarity of the Japanese flavor. By that I mean the clams in bonito broth was great because of the obvious quality in the clams, but also the elements building the broth: bonito flakes, soya, mirin, and seaweed. The flavors were not jumbled nor substituted for bland teriyaki-​like sauce.
Moreover, the squid sashimi with quail egg was a excellent small dish composed of buttery sashimi melded with the fatty egg yolk. But the bright, crisp flavor of grated daikon in junction with the seaweed topping brought variety in texture and lightness to this dish.
The Oyako-​don is a big portion of my favorite comfort food: egg omelette with chicken and caramelized onions-​sort of a schmaltzy flavor which blends so well in the white rice. It should be said that there steamed rice is very good, deserving attention.
I ordered a Sapporo for the perfect late summer dinner.
green tea is quality matcha
$ 30 for two with drink
THE SPACE very casual, no pretension, service is excellent and amicable. a great venue for family and friends, perhaps to downscale for a date to impress.
THE CROWD diverse, looks like they have a loyal regular crowd of elder Japanese and neighborhood dwellers.
THE BAR Japanese beer and great sake selection
THE BILL everything under $ 30. specials $ 5 – 10. median; $ 10
WHAT WE LIKED Oyako Don, clams in bonito broth, squid somen
IF YOU GO order from the specials and sample there comfort food
RATINGS Very Good to Good

They have pretty oishi (delicious) Japanese food here! If you’re up in capital hill and want to go have some Japanese food, I would definitely suggest this place. The tempura here is pretty good. :)
My Personal Restaurant Rating Key
One star: the food was bad and I had a negative experience.
Two star: I had a more negative experience and would not come here again but the food was good so I may.
Three store: Everything is good except one thing. Example-​the food is good, the price is more reasonable but the atmosphere is lacking class. Or the food is good, the atmosphere is good, but they over charged us. These three stars are actually my favorite types of restaurants to go eat at if the reason is due to the atmosphere because they are usually delicious and reasonably priced.
Four stars: Everything is great, food and experience. However the price is definitely on the upper end. I would not recommend this first to Obama unless he didn’t like my five stars. These are restaurants you can take your boss or your mother-​in-​laws to impress them, however they still don’t fit into the five star category. A bit fancier than my three stars, hence I don’t often eat here unless there is an occasion for it or there is a groupon that gives me a bit of a discount!
Five stars: I would recommend this to Obama. The price may be on the upper end but the experience and the taste is so exquisite, it is actually worth every nickel and dime.

The food itself is average, but the generous portion sizes, friendly and fast service, and casual atmosphere more than make up for it. If you’ve got a $ 10 on you and several dollars in spare change, come to the Hana Restaurant for a fair deal and a square meal :)

Had a chicken teriyaki donburi, coworker rocked a curry donburi. Food is good, not mind blowing, but well done. It’s rare to find an establishment that has been through the times and still deliver consistent quality at prices that make you wonder how they keep this place open.
5 stars for that alone. If you are looking for a low key, simple, clean, quiet meal that takes you back to your poor college days, this strikes home for me.

Always the same
When I use to live close to Hana I would go every week. I was back up this way and I went again and it was nostalgia b/​c nothing has changed (minus the white woman host that got mad when I asked her for the bathroom key while she was in the middle of something. It use to be hung up on the post so I thought it was still there!) It’s nice that it’s still there and a staple for the neighborhood.
I really like the waitresses who have all stayed the same for many, many years. The sushi is consistent. My partner got the udon and it was to be expected — tasting like it was from a packet but that’s what he gets everywhere it seems.

Been here twice now and the food is solid for cheap prices. The décor is pretty humble/​unassuming and it looks like a typical Seattle Japanese restaurant. The sushi here is just alright… the rest of the dishes seem like a safer bet. This time around, we ordered the sushi combo and katsudon. The sushi combo was pretty good, but I was slightly disappointed by the consistency (some of it, specifically the tuna, seemed a little mushy) and also the flavor (some of it, specifically the salmon, was a little fishy). The tuna hand roll was basic and good, but was probably the same mashed up consistency as the sushi… which works for a roll, but doesn’t work so much for a supposed slab of fish.
The katsudon was the highlight of the meal, with the pork being perfectly breaded and sitting atop a bed of fluffy flavor-​infused rice. Everything had the right level of savoriness and the onions were perfectly caramelized. Service was fast, even though it was a very crowded Saturday night. In all honesty, I can get down with this place… but probably will probably leave the sushi to places like Shiro’s.