Biru Biru Japanese Beer Bar

We ordered takeaway from this place and it was the worst takeaway sushi we’ve ever had.
First off the driver dropped the bag so everything was all mushed up and falling apart when we recievied it.
Second the sushi rolls were covered in disgusting brown rotten avocado. Totally inedible. Not just one tray but two. So it wasn’t just a one off mistake.
When we contacted the restaurant they said it was because of the heat!!! No I’m sorry it was like they had found it in the back of the fridge from a couple a weeks ago and thought yeah let’s cover this in mayo and they’ll never know.
What restaurant lets rotten food go out???
Also for the rest of the food, popcorn chicken, eggplant dish and gyoza the price certainly did not reflect the portion size.
NEVER AGAIN!!!

I’m no sushi aficionado but this place really hit the spot for me on several different levels. It had a cozy tucked-​away kind of vibe and friendly service. I split a bunch of different appetizers with some friends and the fried soft shell crabs really stood out as well as the japanese popcorn chicken. Not sure if the JPC is too authentic but it was tasty nonetheless. As for the main dishes we split a 24 piece and the waygu was probably my favorite, but the tuna and salmon were also great. We were also able to get a decent bottle of white to go with everything at a reasonable price. I would definitely go back.

With a name like Biru Biru («Biru» is beer in Japanese), you would have thought the one thing going for BB would have been a clear idea of what it wants to be: a purveyor of eclectic Japanese beers, served up in a late-​night bar setting. When a group of 4 of us visited yesterday evening, what we experienced instead was a venue in the midst of an identity crisis. While some elements of the classic Tokyo izakaya were on display, what we also witnessed was the ghost of old Zushi past (BB is run by the same owners as Zushi).
The draw was a grand-​opening promotion: For $ 20 pp, unlimited bites of anything on the izakaya food menu. Holy Biru Biru, Batman — when was the last time you saw Japanese fare going for that price in Sydney? We booked for 6:30 pm (they take bookings only at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm on weekends), having been told there were no restrictions on what you can order (!) or the quantity (!) — but that popular items do often run out before the end of the night.
I didn’t order any alcohol, but friends of mine ordered the Hokkaido Beer, which they deemed pleasant and slightly fruity. What I can comment on is the food (note that some of the listed prices come from the online menu, which is now outdated as prices have gone up and items have changed):
Edamame ($ 6) — properly salted, but overcooked and nearly mushy.
Lotus root chips ($ 7) — tasted like twice-​cooked potato fries. Not bad, but no distinct lotus root flavor.
Wakame ($ 6) — wonderfully crunchy and delicious. We ordered another round of this.
Sashimi plate ($ 19) — tuna, salmon, kingfish and john dory. ORDER THIS. The sashimi was wonderfully fresh, with each type tasting like the fish it came from, but without anything extra and no sinews. We ordered another plate of this as well.
Yuzu carpaccio ($ 16) — what we think was kingfish (we forgot to ask, but the fish lacked any distinctive flavor so kingfish was our guess), sliced very thinly with yuzu dressing and black tobiko (roe/​caviar). This dish wasn’t bad, but needed more yuzu sauce.
Fresh tuna salad ($ 16) — tuna sashimi, fresh nashi pear, miso sesame dressing. The salad components were refreshing and light. The tuna, while fresh, was mishandled and shredded up into pieces. It also didn’t seem to mesh well with the flavors of the salad.
Kushiyaki skewers ($ 3.5−4) — the pork belly skewers were well received, and a subsequent round of these were ordered. We also tried the chicken & spring onion skewers, which lacked the smoky flavor associated with grilling and were in serious need of salt and perhaps some other seasoning or marinade. Same with the Nasu denaku (eggplant), which were essentially served to us raw with a miso, hoisin-​like sauce on top. We’re talking nearly crunchy eggplant, folks.
Agedashi tofu ($ 12) — the tofu here was silky but desperately needing salt in the batter.
Chicken Nanban Tsuke ($ 13) — pieces of boneless chicken thigh cooked in a dark, sweet and slightly sour sauce. A well-​received dish with flavors of dark brown sugar, rice vinegar and mirin — tasty, even though not spicy as advertised.
School prawns ($ 16) — small prawns deep fried and eaten whole; needed salt badly.
Japanese Popcorn Chicken ($ 15) — another dish that needed salt. The batter also weighed the chicken down and lacked the incorporation of air that produces a light crunch.
Wagyu beef ($ 19) — I didn’t try any of this, but my friends said it likely wasn’t wagyu beef (but a cheaper cut, as it lacked the fattiness of wagyu). The sauce served with it was very one-​dimensionally sweet and tasted of hoisin.
Tuna Roll (specials board, $ 18) — poorly made sushi. The rice was not vinegared, and in addition seemed like it was dried out.
Service was also inconsistent. One of our two waitresses was competent, correctly remembering our initial order even without writing it down. The other, however, showed her greenness when we asked her about the status of a few dishes; she didn’t seem to know what she should do (i.e., inquire the status from the kitchen). We asked her for salt, a request she didn’t seem to understand until we had repeated it 2 – 3 times. She wasn’t familiar with the menu, so when we placed additional orders for food, she had to bring us another menu so we could point to what we wanted. When my friend went to pay, she initially charged us only for the drinks. Was the mediocre food also on the house?
The food and service were generally a bust, but the real indictment against this place is the ambiance. The narrow corridor of the venue evokes a small alleyway café, not a sit-​down, stretch-​out bar space. And a small point: there is a bar but no bar area where people can actually congregate or sit at. During the evening, my friend noted, «Is this a real bar? There is no music playing.» To which we replied, «Umm, actually there is music playing.» It was an honest mistake.