I-Zu Japanese Restaurant & Grocery

This place was an amazing restaurant and I’m really sorry to see that it’s permanently closed as of recently. The environment and atmosphere was much more authentic than other Japanese restaurants that I’ve been to around Dayton and it’s really a big loss in my opinion for them to have closed up shop. Extremely disappointed.

With our game group inbound two weeks ago, I was more than eager to give I-​Zu another go, particularly considering that one of our gamers who wasn’t with us during our prior visit had spent 3 years living in Japan. If there’s anyone in my circle of friends who knows authentic Japanese and Korean food, it’d be her.
Going in, the restaurant was fairly empty for a Friday night. We were one of only 3 full tables in the place and we made sure to ask for one of the infrared grill tables so that we could indulge in that delicious Korean barbecue that I’d missed out on last time.
Trouble is? That never happened. Despite asking our server specifically for an infrared grill table, asking her what barbeque specialties the chef recommended, and waiting eagerly to fire up the table… our food came out precooked and full of disappointment. Honestly, if you’re going to advertise tableside BBQ, why pull the rug out from under your customers, especially if the restaurant isn’t busy and you have the time to spare?
The food this time was… somewhat disappointing. My bulgogi was chock-​full of onion and little other flavoring element. Sarah’s food – a katsu curry – was similarly onion filled. Bleh.
I’m done giving I-​Zu chances. If I want Japanese cuisine, I’ll be heading to Sakai in Troy.

The hiyashi-​chuuka tasted like hiyashi-​chuuka.

GREAT PLACE! Clean, delicious, fast service… New favorite sushi joint! Great prices, great food… What more could you ask for??? It’s located in sort-​of an not so great area but it’s clean and pretty inside; definitely a MUST TRY!!!

Beautifully appointed in spite of its modest location. This would be a great place for a first date. No, the surrounding area is not upscale, but it’s not any way «unsafe». The parking lot is open and well lit.
Our server was an older lady who, in spite of limited English fluency, was very helpful and clearly wanted us to enjoy our meal.
I just love the heated moistened cloths at the table, they are such a great touch of civilization. There’s no need to visit the toilet to clean your hands before eating.
Our food was 100% satisfactory. I’ve been told that many Japanese restaurants are run by ethnic Koreans. This is why so many are «fusion» and Korean food is on the menus. We had bibenbop and seafood udon. My husband orders bibenbop frequently at home and when we travel, so he has some basis to give two thumbs up. My udon noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth was tasty. I forgot to ask if I could substitute the healthier soba (buckwheat) noodles, but it’s usually allowed. Other reviewers will have to comment on the bulgogi.
This would be a great place to visit if you are a Korean food neophyte and want to expand your palate. If you’re lucky enough to get the same server we had, she can give you guidance on how to eat your meal (there are a few tricks) and she’s so nice you won’t feel embarrassed.

I want to say that this is the best experience I’ve ever had in Dayton, but that wouldn’t be the truth. I suspect it was one of the strangest, though.
I’ve had this place bookmarked for months. I was looking for a Japanese grocery more than a Japanese restaurant but it was lunch time and I thought I’d indulge.
I slipped on the mat in the entryway, when I was trying to open the door – oops! :-D The Okinawan woman was trying to greet me, but I wasn’t quite in the restaurant yet. Mat-​1, Nobuyuki-​0.
She told me to sit anywhere, and I tried to be considerate with a table for two. I expected a lunch crowd. «You want to sit over there?» she asked and she laughed a little. So, I sat at a table over toward the wall, between two tables with grills. (Okonomiyaki?!? No. Durn!) (Sitting there, I kept noticing someone sitting behind the o-​sushi preparation area, just staring the whole time I was eating. It was creepy.)
She asked me about a drink and I said «Tea» and she asked «Hot?» and I said «Yes». She brought matcha – Nihoncha. The green tea that’s actually green. She also brought a lovely little washcloth, so I could freshen my hands. Oh, and the initial irrashimase didn’t go unnoticed, either. I don’t think I even got an «Annyong ka sae yo» when I visited Sima.
Looking over the menu, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I make some Japanese food at home, being Japanese and all. I don’t want to buy Udon or Ramen that comes from a package with a little bit of alteration, and pay a small fortune, and that’s what it seemed to be.
When I look at a Japanese or Chinese menu with Roman transliteration, I often scan both kinds of characters. I suddenly saw the Unagi Donburi!!! (Una-​don, on the menu) «I’m sorry. We don’t have that right now.» Durn! I bet they had the pork cutlet donburi.
I ended up with the Sashimi Lunch, which came with miso soup, small salada, and rice. Portions seemed small, but the last time I had this kind of meal – in Florence, Kentucky on my birthday, I spent nearly $ 30 with tip. Today, it was about $ 17, and she asked if I wanted more soup. The place in Kentucky had similar sized soup, salada, and rice, but offered me no refills.
If there was a big problem, it was that the fish was not great. Yes, it wasn’t expensive, but there wasn’t much. It wasn’t particularly firm and full of flavor, but it was good and it didn’t seem as though it had been in the freezer for ages, either. I’d still recommend it over one of those fake Japanese places like Yamato.
The lady who waited on me was very kind and we had a lot of conversation. I can’t say that I’ve ever met anyone from Okinawa – I’m from further north in Yamaguchi-​ken originally. It was interesting to trade stories. It sounds as though we should all head to Okinawa to see what a beautiful area it is.
The grocery had a small selection of Japanese and Korean items from food to dinnerware.

Always excellent. Kinda crappy area of town but the restaurant is worth the visit. Always great food and service. Really love the playboy roll.

Food is 3-​star, service is a solid 4-​star. The place appears to be owned and operated by Korean couples, so as I love Korean food, I’ve decided to order spicy ramen and soondubu chigue (tofu chigue). The ramen noodle was actually quite decent considering noodles from instant noodle (deep fried kind) was being used. The soup had few pieces of sea food and it tasted pretty good. Price of $ 9.00 is maybe a bit steep for what you get though.
The soondubu was more like a spicy Chinese soup. The soup was good, but not as soondubu chigue. Too much pork meet and sesame oil aroma is too strong (and perhaps reason why an impression of Chinese soup?) The menu described «sea food and meat» but I could not find ANY piece of sea food in my soup; pork, tofu and veggies. It was a spicy soup but not as soondubu chigue.
Maybe I’ll make another trip for 2^nd try?

little sushi place in a strip mall. We were looking for a place to eat that wasn’t a chain or fried food, so I followed the lead of the prior reviews, despite my work colleagues comment: «Sushi in Dayton? There’s not an ocean anywhere close to this.»
it didn’t disappoint, and I’ll be back as business will send me back up here several times in the coming year. Staff was friendly and invited us in, even thought they close at 2, and we got there at 1:50pm.

This is a good place for a quick bite.

We are from out of town and visit Dayton once or twice a year. We were going to go have sushi at Thai Nine but local friends of ours said the sushi was much better elsewhere and recommended two or three places. Given that Thai Nine gets super crowded on weekends when we wanted to go, we decided to go for the place on our friends’ list closest to our Miller Lane hotel, which turned out to be I-​zu about a 10-​minute drive up North Dixie.
We had a plate of really great sushi and some potstickers. Our meal also came with soup and salad included. The potstickers were decent, kind of soft and fell apart easily, but my husband liked them. The sushi was excellent, very fresh and tasty, and beautifully presented on a big plate with sauce artistically arranged. The menu does have a ton of choices, both for predetermined sushi-​and-​meal combos and for other Asian foods, or you can do like we did and order the sushi by the piece from a list.
The only major drawback to this place is its location in a strip mall in a not-​so-​great area. There’s a check cashing place right next door that had some shady looking people hanging around, «gentleman’s clubs» nearby and we saw the cops making a stop at a business nearby. Inside, the restaurant is very nice, and I’m sure they keep costs down by being located where they are, but it looked a little unsafe. Also, our sushi took a pretty long time to prepare so it was maybe 30 – 40 minutes before we received it. The restaurant was empty except for us, so I imagine at busy times it might take even longer to get served. However, I’m not sure when those busy times might be since we were there at dinner hour on Friday and expected to see a few more diners.
I hope these folks can continue in business as the sushi really is superior to what you get elsewhere (and WAY better than the fast food on the motel strip) and more convenient than having to drive to downtown Dayton for it if you’re staying in the North Dayton area. Despite the crumby neighborhood we would definitely go back to eat at I-​zu.

Terrific sushi, good tempura, large menu. The only thing that feals ‘Dayton’ about this place is how few yuppies there are. I saw far more 1^st or 2^nd generation Japanese Americans. Is attached to a Japanese foods store that sells the same products they make there exquisite meals with. Great service too. I’d go back regularly if it wasn’t in North Dayton, too far from my stomping grounds.