the food was fabulous. I loved the pad Thai prawn dish and the chicken katsu was the best I have ever tasted. the waiters were nice. I would highly recommend it.
Courtney @ A Food Awakening
+4
I have been meaning to write this blog for quite some time, after eating here more than 3x! Which in the food world is a great feat when there is literally a new place popping up each week. Who can keep up with that sort of level?. Namo! Located in the old school favourite Thai Me Up spot on Ponsonby Road, it brings you your favourites and classics done well with a super fresh tone. Some of the top picks for your next dining experience: The Bridge Roll, Miso Chanpom and Chicken Katsu with BBQ Sauce.
Returned to Namo recently, and am pleased to say the food and service were again outstanding. The sushi chef is amazing, and I am not surprised to learn that he did some time at Nobu, Tokyo.
Highly recommend, and will return soon.
Visited here for bday dinner . Cozy casual and friendly staffs. Loved the sake tasting menu . Best food best service would definitely visit again
Made a booking on a very busy Saturday night and wee seated fifteen minutes later. Excellent service, quick and professional. Informative too! Staff knew their delicious food and advised us well. Partner had sashimi, served fresh, tasty, and on ice with bamboo branches. Beautiful. Vegetarian meal very nice :-) Ask for the side room if looking for something more intimate. Recommended!
Loved the restaurant's food and service.
I am a vegetarian and asked the waiter what their vegetarian options were. To make it easier for me, he highlighted a menu with every option that was or could be vegetarian. He recommended his favourites and was quick to give as service.
Everything the group ordered looked and tasted great. The agedashi tofu was amazing and the gyoza plate was presented beautifully.
This is my first Zomato review as this is the first place where the meal I've has made me want to spend my time writing!
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Came here about a month ago with a group of people. We were seated outside in the evening on a small one table between the 4 of us which wasn't the most ideal but in the end liked the sort of cosy seating. I liked being seated outside as inside was quite noisy as we were leaving.
The most notable and outstanding point I can remember is the spectacular service. We had a lady in a striped shirt service consistently throughout the night. She was confident, intelligent and was every proud of the establishment. I can highly agree.
I'm a vegetarian and she very kindly guided me through vegetarian options and explained with great pleasure the dishes, how the tasted and the quality of which they were made.
I can't remember specifically what dishes we ordered but I remember having a Papaya salad medium spice. Was delicious, spicy and tangy with a carrot sticking out of it which made us laugh a little because it was poking out of the shredded salad.
Everyone always was consistently awed throughout the entire night at the quality and presentation of the food. Someone also ordered some hot sake, which came out in its own box to keep the temperature.
The lady who served us would engage in conversation and we would laugh together which honestly made the dining experience even more lovely.
At the end we ordered green tea which we had to order to take away which they kindly accommodated to do so.
From what our wonderfully server told us: this restaurant is family owned after they moved up from the Christchurch earthquake. They packed up and moved to Auckland and put a lot of hard work and effort to create.
Will 100% come again. Never felt more loved and accommodated for. Truely a place to go.
This is my favourite local restaurant! The food is always fresh, delicious and beautifully presented. There are so many fabulous dishes on the menu - spinach and roasted coconut, beef and pork tataki, spicy creamy prawns, gyoza, pork bao, yaki udon and teriyaki chicken to name just a few. No wonder I keep going back and never tire of the fabulous food and friendly family service.
Thank you Takashi and Supriya for opening your amazing little restaurant in my neighbourhood.
Absolutely amazing meal. Had the tofu which was just perfect because I am a vegetarian. Amazing decor and beautiful presentation. The staff were so friendly and lovely. Definitely coming back soon!
This is a wonderful restaurant that I am definitely going to be returning to as often as possible. The food is absolutely amazing, every dish is wonderfully thoughtful and delicious. Its not often you order a meal and don't get a dud dish. I have eaten Japanese in Japan and NYC and this really does stack up. Also you aren't having to pay Nobu prices.
I am surprised that people have said the staff weren't attentive or that the food was slow to come. On both my visits they have been wonderfully friendly and polite and we didn't have a moment of wondering where things were. Each dish came in good time, with enough space to enjoy it and you never felt overloaded.
I have tried the other new Japanese spot, Azabu, which has had a lot of hype. I think Namo beats it on all counts.
Presentation of food was immaculate. Staff perfect. The mains for two people were brought out awhile after all of the other food. But other than this no complaints. Would definately go back again.
Whhhhhy have I not dine here sooner!! Great atmosphere, small and intimate.
All the dishes were beautifully presented and were all fresh and delicious with generous portions !!
The staff were all lovely and great service !
Not often I left a Japanese restaurant with a full stomach !!
Loved everything about this place ! Please keep up the amazing work !!!
Excellent and innovative food! Different and delicious. Nice atmosphere. The staff were lovely and made such an effort. Will definitely be back!
I have some friends who works there, so my experience might have been a little biased, but still I have to say my night here was outstanding.
The menu is small, but interesting, and the food is beautifully presented. The most impressing thing was the king prawns, but the gyoza and the agedashi tofu were also delicious.
A place to try!
Friendly and welcoming services received from the staff. Cosy, simple and comfortable environment with outdoor option.
This restaurant serves modern Japanese cuisine, each dishes were presented with full efforts and preserving the delicacy of Japanese style. Flavors has been thought-out carefully and creative used of fusion ingredients.
Things to improve on is to use fresh seaweed to achieve crispy and bringing out the salmon roe flavors. Beef tatami were a little over cooked but rescued by the amazing sauce.
Overall big well done on presentation and passion for Japanese cuisine.
Lovely service , were very friendly ! Food was very good although took some time but very understandable . Was even given complimentary dessert from the chef
Great, fresh food that is well presented. The staff suggested dishes that were absolutely delicious. Staff were helpful and prices reasonable. Will definitely be back again!
Absolutely exquisite Japanese food- it looks amazing and it tastes even better dare I say. The staff went out of their way to ensure we had a great time and understood the menu. Will definitely be coming back.
Namo is outstanding, the best Japanese we've had in Auckland! The service was great, our waiter knew his stuff, happily recommended his favourites plus gave us honest advice on how many dishes to order which meant we ended up with a perfect amount of food. The beef tataki was a stand out and the chicken katsu was also amazing but we couldn't fault any of the dishes, they were all beautifully presented and bursting with flavour. Matcha ice cream at the end was delicious too. Very reasonably priced, we had 4 drinks, 5 dishes and dessert for $120. Highly recommend!!
Had a beautiful, Japanese meal here on a quiet Monday night. The presentation was stunning, the food was very fresh and unique. Service was polite and effective and the food came out swiftly.
Namo's obviously just opened up so they're still learning the ropes from the looks of other reviews.
A memorable and reasonably priced meal. Recommend the karaage tofu, just divine!
This is my new favourite Japanese restaurant, slightly non conventional, but exciting at the same time.
The sashimi capriccio, it looks busy with lots of flower petals , but this is the standout dish and was great to see , raw prawns (small Indian prawn but excellent eating),squid,octopus and a good assortment of fresh fish.
The miso soup was good , not great, but liked it in the cup , papaya salad is ok but needs something to bring to life , Mekong baby's is the best by far, and the prawns on the stick , the crumb could be crisper and not as limp.
Loved having the hot sake in a hot water bucket.
Even though slightly more expensive than most Japanese , I would highly recommend, and look forward to going back and trying the other dishes 👍👍👍👍👍👍
The most important tip to anyone looking to visit Namo; choose your dishes from the Chef's special list, because these are generally prepared by Takashi himself. Otherwise, it's more casual Thai with Japanese influence. Service is attentive, but the does not live up to the standard Ponsonby demands. Takashi's talent is duly wasted here, but get in there to sample his handcrafted art while you can.
Namo newly opened on ponsonby road and the hype surrounding the restaurant meant we had to visit. The service needs a lot of improving though, the staff wasn't very attentive and the food came really slowly. Presentation was nice but that was about it.
Wow!! The food was amazing! It was worth waiting for 30 min for the food. We ordered miso soup which came out first. Probably the easiest thing to make. Next is came the mushroom salad. Delicious and plenty of fancy lettuce to wrap the mushrooms up. Then came the beef salad. That was nice, spicy and tender meat. Then we had the sashimi carpaccio. Oh wow! It look amazing! Something you would see at fine dining. Well presented with very fine detail. Then came the salmon tutaki. Another well presented dish and probably the best dish we ever had. The salmon just melted in your mouth finishing with sweet flavour lingering in your mouth. Presentation is a must in this restaurant. The staff was attentive and gave plenty updates on the food. One thing I would say is that the toilet. There was only one so you had to had to wait and also might be a good idea to get a bigger bin. Other than that I would definitely go back when it is more quiet.
Food: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Great new place on Ponsonby Road with the head chef Takashi having prior worked for Nobu in Japan and Tetsuya, you can bet this place live up to the hype. He prepares certain dishes right in front on your eyes reminiscent of uomarket restaurants Japan. We tried a few different dishes with their vegetable gyoza being the best I've ever had; freshly made and lightly fried to perfection. Their agadashi tofu is pretty standard with the right mix of flavours and well presented. I had a tofu teriyaki fusion dish; they tofu was perfectly fried with a light teriyaki tasting sauce that paired well. It was a bit salty but this didn't take away much from the rich flavour.
The staff are friendly and very attentive, refilling water and checking on how the meal was. When they confused one of our orders the waitress promptly apologised.
Would definitely come here again.
Excellent sushi served with their unique sake soy sauce (clear in colour) which enhances the flavour of white fishes brilliantly. The mains are good too but the sushi was most stunning! Will come again to try their other items off the menu.
Super! Everything was just right. Food; devine. Staff; very welcoming, friendly. Price; superb value for high quality fresh food. The Sushi was absolutely devine and so was the fish of the day. Will go again if we get the chance and make an afternoon of it eating through the menu!
Staff is very nice, and food is amazing! Dragon roll and salmon tataki must try! Absolutely recommend everyone
Thai/Japanese fusion, interesting take on some dishes with some regular dishes you expect from a Japanese restaurant.
Good food, but not real Japanese food.
Wow. Just wow. Totally worth it. Try all the Chef's specials, especially the king fish and the salmon tataki!!!
A hidden gem in Auckland! Great atmosphere and food! Definitely recommend
Really simple, interesting food. And incredibly well presented.
We had a really delightful meal here. The vibe is casual and the service is friendly. But it's the food that we'll come back for - fresh, delicious and beautifully presented, with vegetarian- and vegan-friendly choices. We'll be coming back!
Such an amazing dinner! The Chef's Specials are simply incredible. It's a very casual place but the dishes are fantastic.
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