Nichinan

I recently dined at Nichinan, the Japanese restaurant located in the Hotel Thaxter. The space itself was gorgeously designed, creating a sophisticated and inviting atmosphere. As a sushi lover, I was thrilled to find that their offerings were exceptionally fresh and delicious. The staff was attentive, knowledgeable, and went above and beyond. Overall, I highly recommend Nichinan for anyone seeking great sushi in a beautiful setting.

Such a cool atmosphere, awesome service from out waitress (I wish I could remember her name!) and delicious food. Makes a great date night spot. Definitely finer dining which makes it a great place for special occasions. I totally appreciate a nicely lit restaurant and gave this place a 10/10 for that definitely. 💯 Also, I have to add the bathroom was beautiful!

Went here for dinner with my husband on Valentine's Day weekend. We were very excited to try as we haven't had non-sushi Japanese food since we visited back in 2019, and this place looked like it might be a gem.

Now, I understand that a restaurant like this isn't exactly a Golden Corral and if you're looking to get stuffed on a budget here, it's going to be a bad time. But even knowing the price point, there were some things that felt off. It was overall a pleasant experience, but I feel like it was trying to be a higher-end place that you'd see in NYC or Boston (even in Portsmouth, NH there's not a ton of competition), and there's some details that could be improved to get there.

Here's a summary of some of the things we got and my thoughts. Overall, we spent $200 pre-tip.

- Tea Party in Tokyo ($18): Taste-wise it wasn't bad, but it was a tiny teacup with a large ice cube taking up 60% of the volume for the actual drink. I know there was very little alcohol in the cocktail itself because I'm a lightweight on an empty stomach and I would normally feel slightly buzzed after the first few sips. The presentation was overly simple but not in a "zen" way. I think some chrysanthemum garnish would be cute. This may as well have been a mocktail and it's just not good value.

- Sake Harasu (salmon belly) ($17): The two nigiri pieces were on the larger size (not ideal for eating in one bite) but it was clearly farm raised salmon. For the price, I assumed it was wild caught.

- Hotate (scallop roll) ($20): These flavors and textures just didn't go together. It needs more of the crisp or something to balance out the butteriness/creaminess of the scallop. It felt like I was eating straight cream cheese with sour jam. My husband really didn't like it, and I didn't hate it, so I downed the whole thing to not feel wasteful or make anyone feel bad.

- Pork Belly Hirata Buns ($13): My husband loved these. I found them to be undercooked as they still had that "porky" taste, so it's up to personal taste.

- Wagyu Gyoza ($21): These were fantastic and actually not a bad value. You can get a skewer of 4 small wagyu pieces in the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo for $40 pre-2020, just for reference.

Karaage ($12): Absolutely wonderful. Loved the kimchi and the sauce. You get a good amount for two people.

Tonkatsu ($14): My personal favorite of the night. This comes with rice and seaweed salad, and it's a good meal for a smaller person.

- Taiyaki ($12): I was intrigued by the "coffee pearls" and was hoping it would be like the coffee jelly that was popular in desserts in Japan. Not only were they plain boba (no coffee flavor), but they weren't simmered long enough and were still hard on the inside. I was also expecting the taiyaki itself to be stuffed with some kind of paste or custard as most taiyaki traditionally are. I found it to be rather dense and cake-like without filling.

Some other things:

- For this price point, I would expect the water offered to guests to be filtered and not tap water, especially with all the environment disasters going on. Or at least offer "sparkling or still" to signal that the "free" water is tap.

- The seating was a little cramped for the size of the dining room. We were sat in the middle of the entrance area on a high-top. My husband's back was against the patrons seated at the bar and he felt like he was constantly knocking into them. There were no purse hooks underneath the tables, so I had to put my bag on the floor as there wasn't enough walking space to hang it on the chair.

- The service was kind of awkward. The servers were very knowledgable and quick, but there was a strange impersonal distance that was different from other restaurants in the area. It just didn't feel warm or inviting despite the decor. They'd half-ask how the food was, and then quickly walk away, so I didn't feel they were looking for feedback from us in earnest.

TL;DR: Just stick with the hot/kitchen dishes.

I will start by saying the ambiance of the restaurant is stunning. But the food and service were both bland. The sushi was flavorless and not creative. Spent over $140 for two people. Do yourself a favor and go to surf instead.

Food was amazing, service was amazing, atmosphere was amazing. Portsmouth is very lucky to have this! The Ramen was perfect. The Sushi was simple yet delicious, and the fried eggplant was phenomenal.