Maneki is a great choice if you want to experience a restaurant which was once part of Seattle’s original “Nihonmachi” or Japan-town. It’s located up in the hill on the edge of Chinatown where many of the local Japanese restaurants reside. It still feels old style inside and they’ve tried to keep it that way I think.

This restaurant is a favorite with those Nikkei (Japanese Americans) who’ve grown up in Seattle. Maneki is a corner stone. There’s nothing fancy about the place, but it’s kind of a cute restaurant where you can get a good amount of food and a good price. They’ve actually got a pretty big menu with lots of homestyle dishes to choose from.

No sushi/sashimi sets as they focus more on a variety of other dishes, but they do offer the standard sushi a la carte and some sashimi selection – mostly that comes as part of a larger dinner.

Lately the place seem to be doing quite well so if you’re going for dinner on a weekend I would recommend a reservation.

Great service as well. Friendly wait staff.

Pretty average food, but somewhat cheap. Sashimi was a little dry and udon was only noodles and broth. Service was a little lacking.

Maneki recently celebrated its 100th birthday, and it has been a favorite of mine since childhood. We were dining at Maneki in 1966, and saw Sonny and Cher dining there with Lan Roberts, famous KJR-AM disc jockey! Sonny and Cher were not in town for a concert, but for some reason were passing through. They knew good food then, and it’s still great. I actually kind of miss the old Japanese gentlemen smoking Mild 7s in the bar there. This place is homey and authentic and fine. Three tatami rooms to reserve, and a very intimate sushi bar. This place is very Seattle AND very Japanese. It’s really more Japanese than Le Pichet is French.

My “tempura lover” and “sushi lover” frnds highly recommended Maneki to me, and they come here almost once a week. I see it a big commitment, considering the hassle of parking in Chinatown area.

In kanji, Maneki means “to invite”, so I am kind of curious to find out how this place invites customers in. Not surprisingly, the whole place decors with “Maneki Neko (invitation cat), which stands for luck and asks for business prosperity.

Overall, Maneki feels like a homey restaurant with a lot of sushi choice. Food is not fancy goodlooking and simply tastes like mom’s meal at home. It could be a good choice for authentic Japanese food hunters.