Hana Japanese Eatery Will Make You Love Japanese Cuisine
Hana Japanese Eatery
Hana Japanese Eatery is the ideal place to introduce someone to Japanese cuisine. It has the staples you generally think of—sushi, ramen, tempura-fried anything—but no specific dish dominates the menu. Instead, you get a range of dishes that will please anyone’s palette. Grilled fish, pan-seared fish, whole fish, fried fish. Writing this out, Hana’s probably best if you like seafood. Sure, they have chicken katsu and pan-seared steak (sometimes you’ll find an A5 wagyu special) and various other things, but the stars of this show come from the sea. You’ll want some sashimi, you’ll want a roll, and you’ll definitely want the uni shooter. You might also want that whole grilled squid, because when was the last time you ate a whole grilled squid?
Uptown - 5524 N 7th Ave
Awards + Accolades
James Beard Awards
2022: Best Chef: Southwest | Lori Hashimoto - Semifinalist
AZ Central
2023: 100 Essential Restaurants
2020: Dominic Armato’s 100 Essential Restaurants
2018: Dominic Armato’s Top 100 Restaurants
Eater
2024: The 38 Essential Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Magazine
2024: Best Sushi/Japanese
2023: Best Sushi
2023: Most Iconic Sushi Bite
2022: Best Sushi
2021: Best Sushi
2020: Best Chalkboard Menu
2019: Best Sushi
2019: Top 100 Restaurants
2018: Best Chalkboard Menu
2015: Best Sushi
2015: Best Japanese Curry
2013: Best Sushi
2012: Best Sushi
2012: Best Slider | Monkfish Slider
Phoenix New Times
2024: Top 100 Restaurants
2023: Best Japanese Restaurant
2022: Best Japanese Restaurant
2021: Best Japanese Restaurant
2020: Best Japanese Restaurant
2019: Best Japanese Restaurant
2018: Best Japanese Restaurant
2016: Best Place to Eat at the Bar
2015: Best Japanese Restaurant
2014: Best Ramen
2013: Best Sushi
2012: Best Alternative to Sushi | Gyuniku Tempura Roll
2010: Best Sushi
2008: Best Photo Op
Reviews
October 18, 2007 / Michele Laudig
Phoenix New Times: Fish Tale
But how often is your first impression of a place so dazzling, so vivid, that you still talk about it months later?
It's a rare thing, indeed. And here I am, five months after my first visit to Hana Japanese Eatery, with a crystal-clear recollection of what went down that day.
What to Get
Amaebi
Perhaps the biggest reason I love amaebi sweet shrimp is because it feels like I shouldn't be eating it. It's pretty much pure shell, but when deep fried, it becomes magically crunchy and edible. There are no greater pleasures than eating these fried shrimp heads in a good Japanese sushi bar like Hana, a bustling neighborhood joint that rises above the rest.
- Andi Berlin, AZ Central
Chicken Tatsuta-age
The Japanese love their fried chicken so much, they have several different permutations of it. Chef Lori Hashimoto serves chicken tatsuta-age ($8) as an appetizer – around 10 bite-size chicken breast nuggets breaded in potato sta
rch and deep-fried in cottonseed oil for its neutral flavor. Before frying, Hashimoto marinates the meat in sake, salt and a smidgen of chile sauce for a whisper of heat. She plates the crusty nuggets with a lemon wedge to counteract the oil and a simple dish of warm soy sauce mingled with rice vinegar for dipping.
- Marilyn Hawkes, Phoenix Magazine
Hana Egg
It's a visually stunning dish, and no less wild on the palate. Cutting through the crisp tempura shell sets loose a torrent of warm, oozing egg yolk. The hot tempura plays off the cool yogurt-mentaiko sauce, creating a mix of temperatures in every bite. And in the age of the umami bomb, when so many dishes are constructed around exclusively rich flavors, it's refreshing to see a rich, luscious egg yolk paired with bright notes like the sour citrus, salty mentaiko, and fragrant myoga.
- Dominic Armato, AZ Central
Honeymoon Shooter
Oyster shooters, invented in San Francisco during the Gold Rush, often contain vodka. But chef/co-owner Lori Hashimoto keeps her honeymoon shooter – a blissful marriage of uni and oyster – non-alcoholic and Japanese in spirit, adding quail egg, ponzu, tobiko, green onion and garlic-laced Sriracha for a bracing blast of umami downed all in one go.
- Phoenix Magazine
Kano Mariyaki Shogazoe
Known for their creative sourcing (monkfish liver, anyone?) and superb treatments of familiar classics (the Yakibuta ramen is insaaaaane), Lori Hashimoto and co. run one of the Valley’s most addictive culinary playgrounds. Our favorite ride: the charbroiled squid, or ika. Simply prepared, the squid is sectioned and scorched on a charcoal grill, imparting beautifully basic flavors: smoke and caramel and just a hint of the sea.
- Niki D’Andrea, Phoenix Magazine
Shio Ramen
Hana may be known for its sushi and it’s still available, but the underappreciated non-sushi half of the menu shouldn’t be overlooked. Hana’s shio ramen is a delight, a clean and smooth pork broth with a bracing punch of salinity and the light, smoky scent of katsuobushi.
- Dominic Armato, AZ Central
Uni Shooter
To my mind, there’s no better way to start a meal at Hana than by downing this cold, bracing Japanese amuse bouche in one go. Creamy-textured uni (sweet but tasting ever so faintly of the ocean) and the tiny raw egg yolk of a quail (rich in its own right), float in a puddle of sharp, citrusy ponzu. Both uni and egg come adorned with briny black tobiko (tiny pearls of flying fish roe), curls of green onion and a red pop of garlic-laced Sriracha. It’s an umami-laden party in your mouth.
- Nikki Buchanan, Phoenix Magazine
