Top Izakaya restaurants in Surfers Paradise, Australia

Tried this place on a whim and wow the food was excellent. I had the tonkatsu meal set and honestly, the fried pork loin was thick and honestly delicious. Highly recommend and hope to return soon.

The food was AMAZING - best Japanese I’ve ever had and the service was lovely. Thank you so much for everything!

I had the tonkatsu for dinner and it was great. The meat was tender and the crumbs crunchy. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Enjoyed their Japanese craft beer also. Service was great too, food came out quick and waitresses were very attentive. I guess the place was a bit small and only had 1 high chair but didn't really impact us much.

Excellent service and very authentic Japanese Izakaya.

Thank you preparing the baby seat for us before we even arrived at the restaurant- highly recommended!

I have been living on the Gold Coast for almost three years now, and I have tried almost all the Japanese meals in Surfer's Paradise, but I still believe this restaurant serves the best Japanese cuisine in Surfer's Paradise.

We love Izakaya restaurant and Izakaya UMAKAMON is the one you •MUST• visit when you come to Surfers Paradise.

Love all the dishes we ordered. It’s fresh and delicious. My kids love their Udon 🍜 with prawn tempura. The most important is a pot of hot sake to complete your meal.

Definitely recommended. 👍

Our 1st dining experience at Izskaya Umakamon was spectacular! Food and service were amazing! Definitely a try if you are in Gold Coast.

We had to wait 45 minutes to get the table but we just walked around the area.
Recommend : Wagyu beef Tataki, Me tai cheese potato salads, spicy red miso ramen, calpico chu hai

Amazing food and fast service, seems very busy. There is a time limit for eating (1.5hours)
Highly recommend wagyu beef sukiyaki but every
other dish was just was delicious.

Best Japanese restaurant we have been to. The staff are incredibly welcoming and attentive. The restaurant is small, yet intimate and authentic.
The food is sensational. A wide and diverse range of dishes with focus on quality produce and with an eye for creative presentation. Very highly recommended.

Very high quality Japanese restaurant. Impressed by the staffs and chef. We only saw one main chef and two assistants in the kitchen but they managed to serve in a reasonable time. Food quality was excellent.

The wagyu tataki with sea urchin and foie gras was our favourite. The beef was well cooked. Sea urchin was fresh. All three elements combined together to give a interesting but delicious textures.

The deep fried oysters was perfectly fried with crunchy outer layer. The yuzu mayo matched so well with it and can make it less greasy.

Grilled king fish wings was a little bit too salty if you eat without rice. But still nicely grilled, the fish tastes not dry.

The Mentaiko sauce udon was surprisingly good. We expected it could be a bit too creamy or oily but turns out it’s not! The sauce tasted delicious and with the right texture. There is also a onsen egg served with it which you can break it and mix the yolk with the udon to make it even more delicious.

Love the vibe of the restaurant and a big thanks to the chef and staff.

I feel incredibly lucky to have enjoyed a delicious meal here on the last day of my trip, thanks to a cancellation. The food was tasty and authentic, making me feel like I was transported to Japan with every bite. The staff are very nice and friendly as well. Thank you.

This restaurant has an authentic Japanese vibe. Their chicken don, wagyu sukiyaki hotpot and sashimi were average and felt a bit too bland. Service was extremely nice. I would highly recommend house made match icecream dessert, serving size for one person.

Very busy, need to book before coming in. Loved this restaurant, the staff and the food! We ordered on these tablets which made ordering quite easy. The staff kindly explained the food we were eating since it was our first time and they checked in on us every now and again. Loved the service! Wide selection of Japanese alcohol. Very authentic experience, will definitely visit again if I come back to the Gold Coast!

Now the food actually wasn’t bad, so food alone it’s 5 stars.

The sashimi was great, the sushi was large portioned, the hot pot was beautifully cooked, the rice was lovely and the udon was wonderful.

I loved the shot of sake as well it was smoothest I had ever had.

So food wise I cannot fault honestly!

However food is just 1 component of a dining experience and what let us down was the service. From the moment we got in I felt rushed and felt like we weren’t valued customers.

It was not customer centric, not for us at least. We had a pram and they weren’t helpful to allow us keep our foldable pram away. Fine I get it. It blocks the road. (1 star off)

Then we ask for hot water - response, oh we don’t serve that as a beverage. There’s a million reason why someone would like hot water, baby food was ours, but even a lot of elderly would like some warm water and that should not be a way to gauge $$ seriously. (1 star off)

Finally soy sauce was knocked over, the waiter said he will come clean it. Never came to clean it (per photo). (1 star off)

But I gave it 1 star back for just how good the food quality was.

I dare say the this place is the best experience I have had at an Izakaya restaurant in the Brisbane/Gold Coast region. This is in terms of the quality of the food, the service, and overall atmosphere of the restaurant.

On this first visit with family, we tried the Wagyu Sukiyaki, the Crispy Salmon Roll, Unagi Don, Buta Kimchi Udon and Karaage Chicken. The highlights from this for me personally were the Wagyu Sukiyaki, Buta Kimchi Udon and the Crispy Salmon Roll.

The total cost ended up being around $40 per person (with a total of 4 people), and I would highly recommend coming with a group so that you can all try lots of different dishes.

Booking is a must, as the restaurant is very busy, and you generally have about 1.5 hours to sit down and enjoy your meal. The food was served in a relatively quick fashion.

When I get there I feel like I’m in Japan.
All staffs are friendly and kind.
Food is amazing.
All foods are tasty and fresh.
I really enjoyed food definitely I will come back there.