If you’re on Ovation of the Seas and have the Unlimited Dining Package, Izumi is one of the four specialty restaurants included. It’s a Japanese restaurant serving sushi, sashimi, and hot dishes. We were curious, so we went. Here’s everything that happened.
How dining at Izumi works
Once you’re seated, the staff come around to take your drinks order and drop off a small bowl of edamame. Shortly after, they serve hot miso soup — one bowl per person. Ours was nice, not too salty, and warmed us right up.
Izumi works a little differently from the other specialty restaurants under the Unlimited Dining Package. Instead of ordering freely, you get a structured selection per person:
- 1 small plate
- 2 large plates
- 1 dessert
It’s almost like a set meal, except you get to pick what you want from the menu. I actually like this format — you won’t overeat, which is great if you’re doing multiple restaurants on the same cruise.
We kicked off the meal with a light and simple bowl of edamame.
Followed by a warm, comforting bowl of miso soup.
Side note: my photos came out very blue-ish because we were seated in the atrium area outside the restaurant, and the lighting there was all blue-toned. I tried adjusting them as best I could, but sorry if the food looks a bit off — it’s the lighting, not (entirely) the food!
What we ordered
Small plates
Shrimp Firecracker Spring Roll
Deep-fried shrimp, crabmeat, sambal chilli, cream cheese.
Spring roll skin with a whole prawn inside and a creamy, savoury filling. Crispy on the outside, satisfying bite. Not bad at all — this was probably one of the better things we had that night.
Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura
Prawns, zucchini, mushroom, long bean, carrot, red pepper.
Served hot and crispy, clearly freshly prepared. Two prawns plus a decent spread of vegetables. No complaints here.
Large plates — sashimi
Tuna & Salmon Sashimi
Honestly? We all agreed this was the worst sashimi we’ve ever had. The slices were extremely thin. The salmon looked oddly orange with no fatty marbling at all — my husband said it looked like carrot slices, and he wasn’t wrong. It crumbled when you picked it up with chopsticks, which is just wrong for sashimi. The tuna was quite fishy too. Very low-grade fish used here. Such a shame.
Large plates — Chef’s Signature Rolls
After the sashimi disaster, we switched to the signature rolls for our remaining large plates. Each roll comes in about four bite-sized pieces — a sensible portion that won’t fill you up too fast.
Champagne Lobster Roll
Blanched lobster, avocado, daikon sprouts, soy wrap, champagne sauce, dried chilli thread.
The lobster piece was crunchy — whether it was actually lobster, I honestly couldn’t tell. Tasted fine, nothing special. Won’t remember this one.
Baked Snow Crab & Salmon Dynamite Roll
Snow crab, salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado, spicy mayo, garlic-chilli oil, lemon, champagne sauce, daikon sprouts.
The ingredient list sounds absolutely amazing — but we couldn’t really taste any of it. The flavour just wasn’t there. Very strange because everything in the description should have made this really good.
Truffled Creamy Lobster Tempura Roll
The lobster tempura piece on top was the standout — better than the sushi roll underneath it. The roll itself didn’t have much going on.
Desserts
Mochi Ice Cream
Not properly thawed, so it was rock solid — very hard to cut or bite into. The skin was too thick and way too chewy. The chocolate flavour was the best of the lot, better than the mango. Still not great.
Matcha Ice Cream
Probably the most straightforward thing we had all evening. Not too sweet. It was fine.
Final verdict on Izumi, Ovation of the Seas
All in all, it was a pretty forgettable meal. It doesn’t taste like authentic Japanese food, and for anyone who eats Japanese food regularly, the quality gap is going to be obvious.
Here’s the thing — my husband and I aren’t even big fans of Sushi Express back in Singapore. It’s not exactly a high bar. But after eating at Izumi, we genuinely felt that Sushi Express does better sushi and sashimi. That really says it all. It was almost funny how unbelievable it felt to even be making that comparison.
We’ve decided to “ban” Izumi on future cruises, haha. Would have gone straight to Jamie’s Italian or Chops Grille instead — way better value for the calories.
Should you try Izumi? Only if you really need a Japanese food fix mid-cruise, or if you’re curious enough to try it once. But please go in with zero expectations — especially if you’re a Japanese food lover. The food here is just not up to standard. You’ve been warned!