Imo Asian Bistro

Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 704 1st Ave. Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-264-9570
Web: N/A
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 7.0 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Imo is owned by the same person who runs Wasabi Bistro and Red Fin. Both of those places are more on the upper scale side, but Imo is catered for younger restaurant goers, such as college kids. Imo, in Korean means, “auntie”, and although the place doesn't feel like an aunt's house, it does feel like a good casual place to go for late night snacks and drinks. They also have a giant screen as well as karaoke machine (not a private booth, so everyone in the restaurant can hear you sing). On weekend nights, the place is packed with Korean college kids, and can get quite loud, especially when they start singing.

SUSHI:
Imo has a decent lunch sushi combo for about $10. For dinner, they let you order sushi a la carte single order (as opposed to having to get two pieces per order). The quality is not the greatest, and they don’t serve any special season fish, which means the selection is quite basic (tuna, salmon, squid, egg, etc). Although the single order sushi isn't that expensive, you can probably get the same quality of fish (if not better) from Uwajimaya supermarket.

OTHER DISHES:
Imo may not have the best sushi in downtown, but considering that it’s more of a Korean restaurant, they have excellent Korean tapas dishes for a very reasonable price. The selection is also amazing long. You can get something cheap like kimchee and Korean seaweed or Korean pancake and grilled pork belly.

SERVICE:
On weekend nights, Imo is packed with Korean college students, and the service gets quite slow. The staff tries their best to get your orders, but it always seems like they are under-staffed. On some tables, there is a “service button” (the kind you can find at family restaurants in Japan), which you can push to call the wait staff, but it doesn’t seem to be working on most of the nights (if it worked, it would be brilliant).