Shinbay has been on my list of places to try for a few years now so I was thrilled when my friends had my birthday dinner there this year. We had the 6 course chef's choice and it was out of this world. The food was art, no question.
One thing that I would have liked though was a bit more guidance. We were handed a sake menu with 50 choices on it and no explanation. I'm not an expert in pairing sake and even if I was I didn't know what I would be eating until it was served so I felt lost.
When I asked our server to pick which would go best with our meal she said all of them. No real explanation about what the different varieties were, nothing. It was kind of a let down.
The prices range from $30 on the low end to one that didn't have a price listed, it was described as 'the Louis Vuitton of Sake'. We figured it was at least $500, the bottle was so beautiful though we talked about getting it just to keep the bottle. Instead we settled on a mid-range sake that seemed safe. It was good and we quickly finished it and when we went to order the next sake we picked one that wasn't as dry but it was delicious so we were pleased.
Somewhere into 2nd bottle our server came over and I asked her about the 'Louis Vuitton' Sake. She said 'Oh, you should have ordered that, it's amazing!'. To which I snapped back 'That's your fault! We asked you what to get and you wouldn't help us!' It turns out it was like $70 or something so we totally would have ordered it. She missed an opportunity to up sell us for sure. After that we felt like we were missing out.
Other than that it was perfect. They even gave me a card that was signed by the whole staff. I don't know if I would go back. The food was special but the overall experience was lacking.