I decided to dine in here for my love of Asian cuisine. I'm not from this area so I was curious of this place after passing by a couple of times. It seems like the place to be at at least in this neighborhood on a Sunday night (I'm trying not to say "hip" lol). After walking in, the bar and a small table placed between the bar and entrance were packed. All together maybe 10-12 seats. Nothing huge but all the seats were taken. Good for them I guess. But as a lone diner, I was trying to see if I could sit at the bar since I also wanted a drink with my food and didn't want to take up an entire table. That wasn't going to happen tonight. The restaurant is sort of split into three sections. The front which has the bar for alcohol, a sushi bar, and cashier/delivery pick up. The second (middle section) are large booths with wooden seats and a large table in the middle. It really catches your eye since it's a unique Japanese aesthetic. I think there's about 3-4 of these booths (I didn't count). Great for large groups. I debated on sitting here. But since these tables seated larger parties and you have to take your shoes off to sit in them (I wear 14 hole boots that are a pain to get on and off), I decided to continue on to the back section. There's a bunch of regular seats back here. Emphasis on regular. It felt like a dead zone back here despite a couple of tables being occupied.
Sunday night. The place had a nice flow of people. Since I wasn't the only person here, it took a while to place my order in. The waitresses were nice. No complaints there. But when I was ready to order my food and drink, it took a while to get my order in since the only two waitresses working the back were preoccupied. I felt a tad forgotten.
For food, I decided to order Chicken Yakitori, Coconut shrimp, Deep Fried Roll, and a Lychee Mimosa. The appetizers were top notch. It was my first time having coconut shrimp and I absolutely loved it! I never thought these two things would combine well. Although it tasted great, I thought the presentation was rather dull. The shrimp looked like it was just thrown on the plate. No resemblance to what was pictured on the menu. It had cilantro and a cherry as garnish. I thought it was quite random. Wasn't really impressed by the presentation.
The yakitori was my favorite item tonight. Two skewers with chicken, onions, and peppers. Nicely charred, excellent taste. I ended up ordering seconds after the sushi. The presentation for this was better. There was a giant leaf (couldn't identify) under the skewers. A better attempt at presentation than the coconut shrimp dish. However the skewers still arrived with cilantro and cherry (that might be their favorite garnish haha). I'm assuming the sauce poured over the skewers was teriyaki sauce. Nice addition, tasted great.
I was highly disappointed by the sushi. I ordered a Deep fried roll which consisted of white fish, salmon, cream cheese, Kani, and avacado. Topped with eel sauce and spicy Mayo. I opted for this because I wanted to try something new tonight. Initially, the sushi wasn't bad. It smelled fishy (for lack of a better term) obviously. However, because it was deep fried, it felt quite dry after the third piece of sushi I had (six pieces served). I felt like it was too much. I got pretty bored of it quickly. Now this might be the first time ever - I decided to not finish the sushi and asked for it to be taken away. I decided to go for my second round of Yakitori to redeem the dinner.
Now maybe I could've tolerated the sushi if I had gotten my Lychee Mimosa early on when I started eating. After receiving my second appetizer, I asked about my drink. The waitress told me the bartender was backed up with drinks and I would have to wait a bit. I didn't get my drink until a bit after I received my second round of Yakitori. And once I had it, although it looked nice, it was disappointing. It tasted more alcoholic than mixed with juice. I didn't taste anything lychee related. I desired the sweetness and was let down. In order for me to finish the drink, I decided to order a Sprite and mix it. That's how I finished the drink.
The place is nice. The staff is friendly. Some of the food is amazing. But it has some negative qualities. I don't like writing negative reviews. And I'm not really aiming for this review to be negative. I'm simply just sharing my experience here. It was my first time. The three stars are because I have mixed feelings of the place. May return for the Yakitori. read more