Would have been three for food but I have reached my final verdict of two stars for overall experience. Why? Basho stole my co-worker's hard earned $20.00!
Lunch. The hostess might not have been the hostess at all. When we walked through the huge dark double glass doors, we stood awkwardly for a minute or two before being greeted although there was two staff up front. One totally ignored us while another girl was taking orders over the phone. When she finally finished the call, she greeted us. A party of four, please. We were told to wait while she checked something. Another awkward moment. When she returned, she clumsily gathered our menus and so I figured we could just follow her. We did an awkward U-turn back to doors and then finally to the dining area. Love the open dining area but it could use more lighting if not natural light.
Our waiter was very polite, ordered our drinks and came back with it within five minutes. All food came out at a steady pace. For appetizer, we ordered from from the Robata Grill - chicken breast, two orders of pork toro, and spicy duck with mushroom. The chicken breast and spicy duck was good but the four stars would have to go to the pork toro. It was melt in your mouth good! Soft, juicy, tender pork belly. It is comparable to NY Ipuddo. I guess I don't have to go to New York anymore.
For entrees, my brothers each had an order of the Basho's lunch set. I was hoping the Chef would be creative and make the two sets different from one another but they were the same food selection. The salmon was flavorless. I am thankful I stayed away from the sushi. The lunch set also came with fried chicken tempura. The batter was too thick and soggy rather than crispy and light as it should be. I took one bite and didn't want to finish the other half. I thought dipping it into the spicy mayo would help but that only made it worse. The beef skewers was chewy. The only highlight if I can even call it a highlight was the two tiny pieces of fried sushi. Overall, though there be plenty to eat, everything was sub-par in quality, possibly poor in quality even. If you want quantity, you got it but the quality sure will suffer.
My fiance's entree, seared duck ramen looked like a miserable cabbage ramen soup. Well, aside from the pretty carrots, it looked very sad. I wonder if it tasted as miserable as it looked. He did not enjoy it. Of course we are comparing it to NY Ipuddo.
My own entree, the spicy korubuta pork ramen was on the other hand, well presented and tasted pretty darn good. I can't quite pinpoint what is wrong with the ramen, whether the texture is just not quite right, but every other component of the dish was delicious. I would order this dish again on any given cold or rainy day.
But all good things seem to end terribly. My co-worker had purchased a Groupon for me as a gift so I was excited happy that this experience would have been $40.00 less so my brothers who I brought along had free meals or would have been...
Our very nice waiter, after ten minutes we were able to flag him down, came back and asked me if I had another Groupon as the one I have does not work and that it had already been used. It was a gift so how would I know if my co-worker had accidentally used it without realizing it. I told the waiter that I would pay in full on my credit card. Later I found out from my co-worker that the restaurant had made an error. She checked her Groupon account and it showed that the coupon was used today, 11/05/2011. Somehow our waiter or the cashier must have typed in the coupon redemption code twice so that it showed that it was already used. This really made the experience all the more worse.
Initially, I was excited to try this place because it practically had all the items I absolutely love: sushi, ramen and steamed pork buns. Because the Groupon was rejected, the bill was $105.00, plus $16.00 tip. It would have been $65.00 plus $16.00 tip. Because of the mistake, Basho practically got an additional $20.00. Ahhhh....I felt twice ripped off for mediocre food. Would only come back for the pork belly. Then again, I just may not come back at all.
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