Here's my full review as promised in my "Check In". My wife, daughter, and I walk in and the place was packed but we managed to get a table. My initial thought was being so busy this place must be good. We looked at two menu sets and couldn't believe how many menu items there were, so many things sounded good. Today I was in the mood for tempura and I'm always in the mood for sushi so I chose the sushi / tempura combo. We also ordered the "Tea Leaf Roasted Pork Belly", kaki furai (deep fried oysters), nabeyaki udon, and chutoro nigiri (medium fatty tuna).
Let's start with the "Tea Leaf Roasted Pork Belly". One word, awesome. It was seasoned just right, cooked to perfection, and literally melted in my mouth. Can't go wrong with pork belly so I'm not going to weigh my whole review on this one dish. Take my word when I say this is a must order when you are here. I give this a five out of five.
The next dish that came was my wife's nabeyaki udon. First thought, before tasting it, was the noodles weren't your typical thick udon noodles. I know some dishes have different styles, depending on what part of Japan it comes from, but I never heard or seen different style of noodles. I'm not going to rate the noodle size effect the rating, my wife and I just thought it was strange. The broth was very good, the egg was cooked perfectly, the ebi (shrimp) tempura was ok, and the chicken was good. Overall I would give this a four out of five.
Chutoro nigiri (medium fatty tuna) came next! Toro, chutoro, or otoro I like them all. This was very delicate and was starting to fall apart as I dipped into the shoyu (soy sauce), a good sign. What a wonderful experience, a piece of fish that was melting in my mouth along with the great texture of the sushi rice. Five out of five!!!
Next was the sushi / tempura combo. The sushi: maguro, hamachi, sake, and tekka maki (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and tuna roll). All sushi pieces were good, no complaints. The slices were generous cuts of fish and the sushi rice was perfect without being some big wad of rice. Tempura, the batter on the ebi (shrimp) was perfect while being so-so on the vegetables. The overall taste was great. The one thing I was happy about was to finally see a Japanese restaurant serve grated ginger and radish for the tempura sauce, something that is becoming rarer these days. For some reason my bowl of rice seemed like it was cooked with too much water, the bowl of rice my wife had was perfect. My rice just seemed to be like the kind of rice you would get at some bad teriyaki joint. This menu item earned a four from me.
Last is the kaki furai (deep fried oysters). The taste of the oysters themselves was great while breading seemed to be on the heavy side. The breading wasn't crisp at all and it just seemed to be like oyster stuffing during Thanksgiving time. The plating wasn't that great either. Typically you might see it plated on top of some cabbage, well this cabbage was a big mound and the oysters were soaking up the dressing they used for the cabbage. I give this item a two and wasn't too impressed.
The service was great with friendly servers and staff, they came around often to make sure everything was ok and water/tea levels were good. Prices were fair for being on the Eastside. Sushi was great. I would come here again while making sure to try the pumpkin fried rice. Overall rating: three stars. read more