Went here with a relative last Thursday, August 18th for the first time for the both of us having interest from a local YouTuber who liked their Shock N Awe breakfast and entree bowls. But we were there for the okazu items and knowing how okazu-ya hours are and how soon foods go empty (as they usually do not restock once they are out of a food item), we decided to go early and was there about 9:20ish.
The outside looks worn and could use a better neutral color of gloss paint. Once inside, we saw three contemporary glass display cases and since there were two other parties before us, we just looked at what items we wanted to get. There was just the one older woman servicing the front, don't know if there were any others in the back cooking. She didn't talk much really, listened to what you order and take your cash and give you change back.
A positive was that each item on sale had a price shown, so you could add up your meal and not get shocked at the end of your selection!
I went with chow funn, nori wrapped ume plain rice ball, teri chicken, sweet potato tempura, eggplant omelet and gobo. Total came out to $10.50 which got me so excited, as I know okazu-ya items can get out of hand and may total $18-$19 or even more! At the time I was there, there were pretty much that each selection had about half remaining, except that I saw there was only one remaining corn beef hash (which I didn't see and should have gotten). When we left, there were three separate customers standing behind us so it gets busy off and on.
Dropped off my relative at his house and once I got home, I had to take a few bites of the foods! Now upon opening the lid, you can see the shine on the exterior of the sweet potato tempura and on the eggplant omelet... turned out that was OIL --- and lots of it! This could only mean one thing: the oil used for deep frying wasn't hot enough temperature wise, so the oil soaked through! urghh !
Let me break down each item separately:
1) chow funn - looked alright, but bland in taste - needs flavoring noticeably,
2) the nori wrapped rice ball - did its job, nothing to complain about - neither sticky nor dried out grains of rice,
3) teri chicken - a little too salty for my taste and funny as it doesn't look anything like what I had envisioned as local style teri chicken as it looked to be a butterflied piece of thigh and dipped perhaps in batter that had some teri(yaki) sauce --- taste was weak (and salty),
4) sweet potato tempura - for $1, the overall size made it a generous bargain!
BUT, seeing how much of a shine it had, I decided to get two paper towels to soak up the oil. Boy, two paper towels was NOT enough, as it soaked through both towels and made both my left and right hands completely were soaked in oil,
5) eggplant omelet - see comments above ... same as the sweet potato, plus it REALLY needed some salt (and perhaps pepper) to flavor the eggplant. It just looked to be that the pounded down eggplant was put into eggwash and deep-fried,
6) gobo - way over simmered with no crunch at all - suitable for people missing some or even all their teeth, as you could slightly chew with one's gums and be able to swallow. I have never had gobo served this overcooked since I first went to an okazu-ya establishment back in 1967!
Funny, this two (2) star rating can be improved to a four (4) star rating *IF* they just correct by improving on their deep-frying cooking process *and* put flavoring into their items with quality control! Someone in the kitchen staff needs to taste all their products to ensure a good product goes out to the customers. Seeing it 'from the other side', one would assume the cook(s) were late to wake up, late to open up and prep and with the rush to prep all their items properly, quality was compromised just so that these items would be ready for the shop's 5 am opening.
For now, I cannot recommend you go there for the okazu items even though they were of great value to your pocketbook!
I do hope the owner of this place, Sandro C. sees this review and will take action to improve on their okazu food items.
Again, this place can generate even more customers, but they need to get their act together on the okazu items side, as all these Yelp reviews say their Shock N Awe breakfasts can't be beaten for value! read more