We recently found ourselves wandering into Little Tokyo again. We couldn't find seating in the other restaurants, and I wanted to try a different place, and Rio Zen was it.
The place has seating by the bar (you can smoke here as well), and seats for groups (non-smoking) both indoors and outdoors. It gets a little bit noisy in here so don't expect incredibly intimate conversations here, unless you don't mind talking slightly above normal speaking noise levels.
The service, I must say I was happy with. We went at the peak of the peak hours, around 8 pm on a Friday night... on PAYDAY, IN MAKATI. That's no joke. Really. When I had finally decided on a list of things to order, our waitress came back only to tell us that there was no more sushi rice. Alas! How could I have my chirashi without sushi rice?! In despair, I ordered something else, but by some miracle our waitress came back to tell us they had found a way. Plus points in my book!
Service is very important to me, and at this restaurant, they find a way to accommodate you, and quickly.
Some of the things we tried were:
- Salmon crunch sushi: This was ok, however I wouldn't order it again. There was something lacking on this one.
- Special chirashi set: This comes with uni (YES!), ikura, squid, tamago, shrimp, tuna, octopus, salmon, and mackerel (or marlin?), sushi rice, and miso soup. I was quite pleased with the serving size. The taste of the uni was spot-on, too. Slightly sweet, with mild hints of the ocean. I really do love my uni. I was quite happy about the serving size, because it is good enough for two to share. Price range is generally the same as most Japanese establishments in Makati, around PhP 585 a pop.
- Chicken Yakitori : Salt and pepper, please. I prefer plain, salt and pepper coated yakitori sticks that I can dip in sauce to my liking. This comes on a skewer with leaks and a special, sweet dipping sauce. The cook on the chicken is perfect. My only complaint would be that there isn't enough chicken on the stick. Bigger servings, please?
Notes: I may come back here to try out their ramen. I did not get to try this when I went, but it seemed that everyone was ordering some. I probably saw eight bowls pass me over the course of my dinner. Interesting. read more