So this review mostly applies in the very specific circumstance that you're vegan or eating out with one. If not, carry on and check out the other reviews instead, you're good.
That disclaimer applied: I had checked the rather small menu out in advance to make sure there'd be something for me to eat, just in case. I spotted several things that seemed workable (pad thai, mushroom tempura, a delicious-sounding salad).
At the restaurant, it turned out two of the vegetarian options weren't actually available that night. Furthermore, the mushroom tempura was permanently crossed off, the salad had mayonnaise, and the pad thai had fish sauce. The only veg sushi options were an avocado roll, a cucumber roll, an avocado-cucumber roll, and an avocado-cucumber roll with some seaweed salad on top, none of which seemed worth the prices given and which didn't have enough variety to make a decent meal anyways. Inari, sweet potato tempura, futomaki: nope. Just those.
After a moment, the waitress personally recommended the fried rice sans egg to me, the only vegetarian thing left on the menu aside from the bland rolls. But when it came to the table, it was obvious from the taste that it had been fried in a *ton* of butter. Other people at the table tried it and instantly agreed; the butter was the predominant flavour, since the chef hadn't used any soy sauce. One person even joked that he loved how creamy it was and he'd have to start using butter in his fried rice as well.
If the waitress had just been upfront that there were no remaining options for me, that would have been fine; that would be my mistake for not verifying that the veg-sounding options were actually veg in advance. But the rice was outright recommended to me as something vegan, and the waitress clearly knew what "vegan" meant with no prompting from the conversation we'd had. Either she was careless enough not to remember the ingredients in the food they serve or she decided to lie. I can just imagine what would have happened if it had been a dairy allergy rather than a dietary preference, or if I'd been the kind of militant that forces themselves to throw up if they break their diet. It still ruined an evening that was supposed to be a fun treat. I left the restaurant hungry and vaguely nauseous.
Let's end with the mostly-positive: The ambiance was lovely. Great music and beautiful low-lit decor, and I was amused to see an episode of Naruto playing on the bar screen. Everyone else's food looked good, and they said it tasted pretty good, too. Although they also said J-Unique was better, so maybe this isn't the best Japanese place to go even if you are an omnivore. read more