We went for lunch, two of us. First of all, the restaurant is beautiful. Contemporary decor, very…read moreelegantly done. We sat in a booth by the window and it was lovely. The only negative about the ambiance was that it was quite loud. The high ceilings didn't do much to absorb sound, so it was hard to hear my companion unless we leaned forward and spoke pretty loudly. The booth was very comfortable, the table spotless, and even the menu was clean (a small pet peeve of mine). The tap water came in a beautiful glass with a straw, although the water itself tasted a bit chemical-like.
They have a lunch menu with very reasonable prices. We ordered a sushi-sashimi combo and stir-fried soba with vegetables. The lunch menu is limited, so they also gave us the regular menu. Oddly, only 1 regular menu was provided for 2 people, so we had to keep passing it back and forth. It's an easy fix that would make browsing much easier. We ended up ordering an appetizer and a signature roll from the regular menu too.
The lunch specials came with salad or soup. We chose the salad, which was mostly romaine with a typical Japanese dressing. The portion was larger than expected for a side salad, and the lettuce was fresh and crunchy.
Our appetizer was the Lobster Tapas: "Spicy lobster & shrimp wrapped with seared pepper tuna." This was delicious. There were 5 little towers with very fresh ingredients and 2 excellent sauces--a chunky green sauce and a sweeter orange sauce. The tuna was flavorful and very tender. At this point we were already planning to come back with the rest of the family.
Next came the sushi-sashimi combo. There were 9 pieces of sashimi beautifully presented on ice, plus 3 pieces of sushi and a spicy tuna roll. The sashimi was very fresh, tender, and flavorful, especially the tuna. Unfortunately, the spicy tuna roll was the weak point. It tasted dry, lacked flavor, and seemed to contain far more crunchy fillers than tuna. It reminded me of a meatball with too much breadcrumb and not enough meat. I'd rather have a smaller roll with better-quality fish than a larger one padded with fillers. The spicy tropical roll was also disappointing. It too seemed to contain more fillers than fish, and the sauce was a little too sweet. It didn't taste fish-forward enough for a "signature" roll. The flavors leaned more fusion than authentic Japanese. If ingredient cost is the issue, I'd gladly pay a few dollars more for a better fish-to-filler ratio.
The stir-fried soba with "vegetables" was also disappointing. The noodles didn't taste like Japanese buckwheat soba, and the both the taste + presentation reminded me of instant ramen. The flavor was decent but nothing memorable, and there were only a few pieces of zucchini--nowhere near enough vegetables to justify the name of the dish.
The service was good overall. Our server was very sweet and friendly but definitely could use more training. While we were both trying to read the single menu, she interrupted to take our order instead of asking if we needed another minute--or even better, bringing us a second menu. Not a huge issue, but not especially pro or polished.
As we were finishing, we ordered a couple of takeout items for a family member. The server kindly offered to package our leftovers with the takeout, which was appreciated. However, when the bill arrived, 1 of the takeout dishes was missing. It took a while to get her attention, and when we did, she reprinted the check without explaining how much longer the forgotten item would take. She did swing back to say she'd ask the chef to expedite, but we still waited quite a while, making us late for a meeting.
As for the takeout, the Valentine Roll was just ok, similar to the signature roll we had at lunch. We also ordered a tuna roll, yellowtail roll, and sweet potato roll. None were bad, but they lacked the flavor we expected. Whether it was the rice or the ingredients, they just didn't stand out.
Overall, it was a nice lunch. The beautiful restaurant, fresh sashimi, generous salad, and excellent appetizer showed a lot of promise. Unfortunately, too many of the rolls relied on fillers instead of fish, the soba missed the mark, and there were a few service missteps. They're very close--just a handful of small, doable improvements could elevate the experience from okay to outstanding. I hope they do.
