John Lin
Google
Although the atmosphere is very polished and the service was amazing, the food items in my opinion were a hit or miss.
We had a ton of items including the scallop sensation roll, hot stone wagyu, katsu curry udon, yakitori platter, and toro rice bowl. The best item we had was definitely the wagyu. They grill the wagyu in front for you and then serve it with wasabi, salt, and savory truffle sauce. In my opinion, the wasabi, salt, and beef was sooo good. Amazing bite. No words for how decadent and rich it was. The sauce sort of muffled the rich beef flavors, hence why I thought it was better without it.
The curry udon we had was decent although the different take on tonkotsu was not appreciated. They used a more wet batter to coat the pork, which is innovative but made the tonkotsu lack the crunch that normal breadcrumbs can give. The curry sauce was very light, which was good for not overwhelming us near the bottom of the bowl but combined with the udon made a very light flavor. The udon itself was very soft, which again is preference but I like a little more chew to the thick noodles.
The special scallop roll was nice. No complaints there. Nice combination of flavors and felt like a very fun tasting fish with all the fixings of roe, scallop, rice, and orher ingredients. I felt like the wasabi served with the sushi was a lot more pungent than the one they served with wagyu, or the wagyu one is real wasabi while the sushi ones are horseradish.
The toro bowl though left a lot to be desired. I ended up mixing the sauces, salt, and soy sauce into the rice to make the dish more flavorful. I think the chef was maybe trying to have us appreciate the flavors of the toro itself but the whole dish was very bland. The sauces made it a lot better and made me appreciate the dish that much more. I think I would appreciate the taste of the dishes more if it was served sushi style, but for in a bowl, I would want the rice and other ingredients to complement the dish. The fish did taste fresh though.
We also had the yakitori platter. My favorite by far was both the beef and chicken & leek. The rest like the pork belly and the chicken wings were good too, but the beef and chicken and leek felt the most flavorful. The roasted peppers were good too. I always like to have some greens on the side.
Also tried the yuzu lemonade and the kawaii tiki cat drink, but I would recommend skipping the drinks. The cat drink was strong and you definitely taste the alcohol. I might be biased since I don’t normally order drinks at restaurants. The lemonade was okay but it felt like it wasn’t worth the $10 price tag.
Overall, this place is good but it does feel like there could be more that is desired. I really do love the elevated yet casual atmosphere and the service was excellent; we were checked on frequently and the staff was very friendly. Food wise though, some of the dishes felt disappointing, which could just be because of what we chose. I just expected a lot from this place considering the large amount of positive reviews. I would maybe come back here again. It does make for a nice date spot.
If you do decide to come here, I recommend getting a reservation. It was packed here on a Wednesday evening.
