Claude H.
Yelp
I had dinner here Thursday April 8th. Since Kisso was closed I looked for something nearby and that I'd not been to previously. Voila. This was the choice.
An open, front to back view is what you will find upon visiting Seiko. White interior with red accents. Not hip, not retro. It just is. Comforting in some respects. It's comfortable being what it is.
Welcomed by an enthusiastic and smiling hostess, (I could tell by the crinkles at the outer ends of her eyes that she was smiling, even behind her mask.) I took a window seat, which was not a problem given there were on tis wet night only four other diners in.
No alcohol on the menu; soft drinks, juices, tea and water only. Probably a goof thing given how hard it was raining.)
In any new-to-me sushi restaurant my go to initial order is a spicy tuna handroll. I find that's a give away answer to The Clash's question: "Should I stay or should I go now?"
Here the answer was, "ehh, maybe you can stay". A small drumstick sized handroll contained a mash of tuna, sriracha and maybe sambal and sesame oil, with sesame seed and scallion garnish. Uninspiring, but it was serviceable.
I should have gone.
I'm a nigiri guy. So we took a dive into hamachi, madai, sake (2 portions), maguro. The hamachi and madai were the better of what was one the rectangular, sushi presentation tray. There was some freshness and spring to the fish, though neither glistened nor gave a sweet smell of the sea; and the rice was fairly dense and clumped. None of the fish really had a scent. All pretty anodyne. Of course, they could have had bad odors. I recognize that. It was just that there was no uplifting factor. It was all just very "mehh".
One bright spot: the hostess. Attentive, detailed, appreciative. On this gloomy night at Seiko, she was the element of the restaurant that shone brightest and best.