Dinner on 11/11/2008 6:30pm
As we entered, the entrance curved to the left which veered us towards a dimly lit dining area with large TVs of soothing imagery. I expected and hoped for sports, but this was fine too. The restaurant was I thought, a good crowd for a Tuesday evening and the mood was oddly loud with some couples and families already enjoying dinner. The sushi bar was well lit and looked great and inviting, probably my favorite part of the restaurant. We took in the whole scene, seeing business partners Ryuji Murayama behind the sushi bar, Jon Tsuda at the register down the high bar, and Wilson Chan (probably) tucked away in the kitchen. Ryuji greeted us at the sushi bar. His warm welcome and personality is a plain asset to the restaurant. After a short period, waitress Erin (coincidentally, a grade school friend of mine) greeted us and offered us and did well attending to us for the rest of the evening.
Two menus provided. One course menu, another sake menu. The sake menu was impressive in design, information and item descriptions.
Jon stopped by to greet us and recommended the sake sampler due to our indecisiveness and took our sake order and brought it to us as well. We loved the sake samplers! We wanted more samplers! We later told Wilson, who also stopped in to welcome us, that their should be more samplers of the other sakes! We were very pleased with the Sake menu and selection, information on the menu and presentation/service of the sake.
The food menu had three pages: the first page titled “Izakaya Menu”, the second “Chan-ese Food” and the third a “Maki Sushi” menu – three pages filled with delicious potential.
We decided on the Sanshio Tempura, KalBi Bim Bap, Wok Fried Lemongrass Pork Chops. The tempura was perfection and the salts were spectacular. The KalBi Bim Bap was cooked to perfection. The pork chops were great too.
The green tea came constantly which was nice as our cups were never empty.
All three dishes, sake and tea went well together and were, overall, very satisfying. (We had intended to get some ‘random sushi’ selections by Ryuji, but were full by the time we finished these three dishes.) For the cost of the evening, this was a good night out and well worth the environment and meal.
CONCLUSION
The restaurant is well presented and modern, family friendly, and semi-casual. Very comfortable and clean, tho a little dark in the dining area. The service staff were friendly although there is room for improvement on the initial greeting. The sake selection was fantastic and I loved the samplers. The food menu had a good array of dishes and felt like a good value, especially after given the quality, portions and presentation of the food. The dishes we ordered were all a little strong in flavor. The overall experience was a positive one and one in which we will surely seek out again in the future.
