After driving by the place so many times, I decided to finally give it a try. The ambience of the restaurant is that of a sports bar--with its loud rock music and ESPN on flatscreens hung up around the restaurants--rather than a traditional Japanese restaurant. No problem there, but it set the tone for my lunch. They offered lunch specials at $8.95, which would not be too bad of a deal considering they came with salad, rice, and I think miso soup, but the lack of selection beyond teriyaki and one sushi combo left me scouring the menu for something better. Being not too hungry, I decided to go with some nigiri for appetizer and udon to fill me up.
The nigiri came on a minimalist but carefully arranged platter. They looked decently fresh, but I could have sworn a few of them had a hint of perfume as an aftertaste. I couldn't tell if it was from the soysauce, the hands of the sushi chef, or maybe the plate itself, but wasn't sure enough about it to bring it to the waitress's attention. I neededn't have worried though; she was nowhere to be seen until she brought my udon.
The udon was the worst taste-wise and appearance-wise I have ever seen. It looked like somebody just dumped a bottle of soysauce into some hot water, threw a few strands of noodles and some deep stuff and one shiitake mushroom, and tossed leftover, roughly cut 1/2" green onions into the bowl. The broth was awful: too salty without any sign of dashi like it's supposed to have. The mushroom was good sized, but it looked like nobody took the trouble of soaking it in water to reconstitute it before dumping it in the soysauce water, so it was impossible to even bite into the thing. Talk about the worst $10.95 I ever spent.
All in all, I was not at all impressed with this restaurant. When I first got there, it showed promise as a place I would bring my friends to after work, but after this experience, I'd rather stay home and make my own sushi and udon.
Pros: Sports-bar like ambience
Cons: The food itself, bad service
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