| rev:text
| - I've had both great and sub-par experiences here so I gave it the middle of the road rating.
The first time I was here, I was blown away by how different the sushi was and how they had things no other sushi bars seemed to have in Arizona. The next 3 times I went back, Sunday, Sunday, and Friday back to back, I've been noticing things that I did not notice the first time.
First, I would like to say that I believe that a waiter/waitress should not wear cologne/perfume. I did not notice it the first time I went, but every other time, I noticed the guy bringing the sushi literally bathes in the stuff. I'm about to eat a bite out of my 10$ per serving of Monkfish liver and catching a big wiff of [insert popular brand of men's cologne here] is not appetizing. Especially since smell is so heavily associated with taste. A very big faux pas in my book.
After the great experience the first time, a few months later, I went 3 times in a row... back to back Sundays and Friday, I was able to notice that their specials didn't change in that time frame. The chef's-here's-a-little-something-extra-you-didn't-order was the exact same also. Maybe it's just me but I know a lot of places change their specials at least once a week. How is the special still fresh if I see it every time I go? I know the special is still there because they have not sold it out yet. You know?
Also, their tempura is really sub-par in my book. I know it's pretty hard to not have good shrimp tempura, but it's really blah. I've been able to taste it every single time I went there (it comes out as a side to a lot of noodle dishes such as udon and soba) but it tastes really floury and oily, and it's pretty heavy, batter-wise. Shrimp tempura should be very light, almost an airy crisp, but not here. My fellow diners were all in surprised agreement their tempura really was pretty blah. Also, if you really like the tempura sauce other places have; the warm savory dipping broth other places have with grated daikon radish, don't expect it here. You gotta use your soy sauce. :(
Their cold soba noodles are very salty. I've had to ask for a glass of ice and literally had to use the entire cup to dilute it enough to tolerate the saltiness.
The praises of this place come from the type of sushi you cannot find elsewhere. I love the saba here, which is Mackerel. Other places usually take the easy route and marinate it in the pickled ginger juice or their own vinegar marinade, but this place really serves the raw stuff. Very good. A must try in my book.
Sometimes Hana has monkfish liver, which is hard to find elsewhere. It's better than uni (Sea urchin gonads) and literally the foie gras of the sea. Very similar in texture and taste. Mmmm... So good!!!
Better than the average sushi bar, but a couple of things really rubbed me the wrong way and therefore brought my rating down to 3 stars.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)