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| - I am really not sure which way to go with this review. The food and service were great, but we left feeling a bit ripped off. When new businesses open, there are growing pains (to say the least). I usually give them the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, they've been open about 3 months and most of the issues we encountered were avoidable.
First, I made our reservation via Open Table about a month ago. When we approached the host desk, she had trouble locating it. The desk seemed very disorganized - there were post it notes everywhere and she couldn't find ours. Luckily, she found us in the computer and we were seated after only a couple of minutes. Not exactly a seamless arrival though.
It took about 10 minutes before our server approached our table for a drink order. Although she was very nice, it wasn't a busy night, so I am not sure what the problem was. By that time, we were pretty much ready to order, but had some questions about the menu. The drink I wanted (Chuhai) was not available because they had run out. That just seems strange to me - how do you "run out" of one of your signature cocktails? Anyhow, our server was not completely knowledgable about the menu and even said "you guys are really testing me tonight!" We inquired about the Omakase and how it works. She said we could choose 6 courses ourselves, or have the Chef do it for us. From my experience, it's always good to go with the Chef's choices, so that's what we did.
Now, I am not totally familiar with this restaurant, but I've heard that they are known for their 2x fried chicken, steam buns and ramen. We were excited to try as much as possible, but understood that we couldn't try everything. Our Server brought out our place settings - we had many forks, knives and and ramen spoon. We were excited to know we would be getting ramen.
First was a seasonal salad. I really liked the dressing (I think it was a yuzu vinagrette). It was pretty good and I even managed to eat with my chopsticks! :)
The next course was not on the menu. It was Aji - Spanish Mackerel. The presentation was a bit creepy, but the fish was super fresh and really delicious. Not something I would have ordered for myself, but very good.
Next was the Xin Jiang Lamb and Duck Breast. The lamb came on a skewer with cumin and cucumber salad on the side. I was pleasantly surprised by this dish. It had a great smoky flavor and you could tell it was cooked on an open grill. Was more like steak than lamb. I also liked the addition of the cumin on the side - we dipped our lamb in the seasoning and then the cucumber sauce and it was delish!
The presentation of the duck breast actually made it look not very appetizing, but looks can definitely be deceiving. The duck breast was stuffed with shitake mushrooms and wrapped in bacon and served on top of a shitake marmalade with extra mushrooms. I really liked it and would definitely order it again.
We then received the Hamachi Kama, which is definitely not something I would've chosen but was AMAZING! It was served with thai peanut sauce and coconut slaw, with some greens as well. We dove right in, then we realized that there were seaweed wraps as well and maybe we were supposed to make wraps with the fish, peanut sauce and slaw? This wasn't explained when the food was brought to the table, so we ended up just eating the fish. Which was fine, because it was really good, and I am not a huge fish eater.
We then expected to get ramen, but it never came. In fact, we then received our dessert. We were really disappointed that we didn't get ramen, steam buns or 2x fried chicken (at least one of them would've been nice). On top of that, the desserts were just not good. We were served the doughnuts, which are just strange, but ended up being the better of the 2. They were tofu doughnuts with sweet potato and rosemary. The topping was purple, which was just weird.The other dessert was the soft serve and I hate to say it, but it was disgusting. The menu says that it's coffee soft serve with Fernet caramel, pop rocks and nori. First of all, I love coffee ice cream, but this was inedible. Also, I am not sure who decided to use fernet to make caramel, but that is just wrong. Lastly, there was no sign of pop rocks or nori - which is ok, because that doesn't even sound like it would have made the dish any better!
This was not a good ending, so we decided to order a bowl of ramen to share, since we had expected it during our meal and never got it. We went with the Logan Poser Ramen. It was OK. I really liked the crispy pork it came with.
Overall, it was a decent experience. I would definitely go back, but after adding up our courses, there is no way our food was $200. Then an additional $60 for drinks? It's a casual place, so that doesn't quite match with the vibe. I think they have a slight identity crisis.
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