| rev:text
| - I'm currently here for business and I just left the restaurant. I basically had sushi the past four days at different restaurants...
I'm staying at the Hilton Tapatio, so I was keeping an eye out for local restaurants. I have to admit, the logo caught my eye, so I decided to look it up on Yelp.
Here's the lowdown:
Likes:
Surf n Turf (wonders what it would be like with Kobe beef)
Green tea ice cream
Looks like a fun place for a first date - if you both know how to use chopsticks. Women like men with good finger dexterity. But you might not get a lot of privacy, it can get loud as you can easily hear other people's conversations.
Okay:
Rainbow roll
Dislikes:
Hotate with Mayo
Does not accept American Express (my corporate card)
The restaurant looks fairly new - then again, just about every business around here doesn't look more than 5 years old.
I was here on a Monday night at 6:50pm. Besides myself, there was a family sitting at the sushi bar and two young women at a nearby table.
I was greeted kindy by the Chef, who looks like he probably owns the place. And I was immediately told to take any available seat.
I'm assuming the waitress was the wife of the Chef and she asked me if it was my first time. Based on the demographics of this area, I take it not a lot of asians / filipinos live in this area. She handed me a paper menu that had traditional sushi / sashimi / rolls / salads / appetizers on the front, and the specialty rolls with expanded descriptions on the back.
I don't drink alcohol, so I ordered a Pepsi, so she brought out a can with a glass of ice filled with my drink.
When I'm new to a sushi joint, I usually try to look for a baseline that I'm familiar with. For me, my favorite is the Rainbow Roll from Sushi Sams in San Mateo.
Wild Tuna's Rainbow roll was under $9 bucks, which seems like a deal, but it was relatively small, which is okay because I hate big rolls which make me take two bites and gets messy. But at the price, they do put good size pieces of fish. I only like Salmon and Tuna on mine, and they were happy to grant my request at no extra charge. I also asked if they could put real crab meat (yes folks, a lot of sushi joints use the fake crap) - but unfortunately, they were out.
In the back of my mind, I can't help but wonder how fresh Sushi could be out in the middle of the desert called Phoenix. I am a bit spoiled by the availability of "fresh off the boat" fish in the San Francisco bay area.
The salmon tasted great, which means, no fishy smell or flavor. The tuna, wasn't as high a grade of tuna that I'm used to, but it wasn't bad considering that I'm nowhere near the ocean.
They used very little, as in quantity, shredded fake crab meat, but it is better than the fake king crab leg meat that Yaso served me last week.
I also ordered Hotate (scallops) with mayo. I usually save that for last if it is really good, but I ate it first along with cucumber salad that came out the same time. Based on this experience, I probably wouldn't order it again. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either. There was a very slight taste of fishiness to it (i'm picky), so the vinegar like tanginess of the cucumber salad masked the taste.
Finally, my Surf n Turf came out! This was Shrimp tempura and grilled enochi mushrooms topped with seared beef and finished with a tangy sesame dressing with a hint of onion.
Although the rice was drenched in the light soy like sauce, the flavor was rich and the steak was buttery tender. I would come back just for this.
Forget about the traditional stuff - which you can get anywhere else for a better deal and taste. But, I have a feeling that this place is known for its specialty rolls.
I topped off my dinner with green tea ice cream. I love green tea ice cream and this was really good! If you have never tried it, it is an acquired taste, but once you love it, you want to have it again and again.
My bill came out to be $32. I usually would split much with my wife, so your bill should come out cheaper if you share - unless your eyes are bigger than your stomach like mine. I'm still STUFFED as I write this.
Since there was no "eye candy" to watch (as a previous poster noted), I ended up watching the large screen tv they had behind the bar. I guess Monday nights are slow nights. It's okay, I was served quickly and was in and out of there so I could check into my Hotel.
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