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| - I knew going into this to have low expectations, but it didn't even live up to that. Asian fusion is often a lazy way for chefs/businessmen to capitalize on Asian food's rising popularity. And this is a great example of that.
First of all, it's overpriced for what you get. Sushi isn't anything special or better than Panda Wok on W 117th (yes, Panda Wok actually makes decent sushi) and is 50-60% more expensive. The noodle bowls for $12 (their website still says they're $10 which would be more reasonable) is quite pricey considering how little thought or meat goes into them.
I had Asian Chicken and Waffles and my wife had the Pork Ramen. The chicken was a large pan fried thick chunk of chicken breast. The dish would have worked way better if the chicken wasn't so thick and wet, and would have been much better with a more crispy exterior. The waffle itself was bland and the maple chili didn't stand out. At least you could tell they made the waffle in house, it had green onions. Slight kudos for effort.
The Ramen was in all honesty terrible. Once again, another Cleveland spot that fails to live up to the quality of a packet of Korean instant. The broth had no complexity and they forgot to add any salt. There was also almost no broth - see my photo. Rather than having a soft boiled or even hard boiled egg, they dropped the egg straight into the soup. Which maybe would have been OK if they hadn't overcooked it. The pork was tough to chew and didn't look freshly cooked at all.
I feel bad writing this review because Roxu's renovation of the building looks fantastic, but neither of our dishes showed any attention to detail. Everything sounds so fancy on menu with "organic" this, "local" that, "sous vide" this, but without getting the basics and the flavor down it doesn't matter.
With all the fantastic Asian food Cleveland has, I probably won't be heading back here. The sign of a good restaurant working out their opening kinks is that you find some parts of the meal really good and others you can tell they messed up. The food we had didn't have anything in it that stood out as showing promise. 1.5 stars.
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