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| - Japanese food in central Illinois? I'm not too sure what to make of this, especially from the unflattering and nondescript building it is located in. Upon stepping inside, however, it's like you've walked into an isolated world, and nothing in the room suggests that you're in Champaign anymore. The structure of the room, though, feels more like 1950's diner than Japanese restaurant, with a huge pit in the center of the main dining room, and booths to the side. I only caught a quick glimpse of the other side of the restaurant, but it looked a lot cozier than where we were sitting.
I came on a fairly quiet Friday night, with maybe only two dozen people in the restaurant, yet the service was definitely below par. After the maitre d' seated us, nobody even came to our table until she wandered back 5 minutes later asking if anyone has showed up to serve us. The waitress was pretty inattentive also; after the appetizer, my glass of water stood empty for the rest of the meal.
As for the food, I ordered a beef teriyaki bento box, which came with tempura, rice, miso soup, salad, and three pieces of nigiri sushi. The beef was cooked to perfection, and coated in a teriyaki sauce as delicious as I have ever tasted. Though we are a long way from the closest ocean, the sushi also tasted very fresh. The rest of the bento box was great, as I would expect from an established Japanese restaurant. I also ordered a separate sushi roll, containing cucumber, tempura, and spicy tuna, which was very fulfilling, albeit quite pricey.
This is a very decent restaurant, but for a $50+ meal in Champaign, I would expect flawless service.
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