This had been one of my favorite local restaurants. I will give it another chance, but at these prices it better be that "one bad meal"- or I'm done paying 100.00 for dinner here.
Decided to splurge for my birthday, so made a reservation for Sat night. Party of 1.
Waiter was good enough, nice guy. He did give me a good recommendation on wine for my second glass. I was happy with him overall.
Their "signature dish" Misoyaki Butterfish" is one I have loved - and ordered every third time I came- for probably 20 years now.
I ordered lobster pot stickers, and they were very overcooked; slightly burned around the edges and slightly tough to chew. This is NOT how pot stickers are supposed to be- and I've loved them previously. (See photo)
Not wanting to start my birthday dinner off negatively, I just ate them and moved on- waiting for the yummy butterfish to come!
The thing about the butterfish has been the delicious Wasabi sauce- slight heat, and slight sweet- that yummy wasabi flavor.
When it came the presentation was a 10! ( see photo) . Was very impressed. My first bite though, was fishy tasting. What? I've NEVER had that happen. Looking at the bottom of that half of the fillet, I could see that dark grey color- which always means a fishy taste. I moved to the other side of the fillet (thankfully the larger side) and had no taste of fishy. Whew! The other thing is- NO wasabi flavor at all! Just very very sweet. I had loved it BECAUSE of that wasabi kick. WTF?
I did mention this issue to the waiter when he came by and asked me how it was, and he DID offer right away to replace the fillet, but I decided I would just eat the good part (which was most of it) and again, not have an issue on my birthday dinner.
By now though, I was not happy I had paid $13.00 for hard potstickers and I think it was $42.00 for the butterfish. That's a hefty price for an average size piece of fish- anywhere you eat!
The waiter was sweet to pre order the volcano lava cake for me for birthday dessert (free), and it was perfection- as it had always been. He did then tell me he had taken off the charge for the appetizer due to the butterfish issue. That was decent I felt.
With tip ( generous) it was still 130.00! (2 glasses of wine included)
I think I hit a bad night- the chef/ staff was certainly off.
I will come back- but I will NEVER again order the butterfish. The sauce change alone gives me reason to avoid it.
One more "fair" $130.00 dinner and I won't be back again.
I hope that doesn't happen.
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UPDATE!!! Just ran across another review from late 2017 that complained the butterfish was gray and fishy on the bottom. I don't feel like I'm being overly picky now! Whew!