For those of you not familiar with the area, this plaza is usually dead quiet and has very little traffic. The busiest sections of the plaza are Walmart on one corner and the Rubio's/Saba's/Starbucks strip on the very opposite corner. Ritz is located just across from this fairly busy strip so it seems like it's worth a try. I had a craving for sushi so the hubby and I decided to give this place a try since it just recently opened.
I wanted to love this place, I really did. We arrived yesterday evening (Sunday) at about 5:30pm and the place was eerily empty. There was one other couple sitting in a booth when we arrived and servers standing around talking to one another b/c well, they didn't really have much to do. What makes it worse is that the layout of the place makes it feel even MORE empty since everything seems to be spaced out in a weird way. Maybe when all the tables are full this is a trait that one can appreciate but when empty it just looks a little sad.
I ordered a spicy tuna roll, a salmon nigiri and a masago. I don't think the sushi was bad, per se, but I've definitely had better. The construction of the sushi just didn't look authentic and the texture of the spicy tuna was just not what I'm used to. The one good thing I can point out is that their sushi rice is sweet and sticky just like it's supposed to be. My husband also ordered a philly roll and wasn't really impressed. The salmon got lost amongst the larger servings of cream cheese which, hey, if you're a cream cheese fiend then it may be right up your alley.
Aside from the sushi, my husband got an order of pad thai and we were both really disappointed. It doesn't taste bad at all but it seriously lacked flavor and was a bit on the dry side. Again, as was the case with the sushi, it just seemed to lack something in authenticity and flavor that we immediately took notice of.
The service was not bad although it was a bit slow considering there wasn't much for the servers to do at that time. There are a lot of other menu options that perhaps are more impressive. Unfortunately, we probably won't be going back to test that theory out. In our opinion the food was barely decent and the prices are just OK. This place has lived up to our experience with most Asian fusion restaurants trying to serve Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese and every other Asian cuisine under the sun all under one roof....it just doesn't work. With so many unique flavors and styles it's likely that you're not going to specialize in any of them and more likely that all of them will be under par.
But I'm not a mean person so I do want to point out that this place is brand new and may just be ironing out the wrinkles so to speak. I'd be open to coming back if we hear that reviews are becoming more positive than not or if neighbors/friends have different experiences. SO, if you happen to give this place a try...let me know what you think.