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I really don’t expect gourmet food from a Maki of Japan in a mall. The portions are really great. I always find I have enough leftovers to make a separate meal. I recommend ordering the chicken since the chef tops your order with A LOT more meat than if you ordered other meats such as shrimp. Half and half is also an option if you can’t choose between noodles or rice. There is room for improvement from what I’ve seen. The side vegetables are usually pretty cold since they sit on the (cold) stove for a while before being served. I vaguely remember that at other Maki of Japan’s that the vegetables would at least be half heartedly fried up. The ordering system here can get confusing since they stick toothpicks (no names) to identify the different types of meat/sides for each order. This food court can get pretty busy at times so it’s easy to lose track of which order is yours if you turn away even for a second. (I’m pretty sure the lady behind me in line mistakingly took my order..). The service is really average. When I came here a few months ago the chef was actually being kind of invasive and asking me lots of strange questions. He kept making comments to the point where I felt kind of uncomfortable at his advances and had to step away from the counter to hide at a table. He hasn’t been there the more recent times I’ve been to Maki of Japan, however. All in all, an average Maki of Japan with very average (and sometimes creepy) service. There are better options in this food court if you’re not craving teriyaki.

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Menu with Prices 14506 NE 20th St #2, Bellevue

Worst Gyu-Kaku service I’ve ever been to. I’ve been to Gyu-Kaku in Japan, Hawaii, and Orlando. The 2-star rating is for the service and the price- not the food. The food was excellent. It didn’t stray away from Japan’s yakiniku. Obviously, Japan’s is the original and therefore will always be better. However, the food was still delicious here. We made reservations for my birthday here for a party of 11. We ordered the “Shogun” (it says it’s good for 6 people), so we ordered two sets of those to cover for the amount of people we had in our party. We ended up having two servers for the night. Our original server kept forgetting to come back to give the rest of our party what he came back to serve. First, it was the water- he came with eight glasses. He said he would come back for the other three, but we ended up asking another person. He did it again with our hot teas that we ordered and with the miso soup. The food was also slow to come out from the back kitchen, which we don’t understand because it’s not like they had to cook it for us. There were LONG pauses in between each appetizer and meat servings… my family and I were getting hungrier and hungrier by the minute. Each serving size was not really enough for 11 of us. We each received one or two pieces for each meat type of the Shogun. After our third meat, the servers randomly switched, which we thought was SO inconsistent and inconvenient. Our new server apologized and said the other guy clocked out. Like. What the heck? Who does that? Who says that to customers? He came out with our fourth type of meat. Then he said, “That’s all you ordered right?” I was like…… uhhh wtf no! We ordered TWO Shoguns! We were still missing more meats… and vegetables! He said, “Oh. Let me double check.” Ugh. Lack of communication between the employees there. It was really horrible. The waiting, the service, OH and they told us that they were out of filet minon so they substituted it with prime New York steak. I don’t know how prices work when it comes to meat, but I really hope they’re comparable cause that’s messed up on how much we were spending to get the lack of quality service for everything we were already experiencing. Also, tip: Ask the customers if they want their vegetables before the meat. My family didn’t like how the vegetables were served last after all the meat; it didn’t make any sense to us. Also, Four/Five of us downloaded the Gyu-Kaku app to redeem a free meat order. It’s too bad our server only said we could redeem one person’s rewards. I mean. There was twelve of us. Why not?! It was my birthday too anyway. Just beware to everyone else trying to do the same! Stingy service. Gyu-Kaku in Bellevue, your employees need to take a trip to Japan and learn what customer service truly means. I’ve lived in Japan, so I feel that the service here (at a Japanese restaurant originating FROM JAPAN), is a disgrace to the country. Don’t know if I’ll be coming back after that. It’s too bad there’s only one Gyu-Kaku in Washington state.

Kappo Sui Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 20070 Santa Ana Ave, Costa Mesa

This place has the best authentic Japanese food I’ve had in years. Years. It’s the kind of place a homesick Japanese person could visit and break down crying. For this reason it’s worth getting a reservation, and worth the extra pennies. The menu had many dishes I haven’t seen since I lived in Japan. I ordered komatsuna with atsuage, a spinach-like leafy vegetable with pre-fried tofu splashed with bonito broth seasoning and topped with finely cut nori. Just seeing it nestled in an assymetrical leaf-shaped dish made me happy. My spouse ordered eggplant simmered with duck. Both dishes were prepared carefully, and tasted just like what you’d get in Japan. Bonito, soy sauce, sugar, but not overpowering the flavors of the meats and vegetables. These are the kinds of dishes Japanese businesspeople might order with alcohol for an informal meeting. Our party also ordered a shrimp pancake served with tartar sauce, vegetable tempura, udon, and sushi. The tempura had a slightly heavier batter than what you might find at a tempura-ya in Japan, but lighter than most other Japanese restaurants in the US. They included authentic ingredients such as a green shiso leaf and fresh lotus root, old friends I don’t get to see often. The sushi was amazing. The fish, crab, etc. burst with flavor and melted like butter in my mouth. And the rice was perfectly cooked. It held together as either nigiri or maki, and even odd individual grains left in the soy sauce were delicious. (This is pretty rare.) This is a special place I would take a friend who really knows Japanese food, or who wants to learn about what people in Japan eat. If I make it back next time I’m in town, I’d love to order mozuku (seaweed), grilled mackerel, and other items on the menu.

Ten Gu Ramen Menu with Prices 5397 Gosford Rd #200, Bakersfield

I’ve been here twice so far, I like that they are the only ramen place in town that actually offers kimchi. I personally think kimchi is kind of a given with ramen bowl’s, so it’s nice to see at least one place that carries it. They serve the bowls with sides in separate dishes and the sides are served cold, which i thought was strange. Kimchi I know is served cold, but the eggs and extra meat for example should NOT be served cold. I’m used to all the sides to be put INSIDE the bowl. The reason for this is because the bowls come out hot but after you add all your sides the bowl is lukewarm, which I did not like. Another thing I found rather bizarre is the fact that you only get half an egg. Really? I’ve never been to a ramen place that serves a half instead of a full egg. Can’t be that much more to just include the other half, only reason I can think of doing that is trying to save money. I really wish Japanese places served beer besides beer from Japan, most people these days enjoy craft beer w at least one IPA option, not sure people love Japanese beer that much to have it as the only option. Besides that I can say that the service is stellar, they pay close attention to its patrons and are right there to see to anything you might need.

Bourbon Street Cafe – Menu with Prices – 8021 Citrus Park Town Center Mall, Tampa

I wrongly assumed this would be like the Westshore Plaza location. I wasn’t positive if they were related or not since the signage is completely different. If so, this one is way outdated. Let me just get it out of the way and say I’m pretty disappointed and will not return. The service is horrendous. Speaking as minimally as possible in the beginning I would have let pass, but the awkwardness of no closing statement to the transaction was just odd. The kicker was I said thank you after her silence and she wouldn’t even look me in the eye but just nodded. I understand if there is a culture difference assuming she is not originally from the States but not responding to a thank you is impolite. Most food court restaurants that serve Asian food at least serve one actual green vegetable. Corn does not count. If the locations are the same… where are the meat options? No spare ribs – disappointing! I will give them that nothing was dry. Specifically, lo mein can be unappetizingly dry at food court restaurants, and theirs was not. The food was all just below average though. With below average food and horrible service, you will never see me here again.

Sabaidee Sushi & Thai Menu with Prices 193 Lark St, Albany

Now that this restaurant has been open for about six months, I thought I’d stop in for an early weekend dinner, now that I’d heard they have some sushi on the menu. First, the bad news: NO SEATING AT SUSHI BAR (photo). The space for bar seating is instead used to cram in 19 tables. Luckily, there was only one other patron in the restaurant during my visit, and we both sat on the long wooden bench against one wall. I don’t want to imagine how “cozy” this atmosphere would be, if only half of the tables were occupied. I don’t think they have their liquor license yet, so at least there won’t be drunk guests spilling over each other on the tablecloths and napkins. I looked through the menu as the host/ server/ chef/ brought over tea-bag tea. Although disappointed by the very limited nigiri selection, I was able to order my usual introduction of a couple of maki and a handful of nigiri, despite a mix-up in the initial order, where I hoped to try the temaki. While waiting, I looked around at the Thai decor – a little kitsch, but not overdone. The chef, dressed in sweat pants and a white t-shirt with a couple of stains, brought out a thin miso soup, strangely created without adding any tofu. I found the chef with an overly enthusiastic personality, but uneven sushi presentation (photo). The two-plate plating, with a little decoration was not unattractive. The rice itself was very lightly seasoned, much less then I prefer. The maki was not bad, and with 10 pieces each for the eel cucumber and the spicy salmon cucumber avocado, it seemed a bit too much. Unfortunately, the salmon maki was covered in a mayo sauce, which I have never really enjoyed. Personal preference. The nigiri, was a bit sloppier. The gunkenmaki masago ended up with roe all over the plate. I have found unagi usually is prepared with a small strip of nori wrapped around the eel on top of the rice, but not here. The strangest was the hamachi – one of the pieces was actually tough to chew. The taste was not bad, but that is a most unique texture. I don’t think I want to repeat that. I hope they can improve, and I’ll return in a bit. 2019 07 06. S08.

Nori Japan Menu with Prices 1425 Central Ave, Albany

We have a penchant for bumbling around the B&N science fiction and manga section for hours longer than we expect. In the midst of consuming so much media, we ignore the need to eat far beyond what would be prudent, and I often find myself transforming into Hagar the Hanger Monster. As you might guess, he bites. Fortunately, today that was not the case, and we headed to the recently remodeled food court (it now has decent lighting, comfy booths, and cute modern chairs!) well before that creature made an appearance. We usually hit up Cosimo’s Pizza, but today we were drawn in by the shiny exterior of the new Nori Japan, with it’s LED-backlit displays and counters. The menu was atypically sparse, with only variations on vegetables, fried rice, and/or noodles. I ordered vegetable tempera. They were out of tempera. On a Saturday afternoon. Flustered, and a little annoyed, I passed on ordering and my lovely partner stepped up to order herself some vegetables, soba noodles, and an Asian roll. It came out rapidly, and having identified our order, we dove in. The noodles were edible, but the vegetables would have been more aptly termed Cabbage with Extras. Amidst the field of cabbage we found a few button mushrooms, and a carrot here or there. The roll was Cabbage with Extras, spiced strangely, wrapped in flour dough and then lightly fried. I’ve never had an egg roll I could not finish. I can no longer say that to be true The sparse menu I can rationalize as an effort to accommodate the lunch-time order volume. The prices, undoubtedly an effort to turn a profit in when operating out of a space — with what I assume — is an excruciatingly high rent. And I could forgive both if our order had been even as good as the former Oyishi Japan, which I am surprised to say I would have preferred. Despite my poor experience, this is a new establishment that is still finding its footing. With some major menu alterations (which I can’t imagine would be too hard to implement) this could be a decent mall-food joint. TL;DR Draws in crowds with the clean and modern exterior, but the paucity of menu choices and dreadful execution leave much to be desired. Potential for improvement.

Maki Of Japan – Menu with Prices – 4125 Cleveland Ave, Fort Myers

This counter ordering restaurant is located inside the Edison Mall at the Food Court. The service ordering was quick and easy as they have a pretty basic menu. Chicken, Beef, Shrimp or Veggie with a few sides offered. The meal took a little longer to wait for mainly because it seemed to be cooked to order. The rice and veggies are ready but the main item is cooked to order. Drinks are your basic Coke offerings through their fountain. Meal was hot and relatively tasty. Beef was cooked fine but the teriyaki sauce could have been a little more infused with the beef. But then again it is food court food so not that bad considering.

Rita Marie’s Cafe – Menu with Prices – 605 E Holland Ave #116, Spokane

This place is probably a 3.5 but since the rating system only allows while numbers, I had to give it a 3. It’s not a 4 star. Unless we are talking about their beef barley soup then it’s a solid 4. We went and lunch time and my husband got their special which was Fried Chicken homemade mashed potatoes and gravy and vegetables. They said we could either have a half or a whole chicken. My husband asked what that meant and they said it was a half a chicken breast. I wondered how they would do this and was surprised to see a breaded chicken breast literally cut in half instead of cutting it in half first then reading it and cooking it they took the whole piece of chicken and cut it in half after it was cooked. The chicken was dry and tasteless. The mashed potatoes did not seem homemade of to smooth. Finally the vegetables were okay at best there is just some squash on a plate. My daughter and I ordered the sandwich special. it was a half a croissant with chicken salad and either salad or soup on the side. I got a salad was Asian noodle salad it was not very good although the dressing was yummy my daughter got the tomato basil and she said it was more tomato than it was basil I did not taste it so it’s hard for me to speak to that. I did get a cup of beef barley soup because it sounded really good and it was the only saving grace out of the meal. The establishment is clean the staff is very friendly and the prices are average to above-average, depending on what you order. The soup and sandwich combo was $7 and they gave you a very nice sized soup. Salad with what the sandwich was a pretty decent size as well. The special cost $7 I think that that is excessive for a half a chicken breast a small scoop of mashed potatoes and a few pieces of vegetable. The full chicken breast would it cost $10. Bottom line, if it’s a cold wintry day and you’re looking for a good hearty soup I would go grab a bowl of soup from them otherwise I would give this place a pass.

Kenwood Lane Grille – Menu with Prices – 12791 Kenwood Ln # B1, Fort Myers

Had dinner with my sister here before attendinig the theater. Small estaurant (13 tables) located well off the beaten path. You would never stumble onto it. They must rely on word of mouth. Diverse menu. Moderate pricing. All entees include choice of soup or salad and also include two sides. Excellent service by the staff. But the food is only so-so. We started with house salad. Cold, crisp nice mixture of greens. Not enough dressing on it to tell what kind of dresing it was. Basket of tasty hot rolls also provided. My sister had Moroccan chicken which she enjoyed. Right size portion. Nice presentation. I chose the classic ribeye. It was 11 oz for $29. But it was an unremarkable cut of meat, kind of like what you get at Longhorn Steakhouse. It was cooked perfectly for me but lacked any kind of seasoning. The sides were mixed vegetables– carrots (not cooked enough), asperagus (good) and mini roasted bell peppers (tasty) –and twice baked potatoes which I think were not homemade and were only average. For dessert we split some sort of chocolate cake tower with marscaone cheese inside. Too big for one person to eat. It tasted like it was a few days old — dry. So will I go back? Probably not, but my sister has been a few times and likes the place. I think there are better choices.

Pho Original – Menu with Prices – 4747 Flintridge Dr, Colorado Springs

I ordered the veggie pho through Doordash. The food arrived 10 mins earlier than expected.. but when I poured the broth on the noodles, it was very cold, I’d guess refrigerated at how cold it was. I’ve never seen/had pho served cold. It’s usually so hot it could cook the meat that’s served raw. I call the restaurant to see if maybe I’m missing something but the response I was given was “what do you want, you want to come here so we can heat it for you? Just microwave it.” Ordering food to only have to heat myself isn’t why I ordered the food. I’m giving 3 stars because half of my order was great, and the pho eventually after 7-8 mins in the microwave did taste fine. My broccoli and carrots were practically raw though when I’ve normally had them soft and chewable, not crunchy. Not sure what happened with this order but the customer service wasn’t right either. I’ll stick with Pho Luu

Corrado’s Pizza – Menu with Prices – 10177 N Kings Hwy D1, Myrtle Beach

Don’t believe the hype, come see for yourself you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The Mall was pretty empty for Sunday around 1230 and when you eat at a food court you kind of expect to get meh food, but Corrado’s isn’t meh by any stretch. They even are available for pick up orders if you call ahead, which I did in this case, half cheese half black olives, and as someone who grew up in CT and knows good pizza I’d have to say I really enjoyed Corrado’s, which is hard to find in SC. If you can do cheese pizza right and have it be enjoyable then you’re on to something so keep up the good work Corrado’s, I hope in time you’re successful enough to leave the food court and grow your customer base

Yoshi Sushi Bar and Japanese Cuisine – Menu with Prices – 260 Racine Dr, Wilmington

We went to YoshiSushi for a late lunch on a Saturday. We arrived around 1:30 and there was maybe 4 tables. The service was not the best. The waitress was nice, but the Service was below average. We waited quite a while for our waitress to come and take our drink order, in which she decided to go ahead and take our food order as well. I ordered an appetizer and a miso soup with extra tofu, I did not get either. Our food came out as it was ready. We did not get our food at the same time. All of our entree came out and as we all finished our meals… our appetizers arrived. “Sorry there was a mix up in the kitchen.” We told her we didn’t want it now that we have finished our meal, she had to ask her manager to come over and approve it. The manager just took it and said “we will take it off your bill”. When it was time to pay, I asked for the check in discount, again.. she had to ask her manager to come and approve it. The “manager” was one of those “oh, I can’t believe she’s the manager”. I had asked if vegetables came with the stir fry noodles dish and the answer was yes, but I forgot to tell them to omit it out of the dish. When my noodles arrived with vegetables, I asked the guest I was with if I had mentioned no vegetables, she said no. I wasn’t going to ask for an exchange since it was my negligence, well.. the manager thought it was cute to say “haha well they eat the vegetables for dinner”, instead of perhaps.. asking if she could fix it? Regardless, I was going to pick around it, but her comment was not necessary. The manager had to approve the removal of the appetizer that came late and approve the Yelp discount, which kind of made me feel that I was asking for things that weren’t offered or was a difficult customer. I wouldn’t recommend ordering the stir fry noodles… it’s a big greasy pile of mess. My 10 month’s face was shiner than a mirror after she was done eating the noodles and chicken. I believe the front staff (including the manager) could use a bit more training on service and promotions.