i probably wouldn’t have tried this restaurant after reading the other review, but coincidentally, i stumbled upon it last weekend and feel that i can offer a different point of view.

i didn’t try the hot (grill-styled) items, but i found the sushi items (nigiri sushi and an assortment of fun/creative rolls) quite yummy! this restaurant also is quite empty—the emptiness is probably due to being relatively new, not very well located (for downtown bellevue), and kind of expensive. BUT, the upside is .. no wait! even on a saturday night, when getting a table in downtown bellevue without a reservation has become pretty tough!

right now, this restaurant is having a 50% off of all sushi items (for the “holiday” season—i would guess til the end of 2006, but call to check..) which makes this a great time to check it out! the prices i listed are the regular (non-discounted) prices, so we’re talking like $6 for really large rolls!

I will give 0 star if possible.

Ordered “Sapporo Ramen”, which has nothing to do with the Sapporo local style. The soup tastes and looks like it is from soup powder. Chashu (pork) tastes like beef brisket. The whole bowl looks (and tastes) disastrous.

Also ordered “Grilled beef Toubanyaki”. First the so-called touban isn’t the real thing. This restaurant just uses a regular iron hot plate that you will see in a Hong Kong restaurant. For a real touban, try searching “toubanyaki” in www.google.co.jp. Now about the food itself, this plate has extremely poor presentation that has nothing resembling Japanese food. Chaotic arrangement of beef strips and fried veggie served on a lukewarm iron plate. (if you have tried a stir fry dish in a Cantonese restaurant, you will know what I mean by the arrangement). Sauce is heavy and the meat is tasteless and cold.

With failures on all aspects (ingredients, cooking, cookware and presentation), I am sure I won’t give them another chance. If they can be so careless and thoughtless with these 2 I don’t have any confidence with further ventures. Afterall, there are plenty of good Japanese restaurants in the vicinity (Ginza and Flo come to mind, these 2 are very authentic and attentive to details in comparison).

This place isn’t really a Japanese restaurant at all. At best it is an Asian restaurant with a Japanese touch, but even at that, the “touch” is quite subpar. It might be rude to say this, but I am sure this establishment would not survive for a single month if it was opened in Japan. Maybe calling a place “Japanese” can demand a premium?? But then, where is the Japanese way of cooking showing in here?

I also notice a lot of bragging (in 3 languages!) on the first page of the menu. Something like they are able to deliver the “art of Japanese cuisine” and a complete kaiseki meal experience. I mean, what gives???? What kaiseki? The last page of the menu has some combo meals that are clearly Chinese in nature (by the use of the words and presentation). I might be nitpicking but the wording in the Japanese bragging paragraph is so completely non-Japanese sounding! The person who comes up with this should definitely visit a ryotei (or any decent restaurant) in Japan and learn the essence of Japanese cooking.