Sunday, August 10, 2008

Hamada of Japan, Las Vegas


Forget Todai's. If the only reason why you go eat at those buffet sushi places is to kill the sushi, then go to Hamada instead. This place served up both sushi and rolls (no Sashimi unfortunately) and it was FRESH fish.

I've only tried one other restaurant that does the "all-you-can-eat to order," and that place CLEARLY packed on the rice so you'd get full faster. Plus, they made that lousy rule where if you have left over rice they'll charge you extra bucks. Whatever. Hamada of Japan also said if we don't finish our sushi they'd charge us as well, but at least they didn't pack on the rice!

Albeit they sorta messed up our order multiple times (like they gave us 8 albacore instead of 4 albacore, 4 yellowtail) it's not like it stopped you from ordering the yellowtail that was missing from your original order. Story- so BF really loves salmon. After our first sushi and roll plates, we order a second round of salmon- 4 orders (8 pieces) of salmon and some other variety of sushi. only 2 orders of salmon came out and we're all confused. It's not like they had a policy against how much you could order per order. Anyways, I think our waitress just thought that we couldn't finish it, so she cut our salmon order in half. No problemo..we ordered salmon 3 more times. Do not underestimate us.

Now the only draw to eating here is that the selection IS rather small. And for people with a sweet tooth, it's unfortunate they don't include ANY type of dessert in your buffet. It's a shame they didn't offer any green tea ice cream. I've sorta learned to expect it after eating loads of sushi. B+/A- for all-you-can-eat sushi.


K-Zo, Downtown Culver City


Ok, I'm not going to lie- Ever since I ate at Sushi Zo, I'm such a sushi snob. Unfortunately that means it's increasingly difficult to find an enjoyable sushi restaurant unless there's something unique that sets it apart (i.e., sparkling sake or something of the sort.)

Anyways, K-Zo. Located nearby, which is always a plus, and free parking. Again, a plus. Sushi wise, it was about average. I think I enjoyed their cooked dishes a bit more. We tried the steak, which was delicious, popcorn shrimp and popcorn chicken (Fried = Yum). And also the softshell crab. I mean you can't really mess-up fried food, but hey, if it tastes good than that's always additional brownie points.

They also had some interesting drinks. The best I saw, was the self-squeeze grapefruit soju drink. If you're willing to put a little work into it, it's worth it. Fresh grapefruit in soju is pretty tasty, and now you know it's fresh.

Overall, I'd probably rate it a B-. Cute decor, cute drink ideas, but if you're really looking for some good sushi, try Sushi Zo instead.