| Author | Message | ||
     Beans Citizen Username: Nalini Post Number: 79 Registered: 11-2004 |
slightly below mediocre...It had this really bad fishy smell the one and only time I was there. Thank god, I still work in NYC and can get a nice sushi meal when I want. | ||
| RBrunner Citizen Username: Rbrunner Post Number: 23 Registered: 5-2004 |
Is Sakana really good? Love the convenience of Samarai, don't love the sushi. | ||
| Dego Diva Citizen Username: Fmingione Post Number: 353 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yes, it really is. My fish is always fresh, portions are very generous, and the staff couldn't be more friendly and accommodating. I love spicey crunchy tuna roll, but I hate when places chop up the tuna and mix it with the spicey mayo. Sakana makes giant rolls exactly to my specifications, at no extra charge. I truly have NEVER had a bad meal there. Yossarian, I totally agree with you for the most part of the whole expectations discussion. Yes, being from NYC, it's very hard or me to find food in NJ that compares. But, in all honesty, I really do like Sakana better than my neighborhood sushi place in NYC. RBrunner, try it. Tell Tom (the waiter) Francesca sent you. He'll soon know you by name too! | ||
| Yossarian Citizen Username: Yossarian Post Number: 269 Registered: 8-2003 |
Dego -- When I was living in NYC my local sushi place was sushi of gari, so we were spoiled. I agree that most locals in NYC leave a lot to be desired. Since moving to SO we limit our NYC Japanese meals to the places we love (sobaya, sakagura, sushi yasuda, sushiden). Incidentally, we did take out from Sanaka once and thought it was just OK. We ordered safely (tempura, non-fish sushi, etc.) and weren't blown away. Suppose we could give it another try, but I've just had very few, if any, good experiences with non-Japanese operated Japanese restaurants. | ||
| Soulful Mr T Citizen Username: Howardt Post Number: 266 Registered: 11-2004  |
WELL, I WENT LAST NIGHT. Turned out that my daughter was at a sleepover in Hoboken, my wife had to work late and my son had his science fair project so I went alone. Me and the New York Times. I found the food was pretty darned good, all things considered. I had miso soup and the volcano roll and the kamakazi roll. They were very nice and fresh and clean tasting although they were both very spicy, I hadn't meant to order two spicy rolls. My bad. HOWEVER... the acoustics are horrendous and the noise was excruciating. There were 4 nine y/o boys at the counter playing a gameboy and they were yelling, squeeling, shouting. Where were their parents? I had to get up and ask them to move to the other end of the sushi bar so I could hear myself think. Other kids were also making a racket. That was very off-putting. Even after the children all left, it was still very, VERY noisy. I don't mean to blame the kids and/or their parents - the acoustics are just the worst. AS WELL, the service was extremely uncoordinated. I was asked for my order twice, by 2 diff waitresses. And brought miso soup twice. Yes, it was busy but the right chopstick clearly didn't know what the left chopstick was doing. I paid my bill at the table and waited almost 10 minutes for my change. Maybe sushi-to-go is the way to go, huh? | ||
| Strings Supporter Username: Blue_eyes Post Number: 473 Registered: 4-2004  |
I actually just got back from Samurai. It was fine. Nothing special - the fish wasn't cold though, which kind of bothered me, but I ate it anyway. I wasn't really impressed by it - I'll stick to Haru because their quality is slightly better (based on this one experience), definitely cheaper and it's within walking distance for me. | ||
| Chasm Citizen Username: Chasm Post Number: 279 Registered: 6-2001  |
Wife, daughter & 6yr old son enjoyed Samurai very much (I could't go - I was playing a gig). | ||
| Analog01 Citizen Username: Analog01 Post Number: 85 Registered: 11-2004 |
So many pretentious former NYCr's. Geez, lighten up. If things were so good in the city, then go back :-) And as far as having kids in restaurants, get used to it. This is a family oriented town (one main reason we moved here, I'm sure the same is true for others as well). That doesn't excuse poor behavior, but not all kids act that way in restaurants (it's the result of poor upbringing IMO) | ||
| shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 2411 Registered: 5-2001 |
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but sushi isn't really supposed to be cold, more like room temperature. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5965 Registered: 4-1997  |
Fish is cool when placed on warm rice, so it should be about room temp when you eat it. Here's a good sushi write-up. A Magnificent Obsession That Starts With Rice and Fish (NY Times, login required) | ||
| RBrunner Citizen Username: Rbrunner Post Number: 24 Registered: 5-2004 |
Sorry, Analog, but while many, many things are better in Maplewood than in the city, sushi (and food in general) is not among them. I don't miss much about living in Manhattan, but I do miss the quality and convenience of great delivery. I have yet to find decent sushi out here, and given that it used to be something I ate at least once a week, that's a big issue for me. And, I assume, for many other people. Is that pretentious? I can't imagine how. | ||
| Analog01 Citizen Username: Analog01 Post Number: 87 Registered: 11-2004 |
I didn't say it was necessarily better. But is it so bad that you will never eat there again? Or is it good enough? You can't get sushi delivered from NYC, last time I checked. You have to take things in context. There's an awful lot of mediocre food in NYC as well. I'm sure that sushi in Japan is even better than in NYC. But again, the take out charges are prohibitive. | ||
| Fisherp Citizen Username: Fisherp Post Number: 2 Registered: 1-2005 |
I've ordered (delivery) from Samurai several times, and it is always quite good. They have also been very accomodating with timing, etc. when I order for my husband to pick it up on the way home from the train. I love that we have a sushi option within walking distance to our house! | ||
| RBrunner Citizen Username: Rbrunner Post Number: 25 Registered: 5-2004 |
Analog, surely you realize that what you're saying makes no sense? Of course there's mediocre food in NYC, but there's also unbelievably great food. It's the unbelievably great food I miss, not the mediocre food. The sushi in Japan is quite different (lots of unfamiliar kinds of fish, almost no rolls) but not necessarily better. And it's not like I'm insisting on only eating the world's absolute best sushi. I just miss good sushi, since all that's available out here is bad-mediocre sushi. Is Samarai so bad I'll never eat there again? No. But I won't enjoy eating there nearly as much as I enjoy eating much better sushi in New York, and I'll continue to search for a good place out here. Why does that bother you? I don't get it. | ||
| AlleyGater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 203 Registered: 10-2004 |
MY two cents, Samurai Sushi isn't particularly better than other Japanese places in the area, and it costs more. I'll pass. |
