DC Anonymous

Food: 4/5  Vibe: 4/5  Service: 4/5  Value: 3/5  Overall: 4/5

Hmmm

Is this a little generous? Hard to say. This is another one of those event...things, I suppose. Since she and I have decided that the formerly hostile looking end of Hendersonis someplace we're going to visit on even days while we're in Dallas for a couple of weeks, we're back again down the strip from Natsumi. This is not the upper east side. Dallas does not have an upper east side. This is Lower Henderson.

There's both complimentary valet (until 8PM - $5 after) and self parking. Oh yeah, that's more like it. The clutch on the Audi can't take too many more visits with Lone Star Valet.

Sushi Axiom: well, I like axiomatize as a verb. I also tend to eat sushi. However, this name strikes me as having been invented by someone with a marketing degree. It is neither aesthetically pleasing nor welcoming.

Inside, it's actually pretty nice. There is a variety of four and six tops in the middle, some booths on the side and a private room to the left. The bar is tucked away on the walkway out to the patio. As usual for Dallas, the patio overlooks some income tax de espanol place, but it's fanned and misted.

So, we get the complimentary food. Overall, for mass produced crud, it's ok. I mean, you can't really blow edamame and deep fried rolls. They both taste straight out of Komart. The rolls are not bad, but they're not house made.

The plate also comes with some spicy 'crab' nachos, which are basically a Tosito 'scoop' filled with some spicy 'krab.' They're ok.

We're sitting at the bar and she and I have a telepathic conversation:

"I know you're checking out the bartender."

"It's true, but let's face it, she could be your sister."

"ok, fair enough"

They talk highlights and move on. Unexpectedly, basically all the front staff are Asian.

The beer selections are a little strange: mostly light and lagers; not a lot of range, but the standards are here. Since we recently watched The Great Yokai War, some Kirin seems like a good choice.

The menu is nothing inspirational. There's standard Dallas Japanesque fare: gyoza, rolls, things with jalapeno. There's also a bit of an insulting chef's choice of something like a few gyoza, a couple slices of sashimi and some nigori for four people for something like $140. I mean, for wild omakase, that would be pretty cheap, but gyoza?? Seriously, chef's choice?

The rolls run from standard to something. We try the snow white, sashimi, some salmon sashimi and a crab hand roll.

The crab is fine: there's a crab in there, some rice, a little sauce. Sure. It's all right.

The rolls are fun! One comes wrapped in cucumber and is cut with a little boat and sails made from cucumber skins - whee! It tastes of reasonably fresh sea creatures.

The other Is a long roll with some spicy mayo based sauce drizzled around. Interestingly, the menu actually pointedly states they're serving "white fish" - have they been stung by the girls with bar code DNA kits? Just a heads up Dallas sushi joints, we now have the technology and I'm tempted to start doing a little testing myself.

The salmon sashimi is acceptable in that it's reasonably fresh appearing. It's more wide and thin rather than thick which would be more my preference, but I don't think it's really anything to complain about.

Well, what to think? It vaguely reminds me as a less annoying version of RA. I understand there is some kind of version in Fort Worth, of which I have no opinion whatsoever.

Go back? Sure, why not? It wasn't ridiculous expensive, but it wasn't amazingly stupendous, either.

Competitors?

SushiYa? Similar, but this place has more of an edgynightclububergeterotic feel. Not better or worse, just different.

Oishii? The food is probably not as good overall, but it's probably a little nicer at SA. If I had to pick, I'd probably lean to Oishii.

Zen? uhhh, I really keep trying to give this place all possible chances. Compared to SA, Zen's food is about the same so far and it's closer to my house. If I was going out for the night, I'd say SA's a little nicer.

Oh, well, in the end, it's ok sushi at a not ridiculous price in a place I'm willing to drink in a mix with bunch of others kind of like it and this review is O-V-A

2 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )