320 Bristol St #G
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 641-7321
I bought a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com during their 80% off sale. I have never heard of the restaurant, didn't know anything about the restaurant, and bought it only because Dr. P loves sushi. I went with my intuition and picked a few random Japanese restaurants in the OC area to buy GCs.
After I purchased the gift certificate, I went on to Yelp to read reviews about the restaurant. Wafu of Japan has pretty good reviews. We came to the restaurant on a Saturday night with lots of anticipation.
The restaurant was full when we arrived. The place was pretty small. We waited for a few minutes for our table to be ready.
Salad
We ordered some sushi, rolls, and a combination dinner. The dinner set comes with soup and salad. The waitress brought us a bowl of salad right away. The ginger miso salad dressing was good. Dr. P couldn't stop eating the salad because of the dressing.
Miso Soup
The waitress forgot to bring us the miso soup, but she noticed it a few minutes later and apologized for it. Their miso soup was a miso "noodle" soup. There were noodles in the miso soup! I have never had miso soup like that in the U.S. But I remember visiting Tokyo when I was in 5th grade. We had miso noodle soup there, and it was so unique that I still remember it till now. Wafu of Japan also put tempura flakes in their miso soup. It was pretty good.
Dragon Ball (2 pcs) ($5.75)
Bite size ball made of tuna, shrimp, crab & avocado topped with special sauce.
We saw Dragon Ball on their special rolls menu. It's a little pricy, $5.75 for only 2 pieces. But we decided just to try it becuase we like the name. The Dragon Ball was made with a piece of raw tuna in the middle, chopped shrimp, crab, and avocado rolled to a ball, dusted with panko bread crumb, and drizzled with a special mayo sauce. The flavor reminded me of California roll. The mayo sauce was addicting. I like the Dragon Ball just as much as I like Dragon Ball the comic book.
Salmon Teriyaki Dinner Special ($17.50)
Served with salad, soup & rice. Includes shrimp & vegetable tempura & California Roll (6 pieces). Substitute California Roll to Spicy Tuna Roll ($1.00).
Our combination dinner arrived next. We picked salmon teriyaki and tempura combo. The salmon teriyaki was good. The sauce wasn't overly sweet, and the salmon was cooked just right. Tempura came with 2 pieces of shrimp and 3 or 4 pieces of vegetables. We also substituted California Roll to Spicy Tuna Roll for an extra $1. The spicy tuna roll was alright.
Oyster 1/2 Shell ($5.95)
Oysters looked good. It was served with ponzu sauce and scallion. My oyster tasted very oystery, and I didn't like it at all. But Dr. P said his piece was really fresh without any fishy taste.
Yellowtail Sushi ($4.50)
Yellowtail Sushi was Dr. P's favorite. It was pretty good.
Albacore Sushi ($3.95)
I like Albacore Sushi more because of the yummy ponzu sauce and the bonito flakes.
Halibut Dynamite Roll (w/o rice) ($10.95)
Halibut, salmon, crab, avocado & asparagus layered w/ halibut, then baked in special mayonnaise sauce.
Halibut Dynamite Roll was served hot. I always like the gooey dynamite mayonnaise sauce.
A piece of halibut sat on top of the roll. Avocado and asparagus in the middle, then crab aorund the veggies, and wrapped with soy paper. But wait, where is the salmon? Oh well. I like the roll at first. But the mayo sauce did get a bit too heavy after a few pieces.
With the $25 gift certificate, the meal still cost about $40. The food was good, but there wasn't anything too special about it. This is a very typical Japanese restaurant. Nothing really stood out for us. With so many Japanese restaurants around the area, we don't think we'll return here again. And.... I really have a pet peeve for restaurants that charge for hot green tea. Wafu of Japan charged $1.25 for hot green tea, and they just serve it with a tea bag in a cup! Not good!
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Wow, pretty expensive meal but a lot of varieties.
ReplyDeleteI know.... this place is expensive!
Noodles in miso soup??? I had miso soup at least twice a day for two months in probably 40 different places in Tokyo and never had noodles in miso soup :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I, too, hate getting charged for hot tea.
I went to Tokyo with my family when I was 11.
The only things I remember were toy stores, ice cream, and that noodle miso soup.
The noodle miso soup was so strange, and that was the reason why I remember it so well.
It wasn't just noodle. It was one string of a super long noodle.
My sister, brother, and I called it the "one noodle soup", and we still talked about it when we think back about our Tokyo trip. haha...