"If you’re looking for an authentic Japanese Izakaya experience, this is not the place for it.I saw a new Japanese izakaya opened pretty close to me, so I decided to give it a try, thought if it went well I would save so much time in the future by not going to queens or nyc.I was very disappointed with my experience. First of all, the menu was wrong. The pork soup ramen should be Tonkotsu not Tonkatsu, one is soup and one is fried pork cutlet, two very different things. At first I thought hey it’s a new restaurant maybe they just didn’t proof read and had a printing error, but I was wrong, even the server pronounced it as tonkatsu. That was when I knew this place had no idea what they were doing, they didn’t even train their server right. And when the ramen was here I was quite disappointed with the broth, not really that flavorful and far from other tonkotsu ramen I’ve had in actual Japanese restaurants. But the ramen was cooked perfect so I’ll give you that.Second of all, the shrimp tempura was not even tempura. A shrimp tempura is deep fried shrimp coated in batter. The fried batter texture should be fluffy and light, and the shrimp should have cut slits on the belly side and press down well, so the shrimp is very straight and will not curve when cooked. What I got instead was deep fried breadcrumbs coated shrimp with a curve. If you’re not going to use a batter to fry the shrimp, do not call it tempura, just call it deep fried shrimp. The shrimp was very fresh so that is a small plus.Overall the experience was pretty awful on the food aspect. The service was really nice and I could tell the ingredients were good, hence the 2 stars. The price was on the higher end and similar to some of the places in nyc, but I would’ve got so much better and authentic food in nyc.I would not go back to this place until they change their menu or decide to hire a better chef. Good ingredients does not always equal good food, the cooking process is just as important. Again, in the mean time, if anyone is looking for a true Japanese izakaya experience, go somewhere else, this is NOT the place."
