"We drove 3 plus hours into Alexandria to take care of business. It is a treat for us to eat sashimi since we are Cali transplants now living in the mountains of Virginia. Saw the reviews and went to Kumo Asian Bistro. Saw that they didn 't have any sashimi other than Maduro, hamachi and sake and a few other undesirables. No hon maguro, chutoro, etc. So we left and went to Taiko, but they were closed. Then went to Kana, but it was same as the first spot, and we left after looking at their offerings at the sushi bar. Then we read more reviews and went to Zento hoping we 'd find some bluefin, toro, and maybe even some madai if lucky. The server had no smile and lacked any energy. The Zen mojito was pretty good. Sake selection is limited, and nothing worthwhile... too bad, as we were willing to spend some for decent Sake. They didn 't have anything fresh other than salmon, yellowtail and bigeye. Oh well... we ordered it, and ramen. Being a rameniac, was curious to see how their ramen was. I tried asking the server in 3 different ways that I didn 't want overcooked noodles. She repeated that the cook probably wouldn 't understand...smh. Salmon carpaccio was OK. Standard, boring. Adding ikura was a nice touch, but otherwise just ok. The nigiri rice was not up to par, but the yellowtail was good. Sashimi was good, just lacking in variety and availability. Spicy tuna roll was good. As for the ramen, without getting too much into it, it was good. The noodle was not firm and chewy, but I didn 't have much expectations. Ordered the fresh wasabi and wondered why it was so cheap... it was 80% mixed with horseradish Wasabi. Decent food, but if you want fresh sashimi and variety with good service, better luck elsewhere."
