Takuan
Zento Japanese

Zento Japanese

693 North Washington Street, 22314, Alexandria, United States

Sushi • Kebab • Asiatic • Mexican


"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."

Zaoh

Zaoh

1555 Mission St, 94102, San Francisco, United States

Asian • Noodle • Seafood • Japanese


"I must admit that I found it difficult to review this restaurant. This is because I have never spent so little money (less than $20, pre-tip) and felt so full at a Japanese restaurant: the amount they gave was truly surprising. Yet, Japanese restaurants are quite different from, say, Chinese restaurants, in that Japanese restaurants typically serve minute amounts of food, that which is highly delicate (sometimes it's the taste of the food, and sometimes it's the arrangement of the foods, and sometimes it's both, such as kaiseki, a traditional Japanse multi-course dinner). Therefore, if I were to judge the food they serve by the standard of being delicate, I would have to deduct a star or two, as the food here have no connection to either meaning of delicate, as aforementioned. With that said, I do think this place gives good, or even great, value if you don't judge its food by how delicate the food is. As is evident from my photo, although the salmon was on the smaller side, the amount of tempura was ample, as was the amount of salad and rice on the side. I don't want to reiterate, but I was truly astonished to barely being able to finish my plate. In all due fairness, it is possible that their sushi or sashimi are delicate, but as I didn't order any, I can't comment on those. Speaking of which, they offer combination plates known as A+A, A+B, and B+B, where A is some cooked item, and B is some raw item, and the more B there is, the more expensive the combination plate is. Although the place is quite small, and I don't like the divider at the entrance, service was good and prompt. What I like the most about the service, however, is how the waitress chose to look away while I was signing the credit card charge slip, and deciding how much to tip. At some restaurants, the servers literally stare at you and react based on how much you are tipping. I know how some servers depend on tips to make a living wage, but I really appreciate that this waitress wasn't giving me any pressure to tip: because I felt so comfortable, I tipped even more than I usually would."