Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse

This is another restaurant in West Monroe, Louisiana.  I've eaten here off and on for years, and I especially love their Shrimp Tempura Roll.  I was looking at the reviews on Urban Spoon, and over the summer the reviews were pretty bad.  I did eat here over the summer, and I will say my California Roll smelled off, and I couldn't eat it, so apparently it wasn't just me.  But I've eaten here so much that I had to give them another chance.  And I'm glad I did!

I had the squid salad, and we ordered a mix of various sushi:  California Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll, Eel Roll, Soft-Shell Crab Roll, and my aunt had gyoza.  The squid salad was great.  Big hunks of squid with cucumbers and stuff (seaweed, I think), in some kind of dressing.  I really can't get more specific, because I'm not entirely sure what's in there.  (HINT:  For an extra tasty treat, get squid salad and seaweed salad, and mix them together.  Very filling too!)   The California Roll was good, although, like most sushi places nowadays, they do use shredded Krab, not the whole pieces.  The Shrimp Tempura Roll is excellent!  It's my favorite.  Fried shrimp and avocado with a hint of wasabi, and some kind of soy sauce (I think).  The other rolls were good too.  And the service was quick.  I mean, there must have been a lull when we ordered, because our sushi came out fast.

We did get a young server, and I have to wonder if he was new.  Usually the server brings you plates for your sushi order, but we had to ask for them.  He seemed surprised that we wanted plates, and asked if everyone wanted one.  Other than that, it was really good.  So hopefully things are back to normal now, and this wasn't just a fluke.  Four stars.

Kobe Hibachi Grill & Sushi

My mom's in town, so we went out for dinner last night and wound up at Kobe.  It's in the little side strip mall by Target and Kohl's.  I really like it.  It's dark and has teppanyaki tables on one side and a sushi bar on the other.  In between are tables, and the ones against the wall have those built in "booth" style seats.

We both got their kind of box meal.  They have a lunch version and a dinner version.  For dinner, you get a salad with some kind of miso dressing, soup (miso), and then your order comes on a tray divided into compartments.  You get 2 or 3 choices of "entree" plus white rice, edamame, and gyoza (those crescent-shaped fried dumpling things).

I ordered the Shrimp Tempura Sushi and Chicken Teriyaki.  My mom had the same sushi, but Beef Teriyaki.  It was great!  Tender white meat chicken in a light, sweet teriyaki sauce.  The beef was the normal sliced beef you get in Asian restaurants.  One reason I love their teriyaki is because they don't overdo it.  It's not too salty and it's not too sweet either.  The sushi has the tempura shrimp, avocado, shredded fake crab, and some kind of sauce over it.  I think there's some panko crumbs on the outside too.  I prefer just the shrimp, but the other stuff is fine.  Overall, I'd give them 4 to 4-1/2 stars.  The ambiance is good, the service is good, the prices are good, and the food was great! 

Thai Diner

From January 27, 2008
Great Thai

We've lived in this town a long time, and the entire time we've been meaning to try the Thai food. Both of us love Thai food, but on the list of Asian food it comes in around #4, so we haven't gotten around to it yet. Well, today Thai Diner held a benefit to raise money for a school house in Laos, so we figured this was as good a time as any to finally try some Thai food. And it was delicious! It looks like it's in an old KFC building, and it has a sushi bar too, but that's it. There's no buffet or anything like that, and the sushi bar is an actual sushi bar. Today they had some tables set out with a tinfoil buffet set up (big tinfoil food containers). Our favorite was the Pad Prik - really really good. Lots of basil and some heat. It reminds me of the Basil Squid at the Thai place in Albuquerque. The green curry was good too - it tastes like the curry that we make from the tins, but it wasn't deadly just delicious (if you've tried the green tin then you know what I mean!). So we are now converts, and if anyone comes out to visit (hint, hint) then we have an okay Chinese place, not bad Vietnamese place, and a good Thai place. Hopefully we'll try the Korean place soon.