Itadakimasu Izakaya

After purchasing a groupon, I made a visit with a friend to Itadakimasu Izakaya during an early evening and was greeted by a restaurant empty of patrons with the exception of one other table. I was first drawn to this restaurant after seeing pictures of their super cute looking temari sushi, which is basically like nigiri sushi but in ball form. In the end, I didn't get the temari sushi because I normally wouldn't opt for nigiri sushi anyways and in this case, I would purely be ordering it for the novel presentation. Mehh, I can just look at pictures.

In any case, the first thing we ordered was the Chicken Karaage ($6). The chicken was both crispy and juicy while the sauce made it all the better. Not too shabby.

Next, we had the Tuna Tataki ($8) that came with a side of ponzu jelly, which can be seen on the far end of the plate. The jelly was interesting as it was sweet and also tart but I personally thought that it did nothing as an accompaniment with the tuna. It would have been better had the ponzu been served in its liquid sauce form. As for the tataki itself, I was put off by the fact that the slices were still frozen in the middle. Overall, this dish was a miss for me.

Now the best for last, the House Roll ($9.50) which consisted of avocado, unagi, tamago, cucumber and with fried onions and unagi sauce on top. A bit pricey for what it is but the fried onions definitely brought the roll up a notch in taste.

To sum up my experience, I wasn't blown away with my meal here as there were hits and misses but I guess I shouldn't expect to be with only trying three dishes. I am not particularly itching to come back but perhaps a revisit here will be lined up for the future.