Kyoto* (#238, 12/11/12)
Rahhhhh!
Since I’m moving towards a vegetarian diet (or at least pescatarian…or maybe non-red meat…or at least less-red meat), I need to explore these sushi places. Having said that, I think this is the fifth one I’ve been to in New Orleans, so that’s kind of weird. Anyway, I hit up Kyoto, which came highly recommended, and it was pretty good. One weird thing is that you have to eat with little pieces of wood, like sticks. Not sure what to make of that, but I gave it a go. Good dinner discussion revolved around what are the elements that make up a restaurant evaluation. We came up with three keys – service, atmosphere and food. And for me, I may be bizarre, but I only give 50% to food. And that may have changed since dinner; sometimes I confuse myself. Anyway, so I’m going with 50% to food, 30% to atmosphere and 20% to service. I do think each of those items can weigh heavier however, which means my system makes no sense whatsoever. Like if service really sucks, then food and atmosphere lose points as well.
Anyway, to get back to Kyoto, I had the Desiree Roll (dynamite, crawfish, and crabstick are rolled together and then tempura fried and served with a creamy wasabi sauce…wait a minute, “dynamite”? Is that an actual food? And that’s not the only weird use of a word on the menu, they also use “crunchy” as a noun). Seems like in New Orleans, that should be called “Street Car Named Desiree.” Too bad my friend Pat wasn’t there, because they had a Yum Yum Roll as well. I also had the Gyoza Dumplings (Ground beef seasoned with fresh ginger, garlic and cabbage wrapped in gyoza skin and pan steamed…maybe that “ground beef” thing conflicts with this vegetarian thing, doesn’t it? Dammit. I love dumplings of all types; no way I could resist). It was all pretty tasty; I will explore sushi further after this experience. So the food was solid. Should I give it points? Let’s say 40.
Then the atmosphere – not too bad. There is a Godzilla poster on the wall, which seems appropriate for a sushi place. Though I was surprised to see lasers coming out of his eyes. Did Godzilla have laser eyes? I don’t think I remember that. Decent music playing, oldies – the Elvis bugged me a bit, but some other good stuff. Seats seemed comfortable; funky painting on the wall and interesting light shades. Solid atmosphere too. Will go with a 20.
And then the service; the service kind of sucked. In the waiter’s defense, he was pretty much a meathead. He ended one sentence with “yo,” which was a little funny, I guess, but shows the issue. As in, “All right, here’s your menus, yo.” Then it took forever for him to get back around to us. He even asked, “Do you have any questions?” We said, “No.” And he said, “Good” and left. Seems like taking order time, but hey, whatever, yo. So in my new rating system, the service is going to get a…5.
Also sampled the hot saki. Not sure I’ve ever had that. And I still don’t really know what to make of it. Usually I avoid all hot liquids, so that probably contributed to my apprehension. Hmm, drink selections/tastes may carry weight at some places too. Maybe I’ll make those a bonus, so no bonus here.
And our final score for Kyoto is…65. Not too shabby. Although since it’s the first place I have actually rated, maybe it sucks. Really need a frame of reference.
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