With my cousin in town, I decided to bring her to my favorite restaurant. Upon entering, we were seated promptly. Our waiter was friendly and was always checking up on us. We ordered a lot of sushi between the three of us, as well as a few rounds of drinks. The service was a nice improvement from my last visit there and the sushi was great. She seemed to to enjoy the food and drinks, especially one of Kona Grill’s custom rolls, the shrimp tempura naruto roll. The naruto roll is composed of shrimp tempura and crab, wrapped in cucumber and topped with sprouts and a mild wasabi sauce.

We stuck around for one more round of drinks after finishing most of the sushi and walked off our meal around the mall for a bit after. Overall it was a fun night.

Of their five locations in Arizona I usually hit up the Chandler location right around the corner from my apartment. I had always passed it before until one day I figured I would try it out. Since then, I usually go there once every couple weeks. They offer several different options from beef and chicken teriyaki bowls to a nice selection of sushi rolls. The portions are very good and the rolls are quality made. Although it is a chain,  the sushi is not as cheap as you would think.

My favorite roll they offer is the crab crunch roll. It comes with crab and avocado, rice and a generous sprinkle of tempura crunch over it. You can even get the roll with shrimp tempura added. One of my friends really likes their Philadelphia roll and Dragon roll. But if your not in the mood for a beef or chicken bowl or even sushi, they also offer other noodle dishes.

You can make your order to stay or go. I usually get it to go, but I have eaten there before. The food is prepared relatively quickly with no loss of quality. Come to think of it, I might just have to stop there tonight for dinner. Overall if your in the mood for good sushi but don’t want to do the whole sit down thing at a restaurant, Yogi’s is definitely the place to go.

Before even moving out to Arizona, I visited a few times. Being that im obsessed with sushi, I researched to see what was the best sushi place out here. Most sites and reviews pointed to Zen 32. After making a necessary reservation, I ended up sitting outside. The inside was full of people and seemed very small. The restaurant was filled with a younger crowd and a lot of college students. After ordering a couple beers and a appetizer I was not impressed. The beers were totally over priced and the appetizer portions were small.

The big test came when I ordered my sushi. Unfortunately, I don’t have many good things to say. Not only was the sushi over priced, but it didn’t seem fresh. I had ordered a shrimp tempura roll amongst other rolls and it was cold and not appetizing. My friend who joined me at the time was not pleased either. The worst part was yet to come. Once we got served with the bill it was a lot more than we had anticipated and definitely not worth it. I would pick a dinner at Kona Grill over Zen 32 any day of the week.

I don’t see myself heading out to Phoenix anytime soon to try their sushi creations again. I still don’t see what the big deal is with Zen 32 besides their catchy name and crummy service.

Kona Grill has become a weekly staple of mine. They offer great drinking deals at happy hour and probably the best sushi I have found out here since moving from New York in March. Whether you chose to eat inside or outside by the bar, the service is always great and the food and drinks are amazing. The sushi is a mix of their own custom rolls with a neo Japanese and Chinese overall menu. I always get sushi, but other dished on the menu my friends have always said good things about. The inside restaurant area is very modern and has a unique Asian edge to it with a huge fish tank separating the bar from the inner seating area. Its slightly dark but it adds to the atmosphere. If you choose to eat inside its cool to finish your meal and grab a couple drinks at the outside bar after with their big LCD TVs and bar style setting. My friend recently visited me from New York and I took her to Kona and she loved it.  You can find Kona grill in four locations in Arizona. There is one in Phoenix, Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Chandler, which is the one closest to my apartment. Check them out!

For our last day in the office prior to Christmas, we decided to get some Japanese.  Our original plan was to visit Zushi, proving that we don’t learn from our mistakes easily, but they were shut, so we went across the road to Got Sushi.  We’ve already discussed them

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Zushi… what kind of name is that? Almost like owners couldn’t think of anything else so they just switched out the “S” with a “Z”. Who knows though, if it works, it works!

I, as the rest of the team here, are pretty big fans of sushi so when you take us out to a sushi and/or Japanese restaurant you better know what you are getting yourself into. We’re going to be critics, and rough ones at that. (more…)

First Impressions

Zushi gives the immediate impression of being half-done.   It’s one of the early tenants in a recently-completed strip mall at Power and McDowell roads.  The most noticable external feature is a large patio, with no misters, but apparently a disconnected air-conditioner of some sort sitting aside.  It didn’t really matter, because nobody was around.

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After much toil in trying to find a place to eat, we settled on Oasian Noodle Bar. Not something I would have picked on my own and I soon found out why. I ordered the Honey Chicken Lunch Special. It wasn’t too bad, but I have had much better. (more…)

Another place we have been visiting quite a bit is Got Sushi. If you read my first review of Got Sushi you will see that I was quite pleased with how our dining experience turned out. I’m happy to say that after going back a few more times now this still stands. The service is fairly decent and the food is good. (more…)

Pei Wei is a superb Asian diner much like that of P.F. Chang’s Bistro however half the price. I am a big fan of Asian food, particularly orange chicken, so every time the boss decides to cater in Pei Wei I’m pretty excited. On top of catering Pei Wei also offers restaurant dining. There restaurants are also very similar to P.F. Chang’s Bistro, complete with Asian decor and dimmed lighting. Now lets talk about the food.. (more…)