A personal blog detailing dining and eating experiences
So yea, this place was definitely worth the $35 (Canadian). It had most everything I wanted in an all you can eat sushi place (had sashimi, rolls, cooked food. The only thing it didn’t have was deep fried scallops).
The main “featured” dish that they had were the Torched sushi (which is the first two pictures from below). I would order everything again.
This is a fast food Japanese restaurant in Westfield mall in SF.
I got the bento box combo. It’s good if you want a variety of things. I got it with beef. Next time I would get it with chicken (beef was ok, but I think the chicken will be better).
I would go back to this place, although it was a bit pricey for the fact that it looked like a dive bar (food was good).
We got to Ryoko around 7:30pm, and waited 15 minutes for a table for 3 (not bad, considering an hour later the line was really long. We did notice, however, you can drink in the line while waiting. Also later on a DJ comes on, which we didn’t get to experience).
For my drink, I got an lychee Saketini. OMG. Very tasty (although Cyrene thought it was too sweet). They also have a full bar, which I would take advantage of next time.
For the food, we got soft shell crab (it was a decent sized crab), tako wakame su (basically octopus salad, which was ok, but wouldn’t order again mainly since it’s by my thing. Cyrene enjoyed it), rainbow roll (which I thought was good), and the sushi dinner (sashimi, which tasted fresh and was a good size for 2 people).
Went to Spark SF and wanted to try the ramen (only open on Saturdays). I have to say that I enjoyed it.
I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with beef shoulder (other option was pork belly). Noodles were not overly hard. It was a bit spicy (and I did order mild), but I didn’t mind.
Update (10/6/18): I order the Yaki-Soba. It was a bit too salty for me (but didn’t hate it). I’ll stick to ordering ramen at this place in the future.
First restaurant I’ve eaten at in San Carlos, and it was good (but not cheap).
To start, I got the Apprentice sake sampler. To be honest, I don’t think I actually noticed any difference between the three sakes (and I still like the cloudier ones better. These ones were all clear). I do like how it was presented, and the wooden cups did add to the experience (they were surprisingly light and added to the taste).
We got the sashimi salad, which is a great deal (since you get like 8 pieces of sashimi for $17, compared to an order of 8 pieces of sashimi, which costs $32).
We also tried the soft shell crab and chicken karaage (which was actually cooked just right – not too crispy. Perhaps its the batter they used that was good).
For the rolls, we got the Jalapeño Hamachi (it’s pretty simple, and probably a California roll is even more complex), and the Great balls of fire (this one was really good. It was temperature hot and spicy. It had panko crusted spicy tuna roll with spicy mayo, unagi sauce scallions & tobiko).
Overall, this sushi place is good for the fact you can get a lot of selection, and each plate is usually only $2. However, the quality is not the best (but not the worst, just ok).
It’s been almost a weekly ritual of mine to visit Koja. My only order at Spark SF location is the chicken bowl. It’s just amazing. Has all the food groups you need in a meal, and it’s definitely an awesome fusion of Japanese food and Korean.
I almost always compliment my chicken bowl with a mimosa. The two together (especially today as it is 24 degrees) is just amazing.
Update (3/9/2018): I tried the Ahi Tuna Bowl today. It was good (especially because of the crab salad), but I think the chicken bowl is still the best. I also tried the beef bowl at some point too, and let’s just say it still isn’t as good as the chicken bowl.
Update (7/6/2018): I tried the Short rib bowl for the first time. I thought it was good, but it is a bit more expensive than the chicken bowl. At least now I have an alternate selection for this place!
Update (1/24/2019): They now have musubi, and aside from it being really good, I think it’s reasonably priced. The touch of bacon and avacodo on it is also simply amazing.
Had the Iza Ramen with grapefruit highball (it’s an alcoholic drink). The ramen was good, but the grapefruit drink wasn’t really great (probably because I hate grapefruit).
Got the Spicy Tuna Don with a side of salmon sashimi. Overall, food was good (but other poke bowls I’ve had are better).
