I have quite a bit of catching up to do with my reviews. I have two restaurants and two movies to share with you. I'm going to begin from the oldest to newest.
Last week, I was once again in the mood to try something "new." I'd been wanting to go to Cafe Imperial on Kapiolani. We tried going there once before on a holiday, but they were closed. This time they were open. Here's an Ono Kine Grindz review: click here. Cafe Imperial is known for their katsu.
The restaurant is located in a tall building at 725 Kapiolani Blvd., which is diagonally across from the Lexus dealership. You can enter the parking garage from Kawaihao Street, and you'll need to take a ticket and get it validated. The restaurant is fairly small, but was not very crowded when we arrived for dinner. I would imagine it would be crowded during lunch since it's an office building. There appeared to be just one waitress who couldn't decide where to seat us, or maybe she expected us to choose our own table. She ended up leading us to a table that was a bit awkward with a big pillar next to it and a fairly large party sitting right behind us. Normally I wouldn't think much of this, except that there was only one other occupied table, and there were other options available. Oh well, not a huge deal.
Upon receiving the menu, there are many appealing options ranging from a variety of different katsu, to udon and other noodle-brothy things. A great majority of the items were under $10, and I don't think anything was over $15. There were also some side dishes that sounded good. I decided to try their tonkatsu, which is what they're known for. At $8.95, this was a bargain. My dining partner had a combination katsu, which was somewhere around $12.95. I love trying gyoza from different places, and I decided to order it since it was on the menu. 8 pieces seemed like a good deal.
While we were waiting for our entrees, we were served some soybeans and miso soup. The miso soup was rather boring and unflavorful, but not horrible. Just there. Then the gyoza showed up. Sure, there were 8 pieces, but just looking at it I could tell it was not going to be nearly as stellar as the gyoza I love at Gomaichi. Not even halfway stellar. The gyoza looked rather soggy and was not fried crispy on one side as most gyoza are. I picked one up and noticed that the skin was torn on quite a few of them. I dipped it in the sauce and took a bite. The sauce was quite good (but they didn't give enough for 8 pieces), but the gyoza was pretty lukewarm and no where near the quality of gyoza I've had at Gomaichi, Hokkaido, or just about anywhere. Pretty disappointing, especially for a place specializing in Japanese food. After telling a friend my experience, she suggested that perhaps the gyoza were frozen. I think she was right. And they were just boiled, not steamed and fried on one side like most are. In other words, don't get the gyoza. You won't really need any other appetizers anyway.
When our entrees arrived, my spirits lifted after seeing the huge portion and all the stuff on the plate. The plates came with rice, a couple types of tsukemono (pickled vegetables), a Japanese-style potato salad, two slices of cucumber, and a wad of shredded cabbage. Yes, you heard me, a wad. There was a pretty generous portion of tonkatsu, nice and hot, and just the right thickness. The combination included chicken, pork, shrimp, and scallop, all cooked katsu-style. There was a lot of chicken and pork, but the shrimp and scallop were pretty scarce -- I can't remember which was which, but there was only one piece of one and two pieces of the other. My partner said the scallop was very moist, but the shrimp was just okay. You can put as much sauce as you want on your katsu since the sauce is a condiment on each table. I started off with just a bit, but ended up using a lot. The sauce was a Japanese-style sauce that you could probably get at Marukai or Don Quijote, but it was still good. Especially because I don't eat tonkatsu all that often. The entrees made up for the weird seating, the bland miso soup, and the junk gyoza.
We ended up having a lot of leftovers, so I asked for a box. I should have specified what size box I wanted. She just gave me a small box, and I couldn't fit everything I wanted to in the box. I should have asked for a larger box or a second smaller box, but at that point, I didn't really care, as long as I could take the yummy leftover katsu home.
While it wasn't a perfect dining experience, it was still a good one. The slight service imperfections can be overlooked -- the waitress, while maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed, was still nice and obviously a hard worker and provided the service that we needed. I could do without the starters and appetizers, but the entree totally made up for any shortcomings of the gyoza (which I would not order again) and miso soup (which was included with the meal anyway).
Last week, I was once again in the mood to try something "new." I'd been wanting to go to Cafe Imperial on Kapiolani. We tried going there once before on a holiday, but they were closed. This time they were open. Here's an Ono Kine Grindz review: click here. Cafe Imperial is known for their katsu.
The restaurant is located in a tall building at 725 Kapiolani Blvd., which is diagonally across from the Lexus dealership. You can enter the parking garage from Kawaihao Street, and you'll need to take a ticket and get it validated. The restaurant is fairly small, but was not very crowded when we arrived for dinner. I would imagine it would be crowded during lunch since it's an office building. There appeared to be just one waitress who couldn't decide where to seat us, or maybe she expected us to choose our own table. She ended up leading us to a table that was a bit awkward with a big pillar next to it and a fairly large party sitting right behind us. Normally I wouldn't think much of this, except that there was only one other occupied table, and there were other options available. Oh well, not a huge deal.
Upon receiving the menu, there are many appealing options ranging from a variety of different katsu, to udon and other noodle-brothy things. A great majority of the items were under $10, and I don't think anything was over $15. There were also some side dishes that sounded good. I decided to try their tonkatsu, which is what they're known for. At $8.95, this was a bargain. My dining partner had a combination katsu, which was somewhere around $12.95. I love trying gyoza from different places, and I decided to order it since it was on the menu. 8 pieces seemed like a good deal.
While we were waiting for our entrees, we were served some soybeans and miso soup. The miso soup was rather boring and unflavorful, but not horrible. Just there. Then the gyoza showed up. Sure, there were 8 pieces, but just looking at it I could tell it was not going to be nearly as stellar as the gyoza I love at Gomaichi. Not even halfway stellar. The gyoza looked rather soggy and was not fried crispy on one side as most gyoza are. I picked one up and noticed that the skin was torn on quite a few of them. I dipped it in the sauce and took a bite. The sauce was quite good (but they didn't give enough for 8 pieces), but the gyoza was pretty lukewarm and no where near the quality of gyoza I've had at Gomaichi, Hokkaido, or just about anywhere. Pretty disappointing, especially for a place specializing in Japanese food. After telling a friend my experience, she suggested that perhaps the gyoza were frozen. I think she was right. And they were just boiled, not steamed and fried on one side like most are. In other words, don't get the gyoza. You won't really need any other appetizers anyway.
When our entrees arrived, my spirits lifted after seeing the huge portion and all the stuff on the plate. The plates came with rice, a couple types of tsukemono (pickled vegetables), a Japanese-style potato salad, two slices of cucumber, and a wad of shredded cabbage. Yes, you heard me, a wad. There was a pretty generous portion of tonkatsu, nice and hot, and just the right thickness. The combination included chicken, pork, shrimp, and scallop, all cooked katsu-style. There was a lot of chicken and pork, but the shrimp and scallop were pretty scarce -- I can't remember which was which, but there was only one piece of one and two pieces of the other. My partner said the scallop was very moist, but the shrimp was just okay. You can put as much sauce as you want on your katsu since the sauce is a condiment on each table. I started off with just a bit, but ended up using a lot. The sauce was a Japanese-style sauce that you could probably get at Marukai or Don Quijote, but it was still good. Especially because I don't eat tonkatsu all that often. The entrees made up for the weird seating, the bland miso soup, and the junk gyoza.
We ended up having a lot of leftovers, so I asked for a box. I should have specified what size box I wanted. She just gave me a small box, and I couldn't fit everything I wanted to in the box. I should have asked for a larger box or a second smaller box, but at that point, I didn't really care, as long as I could take the yummy leftover katsu home.
While it wasn't a perfect dining experience, it was still a good one. The slight service imperfections can be overlooked -- the waitress, while maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed, was still nice and obviously a hard worker and provided the service that we needed. I could do without the starters and appetizers, but the entree totally made up for any shortcomings of the gyoza (which I would not order again) and miso soup (which was included with the meal anyway).
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