Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant

We were craving Japanese food so we thought it was about time we tried the restaurants in our new hood.

First we stopped at Toko, because Google said it was a Japanese Restaurant and it was heavily advertising their Asahi. After we walked in, I noticed the decor seemed more Chinese than Japanese. Lo and behold we looked at the menu, and saw wonton, chow mein, and a bunch of Chinese dishes. We left.

Then we thought we should try the yakitori place down the road because we walked by it once. The host greeted us, asked us how many (2), and said wait a moment. He proceeds to walk around the restaurant and then grab two menus and set them on a table. Then he walks around the restaurant some more, serves a couple dishes, and tells us to wait 5 more minutes. It struck me as odd until B heard the host say something about happy hour ending soon to a couple patrons. So basically, he didn't want to seat us until 6pm, when regular dinner begins. Why didn't he just say so? Or just seat us and wait until 6pm to take our order? We left.

Finally we thought maybe we should try the Clubhouse since we drive by it all the time and it looks pretty cool from the outside. We walked in, and it strikes me as one of those restaurants on Restaurant Impossible that used to be good and then everyone just gave up trying to make it better.

We started with the Assorted Sashimi. We didn't expect it to be good, but we didn't think it could be this bad either. The knife cuts were noticeably sloppy, the tuna was still frozen, and the salmon had no taste at all. 

The Sweet Jane vegetable tempera roll was better than the sashimi but not that great. The rice was overcooked and soggy, the seaweed was tough, and he yam tempera was undercooked and had a bit of crunch to it still.

Next we had the Chicken Yaki Soba. It tastes like ketchup. B said he's had bad food and he keeps eating it, very rare does he not want to eat something and this was the dish.

The Squid okonomiyaki came smelling like it was burnt-and not because of the smoky fish flakes on top. It tasted a little burnt too, and soggy, and generally had very little texture. We found four squid rings in total. If the chef would only chop them up and divide it evenly throughout the pancake, it would have more texture and we wouldn't notice how little squid there is.

The only redeeming factor was that the owner came to pick up the dishes and saw that we didn't finish the okonomiyaki and asked if we didn't like it. We told her it was bad and she offered to refund us. We didn't want to be those customers who complain to get free stuff, because then our complaints won't be taken seriously. She thanked us for our feedback so we decided to tell her how bad EVERYTHING was. She seems to take it all seriously so I appreciated that. We probably won't return, but I appreciate the effort.

Miku Waterfront

Went to Miku to celebrate a couple birthdays. Since we went really late, I had a bit of a snack and couldn't eat a whole lot when I got there - especially after I ordered a sapporo and it expanded my snack.

My friends ordered the Jidori Chicken Nanban, Coal Harbour Platter, Salmon Oshi Sushi, Ebi Oshi Sushi, Red Wave Roll, Hotate Aburi Sashimi, and the 10oz Prime Rib.

First up were the Platter, Chicken, and Hotate Aburi Sasahimi.

When they ordered the Coal Harbour Platter (which contains fresh oysters, mussels, jumbo prawns, kaisen poke (tuna), scallop ceviche, and kale gama-ae), the server wasn't sure if it would be enough for four people to share. She suggested that my friends order two instead, but in the end it worked out. They liked everything and had no complaints.

The Jidori Chicken Nanban was one of the weaker dishes, according to my friends. It was very plain and didn't stand out.

The Hotate (Hokkaido scallop, spicy jumbo prawns, cod roe aioli) was, according to them the weakest dish. It was also featured in my Aburi Sashimi Selection, which is four kinds o sashimi, flame seared with signature sauces.

I'm sorry the photo's so dark, but on this plate is two of each of the Sockeye Salmon with citrus-anchovy salsa, Maguro big eye tuna tartare with wasabi masatake sauce, the Hotate scallop, and Hamachi. The sockeye salmon was very lean, if that's what you like, great. The salsa didn't add a lot of taste to it. I'm not sure this is a signature dish they should be advertising because it really fell short. Same with the scallop and tuna. Everything was just bland and chewy. The Hamachi was the best of the dish because the fish itself had a lot of flavour, you couldn't really taste the sauce.

Then my friends' prime rib came with a side of mashed potatoes.

They didn't have much to say about the mashed potatoes, but they said the prime rib was very flavourful and cooked perfectly to a medium rare. One of the birthday girls compared it to the Wagyu beef she had at Black & Blue. She says it's not as good as the wagyu, but pretty darn good.

Lastly, and the server did this perfectly, were the rolls.

According to my friends, it was a good thing the rolls came last because after tasting them, the prime rib seemed to pale in comparison. They thought to Red Wave Roll was decent, but nothing spectacular. What really caught their attention were the oshi sushis, which apparently "melts in your mouth". I tried one of each of the salmon and ebi oshi sushi. The lime sauce on the ebi was a surprise, and at first, not a good one. I'm not sure if I agree that the salmon melted in my mouth. The Miku sauce was very good. I then had another bite of the ebi and it tasted a little better after having a bit of the salmon. The lime kind of cuts the richness of the Miku sauce. I must say I was a little disappointed by their rice to fish ratio. My co-worker from Osaka is preparing me for my trip to Japan next year, and she mentioned that authentic Japanese sushi has only a little bit of rice, with a big slice of fish showcased on top. This sushi seemed completely opposite, with a huge block of rice and a thin layer of fish. But the rest of my table enjoyed it.

It was really busy there for a Wednesday night and our server was terrific. To me, it was a little overhyped and I just can't get over Ten Sushi from Seattle, so I wasn't too impressed to return. I'd recommend going as a group to order a bunch of stuff to try. My four friends only ended up spending $50 each (after tax, tip, and $1.75 per person plating fee for a cake we brought) for so many dishes, which really isn't that bad. I don't think you should bring your own cake, though, as quite a few of us saw their Green Tea Opera dessert in the dessert menu and really wanted to try it but were too full to.

Rajio

We thought we'd branch out to a different Japanese restaurant, so we stopped by Rajio on our way home.

What I like about some of these authentically Japanese run restaurants are their specials and fabulous service.

First, we had some salad, on the house.

Then we tried their "special" sashimi, which included two each seven types of sashimi. I thought the little mixes (those sashimi in the cups) were something different from other places, and very tasty in the seaweed they provide on the side.

Then we had their "special" beef udon. The sauce was the right amount of sweet and savoury. The beef was so tender and so perfectly cooked, you barely had to chew it.

Last, we had their "special" Kushikatsu (deep fried vegetables and seafood). They ran out of negitoro, so they replaced it with shrimp. What I liked about their service was that they came out and told us they ran out and would like to replace it and if it were okay with us before they served it. My favourite was the zucchini wrapped with bacon before it was battered and deep fried.

Recommend. Will return.