Last week, we had the pleasure of dining at Yutaka Sushi Bistro which I believe is the best sushi in Dallas.

However, this week, we were on a sushi "kick" and chose to dine at Little Katana. The primary reason why we chose Little Katana was because the restaurant was highly rated on guidelive.com that I commonly agree with.

The restaurant is located in the Knox-Henderson area next door to La Sur Table. We sat at the sushi bar. The sushi counter was a cool looking cross-sectional of wood in "carmelized" sugar...like the stuff you would see in dinosaur fossilization. They had a real bar that seats maybe 5 or 6 people.

Upon sitting down at the sushi counter, I glanced at the sushi fridge, the glass showcase in which the fish is stored. Some of the fish and/or ingredients were stored in small plastic tupperware which I have never seen before in a sushi place. This should have been the first clue to leave.

The dining area didn't look like the typical sushi dining room. It looked like something out of an American restaurant where you would sit down and order a hamburger. There is a plasma screen tv on the wall which I think they should remove. The lighting for the sushi bar was too bright for a sushi bar and the dining room was too dark. Sitting at any part of the sushi bar, you get a nice view of the back room and kitchen and watch the help wash dishes.

We sat down...looked over the menu. When I go to a new ethnic restaurant, especially sushi, I start off by ordering a few rolls to see the quality and freshness. We ordered the california roll (you can't go wrong with that), a shrimp tempura roll (another safe one), and a spider roll that basically has soft shell crab. To my disarrayment, they MICROWAVED the shrimp tempura. I didn't see if they microwaved the soft shell crab but the sushi chef was cutting them up at the same time. Not to be mean or anything...but I was losing my appetite having to look at the sushi chef. On top of his lack of aesthetics, he was slow and didn't look like he knew what he was doing.

The service is so-so. There are servers and then people who run around refilling water and such. They brought out a basket of those flat, crunchy things with sesame seeds on them...except for ours was severely burnt.

The sushi chef presented our plate of sushi first without the individual small plates to eat off of with the wasabi and ginger. We sat there for a few minutes waiting for the small plates.

The California roll looked and tasted like the sushi rolls at Costco. The basic ingredients were shredded crab and rice. I didn't see anything else. There was a huge pot of rice behind the sushi chefs. That rice must have been newly cooked because our rolls were ALMOST WARM.

Of course the microwaving caused the shrimp tempura roll to be soggy. But this was the most edible of the 3 rolls.

The spider/soft shell crab rolls were hideous. The soft shell crab was shriveled.

One of the other sushi chef asked how the sushi was...so I politely answered "The freshness is questionable." He didn't say anything else but turned to his chefmate and muttered something in Japanese.

We weren't going to continue dining there any longer...we couldn't even finish the 3 rolls that we ordered. As I paid the bill, I spoke to the manager with my concerns. He asked if he could take off the shrimp tempura but I refused since we ate half of the roll. He informed me that he would rectify the situation but I seriously doubt they will change their microwaving practice.

This was one of the most gosh awful sushi experiences I have had. I can not determine if it was a bad night at the restaurant or if this was typically how the restaurant operated. I will not return to this sushi establishment and would recommend others to go elsewhere...BD72

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To my disarrayment, they MICROWAVED the shrimp tempura.

That's ridiculous.

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One of the other sushi chef asked how the sushi was...so I politely answered "The freshness is questionable." He didn't say anything else but turned to his chefmate and muttered something in Japanese.

It was probably "get my machete"

Frustrating experience I'm sure. Their loss and from the people you tell also.

Maybe they don't want it to return and used this method to convey their "disarrayment."

Bella, the word is "dismay," though I have no doubt you are also disarrayed.

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Originally posted by Hunter:

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To my disarrayment, they MICROWAVED the shrimp tempura.

That's ridiculous.

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One of the other sushi chef asked how the sushi was...so I politely answered "The freshness is questionable." He didn't say anything else but turned to his chefmate and muttered something in Japanese.

It was probably "get my machete"

Frustrating experience I'm sure. Their loss and from the people you tell also.

This is one of Dallas' top rated sushi places. A few other people on other websites also had a bad experience...even worse than mine because they ordererd the sashimi. Posted this review on here for others to avoid this place.

On the other hand, I would like to send someone back to this place and order the shrimp tempura roll to see if they really did stop microwaving...any takers? wineismylife? PURPLE?

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Originally posted by Bella Donna:



He asked if he could take off the shrimp tempura but I refused since we ate half of the roll.

50% discount is customary in this case. I am sure resident restaurateurs will verify.

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Originally posted by Bella Donna:
On the other hand, I would like to send someone back to this place and order the shrimp tempura roll to see if they really did stop microwaving...any takers? wineismylife? PURPLE?

Heck no. We had good sushi today. Homemade to boot.

Is you from Japan, winestyle? Or you have someone from Japan living with you? Texas is popular in Japan. Poor bastards don't know hot it gets uphere.

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Originally posted by grunhauser:

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Originally posted by Bella Donna:



He asked if he could take off the shrimp tempura but I refused since we ate half of the roll.

50% discount is customary in this case. I am sure resident restaurateurs will verify.

If someone offers to take a substandard dish off the tab, always accept.

If someone tells you your putt is good, ALWAYS accept.

PH

What is a putt? Is that some sort of golf compliment?

"Putt" is a culinary term meaning "Cooked well" not used often anymore but if someone cooked you a steak and you thought it was great you could say "You sure putt well" The word comes from the German language.

Bella's cooking is done so well, you could use the plural form of the word to decribe it.

Well....I was scanning the blogs and ran across this. All I can say is what a difference a year makes. I ate here last night and the food was awesome,I don't know if you had a bad experience or an off day but this place has changed for the better. New managers, new Sushi chef, new servers, new menus(lunch and dinner). WOW. Good things man!

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Originally posted by wheredididine:
Well....I was scanning the blogs and ran across this. All I can say is what a difference a year makes. I ate here last night and the food was awesome,I don't know if you had a bad experience or an off day but this place has changed for the better. New managers, new Sushi chef, new servers, new menus(lunch and dinner). WOW. Good things man!

Is this where you work?

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Originally posted by preferred:

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Originally posted by wheredididine:
Well....I was scanning the blogs and ran across this. All I can say is what a difference a year makes. I ate here last night and the food was awesome,I don't know if you had a bad experience or an off day but this place has changed for the better. New managers, new Sushi chef, new servers, new menus(lunch and dinner). WOW. Good things man!

Is this where you work?

That was my thought as well.

Katana is the Hebrew word for little (feminine version). So, "Little Katana" means "Little little".
(kind of redundant, like "shrimp scampi")

In any event, the menu sounds rather non-kosher, so I assume that Katana means something in Japanese as well.

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Originally posted by irwin:
In any event, the menu sounds rather non-kosher, so I assume that Katana means something in Japanese as well.

Sword in Japanese. The kanji in Chinese means knife.

WEc:
Thanks for the info.

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Originally posted by wheredididine:
Well....I was scanning the blogs and ran across this. All I can say is what a difference a year makes. I ate here last night and the food was awesome,I don't know if you had a bad experience or an off day but this place has changed for the better. New managers, new Sushi chef, new servers, new menus(lunch and dinner). WOW. Good things man!

Ok. Tell everyone there (when you go to work later) that we said congratulations.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me! I ate at Little Katana about a year ago as well and found the experience less than stellar to put it mildly. Doubt if I'll give them a chance again unless one of their employees puts free gift cards in the mail for WS forum members.