Samurai Japanese
You have to give credit to good businessmen (and women). Many folks probably don’t realize that many Japanese restaurants (at least in the Richmond, VA area) are run by Chinese. Samurai in the Twin Hickory area, off Nuckols Road in Richmond’s far west-end is one example. Recently opened, the dining room sported a cadre of waitresses, a waiter, and two sushi chefs.
The entrance to this restaurant is decorated with stained-glass windows depicting Mt. Fuji on one, and Samurai warriors on the other. While colorful and unique, the dining room felt cold. The colors are neutral and glossy tile makes up the floor covering. Decorations for the holidays were a nice touch, but the countrified-religious Christmas music could have been bettered for ambiance.
Sorry, but why go to the trouble of decorating it all up Japanese, then play American/Western music? No fault of theirs, but it is done just about everywhere, minus the Jesus.
The menu was large, with a primary focus on sushi, with a so many “specialty rolls” that feature various flavors and combinations of fish, rice, seawood, and other protein. One even featured a topping of filet mignon. I ordered the shiitake mushroom and cucumber roll (never had that before, and it was interesting due to the texture), a shrimp tempura roll, and the so-called Red Dragon roll, with shrimp tempura, spicy salmon, and avocado.
We also ordered a calamari appetizer and a sea bass dinner with rice.
The squid appetizer was fried for too long and came with no dipping sauce. It would have been better enhanced with some sort of sweet or tangy citrus-based sauce, but then again, we tried dipping it into soy sauce. Some pieces were rubbery. Each were a different size (not good, as they’ll cook at different rates). Sadly, this appetizer was recommended by their head waiter.
The sea bass was acceptable. It was served with vegetables on the side, but lacked dynamic presentation.
The sushi was perhaps the most successful. The spicy rolls were indeed spicy, and the others were well-constructed.
For a Saturday night, Samurai was not too busy. All the food, however, was delivered to the table quickly and servers made frequent trips to the table for refills and to ensure everything was “okay.”
Samurai is not any better than other Richmond-area Japanese locations. Quality and polish could propel it as a leader, but time will tell. The frequency of misspelled ingredients on the menu (read: chicken, shiitake, etc.), the quality of flavors in each dish (read: calamari), and atmosphere all could be altered to set this newcomer ahead.
I will likely try this again, but cannot report it an instant favorite.
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