Post 2. Sushi Avenue

So I've been constantly on the look out for a good Japanese restaurant in Atlanta. Two years living here and...I've got nothing. Sure, I'm content going to Ru San's for some bad sushi, but as someone who's grown up enjoying truly good, authentic Japanese food (not just sushi), not having that is a hole in my goddamned chest. And to me, one of those litmus tests of a good Japanese restaurant is whether or not it has curry rice. Yes. Curry rice. The fast food of Japanese food. But seriously, I love it, and so many people get it so wrong, that even an average curry rice would be a Godsend. And if it's a decent kastu curry? Bam. Done. So I'd passed by this place in downtown Decatur, Sushi Avenue, which kind of had the right look. It's a small shop. Pictures of ramen specials. Pretty crowded. Maybe it's legit. I go online to look at their menu and it seems they have two locations. The one I passed by is apparently the smaller of the two and...no katsu curry. Whomp. BUT, click on the menu for the second location: DINGDINGDING KATSU CURRY, right there, bitches. Since Atlanta appears to be a katsu curry black hole, how can I say no. I checked out a few reviews and drove down to Sushi Avenue, Location 2. Interestingly...Sushi Avenue's second locating is within walking distance of its first location. No idea why. I go in, get a seat at a table and check out the menu. Staples for me are agedashi tofu and katsu curry. It's got both. But is it good? I also notice some takoyaki, which I haven't had in a while, and would be hardpressed to find elsewhere. Things are looking good. But again, IS it good? The girl who seated me doesn't appear to be my waitress. My waitress seems to be the only one running around serving the entire room. The guy sitting next to me bitches to his partner about how hungry he is. The woman next to me is on her phone. After a decent wait, the harried waitress comes by and takes the couple next to me's order, then takes mine--takoyaki and katsu curry (no agedashi tonight for me)--and apparently the one of the woman next to me. I ask for water and get on my phone (this guy eats alone a lot, okay?). Not going to lie: It takes a long time. Really long. Noticeably long. The guy next to me keeps bitching about how hungry he is. The waitress is nowhere to be found. The girl who seated me's job seems to be standing around, pouring water, and being ditzy. They gotta uptrain that girl to be a waitress, because they can use it. The miso soup and salad hat comes with my curry comes out eventually. Good at staving off my growing hunger. Nothing remarkable about either item, which is expected anyway. Keep nursing my water, and waiting for curry to come. The guys next to me eventually get their warm sake, commenting that they'll be getting drunk before they'll be getting fed. My takoyaki comes and I can feel the bitching guy's eyes follow it to me. Should have ordered a starter, bitch. His partner tells him that he should have ordered soup or something. Synchronicity. The takoyaki is not bad. The sauce is a little more syrupy than I'd like it to be, but the banito is tasting good. The takoyaki is clearly fresh. It's piping hot and custardy inside, with a single tentacle of octopus inside each ball, of which there are four, slightly larger than a golf ball each. Not amazing, but still pretty decent, and more than I've found elsewhere. $5. Back to sipping water. Luckily, hostess girl is becoming more keen on pouring water while everyone else is keeping on their toes, I imagine. Good for her. The woman next to me's sushi arrives and she gets going. The waitress thanks her for being patient and tells her they are very busy tonight. Sashimi sampler and a roll. The guys next to me get their sushi--a much larger plate than I figured they ordered. Maybe that's why it took so long. And here comes my katsu curry. The waitress also thanks me for waiting. I'm not so dumb as to believe that it's going to be home made. Probably every Japanese place, even a good one, is going to use some sort of box mix. Only one place I've been to makes their own, and it's no surprise that their is my motherfucking favorite. But this one looks pretty conventional, and the common pairing of katsu and curry is so rare for me to be able to enjoy that I don't care. I take my first bite. Not bad. Not the most amazing I've ever had, but it scratches that itch. It doesn't scratch it all the way, but it's not a disappointment, like the abomination served to me at Tin Drum (let's not even talk about everything wrong with that place's piss poor attempt). The curry's decent. No pork in it, so it's probably a quick-made or a box mix. But the carrots and potatoes are good, the katsu is what it should be, and it comes with the pickled ginger that sets the whole thing off right. If katsu curry is what I came for, this is meeting that definition. I'm pretty darn happy. $11. Thoughts on... ...Service: It did take a long time. Much longer than it should have. The waitress says they were busy, but they definitely weren't packed. I don't know how they operate during key dinner hours, but they've got to get more than one waitress serving the area. Reviews I read (not sure if they meant this location or the other) all dinged the place on service and how long it took. It seems too much of coincidence. So if I come here again, I got to come when I'm not famished and if I know I've got time to kill. Maybe if I get some friends, we could come here and drink. Still, the waitress was courteous, even if the hostess girl was oblivious. 4/5. ...Pricing: I don't think you should go to a Japanese restaurant (unless it's a noodle shop or an izakaya) and expect the food to be dirt cheap. That being said, I thought the prices here were reasonable. Portions were good and I felt like I paid what I was prepared to pay. For $11 bucks, that katsu curry could have been priced higher at other places, even if I think $9 would have been more fitting. The takoyaki, sure. $5 is a bit more than I want to pay, but not a price I'd argue, really. $4 would seem to cheap. That's on me. 3/5 ...Atmosphere: It's nice. It's not loud. It looks cute and clean. It's a little tiny, but it gives it a more traditional feeling. 5/5 As I left, the woman next to me finished paying and told me how much she loves this place, and that it can be slow when they're slammed, but she loves coming just for the three staff people she likes: our waitress, a bus boy or manager (?) and some third staff person. I asked her how long she's been going there and she says she's been a customer for about 3 years. I also asked her about the other location. She says she likes this one more because it's less crowded and overwhelming. It's a place she goes to to get some food and some quiet. Overall, I'd go again. The menu looks diverse enough that I'm confident in its authenticity. Next time, I'll actually order some sushi to see how they do, but they seem to have more than enough options that I think they're able to put up their dukes. Overall Score: 4/5.

Post 1. Thbbbt.

So this is what this is: It's a blog where I write reviews for new restaurants I've been to. Kinda doing it for me, just to check out new things and come up with a reliable list of places to go. Since no one's going to be reading them but me, I've called it Reviews Ain't Nobody Gonna Read. Pretty to the point. Later.