Charcoal Sushi & BBQ Restaurant - Richmond, BC

For once, I've decided to be a good girlfriend and meet Mr. Piglet for dinner in Richmond before his hockey game.  No time for him to come home and eat a meal so I might as well drive out there for a meal with him before his game.  I'll make him pay to make it worth the drive.  Ha!  We meet at the mall since I've decided to knock a few Christmas gifts off my list to get a head start of the crowds.  What's near the mall we haven't tried yet?  Well, there's this place...

I don't really have a background on this place and have never even heard about it but we chose it because we'd never been and it was just across the street from the mall.  We walk in and there's no one else seated.  The servers and chefs speak Chinese.  Not to knock one ethnicity specializing in another is a bad thing but...  I am knocking it.  Usually it turns out not very good.  Oh well, I am and will remain optimistic.  Bring it on!

Salmon Sashimi Salad - $8.99

Salmon?  Not bad.  Salad?  Good.  Salad dressing?  Good.  Altogether?  Not good.  The salmon was completely lost in the sweet/citrusy/peanutty dressing that went really well with the greens but drowned out the most important part of the salad!  Honestly couldn't taste the salmon at all, especially since it was a lower grade farmed kind (you can tell from the really pale pink colour and very soft texture).  Should have just taken it out and eaten it on it's own with a quick dip in soy sauce and wasabi.  We'd skip this and just order the green salad and salmon sashimi separately for sure.

Tuna Lover Roll - $7.99

Great flavours and we both love the combination of the spicy chili sauce with the tuna (classic!) and the combination of raw tuna with cooked tuna on top.  What we didn't like was the roll itself - too tightly packed, the rice too hard and chewy.  Someone squeezed the bejesus out of this roll to make it into this shape and although it looks good, the texture was terrible.  Pass!

Bacon Kinoko Yakiudon - $10.95

When we looked, we immediately thought the bacon should be crispy but the just slightly cooked bacon was good too.  The noodles were cooked very well and got a bit of that grease from the bacon, coating it nicely and giving it that great smoky taste.  I think a little bit of crisp bacon sprinkled overtop would have sent this over the moon but as it is, it's still very good.  We would come back and order this again and again for sure.

Grilled Short Ribs - $10.95

Great ribs with a nice balance between fat and meat and the thickness was great for grilling.  We also liked the marinade - a hint of sweetness balanced with a bit of savoury from, I think, the addition of sesame oil and green onions.  If only we paid attention to the grilling - the grill was hotter than we expected and half of them were a bit overcooked (i.e burnt) on one side.  Oops!  Oh well, we ate them anyways as the other side was still good.  

Overall it was not that bad - in fact, that bacon yakiudon was super tasty.  I honestly thought it was going to be terrible but aside from the rolls, everything was ok to good.  Will we come back?  I wouldn't make it a goal of mine but I certainly wouldn't mind if we ended up here again.  Hm, that sounds so wishy washy...  I guess that's how we really feel about this place - wishy washy.  Take that as you like!

Oinks:

• Cash, credit and debit accepted
• Free parking
• The food overall was not bad - just be picky with what you order

Doinks:

• Rolls aren't so good...
• Seats much too close to one another
• Service resembled one of those rush-rush Asian places - just eat and get out!