Oyama Restaurant Enfield CT Part 2
Restaurant Review time!!!
Oyama, Enfield CT. We went back last weekend because Trevor wanted to give them a 2nd chance. Our first experience was particularly horrible, but perhaps their hot food would be better. Hot food has a tendency to be easier to throw together than sushi which is entirely dependent on a good fish distributor. They had hibachi grills set up and we thought that at least we could be entertained with an interesting chef.
The first thing that hit me was how expensive it was. The menu listed one price, but once the bill came each entree came up being a few bucks more each. For around $20 an entree, it's pretty steep. I had the salmon and Trevor went for the steak.
We had to wait around 10 minutes for a chef to come and start tossing food around. When you're at a restaurant with nothing to look at it feels like an eternity. Soup and salad came. Soup was pretty much just water and 4 paper thin mushroom slices; it was probably the sorriest excuse for soup I've ever had. The salad was supposed to have ginger dressing on it, but it ended up having a mayonnaise creamy tang to it, which was weird and gross. The waitress we had was again brash, unfriendly and seemingly uninterested in even working that night. It took at least 10 minutes before I got a refill.
Then the chef came. He was mildly amusing, but certainly didn't blow our socks off. He set some fires, made a few jokes, juggled his utensils...but he didn't do a lot of it. And he didn't toss anything into anyone's mouth. The rice was...rice with onion, soy sauce and sake. It had flavor from the soy sauce but it was pretty lackluster for fried rice. Then there were noodles that were prepared almost exactly the same way with the same sauces. I was aching for some more color. It was all beige and brown food so far apart from the gross mayo-laced salad.
My salmon was pretty good but I could certainly do better at home any day. Trevor's steak was much better, but the portion was pretty small. The veggies were okay too, but again after being let down all meal long I don't suppose anything could have taken that meal and made it better. The other couple at our table agreed with us about all the food too so really, I'm not just being a giant snob about Japanese food.
In short, don't go to Oyama for food. If you want to go and buy an overpriced beer be my guest, but do not actually consume their food. It's got another branch in Cromwell, but if this restaurant is any indication of the quality of food or service then I suggest running in the opposite direction and doing so as quickly as possible. The quality of their food is a distant afterthought and you'd be better served simply saving your money.
Since any skill-less chef can stir-fry up some meat, rice and noodles with some teriyaki sauce, I'm going to have to give Oyama 1 star for complete lack of even the most basic of food preparation ability.
Oyama, Enfield CT. We went back last weekend because Trevor wanted to give them a 2nd chance. Our first experience was particularly horrible, but perhaps their hot food would be better. Hot food has a tendency to be easier to throw together than sushi which is entirely dependent on a good fish distributor. They had hibachi grills set up and we thought that at least we could be entertained with an interesting chef.
The first thing that hit me was how expensive it was. The menu listed one price, but once the bill came each entree came up being a few bucks more each. For around $20 an entree, it's pretty steep. I had the salmon and Trevor went for the steak.
We had to wait around 10 minutes for a chef to come and start tossing food around. When you're at a restaurant with nothing to look at it feels like an eternity. Soup and salad came. Soup was pretty much just water and 4 paper thin mushroom slices; it was probably the sorriest excuse for soup I've ever had. The salad was supposed to have ginger dressing on it, but it ended up having a mayonnaise creamy tang to it, which was weird and gross. The waitress we had was again brash, unfriendly and seemingly uninterested in even working that night. It took at least 10 minutes before I got a refill.
Then the chef came. He was mildly amusing, but certainly didn't blow our socks off. He set some fires, made a few jokes, juggled his utensils...but he didn't do a lot of it. And he didn't toss anything into anyone's mouth. The rice was...rice with onion, soy sauce and sake. It had flavor from the soy sauce but it was pretty lackluster for fried rice. Then there were noodles that were prepared almost exactly the same way with the same sauces. I was aching for some more color. It was all beige and brown food so far apart from the gross mayo-laced salad.
My salmon was pretty good but I could certainly do better at home any day. Trevor's steak was much better, but the portion was pretty small. The veggies were okay too, but again after being let down all meal long I don't suppose anything could have taken that meal and made it better. The other couple at our table agreed with us about all the food too so really, I'm not just being a giant snob about Japanese food.
In short, don't go to Oyama for food. If you want to go and buy an overpriced beer be my guest, but do not actually consume their food. It's got another branch in Cromwell, but if this restaurant is any indication of the quality of food or service then I suggest running in the opposite direction and doing so as quickly as possible. The quality of their food is a distant afterthought and you'd be better served simply saving your money.
Since any skill-less chef can stir-fry up some meat, rice and noodles with some teriyaki sauce, I'm going to have to give Oyama 1 star for complete lack of even the most basic of food preparation ability.
Comments