Convey Sushi... yum yum!

 A sushi conveyor belt in downtown Houston... say what?!  

Anyways, this place was fabulous!  I went there for lunch AND dinner on the same day... yup, you heard me... same day (and it was worth it too!)!  During lunch, this place serves everything on the conveyor belt for $3.  I walked out with a $13 tab and that included tip!  Anyways, the fish was fresh and the rolls they had out were tasty and delish.  I tried their gyozas and it wasn't bad either (have to be honest tho, there were 3 pieces of gyozas and it was not that crispy since its been circling around the belt).  They also had katsu (fried pork cutlet) and it was fantastic (crispy and tasty)!  The only complaint I have is that most of their rolls during lunch were california rolls dressed up.  

For dinner... what I LOVE about this place is how you can order what you want on the conveyor belt.  Yup, that's right! You can "customize" your experience with rolls you like!  The server explained that since it's usually not busy during dinner, the sushi chef lets the customer choose what sushi rolls they'd like and he'll make them for the belt price.  Now, this is a great idea to just sample random sushi rolls you've been dying to try (but haven't worked up the courage to).  

The most expensive plate for dinner was $4.50.  For two people, the tab was $55!!!  And trust me... I was STUFFED!  My favorite rolls there were the Red Moon and the Congress roll.  And... on Fridays, its all day happy hour!


Now, don't come here with high expectations with service.  Our server kept forgetting our order and she also was not familiar with the menu.  I asked her about a specific roll and she couldn't answer me... luckily she was pretty.  Anyways, its a mom and pops restaurant, which is a plus in my books!  I should be back there sometime soon for dinner because I'd like to try all the rolls on their menu.  

Quattro at the Four Seasons Hotel

Another Restaurant Week restaurant I tried this year was Quattro at the Four Seasons Hotel. Here, I tried out their lunch menu since my girlfriends and I wanted to go somewhere "new." The Quattro posted an impressive menu on the Restaurant Week website, but I only liked the Eggplant appetizer.

The Eggplant appetizer had a thin slice of eggplant on the bottom, topped with a layer of burrata cheese, roasted red bell pepper, and paper-thin sliced eggplant. It was also drizzled in puree black olive sauce. The cheese was creamy, soft, and has a light nutty flavor. The burrata cheese was what really made this dish! I suggest trying this dish if its on their regular menu, but know that the eggplant is lost in this dish (even though eggplant does not have a lot of flavor).

For my entree, I had the Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms. This dish was served with 3 slices of glazed duck. I was actually disappointed with this dish because the risotto was undercooked. If the risotto was cooked correctly, then this dish would be fabulous. The mushroom was tasty and cooked well, but there were about 5 pieces of mushroom. As you can tell from the photo, the entree was super small.

I would not recommend coming here. The service was okay. We had mimosas here, but for the price we paid, they used VERY cheap champagne because we all had a headache afterwards.

In addition, one of my girlfriends had the Seared Red Mullet (which is a type of fish) and it was TERRIBLE! It was super fishy and not appetizing at all.

Another dish that one of my girlfriends tried was the Steamed Wild Sea Bass Escalope. Again, terrible! Not only was it fishy, but it tasted "dirty." Something that I would not want another person to know what that taste like!

So if you do head over to Quattro, do not order any seafood! They just don't know how to prepare it!

Lunch at Osaka

So for lunch the other day, I was craving for sushi and ended up at Osaka in the Montrose area. Funny thing is, I ended up getting the "Bento Japanese Lunch Box B," which includes 2 skewers of chicken with teriyaki sauce, vegetable tempura, pork gyozas, seaweed salad, and three slices of salmon sashimi (no sushi). The bento box also includes a cup of miso soup and creamy ginger salad.

The salmon sashimi was fresh and the slices were thick. The seaweed salad sits on top of sliced cucumbers, and it was also fresh and crisp! Initially when I tasted the chicken with the teriyaki sauce, the taste was not as sweet as your usual teriyaki chicken. However, after tasting the chicken on its own, you can taste that the chicken was marinaded with rice wine (something that I thought was unique). The chicken was juicy and delicious! The vegetable tempura, however, was a disappointment. I thought the vegetables were "over breaded" and all you're really eating is the breading. The plus side of it was the fact they had pumpkin tempura (my favorite!)!!

Before I forget, shrimp and vegetable tempura is usually what is served with the bento box, but I asked them to substitute the shrimp tempura for more vegetable, and I received gyozas instead. It was nice of them to be able to substitute that out since other restaurants refuse to do that for you.

The awesome thing about Osaka is their "freebies." Osaka gives you free appetizers and dessert. Usually for dinner you will get a gyoza (literally just one piece per person). During lunch, I got one piece of the Hawaiian sushi roll (which was delicious!). The Hawaiian sushi is made with crab, jalapeno, and mango, topped with white tuna and strawberry. That one bite was yummy and it made me feel healthy eating it too!

For dessert, Osaka usually serves you one scoop of ice cream (your choice of flavor: green tea, plum, mango, or ginger). I love the plum flavor! Green tea and mango is yummy too. The ginger, I heard, is also something for everyone to try.

Personally, I would like to come back here once a month for lunch. There are other better luncheon places if you're craving for the bento box (Fish is one of them, which I will blog about after I grab lunch there soon).

There are two locations of Osaka: one on Westheimer and the other on Bellaire blvd. Just so you know, I've only tried the restaurant off Westheimer and had no idea that the second location exists until recently.



Bento Japanese Lunch Box B


Hawaiian Roll (my free appetizer)