I tried a new to me Japanese place on Friday night thanks to Living Social
I am so team Groupon by the way. Living Social is alright but they never seem to have as good of deals as Groupon plus I feel like it’s more expensive. I may be a little bitter that I recently had a Living Social deal expire and they didn’t even send me an email letting me know. Groupon always has my back and gives me advance notice that I better use my Groupons or they will expire soon.
Shiki isn’t in my neighborhood so I haven’t heard anything about it. When I looked online, I couldn’t even find a website for them and there were minimal reviews on the Yelp so I was a wee bit skeptical going there.
For being in a Wal-Mart shopping center, this place was hopping for a Friday night! It looked like it hasn’t been there too long, was clean, had high ceilings and lots of comfy booths. The host sat us and got our drink order at the same time. That’s what I like to see, use of time management skills. I hate when they seat you and you have to wait forever just to get a water so getting everything out of the way is welcome. We each got a glass of wine which was $3.95 each. Talk about cheap! Plus they were very generous with their pours.
We started off with edamame, it was piping hot and my friend asked how to do you eat it. I simply replied “Just bite and suck” which then led me to think of one of my favorite movies of all time: Clueless
RIP Brittany
When I said “Just bite and suck” it reminded me of the scene at the party where they start playing Suck & Blow and Cher goes off on Elton “God Elton, don’t you know how to suck??” which led me to start humming “Rolling With My Homies”
I would keep going on and on about Clueless since it’s one of the best movies ever.
And anyone who wants to argue with me can go suck it. All I needed to know in life I learned from the movie Clueless.
Plus, it introduced me to Jeremy Sisto. 15 years later and I still love this man.
Oh yeah, so back to the Shiki, right?
At Shiki, I figured with the hooch being cheap they would mark up the price of their sushi but oh no, this was cheap sushi haven! None of the rolls are over $10 and a majority of them are $5 or $6. They also have traditional Japanese hibachi dishes but I really didn’t even look too much into that since when there is sushi, I’m a girl on a mission.
We had $25 to spend on food so we ordered four rolls. And of course, I don’t remember the names because that would be too easy. But I remember the spicy tuna roll (second from left) and crunchy California roll (second from right)
Why can’t I remember the names?? Argh. The one on the far left was bomb, I think it may have been the Volcano roll?
All of the sushi was wonderful and we walked out of there only having to pay $12 due to the two glasses of wine which wasn’t included. Shiki was a great value! I thought it was going to take longer to get there from the Uptown Charlotte area since I’m spoiled and think anything that’s further than six miles is a long trip. Also, they have awesome mints-just strong enough to wipe out the taste of wasabi. I would much rather go to Shiki and pay for sushi than go somewhere that’s overpriced where you’re paying more for the atmosphere than the sush. It’s nice being able to hear the person you’re with talking when you’re out for sushi rather than having to yell at them in a clubby atmosphere.
On Saturday, I felt like my day was shot since I had the Salvation Army thrift store coming over to do a large pick up of stuff. And they pulled the whole cable company act like we-will-be-there-between eight and four so I was just sitting around waiting for them. I was paranoid about going anywhere for long because with my luck they would decide to drop by when I left. What also sucked was I got an invite early Saturday morning to go to a restaurants soft opening on Saturday afternoon but couldn’t go because of the pick up.
My friend came over and she had a Groupon to use for Pisces Sushi. I love the sushi but my last experience at Pisces was less than desirable. I was with a big party, the service was horrible, food took forever to get out and when it did, the portions were so little. I swore I wouldn’t go back but when someone has a deal, I am game. Apparently, Saturday afternoon is the time to go to Pisces since there were only four other tables seated.
So stoked I got hygienic chopsticks this time! Now what was I using last time?
We started with the Vegetable Spring Rolls, the dipping sauce that came with it reminded me of Chick Fil A’s Polynesian Sauce but with a kick. I’m totally ok with that.
Xoxo roll on top and Bobcats Roll on the bottom. Both of the rolls were fantastic however the Xoxo roll was out of this world! It’s topped with grilled scallop and a honey eel mayo sauce. The scallop was grilled to perfection and I don’t even want to know with hot much butter because it literally melted in my mouth.
Filet M roll on top crab crunch roll on the bottom. I’ve never had sushi topped with steak before so this was something new to me. the horseradish on the Filet M roll gave it a little extra zing. I liked it but don’t think I would get it again, the concept of filet on top of sushi was just weird to me (this coming from a hardcore carnivore)
Nothing like some sushi on a Saturday afternoon!
Do you like the movie Clueless? Please don’t answer if you haven’t seen it because I really don’t need help feeling older than I already do.
When dining out-what would you rather pay for, ambience or good food?
Simply Shaka 