Two Food Reviews!! Yama Sushi and Carrows

It has been a long time since I have done a food review, but it is just because I mainly have not been in any specialized local restaurants as of late.

Carrow's

First up is Carrow's. I went there Memorial day as a way to get something to eat when other chains were closed. The staff seemed a bit distant but the service was still good. +.5

Food was okay. I had the spicy gumbo. It was not memorable though and that is one of the things I look for when I write these reviews. I have to say their shake was good, but I think the spicy gumbo 2 course meal was not that filling as I thought it would be. The cream of broccoli soup that came with it was excellent. Perhaps the highlight of the dining experience. +.75

The atmosphere was perfect for presentation. It felt like a diner. +1

Price wise they were a little high. If you wanted to get something similar to their cooking for the same price, I would suggest going to Denny's. +.5

Also the staff was a bit uptight with handling the bill. Usually breath mints and toothpicks are handed out at the end of a diner. At least throw me a mint chocolate. +.25

Carrow's while okay in food, needs to work on service. Usually they are balanced in presentation and it pangs me to give them a mediocre 3/5. Good if you need a quick bite to eat. Not so much on the value of your dollar. Just stick to the mainstream; Denny's blows them out of the water.

Yama Sushi
Next up to plate is Yama sushi. The fist thing I noticed is a concrete floor in a sushi
restaurant with the fact there was a eloquent bar. Even if you are going to open up a sushi place near Grove street aka Reno's ghetto, presentation is still key. I talked to the owner and said he doubles the place as a club on weekends. There is one tiny problem with that: there is no where on the outside of the club that states that he is a club and there loses half a star. +.5

The service on the other hand was top notch. While I would of bought the chef a beer (it is a custom in Japan) I instead left a generous tip. He was earnest and eager to make the next roll and yack it up with me. And the waitress never left me with an empty drink. +1

The value for the dollar was equally impressive. The roll selection was fairly generous for the lunch time and the freshness of the fish is not bad for Nevada standards. While the staff is Hispanic, it does not mean they do not need to know anything about fish and prosper. You can tell they studied earnestly the art of sushi merchandising. +1

Their logo is perhaps the most memorable mainly because they made it feel stylish by writing Yama in katakana. More than likely they learn the rules from other stores, but if one has read Sushi Economy then it will be apparent that sushi is being embraced by other cultures more and more. +1 For presentation and effort.

Bill handeling was a snap. They were done with me in seconds. They also had business cards at the ready of private catering.+1

Yama Sushi in their generousity and snappy survice gets a generous grade of 4.5 stars matching the Thailand Gardens restaurant that I reviewed earlier this year.

That's all for today. Hopefully I will find some more time to help you satisfy your palets. Until next time.