Zanmai Modern Japanese Cuisine: Great Food

                                                                                                     Finally I had the opportunity to try Zanmai Modern Japanese Cuisine and the best part, it was with my sister! (She gets my foodie, photo taking, critiquing while eating, self :-D

     My sister called up on Friday evening and said, "Let's go for a two person food crawl."  I didn't hesitate...I grabbed my camera and off we went.  We started at Zanmai Modern Japanese Cuisine.  I'd heard a lot of buzz about this place so we were pretty excited.  

     Where to start...well, let's start with our seating. There was just two of us, PLENTY of empty tables. I really wanted a table by a window. But when I asked, the hostess said they were reserved.  I mean there must have been twenty open tables and half by a window. So she sat us at the bar...the bar, really? 

     It took forever to get a drink order, the blonde bartender was busy taking care of and talking with her friends.  It took way too long for her to take our drink order, our food order and get our tab. 

     Anyway, we ordered, the food was delicious, so, there's that.  Below are photos of the food we ordered. And no, we didn't do sushi, we had other places to go and  I felt like this place wasted our "food crawl" time.

     Below is Panko Scallops and Jumbo Shrimp with Green Chile Chutney. Way over-priced.

 Panko Scallops and Jumbo Shrimp with Green Chile Chutney $10

Below is what was supposed to be the Beef Sashimi with ginger, nira, hot olive and sesame oil with uzu and soy sauceh.  It was tasty but, I always thought Beef Sashimi was supposed to be raw. Yeah, it was cooked. I was very disappointed.

 Bee Sashimi with ginger, nira, hot olive and sesame oil  $12

     I heard the owner of Zanmai is also the owner of Fuji. It's disappointing because I really like Fuji...well, before he stopped making it what it was and tried to be something he wasn't.  You can't mark you product price that far down with "all you can eat sushi" and attract good tippers. And when you can't attract good paying, high tipping customers, your quality servers and bartenders leave and go to work at places where they tip well.

     This place has been opened long enough to have it right by now.  Zanmai's service is terrible, not customer-focused, slow, and way too much help on the clock...the food is great, but over-priced. To the owner of Zanmai...your food prices might work better if your service was better. People will pay for good service all day long...without it, it's just over-priced food.