Sasaki

Our friend Petey was down helping us move, so we let him choose the restaurant for dinner. He chose Sasaki. We were all a little unimpressed when we first pulled up to the store-front restaurant on Westheimer. However, the interior was nicely decorated and surprisingly spacious, and we noticed a lot of Asian people dining there, so those were both good signs. We decided to stay.

I ordered the tempura dinner. Wow, what a huge amount of food!



The tempura shrimp and vegetables were well cooked, if a little bland. I especially liked the fried potatoes and eggplant. The sauce helped a lot to beef up the flavor, and the pieces weren't greasy, the way they are at some Japanese restaurants. The miso soup was very good; salty, savory, and everything I want in a bowl of miso. I got the eggroll instead of the sashimi, which was probably a poor choice. The eggroll was fine, but my friend's sashimi looked better-than-fine.

Prices were a tad high. My meal cost $24.95, which was a little steep for fried vegetables, particularly when compared to extremely low-cost meal I had at Tony Thai. Our server was sweet and competent even though English wasn't her first language. Like Asian customers, Asian servers at an Asian restaurant are a good thing!

The Houston restaurant scene is full of surprises. Although we have some great big restaurants, there are plenty of smaller places that deserve a second glance. Some of them might look kind of low-rent, most of them offer amazing and authentic food at very affordable prices. Step out of your comfort zone and try one of them -- you might be very pleasantly surprised by what you find! And if you're not, there are plenty of other choices out there!