Lunch date #65: March 13, 2015
We've been out to lunch a few times
recently, but either back to places we've tried before, or out for other
reasons. Finally last Friday we had a chance to get back to our project. We've
seen the new place by Trader Joe's for a while and thought another sushi place
in Pleasanton? Why bother…but since we're good sports and attempting to try all
restaurants in P-town, thought it was time to give it a try! So it was off to Ozora
Sushi and Steak (6770 Santa Rita; http://www.ozora-sushi.com)
for our 65th lunch date.
Location 3.5 points: Next to Trader Joe's at Pimlico and Santa Rita. Not
exactly a thrilling location. We all know how difficult parking is there, but
we found a place right by the front door (opens at the south aspect of the
building), so no complaints there.
Ambiance 3.5 points: We were pleasantly surprised with the appearance of
the interior. They did a good job with the build-out, in a nice Asian-style,
including a light and airy ambiance with an open-kitchen sushi bar. We had no
idea we'd find two restaurants in one: regular sushi/Japanese restaurant on one
side and teppanyaki (table-side grill) on the other. We didn't realize this and
were seated in the regular side-but no one actually asked when we arrived and there
were no patrons on the teppanyaki side at that time. When we told our waitress
we wanted the hibachi grilled lunch, she then said we had to move over to the
other side. We were the only ones there for a while, and ended up with our own
personal chef. It seems like if the place was busy, it would have a fun
ambiance with 7 teppanyaki grills, each facing 8 seats around. Score for ambiance
would have been higher, if it weren't for the "to-go" boxes and extra
dishes stacked about, creating a distraction for the otherwise clean appearing
restaurant.
Menu 4.5 points: Very extensive sushi-with all of the assorted roll-types,
bento boxes with assorted choices and then the whole teppanyaki side menu also.
The lunch selections are served with
beef broth soup, green salad, grilled vegetables and rice.
Food 4.5 points: We were delighted with our selections. We elected to
get one order of each the chicken and steak to share. Our very own teppanyaki
chef, Moogie, started grilling the ingredients for fried rice and then fresh
veggies (broccoli, carrots, onion, mushrooms and zucchini), and of course
prepared the food with rhythmic-flare! He cooked everything to perfection: all
was favorable and quite fresh. Even the soup broth and green salad (crisp
greens and ginger-sesame dressing) were pretty good. The fried rice was
perfect-not greasy. The chicken and steak were moist and tender.
Service 4 points: The server was efficient, in the beginning, but then
we didn't see her again for drink refills. Moogie was delightful. He worked at
Hana Japan in Dublin for 11 years and is quite good at grilling/chopping and
all of the entertainment that seems incumbent with this style of cooking.
Value 5 points: The chicken teppanyaki lunch was $11.95. Quite a good
lunch for this price-similar in price to a sandwich in a lot of places. We had
plenty to take home, too, which always makes Mom happy! The steak lunch was $14.95
and well worth this price. We aren't sure what the meal prices are for dinner,
but the lunch is an amazing good deal.
Overall score for Ozora: 4.2 points. This rates up with our highest. We had a delightful
lunch and were quite pleased to stumble in to Ozora. We will definitely
return and bring friends.
