So lately I've been on a Chirashi-kick. All my normal sushi restaurants--What do I order? Chirashi. But this was a poor decision for dining at Morimoto, while it appeared that my fish was fresh and not particularly exciting, the presentation was horrendous. Sure one of my dining-mates called it ""paying for the knife-work"" I thought of it as eating leftover fish. It was like scraps of fish. Maybe someone can educate me, but at all the mostly ""traditional"" or at least popular restaurants I've been to around the world served pieces of fish in a long thin style, not cubish ridiculousness. Some pieces were not cubes, which is what was alarming, they were, rather, small pieces that appeared to be rejected pieces. Surely, I know mackerel is not a meaty fish, but is it necessary just to give me the skin? Or the red rejected parts of a yellow tail? I do not think so. We had the toro tartare, which was not particularly exciting, while it did have a nice nori-paste to accompany it. Friends got the foie gras bowls and said it was okay. The ambience was strange. I had a terrible waiter, but that is also because Morimoto was watching our table from his table and because the waiter was serving Morimoto as well. That was the most disappointing, the fact that the celebrity chef was such a distraction to hinder the experience of his restaurant goers. If you are going to Morimoto to see the man, you'll dreams will be fulfilled, he seems to always be at the restaurant, either in his chef pants, or his khakis. The miso black-cod that is probably his original at Nobu was just as good here.
Pros: celebrity chef, okay food
Cons: distraction of celebrity chef also eating lunch (to customers AND waiters), heavy chairs
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