My take on Momiji Restaurant

As promised, on Friday night I tried my luck at the new sushi place in Penn Quarter, Momiji Restaurant Japanese Bar & Grill. I was a little turned off from the start. Walking in I could see the place was having an identity crisis. The brightly lit, self serve beverage cooler made it look more like a corner deli than a classy sushi bar. The obvious glue showing at the seams of most of the chairs certainly didn't help. There was only one server for the downstairs area. The poor girl already looked like she had been worked to death and it was only 7 pm. But she was sweet and we were there for the food, right?

Unfortunately, it was the food that was the final blow. We ordered chicken teriyaki and an assortment of sushi. This was possibly the worse chicken teriyaki I've ever had. Pieces of the chicken were undercooked and what was edible lacked any sort of flavor. The teriyaki sauce was great, but was simply drizzled over the plate like an afterthought. I don't have much to say about the sushi either. It was unremarkable, neither good nor bad. I tried to give them one more chance and ordered an additional two sushi rolls. My philly had enough cream cheese to cover 2 bagels. So much for second chances.

As I said, my server was very sweet and the food also came out quickly, but those are the only nice things I can say about my dinner at Momiji. I really wanted to like this place! It's not too far from my job and would have been a welcome alternative to the places I already frequent. Sorry to say, I won't be back to Momiji.

Momiji RestaurantJapanese Bar & Grill
505 H Street NW
Washington, DC
Tel: 202.408.8110

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