In another thread, marlboroman wrote, “Can’t find an online presence, but there are some Yelp reviews (which I find suspect… sorry). The place is called “Yuzu Kitchen”. Menu was in the front window. A few poke bowls, create your own sushi burritos (think oversized maki), Japanese nachos, and ramen soup. No actual sushi or sashimi per se, though they do serve raw fish, etc. Seems to be a Japanese fast food concept of sorts.”
We tried this a few days ago. One problem I had with the menu was that some of the toppings and fillings for the poke bowls were given only in (transliterated) Japanese (hijinki, oshinko, tobiko, furikake), and my Japanese is not quite that good.
I got the “Build Your Own” poke bowl with spicy tuna, cucumber, seaweed salad, hijinki, oshinko, fried ginger, sesame seeds, and wasabi soy over brown rice ($8.95), and Mark got the “Signature Salmon Poke” ($11.95). It’s not clear that his was that 33% better than mine. At any rate, I thought mine was a good deal, and a interesting variation on Japanese sushi, while Mark thought his was reasonably good but over-priced.
I see a lot of these “sushi burrito” places popping up…and as much as I try not to let things like that bother me… why the hell are you calling it a burrito!!! There’s no tortilla! There’s already a Japanese word for what you’re making and it’s called futo maki!!!
went there once maybe 2 weeks after they opened with high anticipation as I really like poke bowls.
Maybe it was the anticipation or that the kitchen was not fine tuned
or maybe it was staffed by High School kids who did not GAF
or maybe Im just oldandtired
but a dry bowl of sticky rice with 3 half inch pieces of fish is not a poke bowl. If they ran out of ingredients don’t sell it.
I got takeout from there a few weeks ago. The Japanese nachos just sounded good, and I had always wanted to try them. I ordered online, and picked up in person.
I thought the amount I received for $7.95 was decent. It was most likely presented as an appetizer, but it filled me up. And I was really hungry. Of course, my stomach has shrunk a great deal. I don’t recommend the bronchitis diet to everyone, but having it for nearly a month allowed me to lose close to 30 pounds.
Anyway, the taste was fantastic! Great combo of savory, sweet and spicy. Crunchy wonton chips and smooth salmon and tuna. Just altogether great. Can’t wait to get again.
I see Arisu (Diamond Plaza where Buffalo Wild Wings is) now also has sushi burritos and poke bowls. Maybe theirs are better.
The guy working the counter at Yuzu did say they’d be changing the menu soon and adding some new items.
We stopped here for lunch today on our way to Net Cost, our favorite international supermarket just down the road. This used to be our favorite Indian restaurant, The Indian Grill, but that restaurant went out of business and now Yuzu is in its’ place. We had never tried poke before. Basically, you choose your bottom, be it brown or white rice, lettuce, or cauliflower rice (for $1.50 more), your protein, be it salmon, tuna, shrimp, and you choose up to 4 “sides” to put in your bowl. I chose salmon, avocado (also $1.50 extra), black seaweed, seaweed salad, oshinko, tobiko (.50 extra) crispy onions and scallions and tempura flakes. My husband had pretty much the same with the addition of mango (.50 extra) enoki mushrooms, and other toppings. You also get your choice of dressing. We never had poke before, so have nothing to compare it to, but for about $10 each, we thought it was a pretty decent, fresh and satisfying lunch. Because we had never been there before the owner gave us a sample of what he called Japanese Tacos (see picture).
We also ordred the Yuzu fresh burrito, which included shrimp and salmon wrapped in nori and stuffed with seaweed and other vegetables. It was $11.95. I thought this was overpriced, but tasty.
This was an ok place for lunch. Did not like the fact that a lot of the things you choose on your bowl are an upcharge, but it does show you all the prices on the big menu at the counter. Russian seems to be the language of choice here. The restaurant, as well as the restroom, was spotless, much better than when it was Indian Grill. Would be go back here again? Maybe, if we were in the neighborhood, but would not drive 45 minutes to get here.
Those are “Japanese nachos”, not tacos. I’ve had them several times. They frequently put out 15% off coupons, dine-in only.
There’s also another poke place up Rt. 9 in Marlboro/Old Bridge, “House of Poke” (across from Costco). I’ve been in there to pick up a menu, but haven’t tried it yet.
