Restaurant Review: Sake Lounge

  How many times have you came up with a great idea for date night, but had to make last minute adjustments? When this happens I try to have a couple of backup plans in my pocket just for such emergencies. Unfortunately, sometimes those can have glitches, as well. This past weekend we made a last minute change, and opted for a movie and dinner. We piled in the car and headed to the Olathe Fork & Screen, but when we arrived we found the timing didn't work well. Our backup plan was dinner off site, but it needed to be close and fairly quick. While there are a lot of restaurants in the vacinity, most are fairly overflowing on a Friday night. 

  From our parking spot at the theater we were able to spot a sushi restaurant that we had never tried, and we hoped it would fit our needs. A short walk found us inside the Sake Lounge. The restaurant is decorated in a contemporary lounge design, and the dining is split between two rooms. We were quickly ushered to our seat and our server took our drink orders. The menu is fairly robust, and includes bento boxes, and hibachi meals, as well as a wide selection of entrees, noodles, and rice dishes. Obviously they serve sushi and sashimi, and their offerings are quite extensive. On this evening we decided to skip the sushi.

  We started with a couple of appetizers, which were Gyoza (pan fried dumplings), and Crab Rangoon. The dumplings were meat filled, and the flavor and texture were good. The Rangoon were crisp, as I like them, but there was hardly any flavor of crab to be noticed.

  We have a standard routine when ordering at most Asian restaurants, where we order a couple of appetizers, and then split an order of Fried Rice. We chose the same thing here, as well, so that we could equally judge their offerings. The rice had a good mix of diced vegetables mixed in, and our choice included chicken. The entree is made with a smaller than usual amount of soy sauce, which would work well for some people. Of course they have a bottle readily available for those who prefer more. The texture was good, and the vegetables were still crisp enough to enhance the texture of the dish. Overall it was a good meal, and the timing worked perfectly for us to make it to our movie.