Yakiniku West

Yet another theme night brought to you by SpB!  Tonight’s theme was “Asian BBQ & Booze on a Stick” which piqued the curiosity of many Facebook friends when my status read “can’t wait for Asian BBQ & Booze on a Stick tonight!”  Well, here it is, Asian BBQ first: Yakiniku West.  Funny enough, I posted about Yakiniku Juju and ended that review with “I will be going to Yakiniku West within a few weeks to compare and weigh in.”  That post is dated almost exactly 3 years ago to the day! and I only now went to Yakiniku West.  Whoops! 

I peered at the outside menu and realized that Mondays are an awesome deal – nearly half off short rib cuts!!! but alas it was a Friday night and none of these specials applied to us.  Not even the early bit since we were there at 7 pm. 

You have to take your shoes off when you enter, which can be gross in the summer months when you are, as I was, wearing flip flops… but no big deal, just stay at your seat and don’t touch anything!  😉

SpB and I arrived first, so we peered at the menu and I debated what to get.  She kept talking like we were getting things together and I got nervous, as I’d read the set menus (per person) were an awesome deal.  HB & BB arrived soon after, and HB told me the set menus didn’t… make… her… full… lol!  So we decided to just order a bunch of stuff a la carte and do things that way.  That worked for me… especially since HB and I probably eat about the same amount (I think I eat more, actually!… maybe?) and she used to go there almost once a week.  Hahahahaha. 

Because I’m mean and like to force my friends to drink, we started off with Kamikaze shots (for these reasons and these reasons alone: they were on the menu with two other shots; they were $3.50; the other two shots were SoCo & Lime and HB refuses to drink SoCo, and I forget the other one but no one wanted it either; no we are not college girls who do sweet shots and think we’re funny, WE ARE NOT WOO GIRLS!!!).  They were a bit too sweet and it’s been too long since I took a shot, as I wound up accidentally drinking it instead of shooting it.  Ah well. 

We started off with the avocado salad “for two” which was huge and way more than enough for all 4 of us to get a good portion.  It was split up for us to mix as we pleased, which can be good or bad depending on your preferences.  We were provided with two bottles of dressing – the standard sesame/ginger/carrot dressing or a ponzu vinaigrette.  I tried both and found they were fine but nothing amazing.  I think next time, I’d request we toss the salad at the table unless my friends really want to keep it all separate… it became a little fussy turning the plate to get a little bit of everything.

BB ordered agedashi tofu for the table.  I don’t know what that means.  I know I’ve had this several times at various restaurants (probably with her?) and it’s always about the same, though I liked this one a little better.  Something about the crispy stuff on top (not the greens, but on the tofu itself) – I think it was fried better than other places I’ve been to?  Whatever it was, I liked this, it was cool, creamy, and crispy.  Yum!

Berkshire pork belly, fatty goodness!  This is one order. 

So fatty it caught fire almost immediately.

I took pictures instead of trying to put the fire out or help at all because I’m a food blogger.  LOL

Salty, crisp goodness.  I really enjoyed this.  It was slightly better dipped in sauce and wrapped in a lettuce leaf… but I didn’t take pictures of that.

Some of the sauces available – the middle one is crushed garlic.  Mmmmm, so good.

This is 4 orders of the prime short rib.  We wound up ordering one more platter later… it was fatty goodness and delicious!!! 

On the grill

We all drank water/tea with our meal, so for the above plus one bowl of white rice (and I’m not sure if they charge for their lettuce?, if so, then two baskets of lettuce to wrap our meat in),… it came out to about $30 a person, a little less, actually.  Not bad – if you consider that the set I was looking at was about that price, but wouldn’t have included so much meat (and that’s pre-tax or tip).  Which is why you’re there, really – for the meat! 

Yvo says: Bonus: you don’t leave this place smelling like meat like you do at some other grill-your-own-places.  (Hey, I don’t really mind that, but my friends really seem to mind…)  If you know how to order, it isn’t expensive at all, and it’s a lot of fun sitting with your friends, grilling up some meat, chatting away.  The atmosphere is casual and fun, and I definitely recommend the place.  In fact, I just made plans to go again at the end of the week.  Hehe. 
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