Hal Smith

Review of Morimoto Restaurant

I am torn between 3 and 4 stars.

I am torn between 3 and 4 stars.

The atmosphere and service were top notch. The food was tasty, and the chicken soup had chicken that was extremely tender. It was very soft chicken, but not too soft.

The downside was that the price was 50% higher on things than it should have been by market standards. The soup had only three medium/small sized pieces of chicken. It also had flavored broth and thing noodles, but no other vegetables. So that felt like either a rip off at $14, too plain, or both. The sushi was good, but still comparable to what you could get elsewhere, and at $9 it was a bit higher. Seafood entrees are $26-48 IIRC.

The portion size was only normal or slightly below, but I was strangely filled up, so maybe some meals inadvertently have MSG.

I think that the quality is excellent, but for me, high prices and small portions do not equal great food - although many high end restaurants seem to think this. It has a good reputation because of the IRON CHEF, but it is probably overrated, although definitely not bad.