Beema Okaasan - A Mega Disappointment
Beema Okaasan
A Mega Disappointment
I am very sad to give this restaurant 1 star. I had high hopes but was disappointed at every turn.
To start the Cucumber Sunomono salad. You can judge a good sushi restaurant by its Sunomono dish. Normally this is a delicate, slightly sweet, citrusy salad with a touch of soy for balance. Crab or Octopus are often added for a bit of protein and texture. Here, The presentation was uninspired and ultimately it was flavorless. For $6 it should be more than a pile of thick cucumbers in a watery sauce topped with a tablespoon of imitation crab. The dressing could not pick a direction other than water. Not only was it lacking flavor, actually there was very little dressing at all. It was merely A pile of crunchy raw cucumbers that were sent searching for a swim in anything prior to being consumed, but no citrus bath could be found. Ideally, they should have been slightly sweated. A dreadful start. 0 for 1
Next, Miso Soup. The miso soup was not note-worthy. Again, for a $4 price tag, I should be presented with something more than rehydrated kelp and a few pieces of tofu. It should be hot but not boiling. Mine was served just past lukewarm so I had to try to sip it super quick before it became a chilled soup and my taste buds regretted this quick approach. Mostly yuck, no balance of flavor, nothing warm nor nourishing. A good Miso soup can set the stage for an exciting culinary event, this one was lifeless and uninteresting. So far 0 for 2. Next up, albacore tataki
It was described as seared with ponzu and I envisioned a thin delectable appetizer with a heartwarming sauce and dressing adorning the fish on a plate. By seared they meant 1/2 cooked making the texture rather dreadful in the mouth. It was neither raw nor cooked and so it was a mess on the palate. Then instead of a thin slice of fish perfectly garnished with flavor, I was presented with huge thick chunks of sea meat piled carelessly on a bed of lettuce. The dish was not described as a salad or over a bed of greens. I would not have ordered that. On top of the fish were a bunch of onion crunchies, which don't get me wrong, I love the crunchies, but they are supposed to accent the texture and flavor of the tataki, not overwhelm it. In my case, I was hungry and happy that their excess disguised the odd texture of 1/2 cooked albacore. The uninteresting lime wasabi aioli dressing made the brownish fish look even more dreadful and added nothing to the experience. I tasted neither lime nor wasabi. Then to pile it high on lettuce was a complete miss. The garlic ponzu dressing was hard to find as it was sticking to the lettuce, rather than embracing the fish flat on a plate, You had to work to get the sauce on the fish without wrapping it in lettuce. You kinda had to shake and scrape the lettuce leaves to get a drop of the ponzu to accompany a bit of fish. And really, while I love lettuce, I just did not want a salad with my Tataki. A complete distraction. A very disappointing appetizer 0 for 3 For dinner I had the chef 6 piece nigiri special and the hunger games roll First, the roll - Presentation was good. The description looked good and it matched well with what was brought to my table. Yum, torched tuna! This part was good and the flavors in the roll were all solid. Back on track? No!!!!! Oh my word, the rice!!! yuck. Some of the worst sushi rice I have ever had. good sushi rice should be seasoned well, at room temp, and should be sticky enough to hold its form but then fall apart in your mouth. It should never ever detract from a dish. It should be perfectly seasoned and perfectly complement each bite. This rice was a complete bomb. Absolutely no flavor and the texture was a thickish, gelatinous, gummy, chewy mess ( like chewing gum chewy). It was terrible. It was one of the worst rice experiences of my life and having eaten sushi all over the country I have had a lot of bad rice. this tops that list. What a miss. 0 for 4 Finally the chefs special. I was so hopeful. I love Nigiri with garnishes. But yep, gunky yucky rice globs. It could have been so lovely. I tried to take photos of the rice so you can see the globs of chew. The rice does NOT fall apart just a goo klump. I pulled most of the rice off the nigiri and tried to enjoy it as sashimi. None of it came together. For example, the salmon was topped with roe, (not tobiko) and nothing else. So they took a fairly fishy fish and added more fishiness to the fish so that palate was just hit with a fishy sea flavor, Yuck. 0 for 5 The service was not great. A small restaurant with 1 person answering phones, dealing with take-out and other guests. They gave me the world’s smallest dab of wasabi and I wanted to ask for a bit more, but I could barely catch my waitress. No joy, no smile, no feeling of attentiveness. Paying $70 for one person you would expect high-end service right? Nothing like that here.
0 for 6 Pricing? Out of this world expensive. I left hungry. I could have eaten 4 - 6 more nigiri or 1 more roll but I was already at $70 dollars and completely unhappy with everything. $17 rolls? $24 for 6 pieces of fish. If I am paying that much the service better be exceptional and the rice better, the best in town.
0 for 7
Now for the positives. The menu is creative, the rolls are thoughtful, you can tell this place has vision and ambition, but if they are going to make it Grand Rapids, they have a long road ahead of them and a lot to fix. I won’t be going back where ever as there are so many other wonderful solid choices in GR that I can be confident will deliver exceptional results such as Mikado, Sushi Kuni, Tokyo Grill, Ando, Ginza. We are very spoiled when it comes to sushi with many, many respectable options!
I can not recommend this place to anyone. It was a Mega Disappointment
Follow me on Instagram @fillaupnow
Subscribe to my Blog to Fillaup Now on Everything you Love
