Juju, East Colonial (50)

I tried this Izakaya next to the old mall on East Colonial (and Maguire) at dinner on Wednesday. It is an offshoot of Susuru. And not a Smith Schuster. I'm not sure if it was the novelty or execution, but, I liked this less. I had two grilled wings stuffed with white rice that they call Teba Gyoza. Bland on bland. Or in bland. They cost $10. Then I wanted to see what they would do with non-grilled fare. I tried the Chirashi Box for $20. The rice was overworked. The fish was far from the "premium" cuts (ie otoro) promised by the menu and waiter. Something even tasted off. Very fishy. Mackerel fishy. Maybe the purported yellowtail belly. The salmon was tasteless. Salmon roe was salmon roe. Not sure what elese was piled onto that outer shell of trimmings. Spicy tuna (etc) rolls all over the world were laughing at this economy. The one ok element was the uni. I considered a few other dishes. But, they asked if I minded there not being certain things in the dish. Like uni in the dry noodle dish. Uhh..yeah. That's the most expensive ingredient! It's a small menu. Mostly robata grilled things. Some funny ones like chicken knees. Limited to chicken, pork, beef and veggies. Tip - oyster = oyster mushroom not the one in a shell. Most things seemed more expensive than Susuru. They pimp the drinks. And sake. They have a reservation-ed omikase meal. Not sure of the price. Around 8 seats. 8 bar seats. 40 others. Spaced far apart. I tried once on a Friday and it was a long wait. I left for Kaya. This time it was mostly empty. The decor is made up of Japanese pop culture nick nacks. Dark. A bit gloomy. I think this was an old Pizza Hut. It doesn't really offer a holistic experience. More pressure on the food as a result. Therefore, I would suggest Doshi and then Kaya over them. As far as new Asian experiences go.