The other day, I noticed Mayorga had officially become Nori - an Asian bistro. After checking out some reviews on Yelp - mixed to positive - The Heights Life ventured over to decide for ourselves.
The decor hasn't change, but a slightly fishy smell now permeates the place. We were seated in the dining area with the long bench below the bar. You can also sit at the sushi bar where they used to pour coffee. It was clean and cozy inside with a decent crowd for a Sunday night.
Everyone was friendly, but the servers seemed inordinately stressed. They had two people covering the dining room, and apparently that's not enough. It wasn't that the service was slow, it was that several things just never showed up until we asked - then they appeared right away.
As for the for the food - standard rolls were around $5, special rolls were $7 to $10, soup was $3, sushi combos ranged from about $15 to $20, and entrees centered around $12.
Our review will have to fall into the "mixed" category. The gyoza appetizer tasted homemade and delicious. The miso soup was good. The salad was standard, but probably not even worth $3.
The rolls, however, confused us. We ordered one spicy tuna, and one spicy tuna without the roe it normally comes with. The roe-laden roll was overwhelmingly fishy and in a very bad way. After one bite neither of us wanted to finish it. The tuna sans roe was fine - not great, but decidedly better than the roe roll. We also tried one of their twists on classic (American) sushi - a baked California cream roll, which was good.
ArtBart attempted to order inari - normally a bean curd pocket with rice. What they brought out was a seaweed wrapped six piece roll with rice and a tiny bit of bean curd in the middle. It was not good.
We might go to Nori again if sushi desperation hits and we can't get U Sushi to deliver... but I think I am more likely to hold out until Sake Club opens - even if it will cost more.
Our guess - Nori will be just another rotation in what should be a great space for something.
PS - ArtBart wants me to add that the noodle dishes that came out of the kitchen looked great. We didn't try those - so maybe we'll have to go back. Anyone else dined at Nori? Leave a note in the comments section.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Listserv Post of the Day
Ah, the there-are-no-good-bagels-in-DC rant takes another form. From today's Columbia Heights Digest:
Speaking of Booeymonger, wouldn't it be great to have one in the neighborhood?
My Potbelly Review - Two thumbs Down
Posted by: aisha_mills
Fri May 2, 2008 9:01 am (PDT)
Anyone know where I can get a decent breakfast sandwich to-go in the Columbia Heights/U Street area? I just had an awful experience at Potbelly… Disclaimer: Sure, I admit it. I’m biased. I’ve never liked Potbelly anyway—I’ve found their sandwiches to be small, sub-par, and expensive... Yep, you guessed it, I’m a Booeymonger snob…
Nonetheless, I just stopped in to the new Columbia Heights Potbelly today for the first time to get a breakfast bagel. The service was extremely slow—although there was only one couple in line in front of us, my girlfriend and I waited 15 minutes for 2 skinny bagel sandwiches with egg and cheese. I should have known I’d be disappointed when I had to instruct the employee on how to actually “skinny” my bagel sandwich, despite the big fat sign on the wall advertising—go figure—“skinny sandwiches”.
I ended up with a burnt bagel chip “sandwich” that had two sad tablespoon size egg beaters in the middle. The staff at the register was so embarrassed that they had another one made for me which ended up being a bit better, but still unappetizing. Come to find out, they don’t even use real bagels, but some spongy “skinny” wheat product with a whole in the middle. Yuck (I’m also an adopted New Yorker, so I want REAL bagels damn it!). So much for having real food for breakfast. BTW, this took another 10 minutes even though I was now the only person in the place.
My review of Potbelly’s offerings for what its worth: If you’re into gourmet fast food, stick with Chipotle, and if you want a good deli sandwich, walk up to Subway or treat yourself and go across town to Booeymongers. If your thing is yuppy ambiance, just go to Busboys… If you want to sit and have a cup of “Starbucks coffee”, a cookie, and read the paper, then just go across the street to Starbucks—or avoid the corporate-cash-cow-scene all together and have your latté and sweets at Mayorga or Sticky Fingers… And if you want a decent breakfast sandwich, you’re better off making one at home.
Speaking of Booeymonger, wouldn't it be great to have one in the neighborhood?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A Review of Radiance
When I first moved to Columbia Heights, I itemized everything I could get within a 1 to 2 minute walk of my place...
Coffee, shipping, tutoring, insurance, money and now... botox?
Radiance Medispa on 14th offers just that, along with a plethora of other services. I'm not really a spa type, and I'm certainly not a botox type, but maybe once or twice a year I indulge. The other day my indulgence was a massage.
The place was incredibly clean, friendly and I immediately felt comfortable. My masseur was very professional and I suppose very good. I say suppose because I thought I was going in for the "Swedish" massage, but it seems my masseur thought it was "deep tissue." Deep tissue kind of hurts, but Swedish - not so much. Either way, I imagine it was a good service, despite the soreness that came with it.
What isn't so great about Radiance is the price list. I paid $90 for an hour long massage. That's not cheap, and if you shop around DC you can certainly find cheaper ($40 facials at the Aveda institute!). But - they do have daily specials and every Friday botox is $100 off! I can't tell how much botox costs to begin with, it just says "$13 per unit," but I guess that's like getting about 8 units free? What's a botox unit?
What I can't figure out about Radiance is who they think their customer is in CH. Those places can't depend on people like me visiting once or twice a year, they need regular customers. Columbia Heights doesn't seem like a place with a lot of rich old people (aka weekly spa customers), and they don't do the smaller services that might get more traffic (mani/pedi).
But good luck to them. Maybe I'll be back next year.
Online: Radiance Medispas
Coffee, shipping, tutoring, insurance, money and now... botox?
Radiance Medispa on 14th offers just that, along with a plethora of other services. I'm not really a spa type, and I'm certainly not a botox type, but maybe once or twice a year I indulge. The other day my indulgence was a massage.
The place was incredibly clean, friendly and I immediately felt comfortable. My masseur was very professional and I suppose very good. I say suppose because I thought I was going in for the "Swedish" massage, but it seems my masseur thought it was "deep tissue." Deep tissue kind of hurts, but Swedish - not so much. Either way, I imagine it was a good service, despite the soreness that came with it.
What isn't so great about Radiance is the price list. I paid $90 for an hour long massage. That's not cheap, and if you shop around DC you can certainly find cheaper ($40 facials at the Aveda institute!). But - they do have daily specials and every Friday botox is $100 off! I can't tell how much botox costs to begin with, it just says "$13 per unit," but I guess that's like getting about 8 units free? What's a botox unit?
What I can't figure out about Radiance is who they think their customer is in CH. Those places can't depend on people like me visiting once or twice a year, they need regular customers. Columbia Heights doesn't seem like a place with a lot of rich old people (aka weekly spa customers), and they don't do the smaller services that might get more traffic (mani/pedi).
But good luck to them. Maybe I'll be back next year.
Online: Radiance Medispas
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