It Happened at Osaka

It all started out with the best of intentions. Cuba and I were going to take a walk around Lake Scranton. We try to do this as often as we can. We have been on a roll too. Today was the first day we missed this week...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, the big plan was to walk the lake, then grab a quick bite, then grocery shopping, then home. Well, I came up with the bright idea of picking up our other car, which was in the shop, before the walk and the mere act of doing that, coupled with the prospect of driving two cars to the restaurant, then having to pick one of them up again later after shopping, and driving home separately at the end of the night...well it was all too much for Cuba to bear. She looked at me with those big green eyes and said "Let's just go for sushi and then to see Julie and Julia." How could I refuse her?

I have to be honest, neither of us were too excited about it, but we decided to give Osaka in downtown Scranton another shot. We used to really like this place. They used to run a half price sushi special on Sunday nights that we would go to once in a while. Then that became a little too popular with the college student crowd for our tastes. We never really loved the place, but we went there because it was consistent. Then they closed for renovations...for months. I must say that the place looks really lovely now. It hadn't changed much since the Robata days of the 80's and 90's prior to this recent update, so it was long overdue.

The new decor seems to have really brought in a young, hip, and attractive clientele. Both Cuba and I were struck by the amount of 20 and 30-something young women populating the bar and restaurant, and on a Thursday no less. These were not boozy barflies either mind you, and except for the ham-handed advances of the three aging and married Lotharios next to us at the bar, the ladies had the place more or less to themselves. Granite bar, chic decor, and eye candy aside, the food, and the sushi in particular, is lackluster at best.

We started off with some sake, and I had miso soup. The sake was hot, but the miso was cold. Strike one. We followed this up with some nigiri and three rolls. The nigiri we chose was saba, which is pickled mackerel, and hamachi, or yellowtail. We had spicy scallop roll, New York roll, and Lackawanna roll. I have to say that the scallop roll was okay, if not a bit too spicy. Scallop rolls are some of Cuba's favorite things to order at sushi bars, and this one fell squarely in the middle. We have had better and we have had much worse. The New York roll was a spicy broiled roll with Salmon over (fake) crab stick and tempura flakes. It was unremarkable but again okay. The Lackawanna roll is a deep fried creation containing eel, white fish, crab (real), salmon, scallion, and tobiko. Again, this heavily spiced roll was nothing special, but fine nonetheless. By this point you may be saying to yourself that this meal sounds perfectly fine if not a little ordinary. Well, the horror show is about to begin. Enter the nigiri. Strikes two and three.

The word "sushi" as you probably know refers not to the fish, but to the rice upon which these potentially delightful little packages are built. "Sushi" is a high quality, short grain rice that is dressed in rice wine vinegar and either formed into little balls for nigiri or pressed into sheets to enclose the rolls that we all love so much. The rice should be flavorful and of a consistency that binds it together so that it holds up to being transported from plate to mouth while remaining beautiful and intact. Osaka's rice was neither flavorful nor of the correct consistency. Our rolls and nigiri literally fell apart in our hands. The fish that topped our nigiri was no treat either. The hamachi had a waterlogged consistency and was full of connective tissue, which made it impossible to bite through. This stuff should be of an almost buttery consistency and a good portion of both my and Cuba's hamachi wound up spit out into our napkins. The last item that we had was the saba. Saba should be a beautifully colored, slightly oily, lightly pickled slice of heaven. Osaka's was not. It was gray and reminded me of pickled herring out of a jar, you know the one, ...way in the back of the fridge. I will not be having that again, ever.

In spite of the shortcomings, we did enjoy sitting at the bar, having a couple of beers to wash away the sins of the meal, conversing with each other, and people watching. I am sure we will go to Osaka for drinks again one day, but we will leave the sushi to places more qualified for the job, like Katana in Wilkes Barre for example. I want to love this place, I really do. It is close to home, and easy on the eyes. Maybe tonight was just a bad night. Was it? Please let me know what you think.

Osaka
224 Adams Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503
(570) 341-9600