At this point in time we’ve lived here in East Tennessee for over thirteen and a half years. One would think that we would have tried every restaurant/dining opportunity for miles around where we live. The fact is, that for one reason or another, we haven’t chowed down in all the restaurants…even ones that have been around longer than we have…
Asahi Japanese Grill was in business when we moved in those many years ago. There were 3 reasons why we hadn’t eaten here previously. First of all, I’m not crazy about Japanese food…but admittedly I hadn’t been to a Japanese Grill. Secondly, for quite some time, the landscaping wasn’t taken care of…and that turned off my better half. The third reason was that none of our friends ever mentioned it so it wasn’t on our mind. In any case, I decided that we had to give Asahi’s a try!
It’s a
nice looking building but all the parking is in the back. If you’re dining in, it’s easiest to enter
through the back door. The dining area
itself is fairly austere…plain with minimal decorations. It appeared that most regular customers order
at the counter. We hadn’t eaten here
before so we asked if we could take the menus to our table. Shortly thereafter, a waitress began serving
us…
To start, Laurie ordered her favorite appetizer, the Crab Rangoon. (6 for $6.99) I went for the Vegetable Spring Rolls. (2 for $2.99)
The Crab
Rangoon was not a winner. Basically it seemed
to be pre-packaged and the only flavor was the cream cheese. No spices of any note were present. I ended up eating 2 of them…but neither of us
thought that they were very tasty. As
for the Spring Rolls, they were pretty mushy…enough said!
For her dinner, Laurie ordered the Shrimp and Chicken Combination with mushrooms, rice, broccoli and carrots. ($15.99) As you can see, the amount of food she was served was huge! She wasn’t crazy about the chicken…chewy she thought…liked the shrimp and ate them all, loved the mushrooms and the vegetables were OK. The most significant downfall for her entrée was that it was so bland…no pop at all. The meal came with "Yum Yum" sauce...which again had little flavor or spice to add. FYI, little salads came with our meals and the dressing used was pretty tasty.
I ordered the Teriyaki Steak with rice and extra carrots for my dinner. ($12.99) Broccoli usually comes with this meal and I love broccoli. But, it doesn’t work with my meds. Again, the quantity of food I was served was pretty impressive. The steak wasn’t very tender but it wasn’t overly tough either. The carrots were a bit overcooked. I was OK with my meal but I had the same problem with my entrée as Laurie did with hers… Bland, lacking seasoning…
Asahi has a drive through window and they seem to have a lot of take out and drive through business. Someone looking for a large quantity of food for a reasonable price…especially given the inflation we’re experiencing, they will do well at Asahi! If you are an Asian or Japanese food aficionado, this restaurant isn’t for you.
Asahi
Japanese Grill is located at 704 East Broadway Street/US Hwy 11 in Lenoir City
Tennessee. Phone: 865-816-6668. They are open for lunch and dinner 7 days a
week. Website: https://www.asahijapanesegrills.com/.
I did experience one real positive from dining at Asahi Japanese Grill. Leftovers! There had been so much food that we brought home a pile of rice, chicken and steak. I had the leftovers for breakfast. Since it had been hit pretty solidly with soy sauce at the restaurant I couldn’t convince myself to add my usual couple of easy over eggs.
Sorry Larry…aka
Big Dude at https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/. I know that I’m an ‘egg-less’ disappointment…
Nevertheless, this was a very satisfying breakfast, especially after I kicked it
up a couple of notches with a combination of spicy Asian sauces we keep on hand.
Just to show that I’m still in the egg business, here is yet another breakfast I put together recently. We had some mild summer sausage we’d been gifted and I had a bit of feta cheese on hand. I chopped up several slices of the sausage and heated the pieces in a frying pan with a bit of butter. Then I broke up quite a bit of the feta cheese, tossed it into the pan and scrambled in a couple of eggs. It was a very satisfying breakfast sided with that buttered toast, but that ‘mild’ summer sausage managed to hide the flavor of the feta cheese.
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks for
stopping by for a visit!
Take
Care, Big Daddy Dave
I am not a huge fan of Japanese food...too much rice for me, but I do like their teppanyaki :-)) My favourite meal would be STEAK :-) If I got to choose where to live in the states, then it's probably Texas :-) Keep eating eggs, they are superfood and good for you, David. I had 4 today....usually 5, sometimes I throw away 1-2 egg whites, yolks are better.
ReplyDeleteSorry that restaurant disappointed you all. A good left over breakfast is worth bringing home the leavings. Yeah, feta is better on salads I think. I've tried it on pizza and it also doesn't hold it's flavor.
ReplyDeleteWell now you know about the steak house. As I read this, I just finished my breakfast of leftover Mexican without eggs. I actually had the skillet heating and the eggs out but decided there was already enough to eat and I would forego the 150 calories from the eggs. Funny that you would post this today.
ReplyDelete