Ariake Japanese Cuisine, Tomas Morato – One night, I was too tired to cook dinner, so hubby and I decided to eat out. We went to Tomas Morato to try out a Japanese resto we often see, Ariake.
Ambience: 4 stars
We arrived at half past 7, just in time to fill in the last parking space in front of the restaurant. Ariake Japanese Cuisine has a pleasing aesthetic that makes you feel nostalgic looking from the outside. A server immediately welcomed us as we entered the restaurant.
She brought us to an empty table to sit at. The place was a bit packed and had minimal walking spaces between tables. Once we have seated, I glanced around to check what others were ordering while waiting for the servers to bring the menu.
Child-friendliness: 4 stars
We asked for a high chair and the server immediately gave us one for our son. He even tried to help our son sit on it. However, they lacked the utensils and kiddie plates for my son to get excited over his food.
Food: 4 stars, Price: 5 stars
We ordered gyudon and miso soup (for our boy), tofu steak, and asupara tori bacon maki. We asked for their best-selling maki, and the server suggested we try the Ariake roll, so we did. We waited and waited.
After 15 minutes, the Ariake roll arrived. Topped with fresh salmon and tuna, the roll has cucumber, cream cheese, and crab meat. Served together with a mayo sauce with carrot bits and a little bit of light soy sauce, the Ariake roll tasted surprisingly good.
It was almost 8 PM when the gyudon finally arrived. My son was very hungry, so he immediately indulged in his rice bowl. Their gyudon was not so bad either, but what they used was not Japanese rice.
Tofu steak came out almost the same time as the gyudon. The sweet tofu steak sauce blends well with its crunchy outer skin. Make sure to include the shiitake mushroom and ground pork with every spoonful of tofu to enjoy the tofu steak better.
The miso soup, which was supposed to be served as an appetizer, came later than the main dishes. When it arrived, I had my son taste it. However, since he did not like the taste, I was granted a free miso soup instantly! LOL.
My toddler probably was not in the mood to drink soup that night. He liked miso soup before, so I tried to order it again for him. Anyway, I gladly took over the miso soup as I like it more.
Tonkatsu is a Japanese well-known food, well at least here in the Philippines. It seems that we seldomly see tonkatsu restaurants in Japan, or maybe we have not searched that well to see the famous ones.
Our tonkatsu arrived along with the asupara bacon maki. Ariake included a side dish of fresh vegetable salad to their tonkatsu. The salad had a catsup mayo dressing, which I think is not a part of a Japanese menu.
In my opinion, a Japanese salad would either use a sesame dressing or wasabi mayo dressing for their salads. Anyhow, we finished the lettuce, cabbage, and tomato salad just as well.
We were not happy with the tonkatsu as the meat is very thin. I could not even taste what type of pork meat the chef used to make the tonkatsu. However, our toddler loved it for some reason. My son ate almost all of the tonkatsu that night.
The funny thing about the asupara bacon maki was that it seemed to be a wrong order. Hubby said what he ordered was the asupara tori bacon maki, however, I could clearly remember hearing asupara bacon maki when the server repeated the orders.
Thankfully, I was impressed with the asupara bacon maki. The asparagus was not that unpleasantly chewy, meaning that the chef used fresh stalks to serve their customers. The sweet sauce envelopes the bacon and asparagus making me want more.
Service: 2 stars
Granted that we were somewhat happy with the food Ariake served, what we were not so happy about was their service. Besides serving the food too slow, it took servers too long before they could provide what we were requesting.
We even heard from other tables calling the server’s attention so many times to pay for their bill. The customer even joked about going home without paying for the food they ate. If there is one thing Ariake needs to improve on, it is service by hiring more people to work.
Conclusion
After being disappointed with Ariake’s slow service, we may or may not return to eat there again. Who knows? We might give Ariake another chance to make up for their shortcomings. The food they served was not so bad, but they are not something you would look forward to.
Anyhow, if you are curious, you can try to dine at Ariake to see if they have improved their service. We would like to hear about it if they have hired more people to serve their customers.
Do share this post with anyone who wants to hear about Ariake. Have a nice day ahead!
