Umi - Umi God, this is horrible!

There is something extremely wrong with Umi Japanese Restaurant at 3026 S. Kimbrough near Battlefield.

The other night I decided to go to trivia at Hooters, which is every Tuesday night, 7 pm to 10 pm (or so I thought). I hadn't been to trivia there in over a year. I figured it wouldn't be over until 10 pm, so I'd just go straight to work afterwards (I work overnights). To my surprise, Hooters has improved their trivia system, and what used to take a grueling 3 hours, now only takes about an hour and half or so. So, needless to say, I got out of trivia at 8:30 pm, and had some time to kill. So I decided to go find some sushi.

I settled on Umi Sushi Bar & Grill. Ugh! I'd never been there before. First off, it looked really nice inside. Very elegant. Great for a date. Well, if it weren't for a couple things, which is the gross factor in this review.

I just wanted something light before work, so I ordered a tuna roll and a diet coke. The waitress, who was very nice and polite, brought me my soda. Before I went to the bathroom, I took a few quick sips from the soda and UGH! it tasted awful. Not like it was low on syrup or anything usual. Bad, like it was mixed with curry powder and farts.

Then I went to the bathroom and as soon as I walked in, there was an equally vile aroma. Again, not what you would think you might smell from a bathroom, but instead some sort of curry powder and farts mixture. I used the bathroom, which seemed to look nice otherwise, even if the toilet paper dispenser fell off the wall while I was using it and there was no paper towels in the paper towel dispenser.

I got back to the table and to my surprise there was a small salad and cup of soup waiting for me. This was nice. Very. Both were delicious, and apparently complimentary. I took another sip of the soda and decided I wouldn't be able to drink it. So I told the waitress the soda tasted "strange" and if I could have hot tea instead. I thought about just having water, but by now I was seriously starting to question the plumbing/water, so I opted for the tea.

The sushi was good. I'm not super picky about sushi. Some people won't even eat sushi at a buffet. I don't seem to discriminate. As long as they have spicy mayonnaise, I'm good.

I got the bill and was a little annoyed that it was 9 something. Apparently, the hot tea was 3 bucks, which seemed to be nice little trick considering their soda was undrinkable.

All in all, my visit to Umi was not positive. Although, with a bit of correction, it could have been. The complimentary soup and salad was nice. The food was good. However, all of this doesn't matter, if the water/soda/bathroom smells like indian food vomit.

Good Food In Springfield, MO (It Could Happen)
Let's Not Do Again, Period!

The Quest For The Best General Chicken In Springfield, MO.

(Note to reader, this list was put together and posted on 8/7/11, so, naturally things have changed since then. I'll try to make an updated list in the near future.)

As a Chinese food addict, I arrived in Springfield, MO some fifteen years ago and saw all the Chinese restaurants and thought I'd landed in heaven. Unfortunately, to my dismay, I couldn't be more wrong. The Chinese food in Springfield, MO, for the most part is awful. Apparently, the Chinese folks who set up shop here have catered to the locals and basically lost any of their Chinese food know-how they might have gleaned on either coast. The result is a highly unChinese Cashew Chicken, which is basically in every Chinese restaurant here. You won't find any New York style Chinese food in Springfield, MO, no Pu Pu Platters, dark delicious Pork Fried Rice, golden Chicken Fingers, Pork Strips, etc. What you will get in Springfield, MO, is basically Hillbilly Chinese Food.

So, you can imagine, as difficult as it is to find good food in Springfield, MO, it's even harder to find good Chinese food. And harder to find a good version of my favorite Chinese dish: General Tso's Chicken. However, in my many attempts to find good General Tso's, I have narrowed down a couple of the best in town.

Best General Tso's Chicken In Springfield, MO.

5. Happy China
820 East Battlefield

Don't let the fact that this Chinese restaurant shares their building with a gas station. Happy China is the best Chinese restaurant in town. Period. Although their food, collectively, is better than anywhere else, their General Tso's doesn't quite beat out the other restaurants in this list. Still, I would gladly choose this restaurant over any Chinese restaurant in town. It's definitely the closest to east coast/New York style Chinese food.

4. Golden Korean

1406 West Sunshine Suite A

This place was a great find. I tried it a while back with my dad, in an effort to find good food in Springfield. As the name of the place would suggest, this is a mostly Korean place. I don't know anything about Korean food and didn't feel like trying anything too exotic. Luckily, they have a Chinese section in the back of the menu. And lucky for me, it was delicious! I ordered the wonton soup and the general chicken, two of my favorite standard Chinese dishes and both were a pleasant surprise.

3. China Wok

4153 South Scenic

This place has got some surprisingly good food! It's just a hole in the wall way down on the southwest side of Springfield. They have some of the best wonton soup in town as well. But this list is devoted to general chicken, and these guys don't disappoint. Absolutely delicious food here. The lo mein is great as well. The only problem I've had here, and I've been there about a dozen times over the past few years, and that is the service. Lately it's been better. However, when I first started going there it was quite a deterrent. They seem to like to hire teenagers who don't seem to give a care. I don't mind if you don't give a care, as long as you can try to fake it a little. These teens don't even fake it. You are a burden. That's how I felt. But like I said, the service has been better of late.

2. Chinese Chef
3029 South Campbell or 1731 South Enterprise

Chinese Chef surprised me with how good their General Tso's Chicken is. It's featured on their buffet and since their buffet is pretty streamlined (only a select amount of items) it's easy for the folks at Chinese Chef to keep it fresh (unlike Lotus below). However, Chinese Chef only offers a buffet during lunch hours.

1. Lotus Chinese Restaurant
504 North West Bypass

Lotus Chinese Restaurant features a buffet but in my experience, they let their food sit a bit too long on the buffet table and so this isn't a good way to get their General Tso's Chicken. The best way is to order off the menu, so it's guaranteed to be fresh. This is the closest General Tso's Chicken to the east coast version of General Chicken.

El Charro - El Long Wait For No Taste-O

El Charro
Located at 2629 North Kansas Expy
Around 9pm, Saturday, June 4, 2011

Right away, it seemed like the restaurant was understaffed, since it took them about 5 minutes to merely sit us. However, we hadn't even begun to learn the meaning of waiting. When we were finally seated, we were given menus and chips and salsa. When I opened my menu, I was surprised to find gobs of salsa plastered to the inside of the menu, making it somewhat difficult to read the middle panel of the menu. The chips and salsa were above average, and no cilantro, good, because I hate cilantro! From the time we were seated until the time the waitress acknowledged us for the first time, at least 15 minutes passed! During the long wait, we toyed with the idea of walking out. Further along, during the wait, I noticed everybody’s glasses at the tables around us were empty and none of their food had come yet. My girlfriend was particularly annoyed, since the waitress took 5 more minutes to bring us our drinks, after we'd been eating chips and salsa, which were somewhat spicy. My girlfriend said, “I need to hydrate,” which made me think she was a robot.

Once we got our food, I was somewhat alarmed by the small portions. My girlfriend had ordered the chimichanga, around 7.99, which included a large plate with a lonely 2x4 inch chimichanga in the center, rice & beans on the side, and guacamole, sour cream, and a slice of tomato on the other side. I ordered one of the combination specials at 6.99. As we started to eat, I noticed the flavor was somewhat lacking. Then, I asked my girlfriend what she thought and she said the exact same thing- no flavor. At some point, my girlfriend and I exchanged portions of our food, confirming the lacking flavor. To make matters worse, neither one of us could identify the meat in my girlfriend’s chimichanga with any real confidence.

Good Food In Springfield, MO (It Could Happen)
Let's Only Do Again If We Have To