ILLUZION...

Last week I had a lovely little catch up session with one of my good friends, Janeille, over sushi. We spent a while the day before throwing out suggestions of where to eat lunch, mainly sushi in Hoboken. Of course I mentioned Robongi but we settled on Illuzion, since I have never been there and the choice of rolls for the lunch special is extensive and intriguing. I am always excited for sushi and trying new places, as well as lovely lunches with friends.

janeille's lunch

randi's lunch

Like the hungry person I am, I opted for the three roll lunch special, and got another roll on top of that (don't judge).  After considering all my options wisely or ravenously, I ordered spicy seafood tempura, soft shell crab, spicy scallop and a pumpkin roll (whew...).  I am a sucker for soft shell crab and so is Janeille as we discussed while deciding what to order, but unfortunately, this roll fell short of my expectations. It was bland with wayyyy too much cucumber... Come to think of it, they were all bland except maybe the spicy scallop. I think since most of the rolls I ordered were tempura-ed items, the severe blandness has to do with their tasteless tempura batter. It made everything a shadow of what it could have been. The fried batter was too thick and seasonless, disguising the good ingredients hidden inside. It made me sad. I was so looking forward to the rolls that I ordered since they were a little different than my usual orders, but it all fell flat.

To top it all off the wait staff kept asking if I was finished when there was obviously still food on my plate. I am a member of the "Clean Plate Club," I must and will eat most everything on the plate. They didn't even ask if we wanted desert (which I probs did as always). Good thing I had great company otherwise this would have been a sushi disaster...