| |
Gochi Fusion Tapas
(Japanese cuisine)
$$
|
9
JaT Rating |
408-725-0542
|
|
|
     
   
|
| Traditional Japanese establishment with exciting menu. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 2/21/2006
Rating: 9
My photo gallery
|
We headed off to Gochi Fusion Tapas for presidents day and disappointed to see they were closed. We came back the following day for lunch and had a shoeless lunch. The main dining room is on this elevated flloor where the table sits about 2 feet off the ground and your legs dangle in the small opening in the floor. I believe shoes must be taken off to eat on the main floor but if you arent comfortable in doing so, you can eat on the outside tables. If I would have known I was going to be taking off my shoes, I would have wore thicker socks, the floor was cold.
Im not exactly sure what japanese tapas are, I can only imagine they are finger foods or something you would find in a japanese bar. I didnt really see any fingerfoods on the lunch menu so Im guessing its only served during dinner time or on a separate menu? I'll be making a return visit so I'll post on my next review. The lunch menu consists of homestyle meals for $8-10. The one item which caught my eye was the seared albacore sashimi donburi with udon. For $9.95, it was worth a try.
The plate lunch was beautiful to look at (See picture #8)
albacore sashimi - a perfect mix of rice, white ginger, wasabe, lightly seared ahi, green onions, and aonori. I cannot believe the quality of fish they served me. It was soooo frickin good I was in heaven. With every bite, I just kept wanting more and more. I think I started to eat faster when I should have taken my sweet time. There might have been times where I closed my eyes trying to dedicate my senses to taste....oh so good. The mix of rice, seaweed, and green onions was near perfection. I wish there could have been more fish because I could have eaten a pound of this stuff. This has to be one of my favorite dishes this year.
Udon - small tempura flakes, seaweed, and thick chewy noodles in this flavorful broth. Loved it.
Although Gochi Fusion Tapas doesnt accept credit cards, the restaurant will not break your wallet. For lunch, bring $12-15 and you'll be fine. From the attentive service, calm spacious atmosphere, beautiful plating, and impressive dishes, its no reason this place is packed with japanese people during lunch time. I have a feeling these visitors are keeping it a secret among themselves so I hope they dont blame me for announcing to thousands of visitors, Gochi Fusion Tapas is wonderful place to eat. Im definitely coming back to try other items so look forward to another review in the near future.
|
| |
| |
RETURN VISIT for Jason! 4/17/2006 - 9 Rating: After making a visit to Tanto the other week, I had to come back to Gochi for the Sashimi Don Buri and Udon. Call it a taste test of sorts, call it happiness, its a win-win situation for me.
Our service was excellent, teas quickly brought out to the table, menus dropped off, and waitress came back for orders. In my last review I said I was going to try new items, I lied. I have an addiction to the albacore rice bowl, so flippin good.
Todays albacore rice bowl had to be a fluke. Half of my fish a ooToro! I'm not kidding, this fish was so fatty it melted in my mouth like butter. I prefer Gochi's dish.
Udon was respectable. I noticed the broth had a light smokey flavor to it and much more seaweed than Tantos. Tanto's has a better Udon as the broth was more full flavored and noodles just a tad chewier.
With 2 trips to Gochi and 1 visit to Tanto, if I had to pick a lunch visit, I'd give it to Gochi. Their service was been stellar, parking is easier, my sashimi rice bowl is my addiction, and tables are spread out more. Here's another 9 to one of my favorite japanese lunch spots.
|
| |
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 739
Reviewed: 2/21/2006
Rating: 9
My photo gallery
|
We went here based on a request from the Jatboard and thankfully it is located fairly close to work.
We enter and its a bit dark. To me it smelled a little funny but Jason thought it was just the wood in the place. Most of the tables are located on an elevated platform and you have to take off your shoes and go over there. This didn't appeal to me as I am not excited about taking off my shoes in a restaurant (or watching other people take off their shoes while I am eating) and then sitting at a table with cold feet for the meal.
Anyway, we sit down and look over the menu. Complimentary tea was brought out while we were waiting. The menu had a decent selection. Ultimately, however, I decided to go with the lunch special advertised on the way in. It consisted of eggplant and tofu, squid, miso, rice, and a couple small dishes you see in picture #5 above.
Everything was presented well, and I am happy to report, tasted very good. I was a bit letdown to discover that the eggplant had some kind of ground beef sauce on top, so I scraped that off and still managed to enjoy the dish. The squid (while not something I would normally order on its own) was doused in a mildly spicy sauce that also tasted delicious. I had to eat all of the rice otherwise I would not have been full from this meal. But everything tasted so good, I am not complaining about this.
By the time we were leaving, every table was full - definitely a popular place even for a Tuesday. I can't wait to return to sample more items from their menu.
My only complaints (minor I guess) was the taking-off-of-the-shoes (I'll have to sit at one of the few tables where you can keep your shoes on next time), the slight smell, the prices were a bit on the high side, and the fact that its a cash-only restaurant.
|
| |
|
|
Reviewer: Phuc
Total Reviews: 13
Reviewed: 4/29/2006
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
This is a different type of Japanese place then the normal. Place was packed even though it was already 10pm. Service was friendly, seats were spread apart, your choice of the little rooms with the sliding doors, the mats, or the regular tables.
Anago tempura: good, but for someone that doesn't have sensitive taste buds like me, a little too plain.
Japanese pizza: tried the pork one and we all agreed we like Japanese pizza, haha veeeery good. Wow.
Beef tongue: tastes way better than it sounds, very tender, very flavorful, and with the garlic butter mashed potatoes, it was my favorite dish.
Yuzu cerviche: homemade waffle cut potato chips with seafood cerviche, a nice started, light and the chips were good, theyshould start their own potato chip company.
Crab omelette thing: for got the name, but that says it all, eggs were cooked just right, plenty of crab.
Curry crunchy rice in pot: I wanted this all to myself, the curry flavor was light and the crunchy and soft texture of the rice makes this dish a must have.
Green tea creme brulee: like green tea? like creme brulee? you'll love this, get it!
$140 before tax and tip for three people (including a few bottles of sake).
if you want quality food, a lot of choices to choose from, a place where every plate is delicious, this is the spot, I would have given it a 10 if the portions were bigger, but hey, it is tapas. |
| |
Reviewer: MikeKT
Total Reviews: 4
Reviewed: 6/23/2006
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
On the fine advice of JATBAR, I and three coworkers made the short trip down and around the corner to Gochi - not knowing exactly what to expect. Japanese? Fusion? Tapas?
Needless to say it was a surprising meal, and a good one at that. I ordered the albacore a la carte. Co-worker 1, albacore with udon. Co-worker 2 and co-worker 3, katsu a la carte and with udon. Everyone ate all their food and was full. And for a pretty decent Friday lunch price (Friday is lunch splurge day).
Seating (as mentioned) is on a raised floor, with hollowed out areas for the feet and legs. No shoes. Comfortable seating.
The albacore with my meal was plentiful, seemed very fresh, lightly seared and flavorful. The salad and kim chee (?) was a tasty side. Good miso soup - not too salty. And some strong green tea.
The one unfortunate part to the trip was the scalding hot cup of tea directed at my 'lap' by co-worker 1. The initial burn wore off, and helped to keep me cool the whole afternoon - not bad for a near 100 degree day.
My plan is to head back to Gochi for dinner - and truly experience the tapas as advertised. And since the food was tasty, I am sure the result will be many repeat lunch visits from the work crew as well. |
| |
Reviewer: takeru
Total Reviews: 31
Reviewed: 2/16/2009
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
I've been to Gochi sooo many times, but not since I began writing reviews and am glad to report that their quality has not dropped since my last visit.
Gochi typically has an intriguing lunch special (today being no exception) which until recently was available only via their email list but now is published on their newly designed web site.
Today's special was:
海老と野菜の湯葉巻き揚げ
deep fried bean curd rolls with shrimp and vegetable - wow, this was super tasty. Pieces of shrimp, egg, and not sure what kind of veggies, but an incredibly savory combo deep fried in a thin tofu skin. Would love to have a whole plate of this just to myself.
肉大根
braised sliced beef and daikon-radish in sweet-soy - this reminded me of sukiyaki: thinly sliced beef w/ several large pieces of daikon in a bowl of thin sauce. I enjoyed the sweetness of this dish in contrast to the savoriness of the rolls, but being a meat lover would've preferred more beef.
シーザーサラダ
ceasar salad - this was just plain lettuce and dressing, but what a dressing! Must be made in house, was too good to be off the shelf.
味噌汁、ごはん、漬物
miso soup, rice and pickles - fine. Miso was less salty than other places, that's a plus.
Overall the lunch special was very good. I've also tried almost all of the donburi bowls offered on their lunch menu, and would highly recommend any of them.
For dinner Gochi converts to izakaya style and the menu is entirely different (hence the 'Fusion Tapas' part of their name). As good as lunch is, dinner is where Gochi really shines. In general their small plates are inventive, creatively presented and taste amazing. At times I've felt like a judge on Iron Chef eating here ;-)
If you plan to come at prime lunch or dinner time, calling ahead for a reservation is your best bet. More than once I've not done that and had to resort to plan B after seeing the line of people waiting.
Gochi is definitely not a cheap 'thrill' - especially for dinner. However, if your budget allows, Gochi will provide you with a unique high quality dining experience.
|
| |
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 9/15/2006
Rating: 7
My photo gallery |
Summary:
Dine here if you want to impress your date or if your company is buying. This place is a rip off for dinner if you are expecting to be full and walking away with your shirt and pants.
Full Review:
Tonight was a big night as I had talked my group of friends to eating at Gochi. I have heard so many great things about this restaurant from friends and having read the raving reviews here on Jatbar. We came here last Friday around 6:30, but the host denied us because we did not have a reservation. The host informed us if we wanted to eat for dinner, we would need a reservation or expect at least an hour of wait time.
My friend called for reservations last night for four people at 6:30. The hostess told my friend she will put us down between 6:15 to 8pm as we needed to leave by 8pm for whatever reason.
My friend and I arrive at 6:15 and turns out it is just us two as two of our other friends cancel. The hostess seats us at a table and then a few minutes later moves us to a larger table but with an elevated platform, which required us to take off our shoes. Not a problem as I had a fresh pair of socks on from this morning.
From observation, most people eating here are probably from the upper crust, the upper echelon of the food chain. Many or business types just coming from work or families winding down from a long week, or couples. Most of the business types and family continuously order drinks, alcohol or plates after plates of food. Service is very attentive to these customers; after all, they are spending and endless stream of money.
The menu here is extensive. Most of the items I have never seen at any other Japanese restaurant and look truly authentic. The items listed are unique and so are the prices, as most are higher than other Japanese restaurants. I was trying to pick unique dishes that would not dent my wallet while my friend, later I found out, picked the more expensive items.
We ordered a daily special appetizer, seared scallops on heirloom tomato with some fusion pesto sauce ($14.50), fried chicken with eggplant in soy sauce ($7.50), minced chicken clay pot with crunchy rice (small for $16.50). Our waitress said our order might take a while and recommended we pick an appetizer to satisfy our hunger. My friend picked some squid dish for an extra $5. I request two glasses of water since the tea costs $2.50 per cup.
After waiting for 10 minutes, our waitress served us our squid appetizer in a small bowl. The squid looked raw and slimy in this slimy looking paste. My friend does not eat raw items so was turned off by the look and smell. The smell was raw, the texture was slimy, raw, and salty like drinking seawater, and the taste was squishy, raw, slimy, and the worst $5 item I have ever put into my mouth. This is defiantly an item for the native tongue, similar to something such as the stinky tofu.
The next item was the fried chicken with eggplant. The menu name sounds much more elegant. This was the best value of the night as there were half a dozen fried chicken pieces and four slices of eggplant served with soy sauce and garnishing. The biggest gripe, the item was too salty. This dish would go perfect with soft, warm steamed rice. Unfortunately, we did not receive our clay pot rice until we were done with the item. This dish would get more props from me if they served the rice clay pot to us first. Good taste but salty, probably due to the salt in the fried chicken and the soy sauce.
We finally receive our rice in clay pot. Our waitress helped mix our rice for us. The clay pot contained steamed rice, over easy egg, minced chicken, and some light soy sauce. As she mixed, the egg yolk blended in with the rice. The crunchy part of the rice was the burnt rice on the bottom of the clay pot, which added that crunchy sticky taste. There did not seem like a whole lot of minced chicken, actually very little. What this dish amounted to was paying $16.50 for three servings of rice. The rice dish had very little taste and was a bit on the bland side. This would have gone well with the fried chicken with eggplant.
Finally, our appetizer of the day arrived last. The appetizer was four small sized scallops on four small sized heirloom tomatoes swimming in pesto sauce. This has to have to be the biggest rip off item since Johnny Rockets $1.50 per onion ring. These scallops were seared, meaning the inside of the scallops was borderline rare. The sauce was nothing fusion about it, tasted a lot like pesto sauce with EZ OO. At $14.50 for four scallops, that amounts to over $3.50 per scallop.
By this time, my water glass was empty and my friends glass near empty. While the waitresses helped other patrons refill their tea and beer, we sat there waterless. As our waitress cleared our table we request two order of Green Tea Crème Brulee ($6.50 each) as it came highly recommended by a co-worker. I thought to myself, “At 6.50 for dessert, this better be good, so far this has been a bust.”
We waited for about 10 minutes and I am hoping they are making it fresh. Our waitress arrives and asks us if we want tea with our dessert and we decline, although a refill of water would have been nice, but completely ignored. Another 5 minutes pass and we finally receive our dessert. Our dessert was cold. The entire night, our dishes arrive luke warm and now our dessert is cold. It took so long to serve because they were probably thawing it in room temperature. The sugar coating was crunchy but it stuck to the roof of my teeth. The green tea crème was creamy and full of green tea flavor but it lacked the warm creamy texture, it tasted a bit like mousse consistency. The only positive aspect of our dessert was that the ramekin it was deeper than the standard crème Brulee ramekin.
Total bill was $60 pre tip. Even the paying process was a long wait as it took another 10 minutes for them to collect our bill. What you say? $60 is not expensive at all! Yes, I agree, $60 for two is not bad but this $60 for two felt like eating two slices worth of Round Table Pizza. This $60 for two felt less satisfying than eating a Big Mac meal. My friend complained the entire night about being hungry and feeling like her purse felt as light as her stomach from having eaten nothing but thin air. My friend is a lightweight compared to me.
I probably will not come back unless money is no object or if someone wanted to eat Japanese Tapas and money was no object to them and they were buying. I feel there are better restaurants where $30 a person could buy much more. Maybe it was due to the fact we did not order the right dishes, but from what we ordered it was not satisfying and prices were high. I doubt anyone can get full here by ordering less than $30 per person for dinner. It might be a different bargain for lunch but there are no bargains for dinner.
Our final bill even has a note that read our table number and what time we had to clear out by, 8pm.
For the haters: Yeah Yeah, I get it that it is tapas! But how about you pay me $3.50 per seared scallop? I have had better tapas for cheaper! Dont shoot the messenger.
Taste: 8
Price: 6.5 to 7
Service: 6
Pluses: Accepts credit cards for dinner. Enough parking spaces if arriving earlier than peak hours. Plentiful assortments of alcohol. Unique menu. Possible bargain for lunch.
Minuses: High prices require reservation for dinner, slow service.
|
| |
Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 148
Reviewed: 3/17/2007
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
Gochi has been my unicorn ever since they opened. Being a huge fan of Tanto, I was excited to see what Gochi had to offer. Every time that we found time and remembered to drop by Gochi they were closed or we were looking at a 2 to 2.5hr wait. I finally was able to get a taste of Gochi at lunch recently and wanted the dinner experience even more so.
We were unable to secure a rsvp for 8 last night, so 2 of us showed up early and put our names down at 7:30. The rest of the group arrived and we were seated at about 8:10pm. Right from the start service was attentive, helpful and prompt. They don't seem to use a waiter per section/table format but rather who ever's availible as we had 3 or 4 servers throughout the night.
We started with seared tuna in what seemed to be a miso vinegrette, pan fried garlic chips, and scallions. This tasted like most white tuna/soy appitizers except multiply the 'good' by 5. Extraordinary. The quality is top notch and the fish literally melts on your tongue.
Then came the miso ribeye. Grilled, sliced, plated in miso and topped with shredded scallions. This turned out to be the table's favorite (however this was a less adventurous group). Steak was perfectly cooked and the miso sauce took it to another level.
Next up were rice croquettes topped with shredded salmon and scallions. I found these delicious in appearence, texture, complexity and execution. These croquettes were one of my favorites, I am glad Gochi has reinvented the croquette. Others at the table found it a bit bland.
Japanese pizza, what to expect? It's a must have so we ended up with a pork/mushroom mix. This was by far the most surprising and exciting dish I've had in a long time. A very thin crust topped with meat, mushrooms and cheese. Taste was phenomonal. We all wanted to order another.
Finally the minced claypot rice arrived. At first bite this wasn't very impressive, especially just having the croquettes. However the flavors started to become more distinct and textures worked their way out after each bite. Quite interesting, would definitely order this again but the salted fish and ikura rice looked better (however...it will have to be with a more adventurous group).
We wrapped up dinner with Green Tea Creme Brulee and Yuzu Cheesecake. The yuzu cheesecake is a cross between a lemon bar and bread pudding. Tart taste, minimalist presentation and the texture of bread pudding. Interesting, but would not order again. The green tea creme brulee on the other hand is highly recommended. I can't really describe it, it's not rich and silky like traditional creme brulee but light, airy, yet fulfilling. I will order this again.
The dishes were paced well, we had a minute or two between dishes to talk and reflect on the items. A bite here and a bite there ends up to be not only filling but satisfying. No one left feeling like they just left a buffet, and most of us were already full by the time the clay pot rice arrived.
I'm a sucker for traditional japanese food, but I'll make a exception for Gochi. This place has been everything I was hoping to experience. They even take rsvp's now!
9
|
| |
|
|
| Disclaimer |
|
|
