Summary of the Boston Sushi Society Meeting of August 9 & 11, 1994. Jae's Cafe & Grill 1281 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02137 617.497.8380 Open Monday - Saturday 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM Lunch, 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM Dinner Sunday 12:00 PM - 10:00 PM Eighteen members of the BSS turned in their scoresheets. Six from Tuesday, and 12 from Thursday. Jae's has two locations, one in Boston at 520 Columbus Ave., and the other in Inman Square on Cambridge Street. The Inman Square location is more than just a sushi bar. It has been decorated in a style that some will like (if you liked the movie Beetlegeuse, you'll probably like the decor) and others will find "too hip". As you walk in the front door, there is a bar along the right wall. In front of the bar is a row of bar stools, and a 3 foot wide area for people standing around having drinks, waiting for thier tables, and blocking traffic. This area is cut off from the main dining area by a long fish tank which makes a wall about 5 feet high and 20 feet long. The tank is well maintained with many beautiful salt-water fish. These fish are *NOT* on the menu. :) There is seating for maybe sixty people (this is just a guess). The restaurant is quite dark, and there is rock music playing at a fair volume. The acoustics are a bit on the lively side, so the restaurant tends to be loud and noisy. When the restaurant is busy (during dinner for example) it will be difficult to converse with people who are not seated directly next to you or across from you. If you are looking for a traditional, serene, sushi bar, Jae's will not be for you. If you are in a sort of rock-n-roll sushi, "let's party" kind of mood, it may be just the ticket. The sushi menu featured 21 types of nigiri sushi, including sea bass, sea trout, and scallop. There were 10 different "thin rolls" on the hosomaki menu and 24 rolls on the designer rolls menu. The menu also include sushi "party boats". One boat offered 24 pieces for $35.00, another offered 42 pieces for $45.00, and a third offered 64 pieces for $65.00. Finally, for those having trouble deciding what to order, there were 11 different complete sushi dinners to choose from. For reference, here is most of the nigiri menu (I seem to have misplaced a few items!). Maguro - 3.80 Hamachi - 3.80 Sake - 3.80 Ikura - 3.80 Saba - 3.25 Hirame - 3.25 Suzuki - 3.25 Masu - 3.25 Ebi - 3.50 Tobiko - 3.50 Unagi - 3.50 Ika - 3.25 Tako - 3.25 Tamago - 3.00 Avocado - 3.00 Mirugai - 4.25 Smoked Salmon - 4.25 Quail Egg add $1.00 Kanikama - ? Hatate (scallop) - ? I received ballots back from 18 members. So without further ado here are the scores: Overall Tuesday Thursday Food Quality 7.97 (range: 5 - 10) 8.42 7.75 Presentation 7.53 (range: 5 - 10) 8.50 7.04 Service 6.25 (range: 1 - 9) 6.79 6.00 Decor 6.53 (range: 2 - 10.5) 5.17 7.21 Overall Rating 7.50 (range: 5 - 10) 7.67 7.42 Cost average $27.63 (range: $15 - $50) $24.85 $29.38 The scores seems pretty consistent between the Tuesday and Thursday groups, except for the decor rating. This may have to do with the Tuesday group having been seated by the bathrooms. Either that, or the Thursday group had more party animals. :) Below are all the specific comments people made on their scoresheets: Food Quality: The sushi was fresh and flavorful Salmon/Avocado roll - mmmm! Salmon skin fried rice - mmmmmmm!, This is the best fried rice on eatrh! The salmon skin could have been a little crisper, but I only know that 'cuz I've had it several times before. Tangy wasabi! Nifty! Excellent sushi The fish was good I thought the maki was excellent, but the nigiri rice was almost hard I thought the tamari was much too salty I got an overabundance of wasabi in many of my pieces, overpowering the fish The only stand out was the East Coast Grill maki - a whole different heat sensation The slabs of sashimi were generous - but fans of thinly sliced fish won't like it It all tasted great Very imaginative dishes The soft shell crab maki and the shredded squid maki were true winners I also enjoyed the East Coast Grill maki with the spicy sauce The East Coast Grill maki was quite good The soft shell crab maki was excellent, as was the squid/cucmber maki Uni bad, don't try Good tempura shrimp, soft shell crab I especially liked the spicy roll Everything was very good The food is great I thought sushi was fresh and tasty Presentation: The fish was arranged well, but the plates were ordinary Very nice presentation Service: Service was good (I was sitting at the fast end of the table) The service was slow and imprecise Getting the waiter's attention was difficult I wound up with part of the guy next to me's order The restaurant had evidently not saved a table for us, as they would not seat us when there were only 6 of us there I appreciated the attentiveness of the waiter, who helpfully arranged a very weird order They were not able to seat us until we were there for 15 minutes, and it was another half hour until they took sushi orders. After that delay the service was o.k. Took a long time to take orders, then more before food was served Ran out of miso soup - odd Service was very responsive & attentive, I thought Service wasn't all that great but there was only one waiter for the whole table Service o.k., but a little bit slow Unfortunately, they had run out of miso soup Slow service A little slow on food, but forgivable since there was only one chef No miso soup....waaaahhh... We got the slow end of the table - appetizers took ~1/2 hour, sushi about 1 hour, and I've drunk too much sake waiting for it! Futomaki was advertised as 6 pieces, we only got 4 Decor: Doesn't look like an Oriental/Japanese restaurant at all. The ambience is very distinctive, like nothing I have seen before Overall: I found it to be much too loud and very smoky at our table too near the bar I would try the smaller version in Boston, I think Too noisy for easy conversation A combination sushi + singles bar Noise level definitely detracts from atmosphere Busy every time I've been I really had a good time Kinda noisy As we were warned, the place is noisy! The place is so crowded Jae's is lively, but a bit noisy Overall a good evening The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 6, and Thursday September 8. Tentative location: Roka We now return you to your regularly scheduled newsgroup. - David [email removed]
Boston, MA