Kitaro Serves Sloppy Sushi

My first visit to surprised me. Based on the website, I was expecting a strip mall anchor, so I passed right by the massive building while searching for something more modest. When I realized I’d been circling it all along, I felt like a dolt.

Kitaro is a warehouse sized upscale restaurant with decor reminiscent of a P.F. Changs without the faux Chinese sculpture. The red and black interior with cherry finishes opens onto the wrap around sushi bar. There are two hibachi grill areas at opposite corners.In between, the restaurant is filled out by curved, intimate tables for two tucked around some round corner booths and standard four tops. 

The overall effect was an airy space that allowed for intimate conversation. I hadn’t expected something this upscale in O'Fallon, but there’s no reason people should have to drive half an hour into the city for a good meal. As an added bonus, the truly lovely outdoor seating area looks like a perfect place to enjoy a summer cocktail and some leisurely appetizers,

The waitress started off by asking if my lunch companion and I would like to try their home infused saki. I could see a batch of ginseng soaking on the sushi bar, so we tried one rather experimental shot with ginseng and a pineapple infused saki to follow it up. The pineapple was delightful. It made me want to try every fruit flavor on the menu.

The ginsing, on the other hand, was interesting. I hesitate to say good, because as we sipped it, we kept staring into the glass thinking this tasted too medicinal, yet we kept coming back for one more confused sip until the glass was empty. Kitaro offers a saki flight with five options, so give it a try, asking the waitress to rank them from bitter to sweet. These infused sakis are some of the most interesting drinks in O’Fallon.

Since I was comparing Kitaro to Fujiyama, I naturally started our meal with a spicy tuna roll and a cup of miso soup as a baseline. We added on a St. Charles Roll, Pink Lady Roll and Kappa roll.

The miso soup was light on seaweed and only had one tiny cube of tofu, but had a nice earthy flavor from the addition of mushrooms. While I like the bitter tang of the seaweed and the creamy smoothness of tofu, I suspect a mushroom broth is more appealing to mainstream audiences. It set a tone for the meal.

The spicy tuna roll itself was incredibly bland. There was a hint of creaminess from mayonnaise, but no spice at all. The tuna distressingly lacked the fresh snap I expect from raw fish. I had a little difficulty picking up the loosely rolled pieces with chopsticks, but that was nothing compared to the Pink Lady roll. Every time we tried to touch it, the rice fell entirely off, leaving the smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber sitting exposed. It was supposed to contain black caviar, but we saw no evidence. However, there was a dusting of red roe on top of the rice. This roll was so loose it was best eaten with a spoon. 

The same lack of attention was evidenced by the substitution of a plain cucumber roll for our Kappa roll, which  was supposed to contain cucumber, wasabi and sesame seeds.

The St. Charles Roll  was the highlight of our meal. It came filled with tempura battered snapper smothered in cream cheese alongside a crisp slice of cucumber. I have nothing against sushi designed to appeal to people who are afraid of raw fish. The combination of familiar ingredients like fried fish and cream cheese made this an excellent first roll for anyone afraid to try sushi.

That said I suspect you’re better off ordering from the hibachi grill or choosing an entree from the cooked menu. The staff didn’t seem entirely comfortable with sushi. Not only did the sushi chef mix up our ingredients then leave the rolls so loosely wrapped they literally fell apart, but when we asked which rolls were which, our waitress honestly had no idea and didn’t care. The best she could offer was to bring back our menus so we could compare what was in front of us to the ingredient list and figure it out for ourselves.

The rest of our service was equally dismissive. After our sushi came out we had to wave her down to ask for soy sauce and plates, then had to wave her down again for our only drink refill. Maybe I’m a stickler, but when I order iced tea, I expect it to be on ice, or at least vaguely cool. Instead, I was reluctantly served a full glass warmer than room temperature, and there was no hope of getting some water or a glass of ice to mix into it to cool it down.

Someone clearly put serious money into bringing a large, upscale restaurant full of nice aesthetic touches and interesting menu options to O’Fallon. I want to see them succeed. Therefore, I will charitably assume the dinner service is better than what I had at lunch. I’d love to hear from people in the comments.

The kitchen menu included several things I’d like to try such as the beef asparagus (beef wrapped in asparagus then grilled and served in teriyaki sauce), poached pear salad (poached pears with almonds on mixed greens in a vidalia onion vinegarette), and orange miso glazed sea bass. Kitaro smelled fantastic, which leaves me optimistic that the cooked entrees are far better prepared than the sushi.

If you have friends who claim they won’t eat sushi because they can’t stomach the thought of raw fish, Kitaro is a good introductory restaurant. In addition to the cooked St. Charles roll they also offer a cooked Chicken Tempura roll and several vegetarian rolls. Order the cooked sushi as appetizers before some more familiar beef or chicken entrees.

In addition, if you’re looking for a place to take a large party of six or more, hibachi grills are a known crowd pleaser. Try the home infused saki to add an interesting touch to the evening.

It’s easy to rack up a bill on sushi, but we balanced the $3 Kappa roll with the $12 Pink Lady roll while everything else fell in between. The total for two shots of saki, two cups of miso soup and four sushi rolls came to $44.80 plus a $6 tip.

When I sat down, I expected to give Kitaro a glowing review. However, poor service and poorly made sushi changed my opinion. I’m willing to revise the restaurant’s overall rating after trying the hibachi or rather expensive dinner entrees, but as a sushi bar I give Kitaro a C+.