Osaka

Well, we've been going to Osaka so much that I always forget to document it. But, they are owned by the same owners as Toyama, so in the same fashion, they love to give you freebies.

After you order, they like to give you a complementary something. Lately at Osaka is the tempura fried bell pepper with seafood medley on top. It's not healthy for you, but between the fried stuff and the sweet eel sauce, I'm addicted.

We usually each order a roll and split one and that's plenty. As you know, you're basically filling up with rice. David's standard roll is Philadelphia and I change my mind all the time. For him, the salmon portion for the roll is very generous at Osaka compare to alot of the places.

Our newest favorite there is the Negi Beef Roll, it's pretty awesome. It has thinly layered beef in the center and some on top. All of them are grilled and marinated lightly. Once they roll it into sushi, they top it off with another sauce, not quite like the ponzu sauce, it's a bit thicker in consistency, and it's also not quite like the eel sauce, though it is sweet, but it definitely add some oomph with some spice sprinkled on top. It was awesome. Highly recommend it.

Of course, they do regular sushi too. The slices are huge, and they do give you the fare amount to sushi porportion, but they also understand that you dont' want a mouth full of rice. So it's not all rice and not enough fish. Everytime I go there, their fish has been fresh. I'm sure having 3 locations in town it's easier to get fresh ingrident to each other too.

Here's the thing, if you're feeling like a little fancy, I recommend you go to the Osaka location on Montrose. The decor and the setting is much more traditional to a sit down restaurant. Comparatively, if you're in shorts and t-shirt, go to the Bellaire location. If you want something in the middle, go to Toyama.

All locations give you a free appetizer and at the end when you pay the bill, they offer you free ice cream. They come in flavors of green tea, red bean, ginger, or plum. All japanese flavors... don't worry, it's a small scoop. But the Toyama location, they do try to give you a little more by adding a little bit of fried banana to go with your ice cream too.

Osaka Japanese Restaurant
4001 Bellaire Blvd @ Stella Link
Houston
(713) 838-9812
http://www.osakahouston.com/

or

515 Westheimer Rd. by Montrose
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 533-9098

They both do to-go order, but don't think they'd offer the freebies in those cases.