Yuzu — Restaurant in Beaverton

PROS: Yuzu has some decent enough ramen. It's not mind-blowing, but the food is good for certain. Not much variety, but definitely of decent quality. The environment aesthetically is all right.

CONS: Everything else.

The first time I went to Yuzu, I was specifically attempting to find a place for a friend to enjoy since she was visiting and loved good ramen. Reviews suggested that this was the best place to go, so we went. It was hard to find, no sign for it whatsoever, but that's not my complaint. I've been to a few "holes in the wall" kind of restaurants, the kind that are unassuming but utterly amazing inside. While this place had decent food, there were a series of issues:

(1) Getting seated. Apparently six people were too many, but as soon as one of our friends left, suddenly seating was no problem. Okay?

(2) No take out. It wouldn't be "as good" when it got home. But if you can't finish your food? Oh man, they have containers for that suddenly. That seemed odd to me. I wanted to go and have some take out for my girlfriend who couldn't make it that night, but they were very decisively against this for no real good reason.

(3) They refused to split the check for us, so one person had to pay and others got paid back later. I suppose some other privately owned restaurants behave like this, but it was just one more irritation on top of it all.

This experience was annoying, but I did like the food and I truly wanted my girlfriend to enjoy it. More recently, we tried to go again, roughly at 7PM on a Saturday night. Apparently, there were tons of reservations. This seemed odd to me. The waitress said it'd be about a 30 minute wait. So we said specifically that we would be back and killed some time. When we returned, the waitress gave us a dead-eyed stare, as if she didn't know what to make of us. We stated, again, that four of us would like to get seated.

The waitress then explained that she did not, apparently, anticipate that we would return and seated people ahead of us. The bar was open (four seats), there were also two empty tables, but she informed us that it would be another 20 minute wait. Deciding that this was just not worth it, we left and ate somewhere else.

Bottom line? If you don't care about customer service AT ALL and just want good food, this place is all right -- if you can get through the apparent wait time and irritations it brings. In my opinion, that just sours the...

As a frequent visitor to Japan, I long for the authentic intersection between food, atmosphere and service. But mostly food.

Yuzu brings a good majority of this to the table. I found myself flashing back to an izakaya in Morioka (minus the tabaco filled air). Atmosphere is a check.

I started with the karrage, which came out perfect. Using the Japanese double-fry method, it's more of a steam than a fry. This leaves you with a thin but crispy outside and very juicy, not dry chicken, with very little grease. The aoili sauce really added to the overall flavor. The sashito peppers weren't overly seasoned nor overly spicy, but rather had a good umami flavor. The kimchi cheese spring rolls were the only non-Japanese item I ordered. They were unique and very flakey, but the flavors and textures did not mix too well. I also ordered the cold soba. This is one of the rare time I enjoyed a cold soba. The flavor wasn't overpowering and the texture had a somewhat firm but melt apart texture.

Finally, they have a rotating donburi and this visit I scored as they had my favorite Japanese dish - the Katsudon. This was one of the best Katsudonburi I have had in the US. The seasoning had the perfect umami balance with sweetness. The Katsu was crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle, and most importantly the egg was just set and a little runny (I prefer more runny but in the US this is a good compromise to the usual scrambled egg you get on top)

Overall fantastic food and atmosphere. The staff were friendly, quick, and attentive.

Finally, we arrived 30 mins before they opened on a Saturday night, and it was practically empty when we entered and still had tables available when we were...

In a SW strip mall. There’s no obvious signage. Blacked-out windows.

YET, Yuzu packs out.

We get there just before they open to get a table.

Last night was a treat: Tried sparkling sake (I'm a sucker for bubbles). The blue bottle—bedazzling. The tiny glass—adorable. Jury's out on pairing it with ramen—can’t beat a Japanese lager.

Here we go...

Gyoza: paper-thin wrapper, crisp on the bottom, delicious, tender filling. Never enough.

Agedashi tofu (inhaled, so no photo): delicate tofu in an equally delicate crispy coating.

Chicken karage: tender enough to "sever" with chopsticks (after swooping in on my first bit-too-big molten piece). Kewpie mayo and lemon—what's not to love?

Curry ramen (make-you-cough medium spicy): I like this ramen when I'm up for something robust—big flavors to the bottom of the bowl (I tapped out on the last third of broth—I tried, but sparkling sake, gyoza, tofu, chicken...!).

Service: Gotta say it: They're a bad-ass all-women team (for a while now). Friendly, attentive service. Zen-like line—pleasure to watch as they create our food.

Simple, clean décor (love the high-back banquette).

Always a fantastic experience.

Visit #: lost count

I would recommend Yuzu to:

1. Military friends previously stationed in Japan
2. Animé fans (anime soundtracks play in the background)
3. First-time...