Saikyo Kitchen — Restaurant in Citrus Park

Title: Just an "Okay" Japanese-Style Daily Meal

Hi, it's Stephen - your trusted food reviewer. I recently visited Saikyo Kitchen for a quick brunch and wanted to share my experience.

Food & Beverage: 3/5 ⭐️ Appetizer: Sashimi of Tuna, Salmon, and Sweet Shrimp, plus Mackerel Nigiri. Based on other reviews of Saikyo, I noted that the chef normally thinly slices the fish for bite-sized portions and easy consumption. However, the cuboid shapes of my Tuna and Salmon sashimi seemed unusual and not quite bite-sized. As for the nigiri, the rice was not held together well enough to maintain its shape. When I dipped my second nigiri into soy sauce, my lovely Mackerel unfortunately fell apart.

Main Course: I ordered the Pork Tonkotsu. The charred color of the pork belly caught my eye, but the toppings didn't make a real impression when combined with the overcooked ramen. The soup's taste was quite off as well; there weren't enough flavors to provide a powerful kick.

Drink: Sapporo Beer offers a crisp, refreshing taste with a perfect balance of malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness. Its smooth, clean finish and easy-drinking profile make it a versatile choice for any occasion.

Service: 4/5 ⭐️ The service met the right standards, with servers asking the right questions and responding promptly to orders. However, there was a slight delay when the server didn't know which dishes were available, requiring them to check with the chef upon receiving my order.

Atmosphere: 4/5 ⭐️ I visited around noon when only one other table was occupied. The ambiance was cozy enough for me to enjoy a quick bite before...

As far as the food goes, this place is excellent. It has such a wide variety of food, it is hard to find pho and sushi at the same spot. The pho was delicious, as well as the banh mi. I would definitely return just for the pho alone. The service was not as excellent. I think they didn't have enough employees working. Even though it wasn't crowded, you could tell they were busy. Our server always came and went very quickly. Rushing to put our food down and walk away, never asking how it is or if we need anything. Gave us our check very early, likely to prevent us from ordering anything else. We were the only ones sitting on the entire half of the restaurant, so it seemed odd, like we were being rushed out. We also asked if they have Vietnamese coffee. She said "yes we do, but I don't know how to make it and everyone else is busy." This is my favorite thing to get at a Vietnamese restaurant so I was very disappointed. I would have been happy to wait until someone had time to make it, but she would not let me order it at all. She literally turned down me trying to order an item at their restaurant. This is so weird to me and it definitely turned us away from recommending this...

I was expecting better. We arrived at 6pm Friday and they were busy. I ordered the grilled pork rice platter and my friend ordered a mexican roll and shrimp fried rice. Staff were having a tough time keeping up with dine in, phone and walk in orders. 10 minutes for drinks and menus and another 15 before orders were taken. After waiting another 20 minutes my dish came out 10 minutes before my friends mexican roll and sat on a counter for several minutes waiting for im not sure before it was served. I was halfway finished before my friend was served only half of his order. We both finished our plates and got tired of waiting for the fried rice as we had already been there an hour. We went to the register and checked out. We noticed other customers were having a similar experience. We also noticed we were served before other customers who were seated and had ordered before us. Everything just seemed very disorganized. The window where plated orders are supposed to be placed was filled and blocked with stacks of dishes. The food we got was good but the disorganization and wait times made for a poor dine in experience. Ill give them another try in the future and update my review...