Little Rice — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

There was no acknowledgement when we entered. We waited about 5 minutes then seated ourselves. In the meantime, there was a man, on the phone, talking very loudly, pacing through the restaurant in a frenetic, out of control manner. After 15 minutes of this, with no one ever acknowledging we were even there, we were getting increasingly uncomfortable. I got up, saw that the man had eaten a bit of his food and then I attempted to talk to two men in the back who were obviously part of the establishment. I needed to know what was going on- were two women over 70 years old safe? Or should we leave? The men could not speak English, but gestured for us, quite dramatically, to go to the front of the store. Finally, an elderly woman who was working at the cash registered yelled at the man to sit down or leave. The frenetic man just kept yelling and pacing. Just as we decided to leave, the older woman asked us what we wanted for lunch. We tried to talk to her, to see if we all were safe, but she dismissed our questions. Reluctantly, we ordered. We had driven 50 minutes to try this restaurant. We had now been there for about 25 minutes. My friend ordered a poke bowl. I ordered shrimp chow mei fun. Soon, a plate was delivered to my friend. No explanation or apology that the second dish was not ready. We waited, as it seemed rather clear that the dish delivered to my friend was most likely meant for me. We put the dish in the middle of the table, until we could be sure. Five minutes later, the poke bowl arrived! It was delivered to me, not my friend who had ordered it.. We tucked in, all the time, anxiously watching the frenetic, yelling man. I could barely swallow, I was so unsettled by his constant outbursts and pacing, quite often losing his balance and just missing careening into our table. Finally, a youthful Asian man came out of nowhere to assure us that the man was annoying but harmless. The man apparently frequents the restaurant and they are aware that he is mentally challenged. We were told several times “his family does not care for him”. In all, it was a very unsettling lunch. My friend and I go on excursions to try new, different culinary experiences. This certainly was different! The food was good. The shrimp was plentiful and tasty. The poke bowl was colorful and has good flavors that blended nicely. The service- that was something else. The restaurant was nearly empty, so the long delay to acknowledge our existence was unacceptable. My heart aches for the proprietors and the mentally ill man. Both are between a rock and a hard place. I doubt we would ever go back. It was a frightening situation that could easily have become unsafe. Though I am impressed that the restaurant was tolerant of the man, they need to consider the other guests and their safety. We had no idea if the man had a gun nor did we know if he would become violent if we tried to get him to quiet down. We tried our best not to draw attention to ourselves. I suspect the proprietors must have felt the same. It was a sad,...

My wife and I went when they opened up for the day recently. Immediately got seated in a spot we preferred and ordered drinks. Plenty of options for eating, and I mean a lot of options! Everything from sushi and rice to ramen and hibachi style combination dinners. My wife ordered a Poke bowl while I ordered the Shoyu Ramen and we also ordered pot rice with steak.

What we didn't expect was a miso soup and ginger salad with our order (albeit we didn't see what our orders came with neither). The Miso soup was flavorful and delicious. The ginger salad was plentiful and the type of ginger sauce I like. One negative mark (in my opinion) is with the salad. Both my wife and I felt that there wasn't enough ginger sauce in the salad. Although we didn't expect it in the first place, it wasn't entirely too flavorful (lack of ginger sauce).

My wife's opinion on the Poke bowl was that it didn't have too much flavor neither. It was plentiful as well, but lacked flavor according to her.

My Shoyu Ramen was excellent! Big bowl, very flavorful, and delicious! I will be back for more and that's a promise. Their ramen alone was enough for me to be a repeat customer.

The pot rice (with steak) was really good! It was big and plentiful. More than enough for my wife and I (although we didn't expect it to be that big). The only caveat is the price. I feel as if the price was just a little too much for what it is. We will still order it again and we do plan on going back soon.

Our total bill was roughly a bit more than $25/person (before tip). Not entirely bad overall. Just a few items here and there seem to be expensive. We enjoyed the place. We enjoyed the food. We enjoyed the customer service. Definitely worth trying this place out if you haven't and it's definitely worth going back to.

Edit: My wife and I went back again today (11/18/21). We ordered take out this time and I, again, got the Shoyu ramen. My wife got a different poke bowl from the first time and we also ordered beef fried rice. Everything was absolutely delicious! My wife enjoyed the poke bowl and I the ramen. We both took out most of the rice and definitely enjoyed the flavor. We were hoping to get some miso and salad like last time but I'm assuming that's for dine in. Until next time..... Because we will...

Amazing little gem that my father-in-law found months ago, but until we went there altogether as a family, we mostly ordered poke bowls to-go (which are phenomenal and the BEST in town, and I say that intentionally because we get poke bowls from the grocery stores all the time). I did not realize it was an Asian fusion, but wow, they executed our variety of dishes really well: -Most of us ordered green tea to drink and it was steeped nicely in a little pot -We ordered a couple appetizers to share and they were similar in quality to what you’d get at most Asian restaurants. -I ordered Ramen (which I haven’t had nice ramen since living in Denver, CO) and it was delicious, but not better than Ramen dishes I’ve had elsewhere -Everyone else got bibimbap, king pao shrimp, the deep diver’s poke bowl (BEST POKE DISH IN TOWN), and a couple maki rolls for the kids to share (so you can see, they have quite a variety). -Overall, everyone enjoyed their meals and we only had a bit left over (portions were generous and we came hungry, so it was a nice balance). -Reason for not being a 5-star is the environment: TV above our table had some random, violent film playing, which we asked them to shut off (especially because of the kids), and the furniture felt a little fragile (wobbly and cheap), which made me think that this place focuses and thrives on to-go ordering (though there were many people dining in on a Sunday like we did). The sushi prep counter and bar also felt empty and unappealing, especially because you could see the random trash, appliances and ingredients behind it (less than ideal exposure). -BUT, you should definitely check this place out and even if you don’t like poke (though it is the best item on the menu in my opinion), then you will be satisfied with the dish you pick, because the cooking of the chef...