Oishii Donburi — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I'll start by admitting that I really wanted to love the food at Oishii Donburi. Japanese food is something I don't get anywhere enough of.

For the most part, in ordering the Katsu Curry Don, Gyudon and veggie tempura, I got exactly what I hoped for.

The Katsu Curry was as good as any place I've ever been, including in Japan. The pork cutlet was perfectly crispy. I could see how some might think it's too thin and maybe a bit dry, but that's 100% how I'd want it in this dish. In order for the meat to stand up to a bath in curry sauce, it needs some structure. While I'd want something thicker if it wasn't on a bed of curry rice, there's absolutely room in my heart for a thin Tonkatsu on a donburi.

It's not just the fried meat that was good... The addition of pickled diakon is fantastic, a nice texture and change of flavor when eating the bowl. If you go to a Japanese curry house you'll often find different pickled vegetables as condiments, so very welcome as far as I'm concerned.

To be completely honest the curry sauce itself isn't anything special. It more or less tasted like boxed curry. I'm not really counting that as a negative. For this dish, it's really just a sauce. I wouldn't view this as any more of an issue than a restaurant that used store bought ketchup. Granted, it's a more substantial part of the dish than the ketchup on a burger. So, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was put off by that.

The vegetable tempura was the kakiage style of a bunch of shredded veggies, fried up kinda like a birds nest. The portions were generous and it was a very tasty appetizer.

Finally, the Gyudon. Which... I didn't like. Gyudon might be my favorite donburi in general. So imagine my surprise Marinated, shredded beef cooked in a sweet sauce with a little raft of braised onion? All stacked on a pile of rice? What could go wrong?

The addition of egg.

I think egg isn't used enough. A fried egg might be my favorite burger toppings. I always get one on my Primanti sandwiches. I even like it on a breakfast pizza at Spoonwood.

But I hated it on the Gyudon. It didn't add anything. It actually seemed to mute the flavors. The dish lost all it's beefy, savory sweetness. Really really disappointed.

I'm not letting that affect the score much, it could just be a personal preference. Simply because I don't think it belongs there doesn't make me right. Egg is an extremely common ingredient in other donburi... Just not on gyudon.

All told, a really good experience. We'll...

I was actually planning on visiting the Butterwood cafe which is right across the road for some deserts, but it was late in the night and I was hungry, so I decided to stop here without knowing what the reviews were, and I was very pleasantly surprised. They have a limited Japanese and Korean menu mostly focused around rice dishes. I got the ebi katsudon which is breaded shrimp over rice. I would like to point out though that the menu call it as shrimp tempura over rice, but in reality, tempura and katsu batter are very very different and this was a kastu. You order up at the counter, and then you can either do a takeaway, or you can grab one of the stalls, and when your food is ready, they will bring it to you. There is free barley tea which I had for the first time and honestly it wasn’t something I enjoyed. The food, however, was spectacular. I’ve had a lot of katsu in Japan, and this was pretty close. The rice was piping hot, the onions were perfectly cooked, the egg was still runny. There were four shrimps on top of the rice, and there was also some pickled ginger and radishes. It came with a soy sauce based sauce. Honestly, the rice was too much for me, and I couldn’t finish all of it. Given the quantity and the price, it’s absolutely no-brainer to go here. I will definitely be back again whenever I’m shopping in...

I got a to-go bulgogi bibimbap. Awesome portion size with plenty of meat and veggies. The rice is cooked perfectly, too. I do like my bean sprouts cooked a little more, but that's not enough to take a star away. The sauce is good, and there was enough for the whole bowl.

About their service: They gave me my order in a stapled paper bag, with the utensils and napkin inside, and said thank you when I left the restaurant. They helped me choose what to order and made the food very quickly.

A nice touch: they have free barley tea! 🍵 The tea goes perfectly with the meal.

I'd love to order here again if I'm in the area. Tbh, idk if this would be my first choice to invite friends to because I've had even better food elsewhere, but this is the perfect place to get a very reasonably-priced meal for yourself when you don't want to cook. I'm getting both lunch and dinner out of this. The bibimbap is a balanced meal and it's prepared...