Last Visit: July 25th, 2008
Izakaya Mai's Website
We were going to Santa Ramen. Yes, it would be the third attempt in finding the mysterious Santa Ramen. We missed it the first time because they ran out of noodles; so we went to Himawari. Next, we went there, and found out that they were closed, I guess they were renovating. Now this time we had our hopes up. We got to the address, after a bit of stumbling around... only to find that it was closed, again! This time there was a clue, they left a map of where they relocated, astounding! I took a picture of the hand-drawn map (complete with a big fat red arrow), and we got back on the road. We pulled up to the address, found parking, and our jaws dropped. Yes, they were closed for renovation until August 1st. How can this be? My luck with this restaurant is close to nil. We saddled up and drove for the restaurants near Himawari.This time we decided to try Izakaya Mai's. I liked the sound of the place (Izakayas are drinking bars in Japan, where it literally means a place to sit and drink). After the twenty minute wait, the waitress seated us at the edge of the bar. The owner seemed to like toys as there were toys laying around the areas as well as a train circulating above the bar. Most of the decor was in wood, giving it an authentic Izakaya feel. There was a TV broadcasting NHK. Needless to say, I liked the vibe.
The owner took our sushi order, I guess his name was Yoichi Ito. The workers called him Ito-san. Nice to see authentic Japanese people working in Japanese restaurants! Our food came accordingly. I ordered a lot of Izakaya foods out of my memories from Japan. We had the butta-kimchi (pork and kimchi), kara-age (fried chicken), fried shu-mai, a rainbow sushi roll, and two onigiri rice balls. We had a beer and a small bottle of hot sake' rice wine. It was a really good meal for two, and we actually cleaned up everything.
I actually really missed onigiri, what I called "poor-man's food". It was pretty much what I survived on when I was living at the student quarters. I lived close to a convenience store, and when I was hungry I would just walk over to get ramen, onigiri, or fried chicken. Ahh, "Everyone", or as we called it "E-bo-ri-wan"... or "E-bo-ri" for short. It was my mother in Japan. It provided food, entertainment, a place to socialize, and even parcel delivery. It even opened during typhoon warnings. I wish I can go back there someday, just to that convenience store.
But before I do that, I have to try Santa Ramen.
Note: Mai means dance.
Yelp's two cents
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