Yuraku - Germantown, MD

The bf and I were in Germantown to pick up my younger cousin, so we stopped by this popular sushi joint - Yuraku. Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the sign, but envision a plain, red sign in an old shopping center...the interior is much nicer. There is plenty of parking in the front lot. The closest metro is Shady Grove on the red line.

I've been a few times before for their famous lunch buffet. It's around $13 a person, and offer a wide selection of special rolls and other buffet items.

It's a small place that gets packed very easily. When I used to work in Gaithersburg, my coworkers and I used to leave the office at 10:30am to get a table. The bf and I even came with a reservation on a weekend evening and ended up leaving because it was taking forever.

I like sushi places that give you free miso soup, yummy.

They also gave us japchae (Korean noodles), caesar salad, and apple salad.

So the menu has a HUGEEEEE selection of special rolls (close to 80). They cheaper than I've seen anywhere else, which contributes to their popularity. Other than their sushi, they offer noodles, tempura, grilled meats, and other typical Japanese items.

2 large boys and myself split only 4 rolls because they were MASSIVE. The photo doesn't show how much food you're getting for the price. Each of those pieces were two bites full.

Double Spicy Tuna Roll (Spicy tuna, tempura flake rolled and topped with more spicy tuna) for $7.95 - I'm not a pro when it comes to spicy foods, so this packed more of a punch than I wanted. It was also too mushy.

Crazy Horse (Chopped tuna, salmon, white tuna, yellow tail, red snapper, crabmeat, mayo, cucumber, avocado, masago, scallion) for $8.95 - I've realized that I'm not a fan of the chopped fish all blended together. You couldn't taste any of the ingredients.

Dr. Zhivago (Salmon, avocado, cucumber, crab, masago) for $5.75 - This was my favorite because salmon and avocado is an amazing combination.

Soft Rock & Roll (Fresh water eel, avocado, cucumber) for $6.50 - Unfortunately there was almost no eel in the roll.

I have many friends that are die hard fans of this place (and are going to think I'm insane). I think it's a great "bang for your buck", however I'm not impressed by the creations or the quality. The roll flavors are one-noted even with a good amount of ingredients. The pieces are made too big and don't feel delicate when eaten. I felt the same way when I tried their buffet but thought it would be different ordering off the menu...it wasn't.

19773 Frederick Rd
Germantown, MD 20876
(301) 515-7448
www.yuraku.com

Happy Uncle- Germantown, MD

The IT guys at work invited me to lunch and we went to a Chinese restaurant that one of their aunt's recommended. It's located in a very quiet neighborhood shopping center with plenty of parking. It's kind of far from any metro but the closest one would be Shady Grove on the red line.

The place is a good size, and kind of looks like it was an Italian place back in the day. They offer a lunch buffet: 3 entrees, rice or lo mein for $6.40 from their front counter. You can also order off of the regular menu, or order one of their lunch special deals.

I ordered off of the menu and got the 'Sesame Beef' for $7. It was a large portion, but it tasted very smokey and salty. I ate 1/2 of it, took the rest back because I'm not a fan of wasting food, but I wasn't feeling too great, so I ended up not eating it for dinner.

My other coworkers said their wonton soups were too watery, the shrimp on the buffet was too salty, the sweet and sour chicken was too sugary, and eggrolls and lo mein were mediocre. The service was fast and nice but it wasn't busy at all. There were a lot of staff kind of standing around. Food wasn't great, so I'm not sure if I'll be coming back.

18022 Mateny Rd
Germantown, MD 20874
(301) 515-0018
Website

Mon-Thurs: 11am-9pm
Fri: 11am-10pm
Sat: 11:30am-10pm
Sun: 11:30am-9pm

Sabai Sabai - Germantown, MD

To celebrate a coworkers birthday and unknowingly her engagement (Congrats!), we went to a Thai restaurant called Sabai Sabai in Germantown. The former owners of Rockville's Benjarong (awesome place) own this restaurant now. Located in Germantown Shopping Center, there's street parking and a parking lot around the corner. The closest metro stop is Shady Grove on the red line.

FYI, I'm using my Iphone camera since I don't usually bring my camera to work with me.

The place consists of only one dining room, which isn't that big. The place was PACKED for lunch, so we ended up eating at the bar. The decor is really nice, new, and full of inviting colors and materials.

Aside from their regular menu, they have a lunch menu that we all ordered from. Originally I ordered the 'Roast Duck over Rice ($8.95)', but the server heard me wrong and brought me the 'Roast Pork over Rice ($7.95)'. I decided to eat it anyway since I only have an hour lunch break, and I was not sorry. It was AMAZING. The pork was so tender and sweet. The rice was perfectly cooked and the simple combo of pork over white rice was delicious. I'd totally order this dish again. The 'gravy' it came out with seemed like soy sauce, but I didn't even need to use it.

My coworker ordered the 'Drunken Noodles (I don't know what kind of protein) for $8.95'. She let me try it and it was spicy, but had great flavor. She's the one that recommended this place to us. Good job!

The bride-to-be ordered the 'Grilled Chicken + Papaya Salad with Sticky Rice ($8.95)'. Look at all of the food! The chicken had a tasty marinade on it, and the salad was a little spicy, but good.

I really enjoyed the food - nice depth of flavors and cooked well. The service was mediocre. It took a long time to get water, and my order was wrong but they were nice. I thought the prices were a bit expensive for lunch ($7.95-9.95). Their regular menu is fairly large with classic Thai dishes like Pad Thai (9.95), but then they offer some non-traditional items like Lamb Chops ($18.95), Mussels ($12.95) and Catfish ($13.95). They also have a Vegetarian (fake-meat) menu with items like 'You Think It's Duck Curry ($12.95). I've heard the Mango & Sticky Rice ($5.95) is killer, so I'll need to get that next time.

19847 Century Blvd
Germantown, MD 20874
301-528-1400
www.sabaisimplythai.com

Mon-Thur: 11am–3pm 4:30–10pm
Fri: 11:00am–10:30pm
Sat: 11:30am–10:30pm
Sun: 12pm–9:30pm

Preview of Pandini's- Germantown, MD

Hi Everyone! Last week I had the pleasure of attending a media preview for a new restaurant called Pandini's. Its grand opening will be on Thursday, July 9th at 11am in Germantown. The closest metro stop would be Shady Grove on the Red Line. It is located in a shopping center off of Middlebrook Rd, so there is plenty of free parking.

I love it when a restaurant has outdoor seating.

The interior has a 'Panera' kind of feel, but much nicer. There are booths lining one side of the place and tables in the center.

What's cool about this place is that all of the preparation and cooking is done out in the open. There are stations for pizza, Labretti (their warm sandwiches), salads, and pastas.

The pizza station is the first one that you see when you walk through the door. They have a hot stone oven that cooks their 10" round pizzas in 4-6 minutes.

There are 9 different pizza options that range between $5.99-7.99. There are some vegetarian options too. Their signature items are the Buffalo Chicken, Barbecue Chicken and Thai Peanut Chicken pizzas. All of their dough is hand-stretched daily.

Note: These pics above are of uncooked pizzas. They're assembled before ordering, then plopped in the oven when you order so that they're still fresh and hot.

Pandini's signature sandwiches are called Labretti's. It is a folded pizza shell filled with different ingredients to create a sandwich. Some flavors include Chicken Caesar, Pesto Chicken and Handmade Meatball. They range in price between $5.99-6.99.

The next station is for Chopped Salads. They offer 7 different types of salad, including their signature Pizza salad, and best-selling Chef's Salad. They're all served with Focaccia bread and range in price from $3.29-7.89.

Next to the salad station is their Pasta station. 7 different types of pasta including their signature Thai Peanut Chicken and Chicken Parmesan. Their prices range from $6.99-7.99. Whole wheat pasta is available if you prefer being healthier. It's really cool to see them make the pastas because of the occasional flame from the burners. The guy in the white on the left is the head chef Robert D'Orsi, how cool!

Lastly is the register. All of the other stations are to help you decide what to order when you're actually at the register. They have a screen that's facing you to display what you're ordering and how much the total will be. If you've noticed, nothing on the menu is more than $7.99!

They offer fountain beverages, freshly brewed teas (sweet tea and unsweetened), coffees and a small selection of beer and wines.

This little contraption is very cool. After ordering, you are given an order number. Pick a table, stick the number into the device on the table, take it out and place the number in the holder on the side. The device tells the runners in the back which table you're sitting at. Once you stick the number into the device, your food should be brought to you in less than 7 minutes, otherwise the manager's pager will go off. You can even change tables, re-stick your order number and the timer won't be reset. Pretty awesome stuff.

I did get a chance to check out the back kitchen, and it's TINY. Some things like pounding and breading of the parmesean chicken are done in the back, but really eveything is done in full view of the restaurant.

Ok onto the food! The bf and I ordered sweet tea, which was really good. Nice tea flavor instead of it just tasting like sugar water. I'll prob get it everytime I'm there since you don't see it offered very often.
Next we tried their 'Pizza Salad- Romaine lettuce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni and red onions, with our vinaigrette marinara dressing. Served with our pepperoni bread' for $7.89. It was a strange concept having a pizza flavored salad. I loved the pepperoni bread, however the salad itself with the marinara dressing wasn't the best thing they had to offer, in my opinion. I don't think I'd order it again.

The bf ordered the a Labretti sandwich - 'Peppercorn Steak- Roasted Philly steak and market fresh greens with mushrooms, red onions, shredded mozzarella, and a creamy peppercorn sauce' for $6.99. He loved it! I didn't get a chance to take a bite but I know he'd recommend it. He said all of the vegetables tasted really fresh.
I ordered a pizza - 'Spinach and Artichoke- Garlic infused spinach and artichoke, caramelized onions, melted mozzarella, parmesan and a velvety Alfredo sauce' for $6.99. It was so good! I'm a huge fan of artichoke, and they don't skimp on the toppings.

We were brought out two pastas to try. The 'Chicken Parmesan- Parmesan breaded chicken over linguine pasta in tomato sauce, finished with grated Parmesan, shredded mozzarella and fresh parsley' for $7.99. It was really good, big portion, nice portion of chicken and al dente pasta. 

The 'Thai Peanut Chicken- Roasted chicken, linguine, red peppers, onions, carrots, mushrooms and spinach, tossed in our spicy Thai peanut sauce. Garnished with peanuts and scallions' for $7.29. This dish was interesting because our first bites had an overwhelming flavor of peanut butter, but the more you eat it, the better it tastes. Then the different levels of flavor come out like spiciness and coconut milk. It's actually really good if you're into fusion dishes. 

Overall, I'm very pleased and excited about this place. It's very affordable, and the quality of the food is amazing. Of course I'm not going to love everything (Pizza Salad) but the freshness, quality, speed and price really get me. It's a casual place where kids can come eat (they have their own menu, items $3.99), or a cute place to take your significant other and get pasta with a glass of wine before a movie. They also offer their diners free Wifi. The 1st 100 people in the door at the grand opening this Thursday July 9th will receive a 'Free Meal once a month for a Year', so see ya there!!

13000 Middlebrook Rd
Germantown, MD 20874
301.540.6600
Website

Sun-Thu 11am-9pm
Fri-Sat 11am-10pm