Sambi of Tokyo

Finally catching up, yay!

Last Friday, Feb 6, 2009, was just such an ugly day! It was pouring, the power around my block went out for 18 hours due to a tree crashing into the power poles, my car was held prisoner by my own garage, we were going to go to another restaurant, but was too far, didn't know the way, raining way to hard to look for, so in haste, we picked a restaurant that our special guest star Ms V frequents, Sambi, located on 8649 Firestone Blvd, Downey, CA 90241.

That's pronounced san-bi for those who are interested, and means praises in Japanese. You'd be surprise, but I've heard it being called Zombie before. Anyway this is a very nice restaurant and serves sushi and teppanyaki. We went for teppanyaki. Oh, for those who don't know what teppanyaki is, I think American calls it Hibachi, though I have no idea why. Its cool though cause Japanese speaks Engrish, so by rights, we should be able to speak Yapanese! It basically is a guy making your food in front of you, on a gas heated grill, doing fancy knife work and make a show out of it.

We arrived, decent size lot, free parking. The building is elevated and you have to climb a small flight of stairs to access. Once inside, you can see that this place represents a lot of history. Photos of various and some quite recognizable people have set foot in this place before. The lobby is plastered with photos. Very impressive. The inside setting is nice, with a large water fountain in the middle that resembles a small lake, very ingenious concept. They had a live lounge singer in there performing, but it wasn't loud and the music blends in with the atmosphere, very nice touch. It wasn't crowded due to the rain(or so I believe), for our party, it was only TZ, special guest star Ms V, and her hubby Mr J. We sat around the grill and were served promptly with our drinks. Large bottles of the Canadian made Sapporos, Ms V and I both had a pina colada, and Z had wine as usual. We also ordered appetizers, Ms V and Mr J had edamame, which is basically boiled baby soy beans with the pod and lightly salted. I wanted to try some of their sushi even though we were doing teppanyaki, so I ordered a serving of ninja roll, which is basically spicy tuna with rice paper. At once I can tell that the spicy tuna was fresh. The coloration is still that of maguro, it was quite satisfying.

For our main, Ms V and Mr J ordered and shared a seafood combination, I being the fat one ordered a seafood combo also, all for myself! And Z ordered a Sambi Speical Deluxe, which is Filet mignon and Shrimp. We all get to raid the salad bar, not that there were a lot of selection there, and Japanese style fried rice. So as we are drinking our liquor and munching our appetizer/salads, waiting for the chef to come and show us his awe inspiring skills, I guess Ms V's pina colada was super spiked, as she said she had to go to the ladies room, she invited me to go with her, in front of her hubby!!! I almost died right there, that was just so so wrong! Seriously Mr J, there is absolutely nothing going on, I swear! Luckily Mr J also works with us and knows our relation, so we just laugh it off....phew! How come my pina colada wasn't spiked up like that?

So our chef came, name Francis. As anyone who has had teppanyaki before, the food is only secondary, it is the atmosphere that people drown themselves on, and the chef dictates the atmosphere. I was kinda worry at first, but after he opened his mouth, omg this guy is a riot! He was so much fun that those hard working promptly serving waiters looked stiff compare to him. Then he started bragging about how he can drink and no one can beat him....so what do we do? We had our resident drinker go into a sake bomb match with him. Z stepped up to the plate, now mind you Z is a classy drinker, and doesn't usually do beer, definitely never did beer+ sake. In fact she doesn't even know what a bomb is, but boy did she show him. Francis slams the table and in goes the sake, I scooped the glass up and put it in front of her, here drink this, fast! Guess who finish first? Not the bragger that's for sure, go Z!

Food over all was fresh and done properly, though Francis did over cook the filet mignon. I had a lot of food, cleaned my plate and everything, and I didnt even share! My new year resolution must have been loose my waist, by gaining 2-4 inches:)

Overall

Location/Parking ******************************B+, if they had a security guard it would be an A for sure.

Environment **********************************A+ , thanks Francis, I was not a happy camper when I came in, I left quite happy!

Drinks ****************************************A-, just for that pina colada Ms V had already said it is better than a B

Food ******************************************B the only requirement for teppanyaki was fresh, but people don't do teppanyaki for exqusit or delicate tastes.

Price******************************************B-/C+, it was pretty pricy, expect at least 40 bucks per person, but still well worth it.

Overall***************************************A-/B+