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Mikado Japanese Restaurant
Rating Details »
977 E Commercial Blvd
Oakland Park, FL 33334
(954) 491-0738
Oakland Park, FL 33334
(954) 491-0738
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
5 reviews for Mikado Japanese Restaurant
I've been craving sushi for the past few days, so partly based on Yelp reviews I decided to give this place a try. I ordered takeout, which I like to do the first time trying a restaurant for myself and I got the #8, which is the Sushi Lunch ($9.50). You get 2 pieces of tuna sushi, 2 salmon, 2 shrimp and a choice of sushi roll, for which I selected spicy tuna. The lunch also includes soup or salad. I had the salad, which came with really tasty dressing. I must say, the sushi I had tasted incredibly fresh and was outstanding. Everything was so good, I will definitely come back.
When I arrived, I agree the inside looks like you've stepped into another world. The decor is really cool, but I noticed the place was kind of small so you probably would not want to bring a large group there. There was only a man and woman inside; I got the impression they owned the place. The woman who gave me my order was really nice. I plan to return soon and bring some friends from the office with me. Great find, thanks Yelpers!
I loved my waitress here. Thanks to the reviews by Aria V. and Vanessa P., we wouldn't have found this place.
When we got there, I ordered fried gyoza for an appetizer ($6.25). It came out at the same time as our sushi, but with the standard sweet sauce.
We got a great deal on sushi. Just paid $14.95 for the One Specialty Roll and one Regular Roll Special. So we got the Dynamite Roll with the Mikado Roll (deep fried roll with avocado, cream cheese with crab). Both were OK, but would have been better if there was not so much rice, and the filling ratio was a bit higher. Otherwise, the Mikado roll looked a lot like what you would call a dynamite roll here in my town (seaweed on the outside, and served with drizzle of hot sauce), and the Dynamite roll just looked like something else (seaweed on the outside???). Add to the confusion that the spicy roll was the Mikado roll and the dynamite wasn't so spicy. :: shrug :: new place, new rules I guess?
To go with our meal, Zohan decided to get some sake while we were there. Oh boy... This is the reason why I was still yopparai a few hours later and ended up tripping and falling in the parking lot. Yeah, I got the spongebob bandaids to prove it. Hahaha. Anyway the sake was smooth and warm going down. Oishikatta.
And I had to get some Fried Ice Cream while we were there. Zohan had never heard of Fried Ice Cream "WHAT? Why would anyone want to fry ice cream? Weird!!" he said. He ordered Fried Cheesecake. Both were fried in tempura batter.
Our waitress was a really friendly Japanese woman. Very helpful, too.
Yes, they did have ramen here, but not chashu ramen.
It's been quite a while since I've had sushi (living with someone who only does red meat and occasional chicken can do that to a girl). So I decided to venture out and find some sushi places by the office. After reading the review from Aria, I had to check it out.
Although I ordered take-out for lunch, I was enchanted with the inside of the restaurant. Stepping inside is almost like stepping into another world. There weren't many people inside, but it had a very homey feel to it.
I ordered their #7 lunch special which included sushi, sashimi and a California roll. It also included soup and salad for about $10.50. Everything was wonderfully fresh and it has helped to reignite my once dormant affair for this wonderful cuisine.
I definitely plan on coming back to dine-in and escape into the quiet yet welcoming ambiance of Mikado.
Great sushi and I'm not kidding. The restaurant atmosphere isn't justified the taste of the food. I had all nigiri and no roll, excellent cut, fresh fishes. I ordered conch, baby octopus, saba, uni, sweet shrimp, toro and hamashi (see pictures). I would say the reason I didn't give it a 5 stars because the rice, wasabi, soy sauce and ginger are only acceptable. (I'm a real snob sorry!)
When I was in high school, Mikado was THE lunch spot. Not for the popular kids, and not for the jocks or the nerds or the freaks and geeks. No, Mikado was MY restaurant. We spoke Japanese, they had special chopsticks just for me and they always knew what time my girls and I would come in on Tuesday that they had our diet cokes on the table as we walked in the door.
Food:
This isn't just a sushi place, this is a Japanese restaurant. And by that I don't mean, oh they do teriyaki and katsu too. No, this place has a separate menu in Japanese, a specials board outside that denotes their fresh catches that would be incomprehensible to anyone who didn't know what the squiggles mean, and best yet, husband and wife are really from Japan.
So you want don buri? They have it, it's delicious. Ramen? Check. Yakimeshi, udon, okonomiyaki? How about some traditional washoku of sake, gohan and nori? Oh yes. And it's all fantastic. Each dish, be it a bento box of sushi and sashimi or a dinner entree of sukiyaki, is perfectly crafted by a chef who grew up eating and making these dishes. He knows what he's doing, and it shows. Each slice of fish is cut with care so that it melts in your mouth, and all of the ingredients are authentic and used properly. Even if it's not on the menu in English, chances are they still make and make it well.
This is authentic Japanese food at its finest, and the best I've found outside of Japan. I've had some great fusion, and I've had some delectable sushi, but nothing compares to Mikado for me. Every time I go down South to visit family I make sure to stop buy for at least one lunch. I love them there, and they treat me like an old friend. I would eat there every day if I could, and I'm sure that one week in high school I did.
Venue:
Mikado's tucked away in a shopping center on the corner of Commercial and Dixie, and I you visit Fort Lauderdale and want to eat like a local, know these are the places we go to. Not Las Olas, not A1A on the Beach, and not 17th St if we can avoid it. Small, home restaurants in large centers that typically house a grocery store, a department store and a dry cleaners.
From the outside, it looks more trendy than local. It has dark plate glass windows and a decorative logo, but inside it's very much a stale faux-Japan decor--until you look closer. The TV is actually playing NHK, the trees aren't bonsai, but flowers you'll actually find in a Japanese backyard. The paintings and clippings and posters cater to the Japanese crowd that frequents there. The restaurant's small, and can at most accommodate 30 or so, but it definitely gets busy sometimes.
Still, it's the atmosphere is what sells it. The people are the nicest, and you feel casual and comfortable. It's a real local place, and that's very noticeable when a regular comes in. I used to spend so much time there, each lunch got longer and longer because we would just keep talking to everyone. We were frequently late to class because of it, but it was always worth it.
As my first 5-star review, I'm proud it's this restaurant, one of my favorite in the world. I can without hesitation say, if you get the chance, go to Mikado, you won't be disappointed.
