Watawa

Yesterday was hubby and I went to Watawa, a hip Japanese joint in Astoria. It was already pretty crowded when we got there, but we managed to grab a seat outside to enjoy the nice weather.

Beer pitcher sized green tea

I started off with a glass of green tea. Now most green teas that I've seen come in really petit sizes, but this one was ginormous!

Edemame 

You can't really go wrong when you cook edemame, but the salt sprinkled on top of this was too salty for my palates. Although we cleared the dish, it was not an enjoyable experience.

Miso Soup

The miso soup that came with the scallops was worth complimenting. It was just the right combination of miso, tofu and seaweed.  The seaweed was not really fresh, as it was hard to chew and even harder to swallow. 

Scallops with asparagus, broccoli and vegetable salad

Hubby's entree looked very enticing. The scallops were nicely seared, and the color complemented the greens nicely. 

I tried a scallop, and to my surprise, it was pretty hard to chew. Probably because it was frozen solid before. That and there was not that much taste. You had to dip it in the sweet soy sauce around it. The asparagus tasted alright. 

Ocean Roll

I ordered the Ocean Roll with lobster, tempura bits, avocado, wrapped in some kind of vegetable seaweed skin. It was kind of bland tasting, and the lobster was again, hard to chew. Couldn't really decipher what kind of meat it was, just tasted kind of rubbery. 

Xsection of a Ocean Roll

While I'm not too fond of their clubby-ish decor, the service was quite expedient. From being seated down to paying, we were served by at least 5 different servers, one for each dish. They do have a well-developed system of attending to their patrons. 

This was not worth the hype, which is probably why all the people above 30 walking past was staring curiously at the restaurant. 

Watawa

** (2/5 stars)
$$
Good for small parties