DINING OUT: East Izakaya in Victor
Come for the endless sushi, stay for the robot cat server
By Jacob Pucci
Sampling the entire menu at East Izakaya is impossible to do in one visit. But it sure is fun to try.
The all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant opened in Victor last fall. While there is an a la carte menu available, the main draw is the all-you-can-eat menu, a dizzying selection of over 160 items, including everything from sushi and sashimi to noodle dishes, stir-fries and grilled meats.
You might recognize the circular bar in the center of the main dining room as a holdover from the building’s past life as the home of City Tavern, though the bar, like the rest of the restaurant, was given a modern makeover that feels far more refined. The giant TVs flanking either side of the bar have been replaced with a robust display of Japanese sakes and other wines and spirits.
Our dinner began with our server explaining the ordering process, which is all done using a tablet computer at each table.
The learning curve is low — each menu item, complete with photos and descriptions, is listed by category. Drinks, which include bottled and about a dozen draft beers; wines; sake and other Japanese wines and a variety of conventional and Japanese-inspired cocktails, are also ordered via tablet.
Oh, and if you see a cute cat-shaped robot patrolling the dining room, don’t be worried. That’s just the robot server. Most of our dishes were delivered by hand from real-life humans, but on a few occasions, we had the pleasure of having the robot, a tall, cylindrical machine with three tiers of trays for carrying food, stop at our table. Just make sure to only take the food from the illuminated tray, otherwise, you’ll make one of your fellow diners waiting for their food not too happy.
For the most part, the serving sizes of each item are intentionally small, which allows diners to sample a little bit of everything. When our order of beef takaki arrived as a single paper-thin slice of seared beef with a few springs of spring lettuce dressed in a citrusy soy ponzu sauce, we realized a single order really does mean one. It was an oversight we quickly remedied on our next order, which included several pieces each of beef, tuna and salmon tataki.
Like the tataki, orders of seafood and vegetable tempura come by the piece. Of the ones we tried, the rocky shrimp was easily our favorite. The colossal tiger shrimp were plump and juicy, the airy tempura batter was light and crisp and the creamy “rocky” sauce (think bang bang shrimp) added a little spice. After scarfing down our order of two, we quickly ordered four more.
The notable exception to the small portion sizes are the sushi rolls, which are served as full six- or eight-piece rolls. As we learned, if you’re trying to try as much of the menu as possible, ordering multiple full-sized rolls, which were a bit heavy on the rice to boot, might be a daunting undertaking. Ordering rolls by the individual piece might be asking too much, but a switch to half-roll portions would be a great improvement that would allow more flexibility for diners and, presumably, less food waste for the restaurant.
I see dining at a buffet partially as a value proposition. The cost is the same, whether you load up on rice and noodles or meats and seafood. As much as I love a warm bowl of rice, I’d rather have salmon sashimi.
Finding room for everything on the table feels a little bit like playing Tetris, though that’s just a symptom of my ambitious order sizes. A plate of takoyaki octopus balls was squeezed between platters of barbecued eel sushi, yellowtail tuna, spicy scallop and salmon rose sushi, bite-sized blooms of sliced raw salmon garnished with a dollop of tobiko fish roe and Kewpie mayo. Soon, plates of beef-wrapped enoki mushrooms, stir-fried clams with sake and butter and mussels in black bean and garlic sauce arrived, requiring yet another shuffle of plates to fit the growing feast.
In case that’s not enough, servers armed with long skewers of grilled meats and vegetables roam the dining room, offering morsels from the yakitori grill. A little coaster at the table that reads “I Need More” on one side and “I Am Full” on the other lets the servers know if you want them to visit your table. Make sure to save room for the miso-glazed pork belly.
There’s a sushi pizza section on the menu, which might sound like a cursed fusion cuisine no one asked for, but have no fear. It’s actually just a crispy hash brown patty topped with a fish of choice, spicy mayo, eel sauce and crispy tempura bits. The contrast between the hot and crispy hash brown and the cool sliced fish turned out to be an unexpected delight.
Desserts include ice cream, a variety of cheesecakes, crème brulee, and in case you didn’t get enough tempura already, fried Oreos, tempura chocolate bars and other fried sweets. It’s tough to do, but it’s worth saving room for a little sweet treat.
At around $40 per person for a dinner of unlimited freshly prepared seafood, meats, sushi and so much more, the price undoubtedly feels like a value.
The modern, comfortable atmosphere is welcoming to all. At the booth next to us, a couple on a date dined on a la carte oysters on the half shell and sipped martinis. Meanwhile, a young child’s birthday dinner was going on in an adjoining dining area.
The tablet keeps track of everything ordered and in the end, we ordered 60 items, a figure that includes multiple pieces of individual items, before we had to tap out. But that only scratched the surface of what East Izakaya has to offer. I guess we’ll just have to go back and tackle the rest.
East Izakaya
4635 state Route 96, Victor, NY, 14564
Sunday to Thursday, from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
585-505-8898
Reservations: Yes, encouraged. Available online at eastvictor.com
Cost: All-you-can-eat menu is $30.99 for lunch Monday to Thursday and $32.99 Friday to Sunday for adults. Dinner is $40.99 Monday to Thursday and $42.99 Friday to Sunday for adults. Seniors are $1 off for lunch and $2 off for dinner. Kids aged 10 to 12 are $18.99 for lunch and $23.99 for dinner. Kids ages 6 to 9 are $13.99 for lunch and $16.99 for dinner. Kids aged 3 to 5 are $6.99 for lunch and $7.99 for dinner. Kids under 3 are free.