Sansei Seafood and Sushi (Waikiki)

Same Entrance as D.K Steakhouse

                     One evening, we were chilling at the hotel when we decided to go for a nice meal at the Waikiki location of the Sansei Seafood and Sushi. We also found out that they had a 25% discount for Happy Hour between 5:30 p.m and 6 p.m, so that was a nice bonus. Too bad it wasn't Saturday of Sunday for they have a 50% discount on everything. The Sansei was located in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa in practically the same restaurant as the DK Steakhouse which was operated by the same Japanese chef by the name of D.K Kodoma, who is quite well known in the Hawaiian Islands. We got the option to sit out on the patio or inside the restaurant. Of course we went for the patio overlooking Waikiki Beach with a nice view of the sunset on the third floor. There were some torches outside to provide some heat, and the Hawaii weather wasn't cold at all. D.K Komoda has won some awards for his dishes, so as always, we went for the award winning dishes on the menu. Before I start, Sansei Seafood and Sushi is a more modern take on sushi, and may offend people who like quality fish and just traditional sushi. It is like the Miku of Hawaii, except a bit more modern and club-like. This is because they have Karaoke from 10 p.m to 1 a.m. That is enough rambling, so time to get on to the food. 

Sansei Special Roll $10.25

Crab Ramen 

                       The order of the items that came out was very odd. Normally you would have the appetizer, the entree and then the dessert. At least the dessert came out last, which was good, but the order of everything else was freaking out. Thus, this blog post will be written in the order the items came out. I have no idea how this would happen, because if everything made fresh, the items are made in the order they should come out, but should they be premade, they could be brought out in the order they should be too. The first item that came out was the Sansei Special Sushi Roll for $10.25. This was a mediocre roll that came with Spicy Crab, cilantro, avocado and furitake, which is a Japanese seasoning. The sauce was the kind of Spicy Thai Sauce that you can get at the supermarket. This really ruined the roll, as the spicy crab was delicious, and wasn’t so spicy so you could actually taste the crab. The furitake didn't have too much taste which was good, and I would give it a 3/5. The next item to come out was the Crab Ramen in Truffle Broth for $17.25.  The best thing about this restaurant is that it goes family style so you can try a bit of everything and share some dishes. The dishes are pretty sharable too. Truffle ingredients are one of those things that can add a nice touch or completely overpower whatever flavours or ingredients are in the dish.  At the very least, this broth was very good with a hint of truffle and went well. If it was a little bit hotter, it would have been even better with the perfectly al dente ramen noodles, cilantro, and slightly spicy Jalapenos rings. The crab was very fresh, but was cooked very well. Easily a 4/5, as it was really good with nothing amiss, but just didn’t have the “blew me away factor.” Also, it was very expensive for the price, even at 25% off. 

Panko-Crusted Ahi Sashimi $13.25

Tempura Shrimp Dynamite $12.25

Japanese Calamari Salad

                      After an entree came out, the server brought us the signature Panko-Encrusted Ahi Sashimi, for $13. This is another one of their signature items (we ordered most of them), and had some butter like sauce on the bottom. That's the yellow like liquid in the picture. The first thing I noticed was that it was a bit greasy with the butter, panko and the combination was very greasy. This made the dish rather heavy with all of the butter. The tuna was not as fresh as the tuna in the poke I had prior for lunch. However, it was still fresher than the tuna we have here in Vancouver. The vegetables were fresh, and helped alleviate some of the heaviness. I would consider it filler, really.Next up was the Tempura Shrimp Dynamite for $12.25. There were 6 huge shrimp. Cooked perfectly, they were plump and juicy, with some extra crunch coming from the batter. Some mayo was added, which added a little more flavour. The batter was very thin, which allowed the shrimp to come through with the crunch and flavour. To add a lot more crunch, there was a deep fried wonton wrapper which had no flavour other than from the mayo. This was one of my favourite dishes, and I would rate it a 4/5. Another appetizer came out next, which was the Japanese Calamari Salad for $11.25, and had the same wonton wrapper which contained the calamari. The salad component was the little bit of greens on the bottom of the dish. They were soaked with some sweetish sauce which didn't exactly go well with the calamari, but added a little bit of flavour to the wrapper. The calamari itself was not very good. The batter was very thin, crunchy, and was a lot easier to eat than the calamari.The squid was very hard to eat, and overcooked to no end. I could barely eat this dish. Thus, I would give this a 1.5/5 due to the hard to eat squid.  Finally, we capped off 

Tempura Ice Cream $10

a meal at Sansei with a dessert that would qualify as a meal in itself, the famed Tempura Ice Cream for $10. This was a large tube of ice cream with a tempura batter. The batter wasn't very crispy, but was rather more cake-like, and there was a bunch of syrup on the bottom, chocolate and caramel flavoured. There was also a strawberry and whipped cream. Of course, this was a very heavy plate of dessert, as you would think. The sauces were sweet, and added some flavour to the Vanilla Ice Cream and the pound cake dressing. I(t tasted good though, even though it was very sweet. The tempura pound cake was still warm, but the ioce cream melted very slowly  even though it was warm. In the end, this was a novelty item that actually tasted pretty good, although it was a bit heavy. This was a good 4/5 dessert, since it did taste good.However, there was one thing that made everyone not like this restaurant: they charge a minimum 17% tip, and even though our server was friendly, that rule is not so great. 

Bottom Line: Good Food, Service, Atmosphere. 
Tip: Tempura Ice Cream
Overall: 3.5/5