Sapporo Japanese Cuisine

Over $29.00 to ride the "Easter Train"???  Man, if they were going to rob us, at least wear a balaclava...  What exactly is an Easter train anyways?  Apparently, it is a stripped-down version of the Christmas train with leftover decorations and a smattering of eggs and bunnies.  Well, I guess it was something to do on a Sunday as a family I suppose.  Naturally, being in Downtown, we took advantage of it to eat somewhere along Robson.  Since the kiddies voted Japanese, we stopped at Sapporo Japanese since it was the first one we spotted.

We were seated at one of their very small tables which accommodate twice as many customers as they should.  As the food began to arrive, the table was not really big enough to handle all the plates.  We ended up practicing our bet "Tetris" technique with the dishes.  We sampled the Assorted Sashimi first and it as pretty decent.  As evidenced in the picture, the slices of sockeye, tuna, tai and Atlantic salmon exhibited a nice sheen.  Next up, the Assorted Tempura was pretty sparse in portion size.  Despite this, it was also well-prepared with a thin layer of batter which was lightly crispy.

Our specialty roll was the Volcano consisting of a dynamite roll topped with spicy tuna.  This was carefully prepared where each piece stayed intact while not being overly compacted.  The amount of sauce did make the roll rather saucy, but it wasn't too powerful.  I found the rice to be chewy while mildly seasoned.  Next, we had the Katsu Don which featured slightly dry rice that was conservatively sauced.  On top, the pork chop was sufficiently tender with a crunchy exterior.  The slightly runny egg yolk went nicely with the rice.

For the kiddies, we got the Beef Udon packed with a good amount of tender and thin slices of beef.  We found the udon to be toothsome enough, but the soup was not very impactful.  It didn't taste like a dashi as it was rather bland with a touch of sweetness.  Lastly, the Chicken Karaage was plain terrible.  Although the meat was moist enough, the exterior batter was doughy and not crispy at all.  Furthermore, the chicken was super bland and even the dip didn't do much.  In the end, the food did the job as we wanted a quick lunch.  Nothing to rave about, yet decent enough.

The Good:
- Friendly service
- Decent (except for the karaage)
- Okay pricing for Downtown

The Bad:
- Uncomfortable seating arrangements
- Server was friendly, but overwhelmed when the place was full