824 Lomax Street

Jacksonville, FL 32204

904.301.1188

Mon. – Thurs. 11am – 10pm
Fri. & Sat. 11am – 11pm
Sun. 12:00 noon – 9pm

www.sakehousejax.com

Sake House

I was in the mood for Sushi and being in Riverside and not wanting to cross the bridge onto the South Bank, the evening found us at the Sake House in the Five Points section of Jacksonville.  I have never been to this location; I always go to the location on the South Bank by my work.  They are owned by the same people and refreshingly, the menus were the same too.  We arrived at the restaurant about 5:15 pm and there was only 1 other customer in the dining room at the time.  

Back Dining Room

If you have never been to the Sake House, there is outdoor seating on the front walk and a back dining room for larger parties.  There is also a sushi bar where you can pull up a stool and watch the chefs create your meal.  We were greeted with a bowl of mushroom soup.  This is such a simple soup, a light, clear broth with thinly sliced mushrooms and sliced green onions.  While eating our soup, we put in our dinner order.  I ordered a Rock n Roll sushi roll and a side of grilled vegetables.  Pie ordered sushi and some fried rice.  They brought the grilled vegetables as an appetizer even though we ordered it as a dinner side dish.  There was zucchini, summer squash, garlic and onions grilled in light oil.  We ate those with chopsticks.  I love the grilled vegetables!  I usually go to the South Bank location for lunch and get their hibachi lunch special.  The lunch special has a small salad, noodles, grilled vegetables, your choice of meat on the grill, and your choice of white or fried rice.  

Sushi Bar

Our sushi came out and we requested some shrimp sauce.  Now I don’t know about you, but I could put that shrimp sauce on just about anything; heck I could probably drink it!  I have noticed lately in restaurants that serve sushi, that the shrimp sauce is tough to get hold of.  Weird, they never bring it out right away, you have to ask for it and when they do bring it out, there isn’t much in the tiny bowl.  Forget trying to get more, it’s like pulling teeth! Don’t know what is up with that.  Any hoo, the sushi was great!  My Rock n Roll had shrimp tempura, imitation crab, cream cheese and cucumber with those little orange fish eggs in it.  Tasty.  Pie put the shrimp sauce on his rice and ate that too. 

Fried Ice Cream

The restaurant began to pick up and was actually beginning to get full.  We were looking for some attention from the waitress to bring us our check and she came out with a complimentary fried ice cream.  It was vanilla ice cream battered in tempura batter, fried and topped with whipped cream and a cherry or two.  What a nice treat!  We paid our bill, grabbed a couple complimentary mints (they have the best!) and headed home. 

The Sake House on the South Bank is one of my favorite lunch time places.  I am glad we finally went to the other one in Five Points and for dinner.  The restaurants are basically the same, good and bad.  The service has a tendency to be slow and not very attentive and they take the longest time getting the bill to the table.  That’s minor because both spots have great food though and are well worth putting up with the service.  They have a great lunch special and a diverse menu variety without getting too complicated like many sushi places do.  The average dinner or lunch is going to be around $15 per person, but you will definitely leave full.  Give Sake House, either location, a try; add a little extra time to your lunch or dinner hour and it will be worth the trip.

Review by Rhonette, email:  rhonette@piesplate.com

9902 Old Baymeadows Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32256-8103
(904) 646-4455

So, it is a Saturday evening, already went out earlier, its 9 pm…hungry as all heck!  Where do you go?  The “sidewalks roll up at sunset” in Jax.  What’s open besides Waffle House and Cracker Barrel?  I looked around the corner from my house on Southside and Baymeadows to the Bowl of Pho.  Bowl of Pho is in the Publix Plaza across from FCCJ Deerwood.

When Pie and I walked into the restaurant, the place was extraordinarily busy.  Barely a seat in the house.  We were quickly seated at a booth in the back of the restaurant.  We were asked by our waiter Leo what we wanted to drink; we gave him our order and started to look at the menu.  I was craving something lite but filling and Pie was just HUNGRY.  When Leo came back with our drinks, we put in our orders.  Pie got the chicken fried rice and I got the medium “Bowl of Pho” and some fresh grilled pork spring rolls for an appetizer.  We waited a short time and my appetizer came out to the table.  Great spring rolls, plenty of grilled pork wrapped in a supple rice paper wrapping.  The dipping sauce was plenty and flavorful.  Before we knew it, our dinner order came to the table.  The Bowl of Pho was huge even for a medium.  It came with fresh basil, cilantro and bean sprouts to put into the soup.  The broth was beef and spiced with ginger and garlic.  There were thin rice noodles in the bottom of the bowl, like angel hair pasta.  I put the basil, cilantro and sprouts into the soup and started eating.  I finished every drop in the bowl.  I was full and satisfied.  Pie ate his fried rice and was happy; it was done to perfection.

We don’t usually order dessert, but Pie wanted to try something different, he ordered a bean starch dessert.  It came in a large wine glass and was like a gelatin with cream on top of red beans.  Strange…but good none the less.  Not sweet at all, but not like you would expect beans to be.  Granted, it wasn’t what we were expecting, but it wasn’t bad at all.

When we paid the bill, our order only came to $20.  Who can beat that?  The restaurant was tastefully decorated.  Totally modern Chinese, natural elements and clean lines.  The service was great, and the food was fantastic!  

I visited the restroom before I left.  I must say I was quite impressed.  Ample room in the stalls, clean and the coolest sink and faucet I have seen in a restaurant.  The staff was happy, upon checkout, to answer any questions we had and to tell us about the restaurant.  They have a takeout menu also; if you order a “Bowl of Pho” you will have to pay .50 extra for packaging, but it is well worth the price!

 If you are out and want something to finish the night with, I would recommend the Bowl of Pho.  You definitely won’t be disappointed…the service is great, the food is fantastic and the price is perfect!

Reviewed by Rhonette, email: Rhonette@piesplate.com