Last night we went to dinner with our friends, Dan and Larry. They've just recently moved into a new condo in midtown, so we went to check it out. The place is beautiful, they both have incredible taste. After a tour of their place, cocktails and appetizers, we headed a few blocks to Westport to eat at Tatsu's. This place was incredible! Dan and Larry have been there before and really like it! There was only one other table being occupied at the time, which is unfortunate, because this place is so good! Westport draws a younger crowd that obviously does not appreciate this type of food. The prices are very reasonable and the portions are big. We will definitely go back. Tatsu's has been around for awhile in Johnson County and it's nice to have them closer. This is the kind of place that should have gone into Briarcliff Village as opposed to The Cafe.
I started my meal with a very tasty Mojito ($4 special) and a wonderful Crab Bisque. The bisque was smooth and creamy and full of pieces of crab meat. My Dan had the House Salad that was dressed perfectly in a nice creamy vinaigrette ($3.95). For my dinner, I had the Pork Tenderloin Peppercorn. This was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten! The pork was covered in a creamy peppercorn sauce, that was rich and thick. There was rice, wonderful carrots, broccoli and roasted potatoes. For $15.95 this was a great deal. Dan had the Salmon Menuiere, which was thinly sliced salmon, pan seared in a lemon sauce. This was Oh My Gosh Good!. I don't like to eat fish all that much, but I would order this again. Larry had the Tilapia Menuiere which was also very good and Dan had the Shrimp Pastry. Our food bill was only $35.85, the liquor added another $20.00.
They are located at 419 Westport Road, KCMO and their phone number is 816-531-1616. This place is worth trying out.
I started my meal with a very tasty Mojito ($4 special) and a wonderful Crab Bisque. The bisque was smooth and creamy and full of pieces of crab meat. My Dan had the House Salad that was dressed perfectly in a nice creamy vinaigrette ($3.95). For my dinner, I had the Pork Tenderloin Peppercorn. This was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten! The pork was covered in a creamy peppercorn sauce, that was rich and thick. There was rice, wonderful carrots, broccoli and roasted potatoes. For $15.95 this was a great deal. Dan had the Salmon Menuiere, which was thinly sliced salmon, pan seared in a lemon sauce. This was Oh My Gosh Good!. I don't like to eat fish all that much, but I would order this again. Larry had the Tilapia Menuiere which was also very good and Dan had the Shrimp Pastry. Our food bill was only $35.85, the liquor added another $20.00.
They are located at 419 Westport Road, KCMO and their phone number is 816-531-1616. This place is worth trying out.
1 comment:
Do not go to Tatsu's, if you expect a decent meal, especially for the kind of money they are charging.
The menu was unimaginative to start with. To be fair, had some specials (vichyssoise, and a couple of salads you could "upgrade" to from the usual dinner salad: "avocado salad", consisting of half of avocado with shrimp salad topping on bed of greens (which turned out to be crab or maybe even surimi (aka fake crab legs, crab sticks)), and a "goat cheese salad" (greens tossed with raspberry vinaigrette, blueberries, strawberries, and goat cheese), which was actually the only decent thing in the whole dinner.
The wine list by the bottle was decent (as opposed to being almost non-existent by the glass), we ordered a bottle of Lang & Reed Cab Franc (also available in Grand St Cafe) , which was served a bit warmish for my taste (but OK for my husband's).
Vichyssoise tasted mostly of cream and salt, not leeks of potatoes.
Entrees were truly horrible. The sides consistent of the bland mashed potatoes (too gluey, indicating they were made in a food processor or blender, instead of hand-mashed), steamed broccoli (in fist-sized overcooked pieces), and steamed baby carrots (very overcooked, sweet, and very mushy. I've had infinitely better steamed vegetables at Applebee's, I swear!
As for the meat part, my husband had Veau a la Normand (veal with cream-calvados sauce) with, which came with rice underneath the meat (in addition to the potatoes, broccoli, and carrots); he said the rice tasted as smth out of the Uncle Ben's box. I had Filet de Boeuf Marchand de Vin (beef tenderloin with, supposedly, shallot-red wine reduction). My sauce was incredibly sweet, dense, and cloying, I would not be surprised if they added some starch to it (think bad Chinese restaurant sauce, and you'll get the idea). Meat was not good - unseasoned, and very tough on the exterior (in spite of being vaguely rare, as ordered, on the interior).
The "final touch" was the dessert: we split a chocolate soufflé. It came in a huge ramekin (about 4 inches in diameter), and was split onto 2 plates tableside. The taste was half-cheap cocoa (with the appropriate light color) and half-steamed yolks. I would bet my own home-made dark-chocolate soufflé against this blasphemy anytime!
To add insult to injury, the "suggested" tip was 20% on everything, including tax ($ 161 at that point, before tip). We left a decent tip for our poor clueless waitress, who kept mispronouncing all French names in the menu and was dripping the $45-a-bottle Cab Franc all over the tablecloth every time she was pouring or refilling out glasses. Oh yeah, and at $31 an entree (and $ 9 for a "salad upgrade") I would have liked to see my napkin folded when I had come back from a bathroom (one of the ultimate tests of good service).
For the money we'd spent it was the worst meal ever (actually, it was probably THE worst meal ever, regardless of the cost), and that's including less expensive, but much better French-minded meals in New York City, Paris, New Orleans, and Napa Valley... For the same amount of money, you can go to "40 sardines" (or Bluestem) and have a meal, which would be 1000 times better.
At any rate, we are NEVER going back there, and advise you to do the same.
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