Do Japanese Restaurants in the US Suck?
Friends who have spent time in Japan always tell me how the Japanese restaurants here in the US are just horrible. I’ve never able to have them pin down their negative comments to a particular attribute. All they say is “It’s much better in Japan.”
Can this be true? It’s been a long time since I last visited Japan so I can’t personally verify their statements.
One school of thought is that a good percentage of these US-based Japanese restaurants were set-up by individuals who weren’t able to cut it in the highly competitive restaurant business back home in Japan so they decided to sell their subpar cuisine here in the states.
We can get into other factors such as the quality of the cooking materials but I’d rather hear from you. Do you find the quality of US-based Japanese restaurants to be mediocre? Does it compare well with restaurants located in Japan?
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Comment by sulk
I’m here in Canada, and I have to say after eating food in Japan from expensive restaurants, to dirt cheap ones, the food here is horrible.
I think the problem is that there are a lot of Japanese restaurants here, but most of them aren’t run by Japanese. Which isn’t a problem, but it just doesn’t taste right. Their sushi is fine, but any dish that’s Japanese isn’t good.
Although there are a few Japanese owned restaurants and their food is really good. Though theres only a few and most of them are expensive.
Comment by Kiyoshi
I have heard a variety of theories. Everything from the ingredients not being so good here to the differences between Japanese and American water.
All I know is once you taste what they have to offer over there you cannot go back. YOu can tolerate the taste over here and truthfully it’s not THAT bad but it seriously lacks something.
I really want yo to compare the ramen. My god, is there a huge difference in quality.
Comment by JimJim
Hi I’m from Malaysia. The Japanese food here sucks because it’s prepared by Malaysians and cheap foreign labor. I have to go all the way to Singapore where the Japanese are the professional chefs.