Wagaya Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar

So, the pouch was zooming by for some hot cheekan down the street when all of the sudden it caught this in the corner of his eyeball. A new sooshee joint next to Better Half? I knew I had to hit it up.. But only after some hot cheekan. Came back about an hour later and walked inside. Pouch likey already. The decor is simple with a lot of wood but yet it felt very comfortable like I have been in here before in one of my wet dreams. This joint have been opened only for about a week, and I did not know anything about it. They wanted to keep it quiet in the beginning and see how it goes. I don't what kinda of strategy that is but I like it. The menu is very approachable even for the gaijins. It's not overly adventurous but it does cover all the basis for an intown joint. They had a very affordable set of Dinner Specials that included multi-courses/intro sampler for the uninitiated... Hell, I even wanted to try out a couple because it included a chawanmushi. But most importantly they had tonkotsu ramen... Fuck yeah, it's game time. So what if I just ate a giant hot cheekan sando and going to another resto after for their special fried cheekan dish after... Some things just needs to be done. Live in the moment, you only have one pouch, enjoy it I say..

Sashimi Deluxe. I had to see what their skill level was... So, the deluxe sashimi platter it was. The fish selection was decent and the quality is a tad above average. But the low rent "white tuna" aka escolar made me cringe a little when I saw it on there... Just cover it with a shiso leave and tell them to say hi to Luca Brasi for me. The sweet shrimp was nice but I didn't get why they fried the heads off already and put them on a box of shaved ice. It's like putting fried cheekan in a Jack and Coke slushee... Wait, that might be good. Usually, I like to suck the brains outta the raw heads, then deliver them to the fryer. There were no head sucking involved here but if you go down a couple blocks... Nevermind. 

You can not leave without eating everything on the sashimi platter... You shoulda seen the sushi chef's face when I asked him to fry this badboy. He was in shock and awe and then let out a sigh of relief, in his mind he was thinking, "Thank baby Jesus, someone is doing it right up in this piece." ...Probably sounds more romantic in Japanese like John Belushi's grunts in Samurai Delicatessen. The baby collars were intact and they were just a wonderful little tasty bite. The cheeks were more of a challenge just to get a pinky nail size of morsel outta them. But the entire skeleton were totally edible like incredible fish chips. Make sure you use that lemon, the acidity completes it.

Tonkotsu Ramen (premium white). Looked kinda disappointing when it came out. Took a few spoonfuls to taste and smack my lips around a bit... Nothing. No collagen, it was too thin and the flavor was more from chicken bones than pork. They also use fish stock (bonito/dashi I assume). The noodles were firm but yet nothing special. The charshu seemed boiled and had no texture. Even the egg got lost in flavorless town. I had high hopes for a tonkotsu ramen I could get any day of the week intown but this needed work, a lot of work. They have been opened for less than week, so I will give them some slack. If they are around 6 months from now, they better have nailed this or else I will nail them to the cross that I will fashion from their benches.

Even with the opening hiccups and lack of flavor in the tonkotsu, I still have faith in this place to do well and execute on the grub eventually. I know I will prolly be back again to try other items but I hope they have enough FU money to keep them afloat for at least 6 months because they're gonna need it to keep working on the execution. People have no idea how much is wasted on the trial and error phase of menu development. When they get their shit together, they could be a nice little addition on the west side since there really isn't any decent sooshee joints in this area... That is until, Shoya's little sis, Jinya Izakaya opens up. Then all of them will be in a world of hurt.

339 14th ST NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
404–390–3798
http://www.wagaya.us/