can i just say right now that i love beluga. i can't believe i have never been there. first of all, the atmosphere is so fun. there are a bunch of little different rooms and i love how they are decorated. it is a really fun and interesting place, and it feels classy without being overdone. here are some photos of the interior of the restaurant:
the front room is a restaurant until the late hours, when it turns more into an extension of the bar
the front half of the sushi bar
the ceiling above the barhalf price sushi is a great deal. you can't get every roll on their menu (for example, none of the rolls involving lobster are available for half price) but you have a damn good selection. half price sushi is available at beluga every wednesday from 5 pm - 2 am, and every friday and sat night from 11 pm - 2 am. while the prices are kind of high normally (at least for me who is cheap, not necessarily for sushi in general) at approx $8-$18 for rolls, half price makes it totally doable. we had 6 people for dinner and we all had drinks and the total bill including tip was $200.
las chicasthe service was absolutely awesome. possibly the best service overall that i have experienced in cincinnati. i stayed for a long dinner, and then hung out for drinks at the bar. i talked to bus boys, the hostess, a waiter, two bartenders, and several kitchen staff and everyone was totally friendly, welcoming, and helpful. lucas the bartender kept stopping by to chat. the hostess hung our coats and offered to take pictures of us. the kitchen staff let us peek in and gave us the secret to their creme brulee (green tea).
mas chicasgood service can go such a long way with me in terms of my overall enjoyment of a restaurant and i really found beluga's to be flawless. everyone seemed to enjoy their job and to love their customers which is awesome. i can't say the same for other places in hyde park (ahem red ahem) and actually i maybe hadn't made a point to go to beluga until now because i was worried about snobbiness. beluga's entire staff was totally friendly and completely lacking pretentiousness. i love that.
henry joined us and opted for breast milk instead of sushion to the food. the sushi was good. it was not the best sushi i have ever had, or even the best sushi i have had in cincinnati. but it was very good. they have a large and interesting selection of rolls. i thought the salmon and yellowtail were really fresh and delicious. the tuna, shrimp, and crab were ok but not outstanding. the wine selection was extensive without being overwhelming and had something for every price range.
this is only about 2/3 of the sushi we orderedafter dinner, a few of us moved to the front bar and had more drinks and conversation. the mixed drinks were very tasty, and i especially recommend the fresh beluga (cucumber, lime, sake, and who knows what else). the bartenders were both really fun and even made up drinks for us which totally hit the spot.
artistic martini photo courtesy of liberal foodiethe one thing that wasn't so great about beluga was the parking. a couple people in our group had parked behind the restaurant, and emma got ticketed even though she was only five minutes late getting out to her car. there was a police officer watching the meters and ticketing people the minute their meter went over. that is bullshit.
however, i am sure beluga has no control over the parking situation since if they did, they would have been much nicer about it. i had an excellent night eating, drinking, and hanging out at beluga, and i totally recommend it. if you can hit it on half price night, it's even better.
3 comments:
Ok so I am not sure what it is called, maybe Lobster Basil roll, but whatever one it is that has both cilantro and basil in it = AWESOME.
I am a big fan of beluga, super fun for drinks and I love doing a late sushi dinner in the bar. My only complaint is that they automatically add gratuity for half price sushi (the auto add part I am fine with) but it doesn't tell you that on the receipt you get to sign. So if you're like me and you irresponsibly put your card in the folder without looking at the itemized bill, when it comes back for you to sign you have no idea that they already added grat... which I personally think is a little shady. Most places have 2 lines... one that says included gratuity and another that says optional/additional or whatever. I didn't mean to write a freaking novel about it here, but yeah, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
you know, our waiter warned us ahead of time about the pre-added tip, so we were prepared. but that is really annoying that you didn't know. they definitely should mark it and tell you. i am sure you are not the first who has been confused about that b/c i would never have known either if our waiter hadn't said something.
You've got yourself quite a foodie entourage there, don't you! Who's the smiley face, a relative of that big head dude in Jack in the Box commercials? LOL
Post a Comment