I am curious to know if the translation for Shibuya is "rip-off." My sister and I ate at this Japanese restaurant inside the MGM Grand Hotel with the expectation of treating ourselves to a really nice dinner. Now, the prices were sort of high, but we assumed that the taste would make it worthwhile. Let me also say that Japanese food, sushi in particular, is our favorite, and we are used to the fact that Japanese food has smaller portions.
Our waiter asked us if we wanted some edamame. We later discovered that they charged us $5 for this! I thought that was kind of ridiculous considering that the edamame was not on the menu as an appetizer, therefore leading you to assume that it was free, as it usually is. We ordered tuna tartar and kampachi (young yellowtail sashimi). The tuna tartar was okay but not anywhere near as outstanding as what we had at FireFly. I thought that the kampachi was sort of bland. We then ordered the Hawaiian snapper. When we placed this order, the waiter asked us if we wanted white rice. They charged us $3 for a small bowl of white rice (again, this was not listed separately on the menu). Every Japanese restaurant I have been to has served rice as an accompaniment with their dishes! You would assume that, at $27, our entrée would include more than a small slab of (bland) fish with a small amount of veggies as garnish, right? I have eaten at upscale restaurants before but never felt so taken advantage of, and by no means did the taste of the food at Shibuya warrant the price they charged. I will say that the ingredients were of a high quality and fresh, but no more than places that charge a reasonable price. We hoped that the dessert would redeem our impression of Shibuya. Unfortunately, while the chocolate trio sounded impressive, it was not. The chocolate tart was too heavy, the white chocolate item (not sure what it was exactly) was tasteless, and the best of the three was a small shot glass that had a small scoop of sugarcane ice cream on top of fudge sauce. We also ordered the yuzu brulee, which was not really a crème brulee, as we had expected, but more like a cake with a mandarin orange mousse on top. It had a small area that was burnt like a typical crème brulee, but I think that they did not flame the whole area. Again, the best part of this dish was the side of ice cream which was served mochi style.
All in all, we were very disappointed. However, we loved the atmosphere of the restaurant; the decor was dark, sleek, and modern. They also have the most extensive offering of sake that I've seen. We spent just over $100 for this meal (we only had one entrée), including food, soft drinks, tax, and tip.