Formosa Lounge Restaurant

When we arrived around noon, the place was nearly empty. Business started to pick up about 30 minutes later but it was still nowhere near as busy as Wasabi's or some of the other popular downtown lunch locations. They offer outdoor seating as well as a dining room and sushi bar. The interior is very modern and clean looking - and I think they might become more of a lounge and club later at night.

The service was very good, which shouldn't be too difficult when there are so few people in the restaurant. Our waitress brought us hot towels as we looked over our menus and was friendly and prompt with everything during the meal. After the meal, she brought us hot towels and chocolate mints - a nice little touch.

All the extracurricular aspects of Formosa make it a nice place - but I wasn't impressed with the food or the prices. They have a nice selection of lunch dishes with different choices for sushi or cooked dishes like rice or noodles. I decided to have the Sushi Special with miso soup. The sushi special is a six-piece California roll and 4 pieces of nigiri that are selected by the chef - my four pieces were tuna, albacore tuna, flounder, and salmon. The soup that came out before the entree was good - served hot with plenty of flavor and not too salty, which can be a problem with miso soup. However, the sushi was a disappointment. The California roll lacked flavor because the crab meat in the roll tasted very pedestrian. The pieces of nigiri were very small and the rice began to crumble apart as soon as I would pick up a piece. Overall, the entire plate of food was small. The flavors were okay, but I found myself thinking, "that's it?" after I finished. Actually, the best part of the meal was the drink my dad ordered. If you haven't heard of bubble tea, you really should give it a try!

I'd compare the entire sushi experience to something similar you could get from the sushi counter at Kroger or Publix. And for $10.50 for the Sushi Special, I didn't think there was anything very special about it. I'm glad I gave Formosa a try because I'd been curious about how it compared to Wasabi's. Now, I know. Now, I appreciate Wasabi's even more.

I gave this place another try and the service was equally horrible. The food was great, but I go out to eat for the service and experience just as much. The food was slow to come out and was not brought out at the same time. The cool flaming formosa bombs were a lack-luster experience. I use to light Bacardi 151 on fire in college too, it was not a big deal. I did not get a spoon with my soup and upon asking for one the waitress said "oh, would you like a spoon for that?" Duh, its soup. Our sake bombs were also a travesty. They brought out the beer and poured it all into 2 glasses despite us telling them we would like to pour it ourselves. The sake was brought out 10 minutes later and the beer was already room temperature by then. Very disappointing. I don't understand how a place could have such great food and the service could be so dismal with only 4 other tables occupied in the whole place.

My husband and I ate here for our anniversary and were blown away by the excellent sushi. We look forward to returning some day when we can afford too!