Sawa Japan

I received a menu for this place along with a 20% off coupon for the grand opening.  It turns out that Atlantic Buffet is no more and these guys have taken their place.    I was so excited to see a Japanese restaurant nearby that I decided to give it a try right away.

From their menu, the lunch deals seem to be great values (for Japanese food).  Unfortunately, they only serve lunch M-F 11 a.m.-3 p.m.and this particular day being Sunday, I ended up getting the salmon & scallop teriyaki bento box from the dinner menu (even though it was only 1 p.m.).  We also got the steak hibachi bento box kids' meal and the calamari appetizer.  The calamari was pretty good - lightly fried with a nice spicy, sweet & sour sauce.  The bento box came with the standard fixings: miso soup, iceberg lettuce salad with a ginger dressing, some shrimp & veggie tempura, seaweed salad, 2 shrimp dumplings, and a California roll.  The shrimp dumplings were okay - I've had better.  I liked how the tempura was lightly fried and not too oily.  The teriyaki sauce was too salty for me, but my husband loved it (and I thought I was the one who liked salty foods!).  The avocado in the California roll was a bit overpowering.  I only tasted avocado.  The soy sauce that they included was a sweet soy sauce that I found too weak.

The kid's bento box came with lo mein, stir fry veggies, onion soup, and steamed rice.  I found the lo mein & veggies to be greasy - they're what you would find at a Chinese buffet place.

I like Japanese food and I'm glad this place is close to home, but the food itself was only okay.  The price was good with the 20% off coupon, but I think the cost would have exceeded the quality of the food if I had paid regular price.  I would suggest printing off a coupon from their website now (during the Grand Opening special) or giving them a try during the lunch hours.