Tatsu’s is indeed intimate, with the tables placed so close together that diners would be well-advised to be careful about their conversations while savoring the continental cuisine. The pale peach-colored seafood bisque is beyond decadent, and the teriyaki chicken, with its crispy caramelized glaze, is lighter but equally intoxicating. Lunch is a less expensive way to check out the same items found on the dinner menu, which can be pricey. — Charles Ferruzza
Price: $$-$$$
Payment Type: All Major Credit Cards, Diners Club, cash
Parking: Lot Available, Street
Reservations: Recommended
Attire: business casual
Entertainment: Lyric opera singers and wine tasting, last Mon. of the month.
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I've been going to Tatsu's for fifteen years. I was annoyed to find a laughable, vaguely racist, at times unintelligible review on this web site.
The review is full of outrageous presumptions, self-centered reporting, and outright lies. Let's get to the most ridiculous accusation first: The writer says that Tatsu's rice comes from an "Uncle Ben's box" Does she know that Tatsu and most of his kitchen staff are Japanese?
Maybe she does know that Tatsu is Japanese because she next uses the term "...bad Chinese restaurant sauce..." Do I have to tell you that Japanese don't use box rice or Chinese sauce?
Then she mocks Tatsu's wait staff (which also has a fair number of Asian-Americans) for their poor French pronunciation. Now I ask you, would you want to be held to that standard? Typos, poor syntax, and at least one word with no vowels ("smth") make up the rest of her piece.
We can give her the benefit of the doubt and speculate that she was drunk when she wrote the review. Her complete paucity of paragraph breaks suggests some sort of chemical motivation. Otherwise, it's intentional bigotry and unintentional stupidity.
That's sad because Tatsu has given Kansas City so much. In 15 years and through close to 100 meals, I've never had a bad entree. I've probably taken 50 guests to Tatsu's and never heard a complaint. I'm not sure that Tatsu would call me a friend, but I've known him for five years or so, and his sunny personality is truly a delight.
Japanse are known for total quality management and consistency. Tatsu and staff are exemplars of the tradition.
Try the Boeuf Bourguignon, boneless beef short ribs braised in red wine. It melts in your mouth. Or try the poached salmon with champagne sauce. The perfect salmon is counterpointed by the velvety sauce. Or try the spectacular crab bisque (which absolutely has no "fake crab" in it).
In order to refute some the more outrageous accusations, I've had to repeat them here. That is a tragedy. A restaurant with the wisdom, subtlety, and tradition of Tatsu's should not have to defend itself against bigots and liars.
Rating Detail:
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Value: 5
Overall: 5
Do not go to Tatsu's, if you expect a decent meal, especially for the kind of money they are charging.
The menu was unimaginative to start with. To be fair, had some specials (vichyssoise, and a couple of salads you could "upgrade" to from the usual dinner salad: "avocado salad", consisting of half of avocado with shrimp salad topping on bed of greens (which turned out to be crab or maybe even surimi (aka fake crab legs, crab sticks)), and a "goat cheese salad" (greens tossed with raspberry vinaigrette, blueberries, strawberries, and goat cheese), which was actually the only decent thing in the whole dinner.
The wine list by the bottle was decent (as opposed to being almost non-existent by the glass), we ordered a bottle of Lang & Reed Cab Franc (also available in Grand St Cafe) , which was served a bit warmish for my taste (but OK for my husband's).
Vichyssoise tasted mostly of cream and salt, not leeks of potatoes.
Entrees were truly horrible. The sides consistent of the bland mashed potatoes (too gluey, indicating they were made in a food processor or blender, instead of hand-mashed), steamed broccoli (in fist-sized overcooked pieces), and steamed baby carrots (very overcooked, sweet, and very mushy. I've had infinitely better steamed vegetables at Applebee's, I swear!
As for the meat part, my husband had Veau a la Normand (veal with cream-calvados sauce) with, which came with rice underneath the meat (in addition to the potatoes, broccoli, and carrots); he said the rice tasted as smth out of the Uncle Ben's box. I had Filet de Boeuf Marchand de Vin (beef tenderloin with, supposedly, shallot-red wine reduction). My sauce was incredibly sweet, dense, and cloying, I would not be surprised if they added some starch to it (think bad Chinese restaurant sauce, and you'll get the idea). Meat was not good - unseasoned, and very tough on the exterior (in spite of being vaguely rare, as ordered, on the interior).
The "final touch" was the dessert: we split a chocolate soufflé. It came in a huge ramekin (about 4 inches in diameter), and was split onto 2 plates tableside. The taste was half-cheap cocoa (with the appropriate light color) and half-steamed yolks. I would bet my own home-made dark-chocolate soufflé against this blasphemy anytime!
To add insult to injury, the "suggested" tip was 20% on everything, including tax ($ 161 at that point, before tip). We left a decent tip for our poor clueless waitress, who kept mispronouncing all French names in the menu and was dripping the $45-a-bottle Cab Franc all over the tablecloth every time she was pouring or refilling out glasses. Oh yeah, and at $31 an entree (and $ 9 for a "salad upgrade") I would have liked to see my napkin folded when I had come back from a bathroom (one of the ultimate tests of good service).
For the money we'd spent it was the worst meal ever (actually, it was probably THE worst meal ever, regardless of the cost), and that's including less expensive, but much better French-minded meals in New York City, Paris, New Orleans, and Napa Valley... For the same amount of money, you can go to "40 sardines" (or Bluestem) and have a meal, which would be 1000 times better.
At any rate, we are NEVER going back there, and advise you to do the same.
Rating Detail:
Food: 1
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Value: 1
Overall: 1
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