6520 Utah 224
Park City, UT 84098
(435) 655-7080
http://lastsamuraipc.com/
Chef: Steven
Score: 69/100
unless you've been living under a rock the past few years, you have undoubtedly been hearing the buzz around THE LAST SAMURAI. the current "it" restaurant of the hibachi blogosphere supposedly does "things" a bit "untraditionally." i'm sure it's nothing we can't handle. ...or at least, i hope.
this weekend, our team braved the 11+ hour drive from LA to park city to see what all this non-stop, unavoidable hype is about. we had been warned of their untraditional style; we had heard that the "OPEN" sign is impossible to resist--that it cuts the otherwise pristinely white landscape, beckoning as the lone frsicilation in the park city dusklight--yet nothing we had heard could have prepared us for what awaited once we succumbed to the neon siren's song. we had been warned, but so had the residents of hiroshima [sic.].
soup - 2/10
after all the hype, the meal started underwhelmingly, when our (caucasian) waiter brought out what appeared to be seven bowls full of water that a few vegetables happened to fall into. this turned out to be our under-salted, lukewarm soup. it's one thing to be undergarnished and not visually exciting, but a whole other to be lacking in the invisible, too. to top it all off, this presumably-onion soup had precisely zero fried onions. still, at least it wasn't oversalted, as most onion soups tend to be (glass half-full, eh?).
salad - 2/10
no tomatoes, few carrots and cabbage pieces, but very tasty lettuce. the "dressing" is more accurately described as "slightly flavored mayo." overall, a very weak start to the meal.
sauces - 9/10
the ginger sauce was unbelievable: a beautiful, deep magenta that caught the light perfectly, and its bite was even more delicious and sexy than its soothing, sensual, barry white-esque bark. the head was quite robust, but it was even stronger on the central palate, and it had a very crisp finish. the other sauce was a standard yum-yum; while i didn't partake due to its mayo base, reviews from the rest of the team were neutral to positive. the lack of a third "wild card" sauce keeps this at a 9 instead of a 10.
dessert noodles - 3/10
now this is where things start to get weird: dessert noodles before the fried rice?! i know what you're thinking, "well, maybe these aren't 'dessert' noodles, per se." well then why does the menu specifically call them that, wise ass?--the word "dessert" is just a few millimeters away from the $3 price tag! the noodles were tasty, but more of a teriyaki lo mein cooked on a hibachi than they were a traditional, refreshing, post-meal, pre-dessert, palate cleansing hibachi noodle. and why the extra charge? is it just a deterrent? i'm all for untraditional, but only if it enhances the experience, and our first exposure to their "untraditional" ways certainly did not accomplish this. "dessert noodle" serves a specific function in the hibachi meal, and these failed to deliver that. despite their tastiness, their functional failure and their additional price tag prevents me from giving these dessert noodles a high rating.
fried rice - 8/10
fantastic texture, incredible flavor, and not too heavy on the salt. there were a few eggs mixed in for protein, but the lack of chicken and uneven soy sauce distribution keeps this from earning a perfect mark.
main course (shrimp) - 10/10
notice something missing up to this point? that's right: no appetizer shrimp. ...but they'll get there...i promise. just. you. wait.
as a shrimp orderer, the lack of appetizer shrimp ensured i was even more excited for the main, and the wait paid off. perfectly cooked, an ample portion, and well sized individual shrimps--they earned every bit of the 10/10 with this one. all other mains got equally as rave reviews, and unlike with the shrimp you can't blame the other reviews on TLS's manipulation of the standard order of things.
vegetables - 7/10
a nice mix of well cooked zucchini, onions, and mushrooms. could have used a bit more of everything (especially of the mushrooms), but well done overall.
The Toss (fka appetizer shrimp) - 10/10
in a hibachi climate that is currently paralyzed by fear, where the volcano is becoming rarity, billowing flames have all but disappeared, and benihana has outlawed the shrimp toss because of a pending tweaked-neck related law suit, only a restaurant named after a tom cruise heroic epic has the balls to go against the grain. not only do they still do all three of those daring escapades, but The Toss is treated as a full course in lieu of appetizer shrimp; everyone at the table gets a turn (one overhanded, even). yes, this makes it more difficult to use sauce, and yes, your number of non-main shrimp is cut from two to 1/2, but it's worth it for the table-wide seal bark that is The Toss.
show - 10/10
The Toss as a featured element, an up-side-down volcano, flames galore, and the kicker: they let one of the members of our team take the knives and man the table, which i have NEVER seen before. on top of that, steven chopped in perfect, fast rhythm, had good banter, witty jokes, and strong interaction. with all this, it seems like a sure-fire 10/10, right? not quite. the meal took a somber turn half way through, his energy level dipping with ours instead of encouraging us to keep ours up. after the meal, the conversation took another turn, this time a serious one, with steven telling us about health issues his son had, and filling us in on his hibachi training. this personal touch brought us back up to a perfect show score.
potpourri - 8/10
white waiters, odd hours (yelp claims they're open for lunch, but they open at 3pm. call before then, you'll be forwarded to steven's cell, but he's very happy to talk to you.), and extra charges are the negatives; friendly waiters, a good fish tank, location-location-location are the positives. the good outweighs the bad in this one.
there was some debate among our staff if a dinner/show this untraditional should even qualify for review with our site, and while we didn't come to a sure fire conclusion on that question, we determined that the hype around it alone is enough to demand we cover it. with our meal in the bag, we can't help but agree that it was worth the trip, no matter how alien their idea of hibachi is compared to most.
