Shogun

Seafood Salad $10.99

Updated: 8/2/12

It has been a while since I went to Shogun.  To be honest, my last visit may have been when I first wrote this blog.  I returned because my brother needed a sushi fix and this is still one of the best places in Mobile for sushi.  

I have been craving a seafood salad.  At Shogun, it consist of a seaweed salad, squid salad, some octopus, krab, boiled shrimp and a ton of cucumber.  The entire thing is doused with a ponzu sauce; which taste a lot like fish sauce diluted with some rice wine vinegar and maybe some sesame oil.  There's also some siracha sauce drizzled on top.  I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any sashimi at all in the salad.  It was still very good though but I'm not so sure if it's worth the price tag.

Considering this was suppose to be a late afternoon snack, my brother and I ordered a lot of food.  From right to left, we have the salmon skin roll, the bagel road, bama roll and big daddy roll.  We also had the Kappa roll.  One thing I noticed this time around with the sushi is the rice is much sweeter than it use to be.  It almost taste like sticky rice; which is primarily used in desserts.  The salmon skin roll was very good when it first come to the table.  The longer it sits though, the salmon skin soaks in moisture and can become quite chewy.  The bagel roll was delicious.  It consist of tuna, avocado and cream cheese. I like the rich and creamy flavor.  The Bama roll is a deep fried roll which has krab, salmon, avocado and cream cheese.  This roll is really HUGE.  Sushi is typically eaten in one bite but these pieces I have to eat in two to three bites.  I was pleasantly surprised with the Big Daddy Roll.  It's nearly the same as the Bama roll but with more fish!  It has tuna, salmon, yellowtail and red snapper.  That's a ton of fish. It's not quite as big as the Bama roll.  I can probably stuff this into my mouth in one bite but I usually go for two.  I've talked about the Kappa Roll before and it remains one of my favorite.  There are big chunks of fish wrapped in a refreshing cucumber wrap.  These can be pretty hefty too and worth the price.

After more than a year, I see that Shogun still doesn't provide a sushi menu for the table.  I would think they would by now, especially since their special roll menu has grown to well over two dozen.  Customers are still forced to get up from their table and head to one of the several menus posted on the wall to check out the menu.  It gets bothersome.  I took pictures of the menu and piece them together.  Click the thumbnail below to enlarge.  

Service was slightly better this time around in reference of how quickly the food gets to the table.  The quality of the service remains mediocre at best.  I think that still has a lot to do with the language barrier.  The waitress I got just didn't understand me.

Original Post: 5/20/11

I thought I found the perfect Japanese restaurant when Shogun open.  But after about two years in business, things have started to slide.  If you want quality hibachi, Shogun still offers the best I've had in Mobile but sushi has been hit and miss lately.  The service has definitely taken a turn for the worst.

On this particular occasion, I went to Shogun with 6 other people after a movie. We arrived just before 7pm so it was the dinner rush, but there wasn't very many people there for Friday night. 

With your meal, Shogun offers a soup and salad. The soup is your basic chicken broth with some sort of other seasoning and green onion. There was a good amount of tempera flakes in it.  I thought it decent but one of my dinner companions thought the tempura flakes was wierd. For me, the amount of fat floating at the top was a little off putting. I wish Shogun would offer a different dressing for the salad.  It's served with this really sweet, mayonnaise dressing.  I rather have the fresher and less cloying ginger sauce. 

 

Hibachi Steak and Scallops

I think Shogun still have one of the best hibachi in town.  I usually eat in the dining area and not at the hibachi grill.  The reasoning is simple.  All of the food comes out at one time and it's usually better seasoned if it comes from the kitchen. The portion size is really good too. The steak and scallop entree is about $21 and it's a plateful.  Everything is really good from the stirred fryed vegetables to the lo mien and the meats.  I did have to add a little soy sauce to my fried rice but nothing else.  The scallops were huge and the steak was cooked medium rare like I ordered. It was a delicious plateful of food.

Here's something though.  There's this one waitress there that always try to get you to upgrade the steak to filet mignon for $1.  DON'T FALL FOR IT.  I did once and another server came back and was like "oh, that special had already ended and she didn't understand.  You will now have to pay full price for filet mignon."  During that particular occasion, our check was already well over $100.  If it was me, I would have let it slide since the table had already spent so much but they didn't and I paid the extra bucks.

Spicy Tuna and Bama Roll

I've always thought Shogun serves really quality sushi.  In the past, I could just pick anything off the menu and feel confident that it will meet the mark.  This time was a little different.  I ordered three rolls: spicy tuna, bama roll and the kappa roll.  The spicy tuna is good but could use a tad bit more siracha sauce.  The tuna was really fresh though. The Bama Roll is basically a Philly Roll that has been dipped in a tempura batter and then fried.  It's usually a very good roll but this time there was a really sweet sauce drizzled on top that really threw me for a loop.  There wasn't a balance there that I have come to expect for a Bama Roll. One of my favorite rolls is the Kappa Roll.  It's usually tuna, salmon, avocado  cream cheese and krab rolled together in a cucumber wrap.  It's so fresh and delicious. 

Kappa R

I don't know if the sushi chefs prepare things differently for regulars and the not so regulars.  A couple of my friends goes there often and they ALWAYS get good sushi.  I've gone to dinner with them and there's definitely a pronounced difference.

A couple of things bother me about Shogun.  First, the lack of a menu for the sushi bar.  There is no description of the most basic rolls much less the special rolls. As with most sushi restaurant, the rolls may have the same name but what's it's made of is entirely different. They expect their customers to get up from their table walk up to a few of the "special roll" menus mounted along the walls and figure out what they want.  For the basic rolls, customers are suppose to "just know" because descriptions are not available for those. I don't think it would be hard for Shogun to print out a few menus, with descriptions, have them lamented and have one at each table.

Another thing that irks me is the wait staff.  Some days you can get the best of service; others you're struggling to be understood.  There's a major difference from wanting a medium rare steak and well.  If you keep repeating the wrong thing back to me, frustration will soon follow.

If you're coming here for sushi, be sure to pack a lot of patience.  It's not as bad if you going to dinner with a couple of friends and have a lot to catch up on.  Otherwise, you may get a little frustrated.  There's typically two sushi chefs even on busy weekends so it's slow. 

This is the go-to place if I'm looking for quality hibachi but for sushi, there's other games in town.  If service continues to slide, I will be looking elsewhere for my hibachi fix.