Chaucer’s Sushi and Grill
During the Christmas weekend, I met DH for dinner in Frisco next to Stonebriar Mall for an adventure in dining. While there were plenty of chain restaurants that set up shop in the mall parking lot and surrounding strip malls, there was always that one restaurant that seemed to close its doors every 6 months or more. Last time, this building housed an upscale steak house; today, it was Chaucer’s Sushi and Grill. Remembering that Chaucer’s had an Addison outpost we hadn’t yet visited since we last lived in North Dallas, I figured Chaucer’s might be worth a gamble.
Chaucer’s seemed to retain the elegant, formal atmosphere of the previous tenant, which meant adult, family-unfriendly surroundings. However, several plasma screens adorned the walls, tuned to sports and newscasts. A sushi bar was partitioned off the main dining room behind some glass, and for the most part, it was quiet and subdued.
Unfortunately, the service left much to be desired. I remember standing in the lobby for about 10 to 15 minutes, staring at an unattended stand. The hostess finally swept in, apologized, and led me to a table. When DH finally arrived to join me, our waitress took some time delivering menus and refreshments. And for a sushi place, the lack of non-Asian servers sounded an alarm.
I’m not saying that white people can’t sushi, but it’s a sure sign of Americanizing the menu. While there were no steaks on this Chaucer’s menu, many of the options seemed rather unoriginal and uninspired. Much of the “grill” options didn’t extend past the teriyaki concept. We did attempt a calamari dish, but the accompanying cocktail sauce just didn’t pair up nicely with the lightly fried squid. We asked the waitress for an alternate sauce, but she fumbled on the advice. We suggested the traditional mayo sauce that came with dumplings, which she obligingly supplied. After the appetizer, DH and I turned to the sushi menu for a challenge.
We ordered our traditional salmon sashimi, smoked salmon nigiri and mackerel nigiri, which upon delivery was executed wrong. The salmons got mixed up, but the sushi chef acknowledged his error and corrected it. Unfortunately, they didn’t deliver all the sushi at the same time as ordered, because DH makes it a point to eat his sashimi with all his rolls.
Nothing really stood out in the bevy of special rolls, though I will have to say 75% of my choices were too spicy for DH to enjoy. He did mention that he liked his tempura roll, but we both felt that one of their house specialties drowned in too much crunchiness. The lone standout happened to be their combo volcano roll, topped with shrimp, scallops AND crawfish. Again, it suffered from too much onion and heat, which left DH wishing for something else.
When we ended the meal, and the bill finally came, both of us wished we had hit up the Cheesecake Factory just across the street. We used it as a reason to escape the dessert options, since we had a somewhat mediocre dining experience overall.
My rating: stars
