We saw this billboard on North Gloster this morning:
The sign is right before the McCullough intersection and replaced the other one with Lamar’s phrase about the “best thing to hit the South since Elvis.” We put in a call to Nagoya, but haven’t heard back yet. Nagoya is the Japanese sushi and hibachi restaurant that opened in the Oxford Galleria, the shopping development anchored by Belk off West Jackson in Oxford.
With Nagoya, Tupelo will have four Japanese eateries: Ichiban, Shogun, Kyoto and Nagoya. And then you’ve got Kroger selling sushi.
Do you really think Tupelo can handle two hibachi restaraunts?
I dunno – seems like a bit of overkill to me.
But then again, we do have a gazillion Mexican and half as many Chinese restaurants in town.
Yeah, I’m thinking that Toyota isn’t going to bring hundreds of Japanese execs who will need native nourishment. But, if you want to start up a restaurant, more power to you. It’s your money.
But here’s an interesting story about Kyoto.
Our food editor Ginna got a call from an irate Kyoto customer today. She directed him to post on her blog, and I’m hoping he does. But from what she relayed to me, he said he ordered $80 of sushi and only got half of it. The bill came for $80, and he said he didn’t get all the food. The waitress said he did. He asked for the manager. After a long drawn out thing, he wound up writing his name and number on the bill and asking the manager to call him. Then, he called the Journal after a police officer showed up at his business and told him to pay the bill.
But, I want to hear it from him. We’ll keep you posted if he comments on Speaking of Food.
Yes we can handle another hibachi-sushi place and when you have similar places that sell the same, it keeps them on their toes and customer service improves when there is competition.
OH WOW, is all that i have to say about NAGOYA coming to Tupelo!!! My father in law lives in Brandon, right outside of Jackson, and we go to NAGOYA’S just about everytime that we visit them! It, along with Kyoto’s, our my FAV restraunts ever!!! And how come the guy didnt tell the waitress before his bill came that he didnt get all his sushi, why wait until you get the bill???
Until next time…
Amy, I’m glad to hear you enjoy the Nagoya in Brandon. But, I’m not sure the restaurants in Oxford and Tupelo are owned by the same company that runs the Brandon one. I still haven’t heard back from the company, but if I do, I’ll ask.
Stix is another very good Jap. restraunt also! Do you know what i honestly wish that we had in Tupelo, a Jersey Mikes Subs. We had them in North Carolina, and when i was a teen i used to work at one there. I absolutely love JM
Until next time…
The last thing we need in Tupelo is another place to get a sandwich.
I am glad to see us getting another resturant like Kyoto. Competition is good!! I also feel the same way that Amy does on the fact about the man that compained about his bill at the last min.
I would think that if you ordered 80 bucks worth of sushi you would know it when they brought you half of the order. That is the time to complain, not when you get the bill.
As far as getting a lot of Japanese places in the city, it will be great for the city I think. At least it will be somewhere different.
I absolutely love Tupelo getting more Asian restaurants. The more, the merrier! Tupelo needs to be exposed to more culture. We have plenty of Mexican restaurants and mom and pop southern buffets, but the fact is that Mississippians are still regarded as less educated. I heard a long time ago that Ole Miss may begin courses or programs about Japan. When I saw the Nagoya sign Friday I immediately called family to spread the word.
As far as a huge pro for these restaurants, look no further than the 18-25 demographic. Every weekend Ichiban is busy with college students. China Capital is a popular lunch spot. Thanks to the unlimited sushi, New China has its fair share of teen customers. Kroger always has someone lingering over the new selection. Perhaps Barnes Crossing will join the raw fish club. (Oh! I was walking around Kroger about a month ago and told my mother “you know what? This would be a perfect spot for a sushi bar.” Then BAM! There it is.)
Got a question? Were is 2305 W. Jackson Street, Suite 207? I looked in the phonebook and Big Richards’ address is 2126 W. Jackson. Custom Care Cleaners is 2260 W. Jackson and its at the intersection of Airpark and Jackson. The only thing on the south side of Jackson in the 2300 block is the helicopter landing area for the National Guard. Or am I remembering things incorrectly?
I had a second thought – maybe inside the airport. No, their address is 2763.
Another place to get an $8 sammich? dumb idea.
Marskye – Ole Miss (Oxford campus) has been offering Japanese classes for several years now. I took Mandarin and Spanish, but a handful of my friends were in the Japanese program and enjoyed it.
And I’m glad you bring up sushi at Barnes Crossing. I used to shop at a mall that had several sushi stands spread throughout the walkways. For about $1.50, you could buy a handroll with anything in it. Great snack. You never know about the mall here. A while back we were tipped off there would be some changes to the food court.
Joy – The address on the sign – 2305 W. Jackson Street, Suite 207 – is Nagoya’s Oxford location. It’s in the Oxford Galleria, which is anchored by Belk. If you haven’t been to Oxford in a while, the shopping center was built next to Home Depot and on the opposite side of the street from Wal-Mart.
Now I see the Oxford at the bottom. Dingy me, I thought that was the address of their new location.
Left another message with Nagoya today. Still no answer.
What happened to the “stolen sushi guy”?
He never commented on Ginna’s blog. But, I’ve done some sleuthing and have hunted him down. I’m going to extend the invitation for him to post on our blog. I’ll let you know what he says.
Well that was quick. I just got off the phone with one of the other guys in the stolen sushi group. They are going to e-mail their experience to us today.
So, are we going to see them on an episode of cops anytime soon?
FYI – Japanese nationals don’t really care to go to “hibachi” restaurants. Some do to be polite to the Americans, but tepanyaki (not “hibachi”) in Japan is more for the tourists. The Japanese and most everyone else, one would think) really wants fresh fish and good service. Nagoya has good noodles, something Kyoto does not. So far, the best sushi I have found in Tupelo is Sho-Gun. Nagoya will probably be better than Kyoto.
Bigdraws-Yes, i know that most GOOD sub shops cost an average of 8 bucks a sandwich, BUT Lenny’s, and Mccalisters does not have anything on Jersey MIkes…Lenny’s would not be so bad, but the customer service there sucks…JM would do really well in Tupelo i thought!
Until next time…
Jersey Mikes sounds too Yankee for the south – and take it from me, I am a yankee!
Greg-I know about Yankee’s….I married one myself, and he loves Jersey Mikes just as much as I do!
Until Next Time…
I don’t know about a Jersey Mike’s, but I’ll for a Jason’s Deli.
As for Lenny’s, I’ve always gotten great service there. Maybe you got ‘em on a bad day, Amy.
But I will say hands down that Lenny’s sandwiches put McAlisters, Peppers and Subway to shame, that’s for darn sure.’
Back to Japanese restaurants – I go for the sushi. The hibachi/teppanyaki show is just that – a show. I’ve never been wowed by anyone’s food that comes from the grill. If you want to be entertained, go for it, but a mark of a good restaurant is its sushi. And the noodles, too, I agree.
Hey – maybe the mall can open up a noodle shop!
Nah, wouldn’t make it around here, I’m afraid.
“Hey – maybe the mall can open up a noodle shop!”
A noodle shop? LOL!!!
You don’t know what you’re missing til you’ve had a good bowl of noodles
‘course, this is an Asian guy talking, so I have a bias toward noodles.
One can dream, right?
(like having a Target)
Asian or Italian, I could care less about noodles.
So what ever happened as far as verifying the Kyoto sushi incident mentioned previously? The silence has been deafening… does that mean that there’s more to the story?
Seriously, I was all about getting to Kyoto until I heard that. Would love some follow up so I can determine whether to go ahead and patronize Kyoto, or whether I should stay the heck away.
Didn’t mean for the silence to be deafening. The guys involved in the sushi incident did e-mail over a letter and there has been a lot of offline Biz discussion about the situation.
Since the police were involved in the episode, we called Kyoto to see what the deal was. Bottom line is Kyoto and the customers have two different stories. I’ve encouraged them both to post their side of the story on the “Kyoto opens tonight” entry. We’ll see what happens.
I went to Kyoto on Friday and the service was superb, as well as the food. Now my server wasn’t too knowledgable about the sushi but I knew what I wanted and helped him out. I will be going back.
Thanks for the update, bizbuzz!
Bet it can’t beat Lenny’s subs though Indygirl. (sarcasm) The food is real good. I don’t care what noodle boy says, LOL!!
Noodle boy?
Don’t make me have to come over there …
so someone had a bad deal at a new restaurant……OMG! and lets call and beg them to tell us their side of the story…..is this place is turning into the national enquirer?
National Enquirer? That’s an interesting take. While we check into a lot of things because it’s our business to know what’s going on, we won’t be turning into the BBB any time soon.
But, we still welcome comments about businesses. When we started Biz Buzz last year our goal was to write about business news in the community. We all hear plenty of rumors and rumblings, so we might as well see what the truth is. You can read more about what we do here. Most things are able to work themselves, but sometimes it requires a phone call on our part – especially when we know the business owners.
well, yall chasing down a story of some random guys bad episode at a new restaurant just seems odd to me. shall i start giving you a ring when wendys leaves the tomato off of my sandwich? youre never gonna get the truth if they are telling you two different stories……it all just seems very anti-business to me. im sure we all have dozens of stories of where we didnt feel like we got treated fairly, that were hardly news worthy.
im not knocking what you do..i enjoy this place. just seems out of character for you. by blatently trying to track down a negative story and make it public.
We normally don’t chsse things down, but the story was being told by the customer, and we were trying to get both sides to explain themselves, given that it’s a new business and all.
And, to be fair, there have been complaints about other businesses, too, so it’s not unusual for folks to say something bad about a place.
On the flip side, there have been positive comments, too, about businesses.
You’re right, when it comes to “he said, she said” the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
I guess the lesson here is: Go visit the places yourself and determine whether you like it or not. Good or bad, you can write about it (or not), because the blogosphere is set up that way.
How’s that?
Maybe the reason the bizbuzz folks followed the trail on this is because the restaurant felt the need to get the police involved. That’s quite different from having a tomato left off a sandwich.
I applaud bizbuzz for following up. If you want sunshine and roses all the time, then you probably need to stay home and watch HGTV. For those of us who hang out in the real world, we’d like to know which restaurants (or any kind of business) have a concept of how to treat patrons.
id call the police to if you walked out of my restaurant without paying the tab……thats also the real world. ill just let yall roll on with your story. i for one will side towards the restaurant at this point in time. knowing all to well, that a new reataurant would go to great lengths to make a customer happy….
Gee BWM, thanks for LETTING them roll with their story. All this time I thought Dennis was the Business Editor.
Y’all crack me up…
So, anyway, who DOES have the best sushi in town?
And does anyone enjoy eel, or am I the only one? (this is Dennis talkin’, by the way). I always get strange looks from people when I order it or say it’s one of my favorites.
I had a Red Dragon roll at Kyoto’s Saturday night that had eel on it. It was pretty good.
The best sushi in town is Shogun, hands down.
Ugh. I can’t stand the texture of eel.
My vote is for Ichiban right now. Good price and good quality. Sho Gun has a better presentation but you’ll pay for it.
Haven’t tried Kyoto’s sushi.
I used to eat at Two Stick in Oxford. Haven’t had their sushi in a while, though.
nah, they typically consult me first. ha
i prefer sho-gun myself. at times they can be a tad slow, but that typically is just more time for saki and saporo.
Shogun is the best, Kyoto’s is between Shogun and Ichiban. Ichiban is on par with Kroger, maybe a little better because of the variety.
Haven’t tried Shogun yet. They wouldn’t happen to have octopus would they?
I don’t know.
Kyoto’s did have reasonable prices on their sushi. I sat at the sushi bar Saturday night. I’m not waiting to sit at a hibachi grill.
i dont think they do, but not 100%….they have plenty of eel offerings though. i like eel too. i love their ginger salad dressing, they really need to bottle it up and sell it.
Mmmm. Octopus. Yummy.
We need a Korean restaurant and barbecue here.
is there one in memphis that you like? or where do you eat korean?
I still haven’t tried Thai City. I need to get over there.
Don’t know about Korean (that was Carlie), but I went to a Mongolian grill in Detroit back in January. That was interesting. Pick the meat/seafood/veggies/spices you want, give it to the cook who stands by a round grill with “swords” and cooks it all. More entertaining than the hibachi grill, IMO.
BD, you should try Thai City sometime. And if you don’t like it, you could always skip over to Shogun. Thai City can make a dish as spicy as you want. But beware, they can make a dish burn a new hole in your body, too.
Thai City is good. I was really impressed with it. Do the buffet. Get a taste of everything.
Thai City is excellent. The menu is huge!
As far as the Japanese places, my favorite so far is Shogun but Ichiban is great for when your in a hurry.
We tried Kyoto twice. The first time was for the sushi only and we were not very impressed. It was really really cold, like they had made it ahead and left it in the refrigerator for a very long time. We did not get all of our order either but after we brought that to the servers attention they changed the bill. The service was not good.
The second time we went for the hibachi. We waited forever! Our food was tasty but not exceptional, and we enjoyed the show but I don’t think we’ll go back.
Foodwise, I think Shogun is better. Ichiban’s food is different from Kytoto somehow but I think even Ichiban is better.
Bizz… was the Mongolian Grill that you visited in Detroit, BD Mongolian? I love them and the show that the chefs put on is awesome. I also visited a similar place in St. Louis called STIR CRAZY. I just love mixing and making my own concoctions…The flavor is always different b/c I can never recreate the same dish twice… I haven’t visited Shogun or Ichiban but I think I will give them a try real soon.
Yes, indygirl, it was BD Mongolian – now THAT is entertainment. And you’re right about making your own concoction – there are hundreds of possibilities. And if it’s not good, you can only blame yourself.
Dennis – I found the perfect summer drink for you after reading today’s “did you hear?” in the paper. It’s a bottled version of your fave creature from the sea.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-threat-to-cocacola-japan-sips-the-eel-thing-879422.html
IMHO, Thai City is pretty good, but not quite up to “real” (or as “real” as I’ve ever had as I’ve never been to Thailand) Thai food standards. I have had better Thai food in Jackson, but I haven’t sampled much of the menu yet at Thai City.
Shogun still wins for me. Pricey, yes, but better than Kyoto. The service at Kyoto leaves a little to be desired as well, but it’s still pretty new, so I am by no means ready to X it off my list.
A good Korean restaurant would be great, but I don’t know if NE MS is ready for kimchi breath! In MS, I have found no equal to R&C in Biloxi, but that’s quite a haul for spicy squid!!!
I just wish there was a good Asian Market close enough to be convenient. I still haven’t found a good one in Memphis, but they are difficult to find. I am running low on the staples (osenbe, snow peas, wasabi mame, etc… – the important stuff!).
My question is why do 85% of the restaurants I have been to here use so much salt??? What’s the purpose of shakers on the table if the food will be arriving a couple of notches below mummification? Is it just me?
a bigger airport will bring all of these things and more……the limits are unknown.
Big-you are def. right i think. A bigger airport will def. help the city of Tupelo, i am all for it! i live on Rankin Blvd, which is right off Jackson, and yes, i use Jackson Ext all the time, but who cares, let them do what they have to do to better our city, right?!?
Until next time…
Nagoya is the best sushi restaurant I’ve ever been to, and I can’t wait!
I’m really curious about the sushi places in Tupelo. There aren’t many really clear and concise reviews about the quality (how fresh is the fish? Is it shipped frozen? How good is the sushiya?). I’m really hesitant to just jump in and try it because I really only like going to restaurants where I know the sushiya (and all of those sushiya are several states away!).
So what I’m trying to ask here is this: for those of you who’ve had really good sushi elsewhere, how do these four restaurants rate? On a scale of, say, really world-class to Kroger’s, where do these stack up? Do they offer traditional Japanese cuisine, or is it only sushi and teppanyaki? What’re my odds of getting a really good donburi or tonkatsu bento?
well right off i can tell you the fish is frozen….its like that anywhere you eat sushi unless your very near the sea, and even then its likely still been frozen….unless your in hawaii or such. its flash frozen, usually out at sea.
IMO, sun-kai is the best in town. ichiban 2nd. both are pretty much sushi places with some grilled items. kyoto might would have a more traditional menu, just not sure. i gave kroger a few shots, but it went downhill fast.
as far as your last question…..havent see those on the menu, but just ask when you go…maybe theyve been wanting to serve and didnt feel like anyone wanted it.