Bob’s Whine and Dine: Kazoku

By Bob, Bob’s Whine and Dine

My wife and I were on the east side recently, it was dinner time and we were hungry.  I had noticed that there was a new place going into the spot at Eastgate & Sunshine where Tuscan Grill had been and we decided to drive by and see if it was open – it wasn’t (it is called Nicola’s by the way).  Anyway, while cruising the rest of the shopping center we discovered a Japanese place called Kazoku.  Neither of us had heard of Kazoku before so we decided we better try them out.

When we walked in (around 5pm) there was only one other table occupied.  The menu is similar to other non-habachi style Japanese places with a sushi/nigiri menu and staples such as tempuras, chicken, steak, salmon, scallops, shimp, calamari and lobster hibachi entrées.  Prices for dinner entrées are in the $10 (vegetables) to $17 (filet mignon) range.  There is also a nice selection of appetizers.

We decided to order an ‘Amazing’ roll ($8.50) for a starter.  For dinner I selected the steak & scallop combo ($15.95) and my wife chose the hibachi chicken ($11.95).  We struck up a conversation with our server as she was refilling our drinks and we found out that we had arrived on opening night – and we were among the first in Springfield to visit.   We both thought that was kind of cool but I hoped it didn’t mean we were going to be guinea pigs testing out their new processes.  That, thankfully, turned out not to be the case.

The first thing to arrive was our Amazing roll.  The Amazing roll is spicy crab (real crab not krab!) and avocado on the inside with spicy tuna on top drizzled with a nice spicy sauce – it was indeed amazing.  There were really good flavors here with enough spice to make you notice, but not too much to ruin your taste buds.  We really liked this roll.

Soon after the roll came the salad & soup.  The salad was pretty standard for this type of place with the lettuce crispy and the dressing standard but good.  The miso soup however is another story.  Sorry to say that this is probably the BEST miso soup we’ve ever had.  It had more body that any other version I’ve had and the taste was complex.  It was just really good.  We returned for lunch the week after this visit and were bummed out that the miso soup is a dinner only offering.  The explanation was that it takes all day to make and they only serve it fresh – not from the day before.

So far Kazoku hit a solid double with the amazing ‘Amazing’ roll and the miso soup.  Next up – the entrées.  Both entrées were served with some grilled veggies, fried rice (white is also available) and noodles.  The grilled veggies were good with some nice caramelization on the edges – there was a little too much yellow squash for me, but my wife made short work of that.  The fried rice was nice with bits of egg, peas and carrots tossed in.  The noodles were different than I remember getting at other places.  They were more like spaghetti than your typical soba style noodle with quite a bit of body to them.  They weren’t bad – just different.  The 4 scallops that arrived on my plate were nicely cooked and tasted good – there was no grit like I’ve had every time I’ve ordered scallops at Umi.  The steak was cooked just as I ordered and it was very tender.  There were a few pieces that had some gristle but overall it was among the better quality regular steak (non filet mignon) that I’ve had at a Japanese place.  My wife reported her chicken to be good as well – she liked the light sauce it was grilled with.

Our opening night visit was considered a success.  As I mentioned before, we returned for lunch the next week for another Amazing roll and a caterpillar roll (eel, cucumber, avocado) and except for not getting any miso soup – left very pleased.  We also noted that there were lots more people on that visit.

The dining room is spartan in what I would guess is a Japanese style.  The color scheme is black, red and white and has a nice finished look about it – no strange curtained booths like at Wayo.  The tables are placed far enough apart so that you can have a private conversation.  As it is with most strip mall restaurants, in the winter, the single entry door will sweep cold air into the dining room on every entry and exit.

Service was good on both visits.  My diet coke was kept refilled, our food came out in an acceptable time and we didn’t have to wait for our check.

There is one more interesting thing that I should mention.  Remember we were checking to see if Nicola’s was open – well as it turned out, Nicola and his entire family came in and sat at the sushi bar for dinner the night we visited.  They seemed to enjoy their meal as well.

My wife and I enjoyed both of our visits to Kazoku – the miso soup and the awesome roll being two of our favorites.   We will definitely be back next time we are in the mood for Japanese.

3637 East Sunshine Street – (417) 882-1454

Bob’s Whine and Dine

Link to Menu

Link to Health Inspections

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