MM by Morimoto

Let’s start with the positive. This space is very cool. Going to MM is an experience in and of itself, before you even get to the food. It’s a visually immersive vibe with projections and tasteful lighting and a kind of organic flow of bars and seating and just general activity. A night out here feels like a true night out. It’s strange, then, how you’re furnished with what I can only describe as oddball service. Which may, of course, be server dependent, but our night is probably not atypical. Though we didn’t have the pleasure of a Morimoto sighting — which is apparently a thing that happens at this, his current focus restaurant.

So, yes, the actual space is lively and visually and structurally thoughtful. It was a Thursday night, and we were seated toward the back of the restaurant in front of what looked to be a video installment that showed what I can only describe as a slightly moving view through a chainlink fence. It’s not as weird as it sounds, though it is a little weird. We were handed menus by a distracted server and then just sat. He eventually made his way back and with an electronic thing in hand, and only half paying attention as he bantered with another server, asked if we wanted anything to drink. No small talk, no nothing. Three of the four of us ordered drinks and he started to walk away before taking my order — again, distracted in a way that was not endearing. I managed to summon him back, get in my order — which he proceeded to get wrong — and then sat again. His demeanor, mind you, wasn’t unpleasant. Just disengaged. My Manhattan, despite it being straight up and not on the rocks, was actually pretty tasty. He got lucky. But Ms. Hipster didn’t, as he had to be reminded a couple times about her drink order. But, after a little bit, he returned to ask what we wanted to eat. No preamble, no asking if we had any questions, no introduction to the menu. All the things you’d expect from a “high-end” eatery. Just, “What can I get you?” It was then that we enquired about how people usually order and what they order… And here, finally, he clicked in and went through the somewhat small, but also not, menu of mostly Japanese and steakhouse-like items. Generally it’s not great if you have to drag this out of your server — especially in a place that seems so focused on the “experience.” Though, once activated, he was friendly and helpful — guiding us, of course, to the priciest items. It did feel a little like being at a car dealership, but that’s the server we got.

So, let’s see what we went with — there being no specials or anything that we were made aware of. For appetizers we got: sticky ribs with Hoisin chili and tacos two ways with bigeye tuna, salmon, avocado and yuzu. Now, I don’t generally dig on swine (a common refrain on this dumb site), but I will on occasion eat a pork rib. And I’m glad I ate these. They were kind of fried, maybe, and the two that come in the order were relatively large compared to what I’m used to with pig parts. They were kind of crunchy on the outside and shreddy and moist on the inside. The sauce was sweet and spicy, just as you’d hope. This was probably the best thing we ate all evening, though the value prop at almost $14 a rib was a little rough. I also enjoyed the tacos, though they were more like a very small, taco-shaped cannoli with raw fish inside than they were tacos. Ms. Hipster said the smoked salmon taco was her favorite item of the evening. Which, of course, doesn’t bode well for either of us that these were just the appetizers.

So, we moved into our mains: a Morimoto cut prime rib (18.5 oz), Ishiyaki buri bap with yellowtail, rice, pickled vegetables and egg yolk and three sushi rolls. Let’s talk about the steak. It was, by far, the most disappointing item of the evening. It showed up, completely unadorned, on a white plate with two kind of gray-ish slabs of meat floating in a small pool of sauce. It was immediately pretty unappetizing looking. Surprising, once again, for a joint that clearly values presentation. I am not generally a fan of prime rib. It’s what you eat at wedding buffets. We ordered it medium rare, which I would imagine should look somewhat like a medium rare roast beef. This looked… not like that. But, not having a ton of experience with this cut, and sharing it with three other people who do, I figured it looked the way it was supposed to. The flavor was… a little odd. Apparently yakiniku sauce is what it was floating in, which Ms. Hipster said “turned her stomach.” I think her reaction was a combo of the unexpected sweetness of the sauce and the “sad” sight of the thing. I powered through it and enjoyed it mostly because it was expensive and I doused it in the horseradish cream that accompanied it to get some moisture going on. The texture was fine, but the steak itself was pretty flavorless and dry without the attending sauces. I’m not quite sure what we were expecting with the buri bap and the claim it’s to be “cooked tableside,” but that basically involved them delivering a hot bowl of rice with some fish on top that we then held against the inside of the bowl to cook it. So, not tableside, but on our table, by us, and more of a slight searing than a cook. But, semantics, I guess. The rice was decently seasoned and got a little crust on it that provided a good texture akin to paella. There was a little carafe of stuff to pour over it that was good. The yellowtail was uneventful and not exactly plentiful. It was fine. The rolls, though, were really lackluster. Like if I got them from my local sushi joint, I’d wonder if perhaps they’d either run out of fish or the sushi chef was drunk and/or ill. Again, delivered completely unadorned and haphazardly placed on a plate too small for them, two of the three rolls — a toro and scallion and a yellowtail and scallion or maybe one was a spicy roll, but they made so little impact I can’t recall — had almost no fish in them. They were about 90% rice and kind of fell apart when trying to lift them from the plate with chopsticks. The third roll was a spicy shrimp tempura roll, which at least looked like someone paid a little attention to it. Though, again, Ms. Hipster was not a fan of what amounted to a small chunk of fried shrimp placed on top of rice and completely coated in an electric orange sauce (which you see a glob of sitting in front of my beer in the image below). I was fine with it, frankly, but I could see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s bag.

So… we were told by Hipster Jr. that one of his buddies came to MM and said it was the best meal he’d ever had. To be fair, the kid mostly eats Chipotle, so I’m not sure how developed his palate is. I can’t imagine this being anyone’s favorite meal ever, unless they’d only ever eaten at chain restaurants and fast food joints. I do imagine, however, that the experience and perhaps — as happened to this friend — Morimoto coming by the table to chat for a second affected his feelings. I hated to break Hipster Jr.’s heart and tell him about our somewhat disappointing evening. Ms. Hipster is still of the mind that we could take him here for a drink and some popcorn shrimp at the bar or something — as the space is still cool and impressive — but will definitely demure in eating a full meal here again for a while. And, look, maybe we hit them on an off night. Maybe our server was having some sort of personal crisis. And maybe the whole kitchen staff and sushi chefs called in sick and they had to audible. Or perhaps people are just dazzled by the name and the spectacle and forgive the food in lieu of the “I went to MM and met The Iron Chef” of it all.

193 Glenridge Ave. – Montclair
862/333-4833
mmbymorimoto.com