Ahi & Vegetable

Sometimes keeping things simple really is the best way to go. Like when some hoity toity French chef on a certain cooking competition show tries to make a ceviche three ways for a bunch of ranch hands and of course, the roast pork loin wins. Take THAT, Mattin. Don't mess with Bryan. He is the Top Chef terminator. He cannot be stopped.

Ahi & Vegetable proves that simplicity can work when used with high quality ingredients. Basically you get some Ahi poke, salmon, spicy ahi, even natto, put it on a bed of fresh salad or rice and top it with a killer dressing. Badabing. Good food that's good for you. Unless you eat it every day. Then you can pull a Jeremy Piven and get out of work for being too tired from mercury poisoning.

This sign used to be in the shape of a door key... which confused the hell out of me. So... can I get an extra set of keys made while I wait in line or what? No? Gimme a spicy ahi then.

You can order a set that comes with a salad, rice and miso soup. I usually just get the salad with spicy dressing. I can detect a bit of wasabi in this red saucy bit of goodness. It's not overwhelmingly slap you in the face spicy. It's more like a ninja that sneaks around in your mouth and kicks you before you realize anything happened. They also have a good selection of donburi. I don't think you could go wrong either way here.

Salmon poke vegetable. Good stuff.

As you can imagine, this place gets pretty crowded but for the most part service is swift. Accommodations are cramped so again, as is with a lot of downtown eateries, you might as well take it to go. Unless you like it when someone's butt is on your shoulder while they're standing in line. Hey, if that's your thing, that's just great. Good for you. Just stay the hell away from me you freak.

Lack of seating forced me to retreat back to the office and eat my lunch at my desk like the nerdy kid in school nobody talked to in the cafeteria so he just brown bagged it and never left the classroom. WE HAVE FEELINGS TOO YOU KNOW.

I only know of two locations: Fort Street Mall and near the intersection of Queen and Alakea. Food quality is excellent at both locations and I never had a negative experience to date. If you're on a diet or just looking for some lighter fair after a weekend of pigging out on pizza, buffalo wings, malasadas, sausage and beer, this is a great place to go.