Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Sei Bar

While driving down Broadway in Everett, I noticed a new restaurant, Sei Bar, where Antoinetta's used to be located. Sei Bar is a Sushi, Thai and Asian restaurant so I decided to stop by for dinner one evening and give it a try. I would later find out that they have a Medford location as well.

The Everett location is small and can only fit about sixteen people. It is a casual place with an Asian decor. Their menu is fairly large and includes: Japanese appetizers, Thai appetizers, soups, salads, Japanese entrees, Thai entrees, Noodles and Rice dishes, Chef's Specials, Sushi, Sashimi and Maki rolls. You will find much that is familiar as well as a few different items too. With all the choices available, you should easily be able to find something you like.

We chose to get some appetizers, sushi and a couple of entrees, to get a feel for their food. We started our meal with some miso soup, which comes with the entrees. It was lukewarm though it was otherwise good. The Gyoza (8 for $5.50) were excellent, perfectly fried and filled with lots of tasty meat and veggies. Plus, you got more Gyoza than most other places serve. The Beef Kushiyaki (small $6) were pieces of beef with teriyaki sauce, just like they had Beef Teriyaki, taken them off the skewers and cut them into pieces. The bowl contained plenty of meat, especially for a small, and they were delicious.

The Popcorn Tuna ($7) was a more unusual dish. It contained a large bowl of fried pieces of tuna. I could not believe the amount we received for the price. And they were very good, with an interesting spicy batter and tender tuna. I was disappointed with the Shrimp Tempura ($7) though. The Shrimp could have been bigger and the batter was too heavy and thick, not the way tempura should be. The veggie tempura did contain very fresh veggies but the batter was still too heavy. For sushi, I tried some Maguro (tuna-$4.80), Unagi (eel-$5.10) and Tamago (egg omelet-$3.10). The sushi was fresh enough and tasted good though a bit smaller than some other places.

For main dishes, we tried the Chicken Pad Thai ($8.20) and General Gao's Chicken ($11.20). Both dishes were good sized and very tasty. My wife very much enjoyed the Pad Thai. The General Gao's tended toward the spicy, which I enjoy, but still with some sweetness. One of the better General Gao's I have had in some time.

Service was good, though they did bring out too many dishes at once rather than spacing them out better. As this is a new restaurant though, some allowances have to be made. Overall, many of the dishes are good-sized, reasonably priced and delicious. There were a couple less than stellar items but may be they wil improve over time. I would return again to try some of their other dishes, and maybe even their lunch specials. It is worth checking out.

Sei Bar
918 Broadway
Everett, MA
Phone: 617-381-1880

182 Main St.
Medford, MA
Phone: 781-391-4363

Sei Bar on Urbanspoon

No comments: