Restaurant Review: Kami Shu Sushi and Thai Food

Great restaurants balance great food while complementing with a great service; it’s what the business is all about. Getting the dishes out, keeping the customer happy and at the end of the night, having a post-service beer or two.

But what happens when you encounter that restaurant, that although the food is delicious, the service is not up to par? Do you go back and give them a second chance? Do you not even give it a second thought and just have another beer while the wait for your entree is now 30 minutes? It’s a personal choice, one we need to stand by.

I could blame the poor service at Kami Shu on the fact that they’ve only been open for a few months; it could be that on that specific night their chef wasn’t in the kitchen. We could blame in on the fact that the restaurant was filled to the brim. But, let’s not make any excuses. I do want to point out I visited Kami Shu only one time, and yes…that could be the excuse. But, we said no excuses right?

We ordered two appetizers and an entree. Appetizers arrived separately (about 10 minutes difference). Trying to get our waiter’s attention was like trying to get bacon out of a chicken! Mid-course we ordered water (water in DR is not served on the tables like in the US; you have to buy water bottles) and had to repeat this request 2 times until someone finally remembered to bring us water. Thank God we weren’t choking, right?

The Crab Croquettes were soft, pillowy bites of goodness, creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside with a relish/mayo based sauce that complemented the crab (although not a very pronounced flavor of crab) very well.  

The Wakame Salad was refreshing, with a hint of bacon bits (or fat?), which is always amazing in my book. After our appetizers, we ordered the Red Beef Curry and waited. And waited. Oh, and waited. Finally, our waiter and (I am assuming) the Manager came to our table announcing that they had just run out of Red Curry. Had they put in our order when we requested it, there would be a Red Curry Picture but alas, they had run out. She recommended their Yellow Curry and we went for it.

Yellow Beef Curry with the highest spice level (knowing asked for this since we knew Dominicans don’t tend to use much spice) and it was a great dish. The beef was still moist, the creamy sauce was spicy but the sweetness of the coconut balanced it out. Water chestnuts, peppers, onions and green beans all mingled and swam in this liquid.

What would have been perfect with it? Jasmine Rice. Jasmine rice that we never received. Ever. It wasn’t on the menu, so when we ordered we asked the waiter if it was accompanied with rice, to which he answered no. Later on at the end of the night, while talking to someone else that worked there, we find out that all curries come out with Jasmine rice. Would’ve been amazing with Jasmine rice.

Wakame Salad

Crab Croquettes with Kami Sauce (relish based)

Thai Yellow Beef Curry (Spicy)