Cucus

Phở needs good broth. Good broth takes days and lots of roasted bones. This Phở had weak and tasteless browth.

The food is excellent, and the waiter and cook were literally two of the nicest people that I’ve ever encountered. I had a selection of sushi, which was great, and my husband had a hibachi steak dish that he couldn’t stop devouring. We will definitely be going again.

Went in for lunch, and it doesn’t look like anything has changed in décor or feel from the old places that have come and gone from this location. If the flooring wasn’t the white/​green tile with the reds of the rest of the place, would feel a lot nicer. I stayed for a little over an hour at my choice and only 3 others came in.
First impressions, wasn’t sure if I should seat myself but was directed to a table yet I thought it was more come up to the register for service. Menu was big, but had blank slots in the back, no cover page/​logo, and was straight to the menu, could be improved upon and looked rushed. Was seated at a clean table, nice chairs, booths also looked comfortable.
Water service was pretty prompt, little lacking at first, but then again I went through about 5 glasses in an hour. Waiter seemed inexperienced but knew right when I was ready to order, some waiters don’t pay attention which was nice change compared to some.
Ordered the Lunch Chicken Bento (8.95) to eat in and the 3 Maki Roll lunch special (12.95) to go. I didn’t recall seeing miso being included in the lunch special, but got a cup. The miso was pretty light, green onion and really small tofu pieces as well. Wasn’t bad, pretty much on par with expectations.
Bento box was pretty big, at least it looked as such. No small salad which is what you may get at other places. The gyoza was just 1 piece, but also under-​cooked. The Veggie Tempura was hit and miss. Thought there was a little too much breading and slightly overcooked, except on the broccoli piece, which was actually perfect. A mushroom tempura piece was a nice touch. The sauce was served in a nice dipping dish which was greatly appreciated. The California roll was pretty small from what I expect at a restaurant, especially from other places in the valley, GP, Roseburg, KF, and even Brookings. The pieces are similar to what you’d find in the packages in a value/​budget grocery store. Mostly cucumber as well, sliced really thin which didn’t make much sense. The white rice which was served was really good and warm. You’d expect that, but from my experience many places don’t have good rice, this was a very good helping and surprised me more than anything else in the bento box. Included half an orange, cut up, which is a nice touch, but seemed out of place, if this was a little higher quality place I’d fit in, but felt out of place.
Now to the chicken… different. Not the usual grilled with sauce on top, no, more stir fried feel/​taste, little dry, sitting in a big pool of sauce that had onions in it. Onions were sweet, the sauce was slightly bland, chicken was there, but the pool it was sitting in just left me disappointed. Now if it was grilled with spices over onions with teriyaki and more of a korean bbq vibe, would have made this stand out, but don’t know what they were going for.
My to go sushi came when the check came, which was nice. I ordered the Phili, Alaska, and teriyaki chicken (it was different) maki rolls. The price was right for all 3, and a better deal in price than if I went to a grocery store. They were packaged all together and labeled, didn’t need them, but a nice touch. Plastic carrier looked like I bought it off the shelf.
The chicken roll was actually better chicken than in the bento, but this taste fried. The size of bother the smoked and normal salmon in the other rollers were that of a carrot slice. If I ordered them not on special, I would have felt a little cheated for the money.
All in all, I think they could turn out to be something in this spot, more than the last places that were there. Granted they make some changes. I am interested in trying a specialty roll though. This however is not a place I’d take a date personally for sushi, many other great places in the valley for such. But if you’re in in Phoenix and want something for lunch, not a horrible choice. Rather here than buying sushi from a store.

Food is fantastic. It is the best Sushi in Medford.

I honestly don’t quite know what to make of this place. They took over the old location for Phở Sur in Phoenix. The sign that directs you to the restaurant was created with fluorescent duct tape and the restaurant’s placard is a temporary sign hung up over the old Phở Sur sign. The initial impression this gives is that they are not fully committed and/​or prepared to succeed in this location. I asked the waitress how to pronounce the name of the restaurant and she told me she really didn’t know, then proceeded to give me several different options for pronouncing it. I asked her who the owner was — he was cooking in the kitchen. Um… The waitstaff doesn’t even know what the name of the restaurant is??? Sounds like something out of an episode of Restaurant Impossible. Okay… On to the food. The tempura was extremely over-​breaded with Panko. Crispy, yes, but way too heavy on breading. I couldn’t even finish it because it felt like a brick in my stomach. The one high point of the meal was the sushi. It was creatively displayed on the plate and the sauces were interesting. This level of high-​end presentation was severely juxtaposed to the mediocre service and ambience. Prices are on par with what I would expect in a location like this. I would like to see them fully commit to creating a restaurant here and evening out the quality of their dishes. If everything else was as good as the sushi, they might make a go of it.

A couple have take over this location from Phở Shur and are serving a similar Asian menu with emphasis on sushi and American style bentos. I had the chicken yaki udon: thick firm noodles with chicken, zucchini, onions, broccoli and mushrooms. It was good but a little too much sodium; reminding me of noodle houses of the last century that would leave me thirsty for hours after a meal. Cucus’s serving size was too much for me so I took left-​overs home.
The furnishings haven’t changed. The menu includes Thai and Japanese dishes. I didn’t hear enough words from the server to determine his nationality, but most Asian restaurants in this area are operated by Koreans and Korean-​Americans.

Great new place with yummy sushi and teriyaki. The portions are great and the food is delicious. They have fabulous bento boxes too.

New Japanese restaurant in Phoenix. Good Sushi, although they have some sauces I’ve never seen before or had… Like a very sweet white sauce almost like icing for cinnamon rolls! The server was very slow and that’s probably my biggest complaint. The sushi rolls came on HUGE plates and if we ordered more than one at a time nothing would fit on the tables. The food was very fresh and worth the price I would say. The be to box could easily feed 2 maybe even 3 people! Overall experience was great.