Q: positive

A: I had the distinct honor of dining at Hana this past week under the special care of Lori, the owner. I should preface this review by stating that I'm a travel and food writer who has traveled to more than 40 countries and all 7 continents....I'm a chef in Dallas...and I was in the top 5 on season 2 of MasterChef. So the fact that my dinner at Hana was one of the best and most memorable dinners of my entire life should carry at least a bit of weight! Phoenix, you are SO lucky to have this establishment. However, it wasn't the first time I had dined at Hana. Scarcely 3 months before I had eaten sushi there with a local friend while passing through on my way to LA. For her, Hana is the best place to get sushi in central Phoenix. I had to admit, I was dubious about eating sushi in Phoenix, but the freshness and perfect presentation of the sashimi we ordered was stunning. Still...for virtually all their regular customers, Hana is a sushi joint. My second experience was quite a bit different. I was a guest of the owner, and she and her chefs took us through a 15 course menu that consisted of both strictly traditional Japanese presentations, and contemporary twists. For more than 2 hours, the courses kept coming. They started with small bites...refreshingly simple, yet somehow complex, despite only 5 or 6 ingredients each. One was a shooter on a base of Meyer lemon with monkfish liver, quail egg, bonito flake, and caviar. Hot dishes soon followed...tempura lobster with a hot salted tea for dipping. (It made me cry, it was so delicious.) A custard of egg white and dashi broth that hid scallops and shrimp and crab at the bottom...so delicate it basically evaporated in my mouth. (And I cried again.) There was no sushi on our table. That doesn't mean there wasn't raw fish! A mackerel was brought to the table, and we plucked off juicy delicate morsels of incredibly fresh fish. (It's eyes were so clear it appeared to be looking around the room at me.) Once we had finished, they whisked the skeleton off to the deep fryer, and returned the crispy bones for us to munch on. The fact that the chefs at Nana have the skill and ability to produce this kind of world-class meal just blows my mind, when I formerly thought of it as a mere sushi bar. And the fact that it is BYOB...I thought I had died and gone to heaven. So here's what YOU need to do, next time you're ready for some food that will blow your mind: Walk into Nana. Ask for Lori, the owner. Tell Lori that Ben Starr sent you. Tell Lori how much you'd like to spend on dinner, whether that's $20 or $200. Tell Lori to show you something amazing. Forget about the menu. Let the experts decide for you. Lori will make sure you go home full of food that you will dream about that night, and tell friends about the next day. Americans are not accustomed to dining this way, which is a shame. There is a vast trove of knowledge, skill, and creativity hiding in the Hana kitchen. It would be a crime to go there and order a California roll! I am still resonating with the memory of this meal.

Q: negative

A: no, no, no, no, no.... Despite the abundance of restaurants in Las Vegas, my family and I somehow ended up here for dinner because of its proximity to the bowling tournament that my mother was going to be participating in. I yelped it, saw 3 1/2 stars and thought to myself, "ok shouldn't be too bad". Well, it was REALLY BAD. Horrendous service - our waiters seemed to have completely vanished upon taking our orders. Food didn't come until about 30-45 minutes later, and when they did, it was cold. What the f***?! Entrees we ordered: Seafood porridge - I asked them to add the preserved egg, which I had been craving. Well, the porridge was bland and I had to keep adding soy sauce to make it better. The preserved egg tasted funky, not at all like what I was used to in LA's Chinatown. Gobo beef - EW. They were basically big cubes of beef (bigger than bite size, so it was a little hard chewing on them) that seemed to have been boiled in soy sauce. They also seemed a little bloody. Salt and pepper pork chops - They were pretty standard. A little bit dry. Hot braised chicken - This was the only semi-decent dish. But it was basically sweet and sour chicken. Shrimp fried rice - This one arrived to the table first, a good 20 minutes before the actual entrees arrived. So it was cold by the time we started eating. Not good. I didn't try their dimsum; if that's what I wanted, I could've just gone to Chinatown. But this is definitely not a good dinner spot.

Q: negative

A: The bagels are good but this morning the service was horrible. I walked in and to my surprise there was only one person ahead of me in line. So I thought to myself, "great, this should be quick." Well, I was wrong. I sat there for over 20 minutes for two bagels?! The employees seemed to be taking their sweet time and messing up orders.

Q: positive

A:
Was so happy that they were open early on a Sat. morning. I'd just eaten breakfast nearby but couldn't resist stopping in after hearing about this place. The lady at the counter is so very nice. I brought home a guava and cheese empanada and a piece of tiramisu. Both were out of this world. This is definitely a place that I'll revisit often.