Last last Friday, a group of us decided to go to happy hour. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of my friends so I was pretty excited. I suggested that we go to Ra (a new sushi restaurant in Plano at the Shops at Legacy).
Ra Sushi Bar Restaurant
7501 Lone Star Dr. #B130
Plano, TX 75024
(469) 467-7400
http://www.rasushi.com/
Price: $ (for Happy Hour)
They have a kick-ass happy hour. It’s from 3-7PM every Monday thru Saturday! They have a ton of food specials along with drink specials. I’m not a big drinker so I’m totally there for the food!! Yeah!! :P
It was packed…as always. Took us 25 minutes to wait for a table, which was quite lucky because they initially estimated 45 minutes. After we sat down and got our drinks, we immediately started ordering a bunch of stuff to share.
First we have the Uchi No Salad (mixed greens & soy ginger vinaigrette), which is basically the house salad. $4.50~ I like their salad a lot. It’s fresh, and the dressing is not too sour or overwhelming.
During happy hour, the appetizers are half off...but I’m going to post the regular prices for each dish. We got the Spicy Sesame Chicken Wings (glazed chicken wings with a sweet and spicy sesame sauce). $6.75~ I really like their wings. I don’t really taste the spiciness but it’s got nice flavors with a hint of sweetness. The meat is always pretty tender.
Next we have the Spinach Gyoza (sautéed Asian pot stickers served with sesame-mustard sauce). $5.25~ This is one of my favorites in their happy hour menu. The dip definitely makes the gyoza even tastier. You can never go wrong with adding Sriracha to anything! :P
We ordered the Viva Las Vegas Roll (Kani Kama and cream cheese rolled in rice and seaweed, lightly tempura battered and topped with spicy tuna, crab mix and sliced lotus root, finished with eel sauce & spinach tempura flakes). $11.75~ This is one of their most popular rolls…according to the waiter. The presentation was really nice, especially with the fried lotus root on top. Flavors were also really good. Texturally could’ve had more variation, but overall not bad. Everyone liked it so much we ordered another one.
One of my friends ordered the Lobster Spring Rolls (lobster mixed with garlic mango sauce, cream cheese and mild peppers wrapped in wonton paper and lightly fried). $9.75~ I didn’t personally get to try it but everyone else said it was really good and the sauce was delicious. Although I’m not sure why they called it a “spring roll”, since normally spring rolls are not fried…
I had gotten a recommendation to try the Scallop Dynamite awhile back so I ordered it. (Scallops and Asian mushrooms baked in dynamite sauce.) $7.25~ It was quite tasty…but I prefer larger scallops. They had these mini scallops in the dish, and the overall size of the dish was very small.
I ordered the Vegetable Tempura (lightly battered vegetables: asparagus, mushrooms, sweet potato, broccoli, and squash, served with tempura dipping sauce). $6.75~ I just wanted to get more veggies in the meal. Hehe. I had mixed feelings with this one. Most everything was good except the sweet potatoes were extremely undercooked and were crunchy. Usually sweet potatoes are done much softer, and it being my favorite kind of tempura, that was a huge disappointment. We complained to the waiter and he told us he would get us a new batch of sweet potatoes. That was nice of him, but the new batch was still a little undercooked. Better...but still not good enough. :(
Next is the Chicken Yakitori (three chicken skewers sautéed in a teriyaki sauce). $7.25~ These were good, but pretty standard…nothing too special or memorable. For the price, I probably wouldn’t order it again.
Finally we have the Crispy Spicy Tuna (spicy tuna mix with soy chili sauce, served on top of crispy sesame rice balls). $9.50~ They used to give much more than just 4 pieces, so this was definitely NOT worth the money. I’ve had it in the past and I liked it. The texture is a little different so people usually have different reactions to it. Mainly because the crispy rice balls can be a little chewy and hard, so some people don’t like that. Even though it tends to stick to your teeth, I like the texture of the rice balls. I think the crispiness creates a good contrast with the soft spicy tuna.
Now what’s a happy hour without some DRINKS?!? Hehe. This is the Tsunami Punch (60 oz. blend of cold sake, liqueurs, and tropical juices; served in a fish bowl; it’s meant for 2). $13~ The other drinks that we ordered were $2 beers, and $4 cocktails (Pamatini and Sake Sangria). Unfortunately I only took a picture of the Punch because it was so freaking massive! But you are not missing much… Other than the normal beers, the drinks were blehhh. Mostly just watered down fruit juice… Even the massive Punch was mainly ice, and it was finished very quickly. :-/
Everyone was stuffed after the meal. Overall, the food was satisfying. However, since the last time I was at Ra, they have reduced the portions. A little disappointing, but with the amount of food we ordered, I guess it was not a bad thing…haha. And it was still a pretty good deal…after subtracting all the drinks from the tab, the bill only came out to be $55 for 6 people.
So if you want a big selection of foods and an upbeat/modern setting, Ra is a good place to go. But if you are just looking to get some good drinks/cocktails, it’s probably not the best choice.
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Afterwards, 2 of my friends and I walked around the Shops at Legacy for a little bit and decided to have some dessert. No matter how full I am, there’s ALWAYS room for dessert!! It’s like I have a 2nd stomach for all the sweet stuff! :P
Main Street Bakery
7200 Bishop Road, Ste D11
Plano, TX 75024
(972) 309-0404
http://www.themainbakery.com/
Price: $
We went to Main Street Bistro & Bakery, just across from the Plano Angelika Theater. I was told that they have really good desserts because the owner is a pastry chef.
I went in with high hopes, but was quickly shot down… T_T
We got some tea and coffee and ordered the Lava Cake $6~ and the Profiteroles (a classic French Pâte a Choux, filled with vanilla bean ice cream, topped with rich ganache chocolate sauce) $7~, which is basically like a large cream puff, but instead of the cream, they put in a scoop of ice cream. 
I love chocolate ‘lava’ cakes…mainly for the warm and gooey chocolaty center that oozes out when you cut it open. We were all very excited about the desserts.
However, we all dug into the Lava Cake, and there was NO lava!! What What?!??!! I was quite upset…that’s the best part!!! >.<*
The Profiteroles were also quite dry. Also they said on the menu that it is filled with vanilla bean ice cream… It wasn’t vanilla bean…it was just regular vanilla ice cream (as you can see in the picture). There’s a BIG difference if you’ve ever had vanilla bean ice cream before. So desserts were a big letdown. :(
Not a good way to end the night. I would NOT recommend this place at all. The service wasn’t good enough to counteract the food either. Come to think of it, I’ve had other pastries from this place in the past, and they were all dry and mediocre. The dessert display case might ‘look’ delicious and tempting, but that’s all it is…pretty but no substance to back it up.
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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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