1722 Routh Street
Dallas, TX 75201-2503
(214) 220-2828
www.tei-an.com
Price: $-$$
Went to Tei-An (in One Arts Plaza) with some friends the other day. I’ve heard a lot about this place and was really excited to finally get to try their food! I’ve read nothing but positive reviews about Tei-An and had a list of foods that other reviewers suggested to try. Tei-An is a Japanese restaurant that is known for its soba noodles and other traditional Japanese dishes. Supposedly it is quite authentic.
I normally don’t blog about the décor, but this place was pretty amazing. The décor was traditional Japanese with a simple, sophisticated twist. It was clean, contemporary and chic and probably one of the most well decorated restaurants I’ve seen in a while. The bathroom was the coolest part!! :P The doors to the stalls are clear glass, but as soon as you lock it, the glass frosts up! How freaking awesome is that?!? :D
Anyways, it’s time to talk about the food! For appetizers we ordered the White Seaweed Salad. $9~
This dish came highly recommended in many of the reviews I read online. This was very fresh and light. I’ve never had white seaweed before. It actually reminded me of the Chinese Swallow’s Nest (if you’ve had it before then you know what I’m talking about). The texture and look is very similar to that. I wasn’t too impressed though…maybe the reviews hyped it too much. I admit that the quality was really fresh but overall it was ok.We also ordered the starter Buckwheat Risotto. $14~
Upon serving, they pour a little bit of truffle oil over the dish. I liked this dish a lot. It was super cheesy and creamy and filled with mushrooms. The flavor and texture of the risotto worked together really well. The slightly al dente texture of the buckwheat risotto with the cream and cheese created great contrast.Now on to the entrees. Most of us ordered soba (buckwheat noodles, can be hot or cold) since that is their specialty. For those of you that aren’t familiar with dipping soba… what you do is mix all the ingredients in with the dipping sauce… take a little bit of the cold soba noodle, dip it in the sauce, and slurp!!
This is the Poached Egg Soba (a cold dipping soba). $9.50~
You have the dipping sauce along with another bowl of a poached egg. You can mix everything together or dip in the sauce and egg separately. The soba and sauce was very light. I felt like the sauce didn’t have enough flavor and the egg was almost tasteless. I did like the mix between the noodles and the egg yolk though. Other than that it was very unimpressive. I felt like the soba was a little too thick and the texture was not right. What a disappointment. What is funny is that this was my favorite entrée out the three that I tried… :/Next is the Creamy Japanese Yam Soba (cold dipping soba). $13~
If you’ve ever had the Japanese yam over rice, you know the texture of the yam. I’ve never liked the yams prepared this way before…the texture is mushy and runny and I always felt kind of gross eating it. Needless to say, I didn’t like this at all. The dipping sauce was the same as the Poached Egg Soba and equally bland…I ordered the Duck Soba (hot soup soba). $10~
This was also highly recommended on online reviews. I’m not sure what those reviewers had but there was nothing interesting about this dish whatsoever. The entire dish had 1 flavor….bland bland and more bland. There was no contrasting flavors or textures. There was all of 3 slices of duck, which were flavorless. An absolutely one dimensional dish. I had to trade it for the Poached Egg Soba because I didn’t care to eat it anymore. Sigh~ It’s always upsetting when you eat something that’s not up to par, but it’s even worse when your expectations are already really high and everything (reviews, word of mouth, décor, service…) had hyped it up even more and then it all comes crashing down. T_TSo I was still somewhat hungry after everything. We decided to get dessert. A meal is not complete without sweets plus I just really wanted to end on a good note. We ordered the Green Tea Flan $6~ (which was also highly reviewed and praised) and the Black Sesame Mousse $6~.
I love black sesame, so I was quite excited about the desserts. The desserts did not disappoint. The black sesame mousse was pretty awesome. Good flavor, good texture, I could’ve had nothing but that for dinner. The flan was good as well. 
Although the texture of it was quite thick and dense, so I was confused as to why they called it a flan. Flans are usually really soft and light… But the flavor was great and I didn’t mind the texture. It worked well together. I felt a little better after the desserts…the restaurant had somewhat redeemed itself...just a bit.These were the other dishes that I didn’t get to try:
Black Sesame Soba (cold dipping soba) $10~
Short Rib Soup Curry Rice (a special of the day).
This actually looked really good. I wish I could’ve tried some of it. I’m sure it was definitely more flavorful than all the soba dishes. Overall, I was incredibly disappointed. I’m not an expert in Japanese soba or anything so I don’t know if this was as authentic as everyone said, but I would hope that the real soba would have more flavor than this. The dishes were just bland and uninspiring. I did not feel happy while eating it. Other than the risotto and desserts, I would not order any of the other dishes again. I’m somewhat tempted to go back just so I can try other stuff to let the restaurant redeem itself, but another part of me just thinks that it would be a waste of money. I definitely don’t recommend the soba dishes, but if you still want to check this place out, the décor and service are top notch and maybe the other dishes aren’t quite as boring.
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Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I got the steak medium rare of course (the only way to eat a steak!) with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The steak was full of flavor. It was slightly more medium than medium rare but that wasn’t too big of a deal. The grilled shrimp was delicious and quite big. The dish as a whole was pretty good. Plus it was free so I have no complaints. Haha. Although if you are craving steaks, I would recommend you go to an actual steakhouse instead of Houlihan’s. 
It was very light and fresh, but also very small… If you are hungry, this wouldn’t satisfy you. The flavor was really good…nothing was overpowering (I was a little worried that the mint would be too much). It’s a good dish, but for 13 bucks I would want to eat something more filling. 
It was SUPER good! The donuts were crispy on the outside and light, warm, fluffy on the inside. The donuts had a bit of cinnamon sugar in it so it was good on its own, but the sauces, especially the chocolate one were divine!! The chocolate kahlua ganache was sooooooooo yummy. After all the donuts were gone, I licked the glass clean! No joke! :P The white chocolate sauce was a little bit more runny in its consistency…more like a glaze than the kahlua one. If you are a chocolate lover, you MUST try this!!!!
It was nice and creamy and full of ingredients. There were lots of mushrooms, crisped prosciutto and peas. The top was crusted with parmesan!! I’m hungry just thinking about it now… The green and white pasta with the peas also added a splash of color. Since it was a cream sauce, it was a little heavy, but it was totally what I wanted!
The pizza was also a great choice. It was not greasy at all. It was a change from typical pizza with marinara. The pesto made it more interesting and the combination of the onions and chicken was great. And the crust was awesome. My favorite part of a pizza is definitely the crust. I think the crust can make or break a pizza.
They weren’t too impressed with this dish. The noodles were overcooked so they were a little too soft. The sauce was average. It wasn’t a bad dish, but not memorable either.
This is his staple Italian pasta dish. Any new Italian place, he’ll have to order the Fettucine Alfredo. He loved it! He said this was one of the most authentic Alfredo he’s had in a long time. Everything from the look to the pasta to the hint of lemony tartness was spot on.
It was what I expected a crème brulee to be, creamy and smooth with a nice crunchy sugary shell on top.
I saw plantains and spinach and I was sold! But…my excitement was short lived. The chicken was quite tender and had good flavor, but the plantains were slightly undercooked and dry. Despite the plantains, I still enjoyed the dish. The chicken was cooked nicely and the sauce and spinach complemented it very well. 
This was my other choice as my entrée. I liked this dish a lot. It was an interesting twist on the southern classic of chicken fried chicken and potatoes. It had nice burst of pepper in every bite. I love pepper! Can’t get enough of it! And you can never go wrong with fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The jalapeno peppers on top of the chicken added some serious heat! YUMM! I ended up swapping my dish to eat more of this one. Hehe. 
The beef was perfectly cooked…sooooo tender and juicy. The potato was silky smooth and paired wonderfully with the beef. This wasn’t my dish so I didn’t get to try all the elements, but I’m not a fan of eggplant so it was ok that I skipped over that. 
She was very very disappointed with the dish. She said the noodles were really dry and just overall not good. She said to rate this dish half a cookie just because she was hungry and forced it down…otherwise she said it deserves zero cookies. 
