UrbanDrinks

The happy hour menu at Dragonfish is covered with 2, 3, 4 and 5 dollar food items. It's a great menu with plenty of variety and should please pretty much anyone (even those who--for whatever reason--have sworn off sushi). Plus, they offer these cheap eats EVERY DAY. Cheap drinks, too. There are four to choose from at just five dollars each...but the regularly priced cocktails are worth a look, too.

We decided to hit Dragonfish for dinner prior to a concert on Saturday night. It was fairly empty...despite the advertisements at each table for March Madness deals. (The place is covered with televisions. A sushi sports bar? Who knew!) The server was quick to stop by our table, and returned on a regular basis to see if we wanted more to eat or drink.

I ordered the Guava MaiTai from the five dollar specialty drink menu. It was heavy on the guava flavor (which makes sense, right?) but refreshing and something that I wouldn't mind ordering again in the future. I kind of think that the guava slowed me down and left me with just one drink for the evening. (I did take a few sips off of the other drink at the table, though!) It was bright green and flavored adequately with pineapple juice...a juice that I do love far more than guava. My opinion, of course.

As far as the many small plates of food that were delivered to our table, I especially enjoyed the avocado roll. Four pieces for three dollars might be steep at your neighborhood sushi boat restaurant...but, at Dragonfish the freshness and high quality make that a pretty reasonable price. I ordered two plates.

We also had the veggie salad rolls that had more vegetables in it than I'm used to. The peanut sauce was a little too runny, though, and ran down my salad roll (and could have hit my arm if I wasn't so quick to react) with every bite. The flavor was good, yes, but the mess made it difficult to eat. (If this was our first date and not our 231st--making up that number, of course--this could have been a little embarrassing.)

As a means to fill up (you know how sushi works...the hunger strikes again soon after leaving the restaurant) I also ordered a bowl of miso. It wasn't quite hot enough (something I'm sure that varies with each bowl) but I was also a little disappointed with the miso flavor itself. I'm not sure that it was bad...I think it was just a little weak. That's all.

Despite the few complaints, this place has a lot going for it. It's cheap. The food is fresh. The service is constant...what a grand concept. And, it's most likely going to please the whole crowd. Plus, it's in a great location...just a block or two up from Pioneer Square (which means it's on the Max line).

Food: Meets
Drinks: Meets
Service: Exceeds
Ambiance: Meets
Value: Exceeds

-b

www.talkeatdrinkportland.blogspot.com

This has to be one of the most horrible Japanese restaurants I've been to. The nigiri sushi pieces of salmon and tuna were $2.45 PER PIECE which is close to what a good Japanese restaurant would charge during normal hours. Not only was it NOT cheap, the people making the nigiri were not trained at all, the nigiri fish pieces were thick, rectangular and icy pieces of fish put on top of a block of rice. It is in no way authentic or even close to good. The fish was, in addition, flavorless. Needless to say, i'll never be back.

I've been here several times for the happy hour. They've got a fantastic happy hour menu and tasty sake coctails... try one with the Pearl sake!

Maybe things are slow in this blah summer and local wags have dubbed this month "Augtober" but it was pleasant to find plenty of seats at 5 PM on a Saturday. I was the only person at the bar, as I was solo. The "sushi hour" offers $1.95 nigari, which are larger than usual, but rolls (4) are $2.45 with other slightly more expensive items. I took the Salmon Katsu for $3.45 which was a nice slab of tempura salmon plus small salad. There was no mention of draft specials but even at regular price, it was worthwhile. They offered harder-to-find selections like Rogue Dead Guy and Sapporo as well as a Porter from an Ashland, OR micro.

Waited over an hour for apps and had the main course delivered about five minutes before the apps were. We missed our movie at the fox and the food was average. The poeple seated next to us who were seat about the ame time as us left and the next table received their food 10 minutes before we did. Never again.

The happy hour ribs are very good, the sake is good and cheap, and the caramel ginger chicken is awesome.

This place has awesome sushi specials during happy hour and tends to get a bit crowded. The bar is located on the other side of the hotel lobby from the restaurant.