San Sai

We recently checked out this new Japanese spot located across the street from Burlington's waterfront park at 112 Lake Street.  We were across the street waiting for the band Viperhouse to go on stage when we were evacuated for a lightning scare in the tent.  We decided to wait it out at San Sai and grab some food.  I'm not going to lie, we had quite a jag on.  We'd been drinking in the Long Trail VIP tent for a quite a long time before eating.  Given my memory is so strong, I'm pretty sure that it's safe to say that this was a good meal.  The restaurant occupies the location formerly known as Taste.  As far as the decor goes, it still looks pretty much like taste.  From what we noticed, they are focusing on the food and that is a good thing.    They were quite busy when we arrived but they were fairly prompt in keeping us happy and fed.  We're easy guests though, so if you're a pain in the ass, things might be different.  Patience is a virtue.  Anyway, drinks came in a timely manner and the server made sure our glass was never empty.  There's nothing worse than ruining the momentum of someone's buzz.  Luckily she kept us right on track.  We weren't super hungry, so we just ordered a few rolls and an appetizer.  It was some of the best sushi we've ever had in the Burlington area.  We've had much better, but for Burlington, this might be the best.  It tasted very fresh and wasn't dressed up with lots of sauces and other things.  It was all about the fish.  Prices were very reasonable, service was great and the sushi kicked ass.  We'll definitely go back.  Now that I think of it, we actually went back there again a few nights later when we were once again evacuated from the jazz fest tent.  We just had some drinks, but the service was still great.  They had $3 PBR tall boys...what else do I have to say.

I hope this one lasts.  The location could be better.  Taste definitely suffered being so far off Church street.  It's worth the extra few blocks of a drive.  

-H.S. Chompers

You Added Gratuity. Perfect.

You idiot.  That just cost you 2%, unless you were terrible and ignored us.  Let's face it.  The idea behind this blog came up during a week long bender.  Actually it came up multiple times over daytime drinks and now we're finally taking action.  We live in Northern Vermont and like eating.  We like drinking even more.  So much in fact that we might pass up a meal just to fit a few extra cold ones in our stomachs.  If we show up at your restaurant or bar, it could be a blessing or a curse.  It really depends who we are with.  We've been thrown out of places.  We've fallen asleep at the table before the entree was even served (it was New Orleans, stop judging us). We have also sat through 7 course tasting menus with civility and dignity.  We're white trash, but we have credit cards.  Four years ago, we moved up to the Burlington, VT area from Boston.  There was a plethora of great food and pubs down there.  When we got here, it was tough to tell what places were good and what places to stay away from.  It's about time someone got honest around here.  Just because your food is local doesn't mean it's good.  Just because you charged $12 for that drink doesn't mean your bartender knows what they are doing.  We're here to help with that.  We're pros.  If you have a good thing going at your restaurant or bar, look forward to reading this blog.  If you are in the other category, don't worry we've probably only been to your spot once and can't remember because we were drunk.  Cheers!