Shiro

Shiro, a restaurant that serves hibachi (grilled) entrees and sushi galore is the best place to go if you want Japanese food; that is, the best place by local standards.

Let’s be honest here; the sushi competition in the local area is pretty much a market of monopolistic competition. There are two places around here where you can go if you want decent sushi; East Gate Asian Bistro, or Shiro. Shiro, despite being way better than the latter, does, however, have its cons.

The first thing that hits you when you walk into Shiro is the smell; the smell of golden brown shrimp tempura, aged hibachi grills, and, if you get too close, the hibachi chef’s body odor. The smell is overwhelming, and, considering you’ll be spending a considerable amount of time at the place, you better get used to it. If you come during the dinner rush or the lunch rush, you should pray that nobody orders hibachi; otherwise, the whole place will again be filled with the odor of fried food, shrimp, and a whole heap of unidentified smells. Needless to say, by the time you walk out of those handprint-stained doors, you will be smelling like greasy mess..

The second thing that hits you when you walk into Shiro is the lighting and the hygenic discrepancies sprinkled throughout the establishment. The actual restaurant is very dimly lit, perhaps because the owner insists on covering the windows with wax paper (probably not to show the people walking by how empty the place often is). You know that feeling of coming out of the dimly lit theatre? When you look up at the bright sun and squint so hard that your eyes are like coin slots? That’s how it is walking out of Shiro every single time.

Now, hygiene in a restaurant that serves sushi is especially important; you would not want to get sick from eating contaminated raw fish. At first glance, everything looks spotless; that is, until you sit down. If you eat there often and you sit at a different table each time, you will notice the slight discrepancies in the place. For example, you can pop off a seat from a number of chairs, a good few of the tables are sticky to the touch, and the dishes are sometimes coated with old food. If you’re really unlucky, there will be a time where the grease from the grill would have spread to the floor, making every step sound like you’re wearing clown shoes; a squeak each time you move. Don’t even get me started on the kitchen! It’s usually such a mess, with hidden stains waiting to pop out and scare you, with the chef’s shirts hung up next to the fridge, with leaks from the pipes coming out from under the sink; it’s absolutely horrendous.

Finally, the service; most of the employees are teens, which, don’t get me wrong, is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes the restaurant is so empty that the employees have nothing to do but wait on you! Now, you may ask, why is this a bad thing? The relationship between customer and server is a weird one; and, it makes it even more weird when your server is constantly eyeing you from the other side of the room, wondering how long it is going to take for you to order, and the such. To be rushed as a customer is not a good thing; a customer should be able to enjoy their meal without constant interruptions. Now, when the wannabe waiters and waitresses are not constantly interrupting your meal time, they can usually be found on their phones. Even the general manager is on her phone in the back! This paints a negative image of the employees there, and really proves the baby boomer’s remarks about our “lazy generation”. There have also been instances where you will have to flag down a server because they are too busy talking about whatever their boyfriend or girlfriend is doing with them that night. It is understandable that these teens want to earn quick cash, and they’re young, blah blah blah, just kids, and all that junk. But let’s be honest here; these kids are the future of America (unfortunately), and to be acting in an unprofessional manner when there are people who depend on them to do their job efficiently, is not setting a good example for the next generation. A job, no matter how small it pays, should have the most amount of effort put into it.

Now, keep in mind; this is all coming from a previous employee of the establishment. Yes, the things I have said so far may have seemed terrible, but remember what I said earlier? That Shiro is the best place to get japanese food within the local area? There is one good reason why.

The only reason; the food. Oh my lord, the food. As a teen who is constantly hungry and will eat anything in sight, the sight and smell of sushi and hibachi is a heavenly sight. Compared to the bland, almost rubbery fish at East Gate Asian Bistro, the impact of the first bite of a fish from Shiro is comparable to that of a punch to the face. It’s an acquired taste to be sure; raw fish is intimidating to some, but to me, it is a treat and an experience. Immediately the saltiness of that salmon sashimi is countered with the soft pockets of fat laced throughout the slice of fish, each chew an explosion of flavor within your mouth; the texture of the fish feeling like butter, and you can taste the sea with each swallow. A bit of background info; in Japanese culture, food preparation is considered to be an art, and therefore, an experience that needs to be experienced to its fullest. As such, with each plate of fish, you have an abundance of choices; you can have lemon to go with your fish to give it a good sour burst, you can have pickled radish with your fish to give it a nice fresh flavor, or you can just pair it off with simple soy sauce to add some more salt. It comes with pickled ginger, something to cleanse the palate to get the cursed aftertaste washed away. It comes with wasabi, if you’re feeling really adventurous. It comes with cucumbers to give it more moisture. The sushi chef does not make you a meal; he makes you an art piece that you can interact with and craft into your own, therefore appealing to a customer’s wants and needs. After you finish the salmon sashimi, you start to get a bit sick of the flavor; so you move on to the next fish. And there it is; a totally new flavor that is nothing like what you had before. This will continue on and on until you are finally satisfied. The best part about sushi, sashimi, and nigiri at Shiro is the amount of variety that is in each plate; the amount of thought and effort that goes into creating each meal. If you get sushi at Shiro, you are not only paying for simple raw fish; you are paying for an experience that would be otherwise hard to find in Loudoun county.

Of course, I haven’t even had the chance to touch upon the hibachi entrees at Shiro. Getting hibachi, similar to getting sushi, is an experience. If you sit at the grill, you are not only paying for the food, but for the time you spend seeing the food cooked. The goal of the chef is to entertain, and he does a surprisingly good job of it, despite his old age and yellow-toothed smile. Whether that be hitting a broccoli piece across the room, playing the knife game with mature audiences, flipping eggs, or simply telling jokes, a time at the hibachi grill will always be a good one. It is a unique and respectable challenge towards the chef; to make good food, as well as entertain the customers. Luckily, the chef excels in the food area as well. I once asked the chef what his secret to his food was; he looked at me, smiled and said, “Butter. Lots of butter.”. Now, it may sound intimidating (especially to those who are looking to lose weight) to hear that tons of butter is going into your food, but in cooking, fat is flavor. And butter is full of fat. A hibachi entree will grant you one very important thing: satisfaction. Each bite is full of buttery goodness, whether that be the vegetables, rice, or the meat. A satisfying grill flavor is always present, and eating it while it’s hot results in an oddly fascinating plume of smoke emerging out of your mouth. After the meal, if you even finish it, you’ll immediately want to take a nap. Now, future customers be warned; you probably don’t want to eat this in the morning because you won’t be able to stay awake!

So, yes, Shiro has its pros and cons, it may not have the best service, the best organization, and the best lighting, but to me, it’s a home away from home. Despite their faults, the employees have always been people I can call friends, and, although it may take a little bit of pushing to do their jobs correctly, they have always pulled through, despite some mistakes here and there. I am definitely not perfect when it comes to being a server; dealing with customers is a surprisingly demanding job! The location isn’t exactly ideal either; it is located in a small town center filled with local businesses and hidden by some trees. As such, we don’t get as many customers as East Gate Asian Bistro, which is right next to a Harris Teeter. In fact, the building has been in disrepair for some time; the whole shopping center, even. The people there are kind, and it is a place to be at peace by yourself or with peers surrounding you.

In an area populated by two restaurants that serve sushi, and only one that serves hibachi, your choices are pretty limited. However, Shiro has East Gate Asian Bistro beat when it comes to sushi and hibachi. Locals who have a craving for a small taste of Japan can come to Shiro and find what they are looking for. So yes, Shiro is the best sushi restaurant locally. But, say, what if it were located anywhere else? Say, the city? Perhaps a place with a more competitive sushi market? Shiro would simply not survive. With its relatively lackluster appearance, and inability to have fast, efficient service in a packed restaurant, Shiro would not do well in a more competitive place. Luckily, we are in suburban northern Virginia, and surrounded by chains you can find literally anywhere else in the world. Local businesses are somewhat a rarity around here, and I for one, will jump at any chance to support a local business, as long as the quality is good enough. So, if you want an experience and don’t want to get some crappy grocery store sushi or grilled meat, come on down to Shiro; a place to enjoy time by yourself or with peers alike!

Shiro

24650 Southpoint Dr, Ste 130

Chantilly, VA 20152