Restaurant reviews: Sushi Alley, Senor Fajitas, Shanghai Avenue Super Buffet
BY SCOTT CHERRY World Scene Writer
Sunday, January 20, 2013
1/20/13 at 4:27 AM
Don't know what's for dinner? Find Scott Cherry’s restaurant guide.Original Print Headline: Sushi Alley offerings fit the bill
This is a recap of Scott Cherry's restaurant reviews in last week's Weekend section. The full reviews are available at tulsaworld.com/cherrypicks
SUSHI ALLEY
1730 Utica Square
918-592-5539
Food: 
Atmosphere: 
Service:
(on a scale of 0 to 4 stars)
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; accepts all major credit cards.
I ordered the ishiyaki beef ($18) because I wanted to see the konro grill. The grill is a small burner topped with a smooth, hot rock. It is brought to the table, and diners cook their pieces of beef (or sashimi) to their liking on the sizzling-hot rock.
Four ounces of beef was sliced into 10 or so pieces, plenty to share with the table. First, we dipped the meat into a beef sauce with our chopsticks (diners are more or less expected to use chopsticks or their fingers) and placed it on the rock to cook. A spicy-sweet mustard sauce was available to dip the meat into after cooking, and I thought it was delicious either way.
We passed around five different sushi rolls. They all were fresh and flavorful, but my favorite was one of Sushi Alley's "select" rolls, the taz ($12). It included grilled asparagus, avocado and micro greens topped with raw salmon, fresh dill and a side of lemon. The texture was almost creamy, and it had a wonderful flavor.
SENOR FAJITAS
4421 S. Mingo Road
918-660-7188
Food:
Atmosphere:
Service:
(on a scale of 0 to 4 stars)
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday; accepts all major credit cards.
While deciding on our entrees, we ordered the appetizer sampler ($8.55). The over-sized platter included a huge portion of beef and bean nachos dotted with tomato, onion and jalapenos; two flautas, one beef, one chicken; and a fajita-beef quesadilla with pico de gallo, guacamole and sour cream.
The fried tortillas on the tube-shaped flautas had an almost flaky consistency, and the nachos were flavorful and filling.
Sharing this appetizer would be enough for dinner most nights, but we soldiered on with two entrees, chicken and shrimp ($8.95) and the Acapulco dinner ($9.45).
SHANGHAI AVENUE SUPER BUFFET
803 N. Aspen Ave., Broken Arrow
918-459-5888
Food:
Atmosphere:
Service: self-serve
(on a scale of 0 to 4 stars)
Lunch, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner, 4-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; lunch $6.45 ($3.69 ages 4-10), dinner $7.95 ($4.69 ages 4-10); accepts all major credit cards.
The five food stations hold a pretty standard lineup of dishes, with a heavy emphasis on chicken. The only seafood items I saw that night were spicy shrimp, mussels and peel-and-eat shrimp.
I passed on the mussels but had both shrimp dishes, and they were fine. Other items that stood out were the chicken teriyaki (much more flavorful and tender than it appeared to be), lightly fried honey chicken, fried green beans, cashew chicken (with chunks of zucchini and carrot), fried rice with egg, beef and broccoli, barbecue short ribs, tapioca pudding, and a chocolate mocha mousse cake.
