Datebook Diner: Pieces of Samurai's puzzle don't fit well

Joe Xu, 33, and Edison Li, 32 (right), are master chefs at the newly opened Samurai Sushi & Hibachi in West Des Moines. (Credit: Eric Rowley/Metromix)

Preliminary visit; not yet rated.

A restaurant is a lot like a puzzle. When all of the pieces fit, diners enjoy a smooth, seamless experience. When pieces don't jive, confusion ensues and disappointment often follows. At Samurai, where cheap plastic plates top expensive granite, French/American/Japanese food is prepared by Chinese and Korean chefs and the "hibachi" in the venue's name is not a hibachi but a teppan, the pieces do not quite fit together.

Space: Overwhelmingly spacious, with generic "big box" ambience, Samurai's high ceilings and open spaces seemed vacuous and cold on a slow Tuesday night. Gorgeous persimmon walls weighted with lacquered black wainscoting should have warmed the space, but combined with chilly elements, such as stainless steel and granite, they failed to do so. One hopes a full-house Saturday night warms the echo-filled emptiness that made us shiver.

Service: Both ends of the service continuum from doting hospitality to resentful surliness were at play here. Language problems made ordering difficult. Male antics including a tasteless display in which the teppanyaki chef made a small doll "urinate" sake into diners' open mouths were friendly and flamboyant, but female servers seemed downtrodden and angry.

Menu: Proprietors describe Samurai's cuisine as a "fusion of America and French with Japanese technique," but the only French influence I found were squiggles of mayonnaise used as plate garniture. Cantonese influences, seen in many of the appetizers, seemed more prominent. Noodle dishes, sushi, sashimi and show-grilled meat and vegetable concoctions fill out the menu.

First Bites: Samurai's itamae may be the most artistic in town. Each sushi and sashimi platter these talented sushi chefs created was visually stunning. Specialty rolls, such as a bastard child named Roll B, used a truly revolting tuna-mayo puree to stand in for the customary raw tuna center. Yet the same roll was encased in superlative slices of eel and accompanied by heartbreakingly good house-pickled ginger. Stellar knife skills elevated the underpriced Avocado Salad to new heights, yet the Miso Soup appetizer was thin and weak.

Salmon Teriyaki was lovely to behold, but farm-fish bland, and it suffered too long under a heat lamp. The best dish of the night was, unexpectedly, Yaki Soba, a piping hot tangle of noodles, thinly sliced chicken and tender-crisp Chinese cabbage in a glistening tamari-style sauce.

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