Kadence

Kadence was a disappointment. There's no other way to say it.

This is one of the first high end sushi places in Orlando and has a fairly stellar reputation. After the incredible meal at Soseki a year ago, I was looking forward to a similarly enjoyable experience here - its "kissing cousin", as it were.

No such luck.

There were many warning signs ahead of arrival. I had booked the later seating (following an early seating at Natsu). They emailed the day prior to ask if I could switch to the earlier seating, making it clear that the 2nd seating was no longer available. 

There is nothing wrong with that, per se. But clearly they hadn't booked the 2nd seating. And even for a Wednesday evening, that's not great for a one star place. Natsu was kind enough to move me to the later seating, so I arrived at 5pm.

The first thing I noticed when pulling up to the blacked-out building was the window I parked in front of. It was dirty. Like really dirty. "That can't be the place, right? They wouldn't allow that..." The bar inside didn't look right and the door next to it was flush-mount. 

"Maybe the entrance is around the rear."

The back entrance was lovely, decked out with a small Japanese garden. However, when 5:05pm arrived and that door remained locked, I went back around the front. (It shouldn't be this hard...) The flush door was now open. (OK. While the dining room was on the opposite side, that is their window...)

The woman who seated me didn't introduce herself, or even smile (as I recall). The sushi counter was empty. "Is it just me tonight?", I asked. "Nope. 6 more coming."

After a long drive from Tampa, I went to the restroom and found one of those super snazzy automated toilets. Pressing the buttons on the control bar mounted on the wall, the bar fell off the wall and onto the floor. I couldn't figure out how to put it back on.

If you've read this blog, you know that the very best restaurants are paying attention to everything. The meal hadn't started and I was already expecting a loose experience with plenty of "close enough"s. And I was right. 

The opening finished bites were tasty, especially the live octopus. Sure, the toro appetizer was overly fussy (and underseasoned) and they put cubes of A5 in the chawanmushi?? That makes me worry about the quality of the product. But alright. Decent food so far.

But the sushi was beyond underwhelming. I mean, take a look at this uni wrap. Does this speak to the crisp, clean excellence that Japanese culture is known for? At $300+, the price point demands a lot more. Perhaps even a chef who like eating fish. "I'm done after the 3rd piece", he shared with the group. "I'd rather go out for steak."  

Um...maybe don't share that so loudly?

Even having pre-cut all of the sushi, the creation of the fish and rice together for 7 of us took about 5 minutes per fish. Quite a long time to wait between bites and I started looking at my watch. Natsu was now at 8pm, the same time Kadence's 2nd seating is supposed to be, so I figured we'd be done in time. But tonight's slow pace allowed me to barely get through all of the sushi before having to leave, missing the last 4 courses.

I'll give the staff high marks though. They wrapped up rest of the courses and made sure I was on time to leave, knowing I had another reservation to get to. It felt a bit offensive to leave one meal to head to another. I apologized for needing to leave the meal early. They graciously acknowledged that it was they who had switched the reservation, so it was of no concern.

Overall though, there was an air of pretending here. The fish quality was fine, but there seemed to be no effort towards refinement. The bare cement floor felt cheap instead of modern. The chef was very personable and engaging, but did not demonstrate the precision that is so enjoyably on display in most higher end omakase places. His knife clinked as he set it on the board. He even dropped his utensils a few times.

It may have just been an off night. Those happen. But with so many other crazy good omakase in Orlando (Sorekara, Soseki, Natsu), Kadence feels like the minor leagues and doesn't give me any yearning to return.