Magie's Noms

Teriyakin’ is a new Japanese restaurant in Morrisville.  It features casual Japanese cuisine that they call “Matsuri”, the food commonly found at festival vendors.  The restaurant does have the atmosphere of a fast food place, with seating for maybe 20 to 40 max.  The prices are very cheap, with all the entrees between $4.49 and $9.99.

I got the tamagoyaki for an appetizer, though with the amount of food you get you really don’t need to order appetizers.  I got the rib plate as an entree, which comes with rice, a small cabbage salad and macaroni salad.  My husband got the steak plate which comes with the same.  After you order and pay, you take a seat somewhere in the restaurant and wait for your food to come.  They also have sauces, plastic ware, chopsticks and napkins up near the front you can help yourself to.  The wait is a few minutes, but I don’t mind since that means all the food is made fresh, and not sitting under some hot lamp.

I love tamago sushi, so tamagoyaki sounded awesome.  I didn’t realize it would be served hot!  It was great, I love the way the Japanese make their eggs.  I just wish there was some soy sauce to dip it in, they only have teriyaki sauce and hot sauces.

The cabbage salad was pretty good.  I’ve always liked cabbage salads better than lettuce salads.  I think the dressing was some kind of ginger flavor.  The macaroni salad was mediocre.  I asked my husband if macaroni salads were actually in Japan, because it didn’t seem to go with the dish at all, and he said he had never seen them there.  The macaroni salad was the only thing really out of place here.  The ribs were fantastic, though difficult to eat.  I had to use my fingers to grasp the ribs and chew off the meat.  It’s a sloppy meal, but delicious.

I tried some of my husband’s steak, it was tasty.  Not as good as the rib meat, but at least it didn’t have any bones in it to eat around.  We both ate all of our entrees, even though they were huge.

Overall I think this place makes for a fantastic lunch restaurant.  With the fairly quick food preparation and cheap menu, this would be an great place to stop by at least once a week.  It’s very conveniently located near RTP, just south of the Chapel Hill Rd. exit off 540.  It’s set a ways back from Chapel Hill Rd. though, so it may be hard to see if you’re not looking for it.  I was also impressed with how authentic the food was here.  Japanese was spoken by the kitchen staff and the customers, and my husband said everything but the macaroni salad was just like what you’d get in Japan.  I imagine 20 years from now this Teriyakin’ place could be a very successful chain.

Tags: food, Reviews