Okonomi Asian Grill (Fairfax, Virginia) | Influencer Restaurant Review by Keith Lee

Full Transcript: Keith Lee’s Okonomi Asian Grill Restaurant Review Video

Me and my family are in Fairfax, Virginia, and we got this email. You can pause to read if you would like to. I will warn you, it is very long.

Long story short, this is a restaurant that just opened recently, and unfortunately, they’ve been getting scammed on DoorDash with people coming in and not paying for the food. And because they usually only have around 10 customers a day, this is really affecting them to the point where they are considering closure.

In my opinion, are they that slow because of the food, the customer service, or the marketing? Let’s find out.

I got it. Let’s try it and rate it 1 to 10. We spent thirty-seven dollars and twelve cents. The customer service, my family said, was extremely good. There’s one guy who’s the owner. He was in the back when my family first came in. He came to the front and rang them out. So, it seems to me that he does everything: the back, the front, everything.

The people that know about this place are calling it the “Asian Chipotle.” Now, I’ve gone on record multiple times that I love Chipotle. Well, I’mma show you what I got, and we’re gonna try it and rate it 1 to 10.

A Hawaiian-ish chicken bowl, a lemongrass chicken bowl, and a kimchi cucumber salad. He also put in bang bang sauce and a pineapple fish sauce. I’m not sure if this pineapple fish sauce has shellfish in it, so I ain’t gonna risk it.

This is the lemongrass bowl. It’s lemongrass chicken, peanuts, green onions, cucumbers, carrots, and onion on top of a bed of rice. Does it come with the sauce? I’mma try it without the sauce first.

I love how clean this looks. They said the inside was real clean. I can tell just by this bowl presentation. Yeah, I got a lot of lemongrass flavor. Oh, yeah. That’s just juicy, flavorful, seasoned chicken with some peanuts and some carrots. Let me try it with the sauce.

The chicken was also cooked to order. So, when we ordered, they seasoned it and put it on top of the bowl right there. It was made to order. And it was quick too—only took like five minutes.

This, with the sauce… I’m not a huge fan of that sauce. It’s a lot more sour than I thought it was gonna be. A lot more tangy. I wish it was a little spicier, but this, by itself—comparing it to, like, healthy spots—it’s an 8.5 out of ten.

Yeah, the chicken alone… the chicken melted in my mouth a little bit. Hmm. It’s real juicy. Obviously better… Well, we’re not comparing. 8.3 out of 10.

Now, this is a Hawaiian-ish bowl. It’s got mac salad, cucumbers, carrots, onions, chicken, and rice. I thought I saw some seaweed, but nope. Some mac salad and rice… haha.

Why are they slow? That’s why people stealing. Yeah, for real? The mac salad is a little thin, in my opinion. Like, it’s a little loose, but I think if you add a little more mayo, that fixes it. This, by itself, in my opinion, is a 7.5 out of 10. With a good sauce, I could see it being higher.

Now, this is what I’m excited about. I’ve been messing with cucumbers a long way lately. I think this is just spicy cucumbers. Strong! I don’t get, like, a super strong fermented flavor from it, but it has a little kimchi flavor. I got so caught up, I completely forgot to rate it. But the cucumber salad, by itself, in my opinion, was a 7.5 out of 10. With the bowl, 8.2 out of 10.

After we were done, we went and had a conversation with the owner. And remember the money that was stolen earlier? It was $150, and the owner had a bounty out to pay back the money that was stolen. So, we decided, as a family, to not only leave the bounty but also leave $2,000 to pay for anybody’s food in line and $1,000 for the owner.

I see you had a bounty out, so we wanted to leave that.

“Oh my god! No!”

Do like $2,000 worth of food, and then you take the thousand dollars.

“Sure!”

So, if you’re in the Fairfax area and you would like to try it, please be my guest. The only thing I ask is that you be patient because it was only two people working there when we went.

Other than that, after this, as always, I pray and hope that they reach their target audience. God bless you. Have an amazing day. Y’all be safe.