Heisei

Restaurant Name: Heisei

Location: 1048C Sagamore Pkwy W West Lafayette, IN  (map it)

Phone: (765) 463-1682

Cuisine: Japanese

Either I’m running out of places to review, or else I’m not eating out enough. I think both. Either way, I finally made it over to Heisei the other day to try it out. It’s conveniently located in the Pay Less parking lot on the west side. Just a little place in a strip mall. I’d forgotten that I have actually been there before; it’s just been a long time.

We were pleasantly greeted and asked if we’d rather have a table or sit on the floor. This is not very common for Japanese restaurants in our area, the option of eating on the floor without your shoes on. And, as much as I enjoy not wearing shoes, I just didn’t feel like the floor this time so we took a table. The restaurant was very clean. One of my biggest pet peeves is places where you can see all the crumbs and dirt all over the floor. This place was perfect.

We were immediately brought a two cups of green tea and two glasses of water. I like being brought water without asking, something that doesn’t happen much anymore. The tea was a nice touch too. It wasn’t the best green tea I’ve had, but it was okay and it was nice to have it delivered as part of the experience, and not have to order it.

We were given our menus to peruse and it was pretty extensive. Lots of choices including sushi, noodles, teriyaki, rice dishes, and tempura. Truly something for every Japanese connoisseur. My husband stuck to the sushi menu and ordered a lunch combo, and I ordered something that was slightly more intriguing: katsu don. This item was described as a rice bowl, topped with a breaded pork cutlet, topped with a fried egg and some kind of vegetables. It was interesting. I like all those things, so I was curious.

The sushi was reportedly decent, but not the best in town. As for the katsu don, it was okay. The pork was fine and the rice was fine, but eventually the rice got soggy and I got a little bored with the combo. A little bland.

I think this is a really nice place with a lot of options. Maybe not the best Japanese in town, but a decent option at a fairly decent price.

Kid Friendly: Not really