So, I’ve seen OEC Japanese Express every time I go to Kroger, it’s on the other side of the shopping center from the Kroger at Stage and Bartlett Blvd. It has good reviews and it’s super close to my house so I thought I would give it a shot. I am super glad I did. We called in an order because I had a very sleepy child on my couch.

We ended up ordering a pretty decent variety because all three of us were hungry. We got the Japanese egg rolls, chicken yakisoba, crunch crab roll, shrimp killer roll, and crunch kani cheese roll. I never get sashimi or nigiri on a first trip to a new sushi place, I’m not that brave. I go to pick it up and it’s a tiny little hole in the wall in a strip mall, with the ultra wide lens I managed to get effectively the entire restaurant into a picture.

They’re pretty steady for it being early on a Sunday night, and that’s a good sign to me. First off I definitely want turnover at a restaurant that serves any kind of seafood. Second, if this tiny place in a strip mall is busy on an off night, the food must be good. Spoiler alert: it was.

Everything tasted super fresh and flavorful, the egg rolls are almost certainly laced with crack. The noodles were solid and the sushi hit the mark on pretty much everything. I think the shrimp killer roll was my favorite, with just enough heat and still crunchy shrimp. I’ll basically just shut up now and let the pictures do the talking. (As an aside I’m super impressed with the iPhone 11 Pro camera, but again, I’ll let the pics do the talking.)

Also, all of that food was right at $30, which is downright cheap as hell for good sushi as far as I’m concerned. I’ll definitely be back and I now trust them enough to try to some yellowtail nigiri, which I’ve been constantly craving since whenever I was in California last. If you find yourself out in Bartlett and want some sushi, I would definitely give them a shot.

OEC Japanese Express if you would like to check out their website, it has the full menu on it.

So I recently bought a house in Bartlett and I'm just now starting to familiarize myself with the restaurants near my new house (located near Bartlett Blvd and Ivanhoe). We were in the mood for Chinese so I checked around for Chinese restaurants near me and came up with Chang's House at Stage and Bartlett Blvd. It has some pretty damn good reviews so I figured I would give it a chance. 

I called in my order (Szechuan chicken, moo goo gai pan, and some egg rolls) and they told me it would be ready in 15 minutes. 

I searched for it and found the address on Waze, and headed the 4 minutes from home to go pick it up.

Chang's House is located in a strip mall on the back side of that shopping center at Stage and Bartlett Blvd, kinda behind Wendy's.  

They were bagging up the food as I was walking in the door. Service was super fast and friendly. I grabbed my food and headed back to the house. 

OMG guys this place really is as good as the reviews would indicate. Everything tasted super fresh and portions are more than generous. The rice container was so full it couldn't even be closed. 

That container looks kinda small but it was PACKED full, the spice level was a little on the low side for me but I understand that they're going for broad appeal and I'm sure they would be happy to turn the heat level up a little bit if I ask next time. The egg rolls are HUGE like one of them is a pretty decent meal if I'm being honest. I didn't expect them to be that big and ordered a couple of extra in case Ava wanted one. We have a TON of leftovers. 

So I totally lucked out on Chinese, the very first place I went to ended up being amazing. Now to find a good Thai place in Bartlett...