Name: Land and Sea
Date Visited: June 17, 2025
Food Type: Japanese/Asian, Sushi
Address: 7571 Pearl Rd, Middleburg Heights, OH 44130 (Google Maps Link)
Website: https://www.landandseabistro.com/
Value for your money: Good
Overall Recommendation: Go for the sushi, avoid the General Tso and Fried Rice.
I decided to go back today and get something new to try, as well as get some sushi because why not, it was good last time! I tried the General Tso’s Chicken with fried rice, Suimono Soup (Mushroom soup), a Spicy Kani Maki roll, and an Inari Maki roll.
The sushi was exactly the same as last time. I wasn’t sure if it would be as good a second time, but it was. You can check out my previous review of their sushi here: Land and Sea Review
The Suimono Soup and the salad that came with my meal wasn’t anything to write home about. The Suimono Soup did have a really good flavor to it. Lots of mushrooms, seaweed, and green onion. More than I’ve ever gotten at a hibachi. The salad was your standard lettuce, carrot strings, purple cabbage, and the same ginger dressing that you get everywhere else. Not bad, but nothing special to write about.
Onto the not so good.
You’ll hear me say a lot there’s a bunch of different heat levels. White people (salt and black better), Southern (tobasco and hot sauce), Mexican (Jalapeno and Habanero), Indian (I don’t know but it’s tasty), Thai (You’ll feel it for awhile), and the hottest food I’ve ever eaten, Korean (Rocket fuel).
So suffice to say, I ain’t no sissy. Gochujang, Gochugara, Thai Chilis, as long as it’s tasty bring on the heat. So when I ordered the General Tso’s I told them, literally: “I ain’t no sissy, make it spicy!”. Well, they didn’t. But they did give me some hot chili oil on the side that did up the heat. Without that chili oil, it was just a sticky sweet sauce. Almost too sweet.
The chicken itself I feel could have been fried longer. The chicken was cooked, but the breading was a bit soft. I like my General Tso to be nice and crunchy. It holds up to the sauce better that way. So that was sad. Overall the flavor was very “meh”. Would I get it again? Probably not.
The fried rice was pretty bad. It looked like a standard fried rice. It was that grey/brown color you get from fried rice that just uses standard kikkoman soy sauce. I didn’t see any egg in it, there were scant few carrots and peas. I can deal with that. What I couldn’t deal with was the weird flavor it had. It almost tasted like old or burnt oil. After a few bites and the flavor building, I realized they used A LOT of sesame oil when they fried the rice, so it was just an overwhelming flavor of the sesame oil.
If the food there perfect, No. By no means is it perfect. If you disagree with me, you’re more than welcome to. I’m not judging on technique or anything other than my own personal preferences in flavor here. If you like a lot of sesame seed oil in your food, you might like the rice. If you like your general tsos to be made from a syrup with semi-mushy breaded chicken, then you’ll like it.
I still say go there for the sushi. So far, that’s their shining jewel and I will be back for more of that, and to continue to trying random things on the menu.