Love, Makoto & Love On the Run - Japanese Food Hall with Multiple Concepts at Capitol Crossing

[eatruneat]

Can't believe no one has posted about any of the concepts at Love, Makoto yet. But I am probably the #1 offender and am rectifying the situation. 

Love, Makoto & Love On the Run are both part of a Japanese Food Hall concept at Capitol Crossing (2nd St. NW & Massachusetts Ave. NW). Love, Makoto features three sit individual sit down restaurants: Dear Sushi (sushi), Beloved BBQ (Japanese BBQ) and Hiya Izakaya (skewers) while Love on the Run is a fast casual concept offering salad, ramen, soba, sandwiches, sushi rolls,  soft serve, donuts, and probably some stuff I am missing. 

This is a welcome addition to the neighborhood and we have gone several times because it is good and convenient. A few quibbles here and there, but glad it's an option. Here is a run down of the places I've visited.

Dear Sushi - My aunt was in town a few weeks ago and offered to take care of the baby so @MichaelBDC and I could have a little date night. We booked a table at Dear Sushi and looked forward to some magnificent raw fish. Dear Sushi serves only omakase for $85 a person with the option to add on at the end. Sake pairing is $40 a person. The omakase offers an old school/new school concept, so basically one fish offered as a traditional nigiri and as a non-traditional nigiri. The fish was outstanding, especially the salmon, but if you eat sushi regularly you might find the options to be ho hum. Snapper, salmon, bluefin tuna, yellowtail, fatty tuna. Great, but what about uni, mackerel, scallops, prawns, all the "jacks", sea bream? Some are on the add-on menu for extra $$$$. Sorry, but this is a set menu where everyone eats the same thing to make it more convenient for the kitchen than an omakase experience geared towards the customer. We experienced this because their solution to @MichaelBDC's shellfish allergy is to replace the shellfish with tuna. That was great the first time, but as the only option, especially when they clearly had other fish? Lame! I would only go again if I went with a beginner sushi eater who wants quality fish but didn't want anything too adventurous.

Beloved BBQ - We went with some friends while I was pregnant and did the omakase menu with some additional sides. Back then omakase was a comparison between US and Japanese beef so you get the same cuts and compare the two different countries. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. The beef was very very good and we really enjoyed the udon mac & cheese. The broccolini was fine, but not worth ordering unless you are desperate for a vegetable. Fun for a group but be ready for the meat sweats. 

Hiya Izakaya - Went for happy hour while my brother was in town. Probably my least favorite of the three sit down concepts. Skewers were fine but a little dry. My favorite was the tuna crispy rice. Would go to Daikaya over this place. 

Love on the Run - We order from here at least once a month. I love the soba noodle salad, the soft serve, and the donuts (not in that order). Chirashi bowl hits the spot when I want some raw fish but don't want to get sushi. Spicy chicken sandwich is good too but I don't care for the fries that come with it. Feel like the food itself is usually $2-3 more than I'd want to pay, but I keep coming back so they are doing something right. 

Now, time for some soft serve. 

[DonRocks]

26 minutes ago, eatruneat said:

Great, but what about uni, mackerel, scallops, prawns, all the "jacks", sea bream? Some are on the add-on menu for extra $$$$.

This resonates.

[Ericandblueboy]

I've been to Dear Sushi twice, both times we did the add on.  Frankly we would have left hungry without the add on.  It's quality sushi at a decent price.  Kiyomi is a better deal right now though.

[KeithA]

Stopped by the food hall for the first time last Saturday and really enjoyed our meal at Hiya Izakaya. We arrived in time for their 7 day a week happy hour which offers some good deals on certain drinks (I think $7) and slight discounts on certain menu items at $5 each (I think 5 drink choices and 5 food items with a good variety for each). We started with two of their rotating highballs - one coconut and one citrus-passionfruit. These were great - very tasty, not too strong and a nice paring for the food. We got all of the happy hour food items and then added some more items. I love Japanese skewers so it was a good fit. The Momo chicken breast with tare/teriyaki-like sauce is the basic order and Hiya version was very good - nice char, flavorful sauce and still tender. Our favorite was the tsukene - chicken meatball with tare. Their version is more compact that others I've had in US and Japan but it was very tender and went great with the sauce - we got 2 of those. Less exciting was the Tebasake chicken wing - which is a butterflied wing still with a few bones and a seasoning-no sauce. I don't usually get this type and found it to be a bit overcooked. I'd skip it. We also got the cabbage salad with sesame dressing and shaved bonito flakes on top which was a good veg bite to balance the other dishes. We also had the tuna jalapeno crispy rice and the hamachi crispy rice.  All of the above except the hamachi was on the happy hour menu. (happy hour tuna is 2 pieces vs. non-happy hour is 4 pieces). Both were good but we liked the tuna better - its more assertive flavor balanced better with the crispy rice. I can't recall if we've had this type of sushi before as it seems to be a newer trend that has really caught on - essentially nigiri sushi but the rice underneath is grilled lightly on all sides first. The dishes as Hiya were also non-traditional in that the fish is chopped up mixed with seasonings and placed on top as a small mound - not the usual nigiri of a thin slice of raw fish.  We also tried the non-HH wasbai gaucamole which was a small dish of avocado guac with wonton chips for scooping. It was good too. Overall, it is a great place for a light meal with good drinks. The bartenders were great with service and despite the food being made to order, we ended up with a nicely paced meal as everything was served whenever it was ready. The only gripe is the whole seating area - nice big bar and small surrounding tables and high tops all have stools with no backs.

[Sluggo]

Love on the Run worked out great for me earlier this year during jury duty.  They gave us a short break for lunch. I ordered online, and hoofed it to Makoto. It was ready for me when I got there!  It's also a big open dining area so no troubles getting a seat to eat.

I had the kale soba bowl.  I love cold soba, and was a little skeptical about noodles made from kale, but it was a delightful dish. Fresh, filling, interesting flavors, and pretty healthy. 

It's my new go-to when called out to the courthouse. Now I have something to look forward to if I get chosen for a trial - I can work my way through the Makoto menu. I still remember the week-long jury duty I had with multiple visits to Daikaya.