By Claiborne Dillard

At 3103 West Leigh Street in Scott’s Addition, you will find yourself at Lucky AF (Lucky Asian Fusion), an Asian fusion and sushi restaurant. The website says it “offers lunch and dinner service daily, an exciting and thought-provoking beverage program, and a killer happy hour every day all within a chic dining atmosphere.” 

I sat on my couch waiting for the clock to hit 5:00 p.m. so I could be the first to call and order my meal right as the restaurant opened. It was about 5:01 when I called, and I was already put on hold. Although I was a little disappointed, I knew this restaurant had to be delicious if people were ordering the minute the restaurant opened. I called back a few minutes later, and a man greeted me after picking up the phone. Prior to this call, I was scanning the menu to find what sounded most appetizing, but I also wanted a variety of foods. After a few minutes, I decided I wanted the sesame chicken bento box. 

The sesame chicken bento box.

The menu states this includes your choice of meat with “Shrimp spring roll, Cali roll, ginger salad, and miso soup.” The shrimp spring roll did not seem appetizing, and the Cali roll was too basic, so I hoped they would let me replace those two items with other ones. The man I spoke to on the phone was very personable, enough to let me change the shrimp spring roll to the pork gyoza dumplings, and the Cali roll to the shrimp tempura roll. Although I had to pay a few extra dollars for the shrimp tempura roll, I didn’t mind because my order was so confusing. I was more used to an hour for my pick-up order to be ready at Osaka, another sushi restaurant I frequent, so I was excited to hear my order at Lucky AF should only take around 20 minutes.

Although I ordered takeout, as I walked through the heavy wooden door, the hostess politely welcomed me as Christmas music played in the background, and I automatically had heightened expectations about my experience. 

After picking up my food, I couldn’t resist peeking into the brown paper bag while in the car, because it had such divine smells coming from it. Back home, I reached in and cautiously took each container out of the bag and placed it on my counter. My initial impression of Lucky AF was positive so far. But as I glanced at the bento box, I noticed fried rice instead of white rice. Although in my complicated order I did not mention rice, I thought for sure that a portion of white rice would have come on the side. In my opinion, white rice goes much better with sesame chicken than fried rice, but despite the rice disappointment, the rest of my order looked satisfactory, and I decided to dive right in.

I ate the dishes in order of how I would have eaten them inside the restaurant. I ate the ginger salad first. Normally at an Asian restaurant, I will only take a few bites of the ginger salad because the ginger dressing overpowers the rest of the salad. But I was pleasantly surprised with this particular salad. The ginger dressing was a perfect ratio to the rest of the ingredients, and the lettuce had a splendid crunch. Ginger salad generally is not my favorite dish, but I finished the whole thing. 

Next was the miso soup. With past miso soups I’ve had, the seaweed was often way too clumped, or there was too much. The miso soup I tried from Lucky AF had a substantial amount of seaweed, but it did not clump together, making each bite the same as the last. Although miso soup is supposed to be salty, this batch had a bit too much. 

Following the soup, I started with the pork gyoza. I would’ve loved for them to be a little more cooked, but they were still appetizing, and the accompanying sauce added some flavor.

Bird’s eye view of the shrimp tempura roll.

The shrimp tempura roll looks like on the inside.

Sadly, the shrimp tempura roll, including, “kani, avocado, cucumber, [and] tobiko” was not as desirable as I expected. There were five pieces of sushi in the roll, but each piece was huge. Also, the shrimp was fried, but there was barely any crunchy texture to the roll. I was also bothered when I tasted kani, also known as fake crab meat, because it took away flavors from the shrimp. This roll was average, and there was not enough spice or flare to make it stand out.

The fried rice was included in my meal, and, as expected, it was bland and lacked soy sauce. This was for sure my least favorite dish in my meal. 

The mysterious dish from the bento box.

The final dish I tried was the sesame chicken. I often find other sesame chicken to be dry, but this chicken was cooked to perfection. The chicken was doused in a surplus of the orange sauce, but it did not seem to hinder the dish.

As I examined the bento box, I noticed something I hadn’t ordered was in one of the sections of the box. After trying what looked like a circular dumpling from the outside, I was very confused by the chewy texture and lack of any flavor. 

If I were to rate my experience of Lucky AF, I would give it a 6.8/10. I definitely believe that if I went into the restaurant, I may have enjoyed the food more. Yelp reviewer Rebecca S. gave the restaurant a 6/10 and mentioned “there was no love put into the sushi,” and I agree with her, as mine lacked flavor as well. I probably would not order takeout again, but I am interested in going into the restaurant and comparing the two.

All photos by Claiborne Dillard.