A chef prepares food at the grill bar. Photos by Jie Han. (Click to create a slideshow)

Senior Ethan Stone enjoys his bento box meal. (Click to create a slideshow)

Raw mushrooms and green onions float lazily across Jie's clear soup. (Click to create a slideshow)

IT WAS ALMOST 6 p.m. and freezing.

As senior Linda Song and I rushed toward the door, which held promises of a warmer climate, we met seniors Ethan Stone and Michelle Gao. We exchanged a few words before hurrying into the restaurant. Into Kamakura’s.

We confirmed our reservation with a waitress before heading into the nearby coatroom/ waiting room. Several chairs and a table lined two sides of the room.

A large rack of coat hangers stood on the far side, thick clothing already populating it. There were a couple Japanese paintings hung on the walls and a display of plants and dolls on the table.

As our party swelled to 14, our noise level went up as well. We had to occasionally check a couple of our members, though nothing came of it. Several conversations floated around as we waited for our turn to be seated. And waited. And waited.

Finally, at about a quarter until 7 p.m., we were led to a rather long table. Apparently, there was a large group just before us using the same table, posing some problems for both us and the ever-polite management.

Even so, I was slightly upset at the arrangement. When I schedule an appointment in advance, I expect both myself and the service to be on time. I don’t mind if they’re behind by a few minutes. However, a “few” does not mean the better part of an hour. Not in my book.

Once we were all comfortably seated in the dimly lit but well-decorated room, menus were distributed. Several minutes later, the waiters arrived with glasses of water before leaving us to deliberate for the next 15 minutes or so.

It would have been nicer if they had at least checked in on us every so often to answer questions — it’s not like everyone knows what a hiyayako or a tonkatsu was.

Of course, being a typical high school student, I was on a limited budget. So when I saw the prices of sushi, I scrapped the idea immediately. There were pairs of sushi going from $3 to $8. Even the appetizers were expensive, ranging from $5 to $16.

Unable to decide on an order, I decided to go for the special chef’s choice platter. I was all set to order, at least until I discovered that it contained only eight pieces of sushi. No matter how good the sushi was, I would be broke and probably still hungry after shelling out the $21, not including gratuity.

Since my first choice didn’t turn out so well, I ordered the ebi fry set, which contained a salad, soup, and main dish. I selected the house dressing (for my salad) and the clear soup. Whiling away the time, I took pictures and chatted with my neighbors.

Since our table was quite long, we split into two groups. My group contained the mavericks, so I was both amused and embarrassed.

Everyone fills up on delicious Japanese food. Gargoyle photos by Jie Han. (Click to create a slideshow)

Jie's fresh and yummy house salad! (Click to create a slideshow)

An outside view of the restaurant. (Click to create a slideshow)

Most of our party had ordered a set of salad, soup, and main dish, so we were the first to be served. The salad consisted of mainly lettuce, a couple baby tomatoes, sliced carrots, and a choice dressing. It’s more or less like the stuff served in public grade and middle schools, except the ingredients were fresher.

The salad was presented in beautifully lacquered bowls. Dressing dripped on the top, and freshly washed leaves gave the vegetables an appetizing sheen.

The green lettuce contrasted nicely with the red tomatoes, orange carrots, and purple lettuce leaves. Well, for most people at least. My bowl had no carrots or purple lettuce leaves, but more lettuce. They had probably run out of those ingredients — I had the same order as senior Emily Chu, but her salad was much more colorful than mine.

The first course was the clear soup. Contrary to what it may sound like, the soup was rather dark and opaque. A couple slices of raw mushroom and chopped green onions bobbed along the surface. It tasted rather strongly of soy sauce, though a bit more acidic.

Additionally, there was a slight bit of spice that added some interest to the soup. It was a nice touch, except when I took an extra large swallow and mildly inflamed the back of my throat.

My salad was mediocre, but only because I had higher expectations of Kamakura’s. I really liked how crunchy the lettuce was and the aromatic smell of sesame oil. The sour tang of the dressing was very pleasant, at least when it didn’t soak the entire salad.

Lower down however, water mixed with the dressing and soaked the vegetables. I didn’t finish my entire bowl, given that some of the dressing had gotten on the back of my throat and started irritating it.

The quality of service was quite good, though some improvements can be made. One of my neighbors had gotten a salad with a wrong dressing. Once she pointed that out to one of our waitresses, it was quickly replaced with the proper sauce.

I would have preferred if the servers had paid a bit more attention to our water glasses and finished crockery, at least in the beginning. And of course, the timeliness of service can also be improved upon.

Finally, the waitress set my main course before me — the ebi fry, or deep-fried shrimp. My reaction? “Excellent visual presentation!”

And then I heard the crunch of my wallet. “I paid $15 for this?!” Some boiled veggies, cocktail sauce, lemon slice, and fried shrimp?

Not wanting to be rude, I spent the next several minutes sampling the various entrees.

Mistakenly thinking I was eating sweet potato, I had downed two chunks of the bright orange vegetable before figuring out that it was actually a carrot. Like yams, they were sweet and rather mushy.

However, there was a distinctly carrot taste, though I had to pay careful attention in order to taste it. And to the chef’s credit, it was very good, even to a person who abhors cooked carrots with a passion.

The broccoli was also quite good. Not only was it a very lush, appetizing green color, but it was large enough to easily pick up. It was quite soft and thoroughly cooked, giving it a soft texture and sweet taste. Again, it was quite delicious to one who doesn’t particularly like broccoli.

Unfortunately, the mushrooms didn’t quite live up to the precedent set by the previous vegetables. They were rather bland, as if just thrown into a pot and left to simmer and stirred upon occasion.

Perhaps they served simply as palate cleansers or fillers, though I would have appreciated it if the mushrooms contained more flavor. I even tried them out with the sweet and slightly sour tomato cocktail sauce, to no avail.

Saving the best for last, I was eager to try out the shrimp. I had my first one just by itself. It was delicious!

I could clearly taste the peeled, succulent shrimp underneath the golden bread coating. The fried layer was perfectly right. The soft and slightly crunchy quality was a delight to chew on. I tried it with the red cocktail sauce and some squeezed lemon juice, but that wasn’t as good as just eating the shrimp by itself — the other essences simply overpowered the seafood flavor.

Unlike some other deep-fat fried food, there were no additional spices or too much salt. But the best part was that I barely even noticed that I was consuming so much oil. In fact, I could probably plow through another couple plates and my taste buds would still insist that there wasn’t much fat at all.

At the end of the dinner, money had to be passed around — there was an 18 percent gratuity that wasn’t included on the menu price. As a result, a couple people with only $20 bills had to ask around for an extra couple dollars.

Personally, I think they should have either waived the fee or offered us some dessert for making us wait so long in the beginning. Or at least warned us about the fee beforehand.

In the end, I decided that although Kamakura’s was nice, it wasn’t really worth coming on a budget. Certainly, the food was good, but plain nonetheless. Given time, I could probably cook my own veggies to a passable level and still not spend as much.

And don’t try to come here in the evening with a tight schedule, especially if you have a large group. It’s great for a rare night out, but I’m sure that there are places that have more exotic dishes and lower prices.