Geisha A Go Go has Scottsdale hipsters turning Japanese

Soba noodles with shrimp, enoki mushrooms, snow peas, and tempura-battered green onions in a light, spicy broth were a generous portion, but $15 was too much for run-of-the-mill noodles. At least the pricier entrees were more interesting. Black pepper-crusted tuna was served with charred citrus vinaigrette and tempura zucchini, while a grilled swordfish steak glazed with miso lemon butter was surprisingly succulent, paired with a tasty jumble of asparagus, baby corn, and chunks of snow crab.

Considering the fact that the atmosphere isn't conducive to a sit-down meal, I wouldn't go back for the entrees, even though I really liked the swordfish. It would make more sense to assemble a light grazing meal from the small plates, about two per person. These run 10 bucks or less, and won't break the bank. In particular, the citrus grilled octopus salad was refreshing, with tender slices of octopus arranged under a nest of arugula microgreens. Braised duck korokke (Japanese croquette) was another winner, with moist shreds of duck hidden in a soft ball of fried mashed potato.

Geisha A Go Go's pork gyoza were about what I'd expect from a neighborhood Japanese joint — predictably good. Crispy pork kara-age was a unique alternative, a tender fried cutlet topped with microgreens and dabbed with spicy mustard mayo. (Most of the time kara-age refers to fried chicken, while tonkatsu is deep-fried pork, but here, pork got the lighter treatment of the former, without the heavy panko coating that's typical to tonkatsu.)

After I'd sipped a sugary strawberry Hello Kitty cocktail made with Calpico (a sweet Japanese soft drink), desserts were redundant. There was green tea ice cream (nothing special), a "sushi" fruit platter, with berries and fruit slices arranged around a ball of sweetened rice, and Pocky sticks, which are slender, chocolate-dipped biscuits. I wondered whether these would be some clever dessert interpretation of the popular snack, but no — my waitress simply delivered a plate with four packets of Pocky, straight out of the box. It was cheeky, and pretty ridiculous, but I got a laugh out of it.

Earlier, I'd wondered whether Geisha A Go Go takes itself seriously as a restaurant, when all it really wants to be is a hip watering hole. I think Pocky answered my question.