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Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Tony Hao, who has been a sushi chef for 12 years, prepares a sashimi platter. Hao has worked at Cafe Asia since it opened in December.

As its name implies, a restaurant located in the new Kroger shopping center in the Bonsack area of Roanoke County does not limit its menu to one particular cuisine. Instead, Cafe Asia has been offering an array of pan-Asian dishes with Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese roots since it opened in December.

Cafe Asia's full sushi bar rounds out the extensive offerings.

The vibe

The clean, modern feel of Cafe Asia's interior, which is decorated with lots of wood and understated Asian accents, belies its location at the end of a strip mall. We arrived about 6:30 p.m. on Father's Day to find only one open table, which I took as a good sign.

Tall bar tables offer seating near the sushi bar at the front of the restaurant while plum-colored booths and wooden tables form an elongated seating area toward the rear. Despite the crowd and the relatively condensed space, the noise level was remarkably subdued save for my suddenly vocal 11-month-old.

What we ate

Our summer roll appetizer ($5.95) included two ample rolls of rice noodles, shrimp, lettuce, and bean sprouts stuffed inside perfectly chewy rice wrappers. The inclusion of mint offered a surprising, delightful and palate-cleansing addition. Moreover, unlike similar rolls I've tried, the lone shrimp was butterflied and straightened, making it easy to get a taste of shrimp in practically every bite. Delicious peanut sauce was served on the side.

With little regard for our ongoing efforts to lose weight, my wife and I ordered a lobster tail tempura roll ($19) in addition to our respective entrees of chicken lo mein ($7.50) and shrimp pad thai ($10.95).

The impressive lobster maki roll consists of tempura batter-fried lobster, cucumber, lettuce and fish roe wrapped in seaweed and rice. The exquisite lobster was tender and delicious, although the slices of roll were somewhat cumbersome to handle.

The chicken lo mein possessed a depth of flavor atypical of most local Asian restaurants; my wife declared it perhaps the best we've had in Roanoke, and I agreed. On the other hand, I consider the pad thai served at Tong's Thai in downtown Roanoke to be the benchmark for this dish in the Roanoke Valley, and Cafe Asia's version offers no serious challenge. In my view, the bland entree lacked complexity.

Interestingly, owner Feng Chen explained that, by design, his pad thai offers a lighter flavor with less of a sweet and sour overtone. Oh, and one of the three shrimp had not been deveined, a chore I took upon myself.

Somewhat surprisingly, my 2-year-old daughter loved the tempura chicken kid's meal ($5); this was her first foray into Asian cuisine. I laughed, however, when we caught her drinking the soy sauce from my wife's dipping bowl.

Regrettably, I wavered on dessert and opted for the waiter-recommended tiramisu ($7) instead of the intriguing ice cream tempura (vanilla ice cream fried in tempura batter). The rigid Italian tiramisu, an admittedly odd choice for finishing an Asian meal, had previously been frozen and would have greatly benefitted from some additional thawing time.

While writing this article I became so penitent about my choice that I returned to Cafe Asia and tried the ice cream tempura ($5) in an effort to make amends. The tasty dessert, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, offered a delicious contrast between the warm outer layer and the cold, creamy vanilla center.

Order the tempura ice cream!

The service

Like seeing Bigfoot or a unicorn, the exuberance of the staff at Cafe Asia is remarkable for its rarity. I find that dining in a restaurant where the employees seem genuinely eager to serve is, alas, not the rule.

Also unusual for a sit-down restaurant is the fact that the drinks come in cans.

Our smiling and attentive waiter provided above-average service and we enjoyed cleaning our hands with the hot towels he brought both before and after the meal. Unwittingly, the negligible language barrier resulted in my daughter's first bit of hero worship when, instead of the single scoop of vanilla ice cream we requested, our waiter brought a huge bowl with no less than five scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.

When we pried her from the bowl to leave, several employees wished me happy Father's Day -- a nice touch.

Bottom Line

Cafe Asia provides a welcome bazaar of high-quality Asian dishes in a growing part of Roanoke County. Notably, the wide-ranging price points allow lunch or dinner out on just about any budget. Chen says that some customers drive from the other side of town to eat there, and I can understand why.