The Laughing Wolf

Restaurant Review: Sushi Boat

The days being quite hectic right now with taxes, deadlines, and such, I decided to splurge a bit yesterday and try one of the four “new” sushi restaurants in the area. Time being what it was, I decided to try the Sushi Boat here in Madison, not quite five minutes from the lair.

To be honest, I was not expecting a great deal. This is one of those places that has the sushi on little boats that go around the bar, and you take off what you want. At the end, they count the plates ($1.50 a plate at lunch) and you get your bill. What I got, however, was an enjoyable experience with fair to good sushi. They also have teppanyaki, the table grills with show, for those scared of sushi.

The staff was very friendly and helpful, and I was seated at the bar such that the book I took with me would get good light. It turns out that the meal comes with miso soup, and in addition to plates with sushi on them, the boats also feature goyza, edamame, crab or meat balls, regular salads, seaweed salad, and a bit more. There are rolls as well as nigiri, and if you don’t see something you like, ask and they will make up whatever is on the menu – and maybe even more.

I tried some of the regular offerings, and tried some of the rolls. The spicy salmon and tuna rolls were quite tasty, and the person to my right had them do a Philly roll (cream cheese, salmon) that was quite nice. The tuna nigiri was good as well, and the seaweed salad was fair. I very much enjoyed the edamame (soybeans), found the shrimp tempura roll I accidentally ate (am allergic to shellfish) to be tasty. The book did not get a lot of attention, as the two people to my right proved to be very enjoyable and interesting.

I waaaay overindulged, but I have not had a lot of sushi since my trip to Japan and did not realize how much I missed it. Even with 13 plates/bowls, my bill only came to about $20, and someone not trying to do a review (or make up for lost time) can probably eat for less than $10 at lunch. Not bad, and well worth checking out.