Raw Sushi Bar Restaurant & Nightclub is located at 409 Market St. Click to enlarge.
photo by Janet Wilson
Wayne and I visited the recently opened Raw Sushi Bar Restaurant & Nightclub located at 409 Market Street (the former location of Buck Wild) for Saturday evening dinner.
Raw has several skilled sushi chefs, so they should be quite knowledgeable in the preparation and serving of great sushi. In addition, Raw offers Hibachi dinners for those not-so-brave souls who haven’t yet ventured into the sushi arena. That group included us until about eight years ago. We finally said, “OK, we have to try this at least once”; then we said, “I can’t believe what we have been missing!”
There are eight appetizers on the menu, priced from $3.95 to $9.95; Edamame (steamed and lightly salted green soybeans), Pot Stickers (pan fried dumplings filled with beef and vegetables), Yakitori (chicken teriyaki on a stick), Spring Rolls (pork and vegetables), Nikumaki (asparagus wrapped in sliced beef with teriyaki sauce), Beef Skewers, Sashimi, and Sushi.
Rather than get an appetizer, we ordered Miso Soup ($1.95), which turned out to be some of the best we’ve ever been served. Raw also has Tempura Vegetable Udon ($8.95), Shrimp Tempura Udon ($10.95) and a combination Tempura Udon ($12.95), along with several salads (Seaweed ($3.95), Squid ($4.25) and House ($2.25).
For those who prefer their food cooked, dinners include Chicken Teriyaki, and several Hibachi dinners, including chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, as well as a vegetable meal. Prices range from $8.95 for the veggie meal to $16.95 for a combination of steak and shrimp, each being served with Miso soup and a house salad along with rice and vegetables.
Sushi dinners are also served with Miso soup and a house salad. There are several combinations you can order, with prices ranging from $8.95 for the California, Crab and Cucumber roll combination to $25.95 for a double platter of Sashimi featuring more than you might be able to eat – 10 pieces of tuna, 6 yellowtail, 6 salmon, 8 whitefish, 6 Octopus, 2 Crab and 2 Shrimp!
There is a separate sushi menu if you prefer to order individuallyas we did. We ordered several rolls to share, including the California ($3.95), Spicy Tuna ($5.95), and the Exctacy Roll ($8.95). All I can say about the Exctacy is Wow! It was so good – topped with a warm Japanese Mayo blend.
Wayne ordered tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, eel and scallops, while I ordered straight sashimi (tuna, shrimp, salmon and scallops). Scallops are our favorite and Raw didn’t let us down! The chefs do a good job on presentation with decorative cucumbers, ginger and wasabi on my sashimi platter. I accidentally went a bit heavier than usual on the wasabi in my soy sauce and that certainly cleared things for me! Opened my head right up!
We were very pleased with our visit to Raw and feel we will definitely be going back. I would like to try one of the Hibachi dinners, but if you like sushi, it’s really difficult to go where they serve delicious sushi, and order something else – just can’t do it.
There is a kid’s menu featuring several meals priced from $5.25 to $7.95 (all cooked and even one vegetarian), as well as a dessert menu featuring Fried Bananas, Cheesecake and Vanilla Ice Cream. The cheesecake with strawberries wasn’t bad at all. The kid’s meals are all served with soup, salad, rice and vegetables – a great deal!
We feel Raw is definitely worth a visit for all the sushi lovers and the prices seem to be in-line with other sushi restaurants. The only negative is the same problem that every sushi restaurant has – time. When every sushi order is hand-made especially for you, it takes time and there is a wait – but it’s so good, it’s worth the wait.
Hours for Raw are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 3 a.m. and on Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 9 p.m.
READER PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK:
“When the host/hostes markes your name off the wait list, but never calls your name.”
cdojanet@ChattanoogaDineOut.com