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| - Among the elite in Madison for dinner, and arguably the very best value for Lunch in the city.
Dinners at Muramoto are a thing to behold. The menu changes often and rarely disappoints. My first experience was back when this was at a smaller location on King street. At that time, the Mango Duck roll was easily the best sushi roll I'd ever had. It only gets better from there. I've only had one disappointing small or large plate, and that was a weird creamy-dill-carpaccio type of affair that I've only seen on the menu once. The other 30+ things I've tried here have been phenomenal. Sophisticated, delicious, and innovative. Their Miso is the best I've had in Madison by far and it's almost criminal that they give it away at lunch now. Known among my friend circle for the crab croquettes, black cod, and hangar steak, their treatment of slaw and coconut curry are also a thing to behold. I am particularly fond of their Sunday chef tastings, though it has been a while since I've taken part in them. Really interesting menu choices full of things I've not even heard of before but which are truly exceptional. This is one of only two places where I'd try just about any type of food. I even enjoyed their small bite sweetbread (which was prepared in a General Tso's-like method). Definitely don't miss the small bites.
I'm not a huge Sake guy, but it is clear that they have a nice variety. Having tried the turpentine-like sake at other places, it took me a few great meals before I had the bravery to venture into a Sake flight here. Definitely a fun experience and one which opened my eyes to the fact that Sake can actually be tasty.
A word about Desserts: yum. They get the savory/sweet balance just right and they are playful with some of their techniques. The black sesame ice cream is among my favorite desserts in Madison. This place and Nostrano are my go-to places when someone asks where they should go for dessert. Save room...
So, yeah, their dinners are incredible; but perhaps the most delightful thing about Muramoto is the lunches. For $9 you get a substantial meal that includes miso, white rice, a generous portion of their asian slaw, and then the entrée of your choice. I challenge you to not be pleased with the value. For the same price you are lucky to get tasty street cart food of that volume, and yet Muramoto gives you truly gourmet entrees at that price.
The service is generally great at Restaurant Muramoto. I used to have a good rapport with some of the servers (because of my somewhat obsessive presence during lunch). I've had some special service requests for them before and they always came through. They even agreed to be a prop in a scavenger hunt I planned. As another example: I brought in some coworkers who were largely vegetarian. When faced with the issue of miso containing bonito, the host smoothly jumped in and offered them an alternate starter (your mileage may vary... I'm not guaranteeing that they always do this). Great stuff.
All around, this is certainly one of my top 3 restaurants in Madison.
I vastly prefer this location over Sushi Muramoto, especially now that they expanded their sushi offerings. While I've had some great sushi at Sushi Muramoto, service hasn't always been on par with their flagship restaurant here. Additionally, they've had some hiccups with the cleanliness of plates and the edibility of certain sushi items there (e.g. chewy crustacean sushi). Not so here.
I can't recommend this place highly enough.
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