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| - Very solid sushi and Japanese fusion restaurant...for Madison. I am in Madison about once every other month for work, and have been determined to finally find edible sushi. Muramoto is the closest I've found, and dare I say it, is some place I would even go back to on a future trip. I went there for dinner alone this past Monday night and as a general rule, stayed away from the all you can eat deal. I wanted to test the sushi waters here before I plummeted into an AYCE commitment.
I started with a trio of bites - sampling the kobe tartar (good quail egg, but the rest of it was too bland and could have used some seasoning), the king crab tempura (the the truffle sauce was nice but a little heavy and too similar to a hollandaise sauce), and the steam bun (the winner of the 3). These samples are literally "one bite" and a great way to sample some of the fusion tastes that the restaurant offers.
I finished with the Dante roll and the Spicy Shrimp roll. The quality of yellowtail used in rolls, is my general test for a sushi restaurant. I don't like to go straight to sashimi or nigiri on a first time visit (especially in the middle of Wisconsin), so I start with testing how good and fresh the hamachi is in their roll. The Dante roll had potential, but some bites were filled with that fishy hamachi taste from less fresh or lower quality. The spicy shrimp was tasty. The shrimp was chopped a bit too small, but the overall flavors of the sauce and scallions blended nicely. Both rolls were a little heavy on the rice and not precisely cut, but it's hard to say if this is typical since it was also on an AYCE night.
Service was prompt and friendly. Atmosphere was trendy and comfortable. If I ever get a sushi craving while I'm in Madison again, I would definitely consider a return trip. But I might leave my sushi eating for Chicago and focus on Madison's other cuisine gems like Thai and Laotian.
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