Most people I ask tell me that Red has the best sushi in Madison. After trying Muramoto today, I strongly disagree.
Muramoto is a small, intimate restaurant with really cool Japanese hipster vibe much like Morris Ramen next door. I don't get a weeaboo vibe from them, so don't start getting all "oishii gocheesosama deshda arigato gozaimasu" when you're there. At 8 pm on a Saturday, it was actually fairly quiet. The place was only half full, and they managed to block the noise from the loud pride festival outside. The menu has some interesting, fairly-priced hot items, but I came for the sushi. Each sushi item had a very appetizing description talking about the origin, preparation, and flavor of the ingredient. It was difficult to not just order everything.
I started a large sushi combo plate for $25. That may sound like a lot of money for a roll and 9 pieces of nigiri, but it's actually an awesome deal considering how generous they are with their fish portions. Mine came with an octopus and scallion roll, bonito, albacore, blue fin (at mid-fattiness or chutoro), escarol, scallop, sweet raw shrimp, smoked salmon, yellowtail, and chilean sea bass. I'm not going to describe it all in detail since that would take forever, but it was all awesome. Everything was so flavorful and intentional. I was at a place owned by one of Jiro's trainees a few weeks ago, and this was pretty much just as good. I got some more of my favorite nigiri and sashimi pieces afterwards. My favorite was probably the uni (sea urchin). If you're an adventerous sea food eater and have never tried uni, the sweet, creamy, fishy flavor will make you fall in love with sushi all over again.
My only complaint was the rice. It wasn't warm and was kind of mushy and pasty. It didn't ruin the roll, but I found myself eating around it when eating nigiri. I will probably order most things as sashimi from now on.
When I got my bill, I was pleasantly surprised by how little it cost. I had a world-class sushi feast for 2 people for under $80 after tipping generously. I will be back soon.