Sushi

Spicy Tuna Sushi

 
10345 S. Eastern Ave. #190
Las Vegas, NV 89102
 
702-722-2424
 

Spicy Tuna Sushi is located in the southeast side of the valley just past St. Rose Parkway and has quickly become one of my favorites in Las Vegas, they have a wide range of sushi rolls, shashimi & entrees that would please anyone.  They are located in a strip mall right next to a Trader Joes.  If my friend hadn’t taken me here I don’t think I would’ve known the place existed.  When you walk in right in the center of the room is the sushi bar with the chefs working away behind it.  Along the sides of the restaurants are these tiny private booths, which I love because it is a lot more private and you can really just focus on your friends or family.  It is a little dark inside because the floors are black and so is the ceiling but each of the booths do have their own light.

I went here with my friend over the weekend she suggested a few days before that if I need a sushi fix this was the place to go, and we just happened to be on this side of town that day.

We were seated quickly in one of the side booths, the waitress took our drink order and before she could get two steps away another server brought us each a small cucumber salad with a spicy dressing as well as a bowl of edamame to share.  After our day out in the sun we were starving so we ordered five rolls!  Well really I ordered the 5th roll because I just couldn’t help myself, they all sounded so good.  We got the Aloha roll, Double D Special, Monkey Special, Sun Devil Roll & Tempura Roll.

First up the Aloha Roll: (I apologize for the glarey photo there was no way to get a good picture in the light of the restaurant with red tuna on a red plate)

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The Aloha roll is crab, cucumber, avocado & fresh tuna.  This was a very simplistic and delicious roll, the tuna was very fresh and really made this roll.  I did have to add wasabi and soy to really make it pop and if you are like me who prefers pieces of tuna over minced up spicy tuna this is one I would suggest.

Next up we have the Double D special:

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The Double D special roll is shrimp tempura, crab, cucumber, spicy salmon & avocado on top served with orgasm sauce.  This was also really good, the spicy salmon on top was just the right amount of spicy, but you loose the salmon flavor with it being minced up.  The avocado did cool down the spicy and blend well with the shrimp and crab that are rolled up inside.  The orgasm sauce isn’t pretty to look at it but it has great flavor and I ended up keeping it on the side to dip the aloha roll in instead of soy sauce.

The next one we had was the Monkey Special:

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Now the monkey roll was the most interesting of the night it is a fried banana, topped with a crab mixture and then there is a slice of tuna and it is all topped off with a drizzle of eel sauce.  I was surprised on how much I liked this one.  I mean really it sounds strange with fried banana, but it really works.  The sweetness of the banana counteracts the sour of the crab mixture and the sauces on top.  Really I could’ve just eaten a bowl of the crab mixture that was inside this roll, it was so light and refreshing.  The biggest problem with this is that it is hard to eat, especially with chop sticks it will easily fall apart and you have to eat it in sections.  I would certainly order this one on my next trip here, and I would suggest that you take the chance on the weird banana roll and go for it.

Next up was the Sun Devil Roll:

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The Sun Devil roll is smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado, ebi & spicy crap all fried and served with yum yum sauce.  This was one of my favorites of the night, it was just the right amount of spicy and the yum yum sauce was the perfect match to this roll.  You got a nice kick of spice and then the flavor of the smoked salmon, it wasn’t too prominent just enough to know it is there and honestly it could’ve used more for my taste.  If you want something that is spicy I would suggest this roll, it isn’t overly spicy so don’t expect it to burn your mouth it is just the perfect balance.

Last up is the Tempura Roll:

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The tempura roll is eel, crab, avocado & cream cheese deep fried then it is drizzled with eel sauce.  This was my other favorite roll of the evening.  The eel sauce was perfectly sweet and really help elevate the flavor of the eel and crab inside.  If you like fried rolls this is one to be sure to get, you won’t be disappointed.

They do have over 80 rolls on their menu so it may take you awhile to pick what you want, but to start with look to any one of these and you won’t be disappointed.  The only reason they are not getting a five star rating is that at the start of the meal we waited a long time to get our order placed.  Our waitress was busy up front talking to the hostess to notice that we had decided and wanted to order.  Another server that came to the table next to us ended up taking our order.  After this though they were quick to clear our plates through out the meal and refill our waters.  The one nice thing about most sushi places is that their entire wait staff seems to help with food deliver and plate clearing the same goes for Spicy Tuna.  The rolls did come out to our table quickly, one at a time with to me just the right amount of time in between.  Definitely put this place on your to try list for sushi in the valley.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant

 
 
 
Tivoli Village
400 S. Rampart Blvd., Suite 190,
Las Vegas, NV 89145
 
Webiste: http://www.kabukirestaurants.com
 

I ate here over the weekend on a girl’s day, we decided that we had a craving for sushi and remembered that Kabuki had opened recently in Tivoli Village, and this would also give us a chance to check out the farmers market that is held at Tivoli on the weekends.  We got to Kabuki a little after 11 am I would say and the place was pretty empty, so we were seated quickly.  Someone came over right away and got our drink order, and shortly after our waiter came over to see if we had any questions.

To start our meal we decided to go with the garlic edamame.  Before this came to our table our waiter brought us complimentary edamame to the table because we had ordered sushi, we were a bit disappointed that he did not tell us that edameme came with our sushi because if he had we wouldn’t have ordered it as an appetizer.  Granted they were different one is cold the other is warm with garlic, salt & spices.  Maybe we would have ordered something different.  But it was the principal behind it; it would have been nice that he said something.

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We decided that we would get 4 rolls to share, the downside to sharing with me is I for some reason can not stand the consistency of spicy tuna, I blame it on a hand roll I had at a charity event it was just too much for my pallet and I haven’t been able to eat it since.  So I am constantly trying to find rolls that do not have it in , which I will admit is a lot harder than you would think.  It seems to be the default ingredient for a lot of places.  We eventually decided on the Lotus roll, AAA Box roll, Alaskan roll & Smokey Philly roll.

First up the lotus roll: Baked premium lobster meat on top of California roll served with eel sauce.

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I really liked this roll the lobster was cooked perfectly and they gave you plenty on top so you don’t feel as if you paid too much for just a California roll.  I would for sure order this one on my next trip to Kabuki.

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The AAA Box roll is albacore tuna layered with asparagus between rice and topped with avocado, with what we assume is eel sauce and some kind of mayo sauce.  These were not listed on the item description but both were a nice addition to the roll.  My only critique of this roll is that I really didn’t taste the asparagus, which if I am ordering a roll with it in it I want to feel like I am getting asparagus.  It was just lost in everything.  Also the layer is a nice presentation but really was kind of difficult to eat since it made the pieces twice the size of a roll.

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The Alaskan roll was a California roll topped with basked salmon, while I really enjoyed this roll my friend was only kind of on board.  It was a nice flavor with the baked salmon, but really because it was another California roll I could see how it was kinda just blah.

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The last roll we had was the Smokey Philly roll, this seems to be a pretty standard roll no matter which sushi restaurant you go to.  The only difference is that it had smoked salmon inside instead of just plain salmon; and to be honest it could’ve been plain and I wouldn’t have known.  It didn’t  have an abundant smokey flavor that smoked salmon has which is one of the reasons I enjoy getting rolls with smoked salmon.

Overall the service was very good despite our waiter having a cloud of cologne following him, the bussers were quick to clear out the empty plates and refill our drinks.   The sushi was very tasty and got to us quickly, my major critique as a whole was that the rice was extremely soft, meaning the rolls didn’t stay together and fell apart easily, especially the AAA box roll and Smokey Philly.  This is the main reason I removed a star, because if you are a sushi restaurant your rice should be on point.  The rolls did come with 6 – 8 pieces depending on the roll, which was good for sharing.  Our entire meal was a total of $52 including tax, so for basically $25 a person we had a nice sushi lunch.  I would recommend them whether you are at Tivoli or Town Square if you are looking to fill your sushi craving for the day.