Restaurant Review: Wasabi

Last week, Nate and I went out for sushi with our friends Craig and Margo. We've been trying to plan a sushi night for months, and it finally worked out last week. We thought we would try something different and go somewhere none of us had been: Wasabi, in Brookfield. I had heard from many people that the food was good and fresh. I was excited to check it out.

Since we were there on a Sunday evening, it wasn't too crowded so we got seated right away. For some reason they sat us at a table that needed clearing and cleaning, but since we preferred a booth over a table, we didn't mind. The place is nice--chic and sophisticated, but not cold.

We started with a bowl of salty edamame--you can't go wrong there. It was good, but a bit overcooked. I had a cup of tea to start with. I think I just ordered "tea," and I'm pretty sure, after some Wikipedia-ing after our dinner, I got a cup of genmaicha, which is green tea with brown rice. It was good, but kind of surprised me at first!

For our main meal, we decided to split four types of rolls (much to Craig's chagrin--he's not much of a sushi fan, but he was a sport and tried everything). Here are the four rolls we had were, and our overall impressions:

• Alaskan (below, right): Fresh salmon, crab meat, avocado and lettuce. This was one of our favorites, and it happened to be the most simple and cheapest (by $4!). I don't think I've ever had lettuce in a roll, and it gave it a really nice crunch.


• Miller (bottom picture): Tuna, salmon, yellow tail and red snapper, rolled with cucumber sheet and ponzu sauce. The cucumber sheet threw me--I don't think any of us noticed this on the menu. So instead of the roll being wrapped in nori, it was wrapped in cucumber. I really didn't like the cucumber--since it's such a watery vegetable, you couldn't taste the flavors of the fish (and with three types of fish, you should be able to taste the fish).


• Crunch (below, middle): Shrimp tempura, cucumber, avocado, crunch powder and BBQ sauce. This one was good, but none of us thought it was great. We all enjoyed eating the bits of "crunch" covered with sweet BBQ sauce that fell off the rolls, though!


• Las Vegas (below, left): Salmon and creamy sauce over spicy crab, crunch and avocado. This was the other favorite. The cream sauce was a nice addition and the "crunch" gave it nice texture. While some of them say they are spicy, none of them were at all.

So it sounds like that is a lot of food, but we probably would have been OK ordering one or two more rolls--we all left hungry! (Luckily, Kopp's is pretty close, so we filled up on custard).

Overall, we had a good experience, but I probably wouldn't rush back. I'd try a new place or go back to one of my favorite's, Takara. Our server was neither good nor bad--just kind of "blah."