Before you head to RA Sushi Bar Restaurant–a new Gold Coast sushi place that opened six weeks ago where an old sushi place used to be–it might not be a bad idea to head to their Web site (www.rasushi.com) first. “There’s never a dull moment in the RA,” the text exclaims, to the accompaniment of thumping rock tunes. “The music is pumping, the mood is upbeat, and the atmosphere is as stimulating as a big bite of wasabi.”
Even if that sounds like your cup of tea, it’s not entirely accurate. The music is indeed “pumping” (a.k.a. really loud, and they do pump it out onto the street, at night, as a kind of lure). But the only kind of moment there never is in the RA, honestly, is a quiet one.
During a recent late lunch at RA, the nearly empty, sunlit dining room (decorated in Sushi Moderne: paper lanterns, exotic flowers, geometric dishes) was being blasted with stale rock tunes. It reminded me of showing up at an empty roller-skating rink as a kid and finding a lone person wildly boogy-skating to “Snowbird.” Kind of depressing.
We sat down anyway, and decided to try a couple of the lunch specials, a vegetable tempura bento box and the sashimi combo, which we supplemented with scallop dynamite and tuna tataki starters from the regular menu. The only thing we liked was the sashimi, nine fat slices of raw tuna, whitefish and salmon that tasted just fine. The scallop dynamite arrived orange and bubbling in a shell-shaped dish, but when we dug in, the chili mayonnaise sauce surrounding the bay scallops was cool on the outside and warm in the middle, which makes one suspect a microwave was involved, and it tasted a little like thousand island dressing. The tuna tataki arrived looking pretty–10 slices of seared fish, pink in the middle, arranged in a teepee shape around shredded daikon radish–but it was chilled through. I asked if this dish was prepared ahead of time and refrigerated, and the answer was yes, but the dish was freshly cut before serving. The tempura box contained a plain green salad, some good rice, and a couple of fried things (spinach gyoza and a veggie spring roll), along with the fried vegetables (a green bean, some pepper rings, an asparagus, onion slices), which were fine if a little gummy.
I definitely enjoyed the place more when I went back at night–it was more crowded, darker, and people seemed to be having more fun, especially at the bar, from whence came the occasional hooting noises. And we also had better luck ordering from the sushi menu, with no straying into the entrees “From the Sea” or “From Land.”
My friend Allyson and I both liked the spicy lobster roll. We had some perfectly OK standards (spicy tuna, yellowtail and dragon rolls), as well as decent shrimp and flying fish roe nigiri, and our uchi no salad (some greens with a tasty ginger soy dressing) was fine, if a little limp. For dessert, Allyson polished off most of the cinnamon tempura ice cream, but I found it inscrutable. Some things don’t need to be deep fried, and I wouldn’t care if Julia Child herself disagreed with me in this case.
“See for yourself at any of our locations why everything is more fun in the RA,” says the Web site, and the pun part of that statement is probably true. But in general the food and the atmosphere at RA, which is the first Chicago outlet of an Arizona-based chain, is more American Mall than Japanese Sushi Shop.
If you go, one thing to know–a rule of thumb for a lot of mid-price restaurants–is that the name of a place can be instructive when it’s time to order. The official name of this place is RA Sushi Bar Restaurant, and don’t forget it.
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RA is at 1139 N. State St.; 312-274-0011. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Entrees $7.75-$19.50.