Tampopo
5665 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, Illinois; Phone 773-561-2277
Date of Review: May, 2009
Tampopo is an authentic sushi spot far up Lincoln Avenue past Bryn Mawr. It is worth the drive as the fish here is fresh, tasty and served in generous portions. The atmosphere is pleasant and very typical of a Japanese restaurant with a small sushi bar, tables in the middle and booths on the perimeter of the restaurant. They do offer beer, wine, sake and soju but are BYOB on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The complimentary miso soup was solid and they offered 3 side dishes much like they do at a Korean restaurant (I think Tampopo is run by Koreans). The dishes (bean sprouts, pickled vegetables and strangely, macaroni salad) were nothing noteworthy but a nice touch. We ordered one excellent appetizer which consisted of 2 broiled mussels with crab meat and masago. Additionally, we ordered 2 sashimi appetizers which consisted of 10 half size pieces of salmon and tuna for $12.50 each. The healthy size slices of tuna and salmon were tasty and fresh. With our bellies filling up quickly, we decided to only go for 3 maki rolls. A word of warning: be careful when ordering maki rolls here as the portions are large (2 bite large). We ordered the spicy tuna, Amazon maki and the fire dragon. The Amazon has real crab, jalapeno, spicy mayo and cucumber stuffed inside with thick slices of tuna, salmon and avocado on the outside and is topped with cilantro and masago. This was outstanding as was the fire dragon which features unagi and avocado wrapped around spicy tuna, cucumber and green onion. These are some of the best rolls I have had in Chicago. The specialty rolls are pricy ($13.95) but they are worth it.
Our food bill and one beer came to a total of $62.50 and that included tax and tip.
I highly recommend purchasing a $25 gift certificate for $10 from the restaurant.com website ahead of time. It will reduce a bill by $25. Our waitress gladly accepted the certficate by saying "Of Course!" with a plesant smile.
1 comment:
Great coupon deal and a good value. $62 with a drink, tax and tip is very reasonable for two.
I'm sure this place has good sushi and the owners take pride, but they're making the mistake of thinking customers think like them. These goofy ticky-tack stuff like the BYOB on certain days is ridiculous. Maybe they meant "no-corkcage fee on these days". In my opinion, you either have to be BYOB or not. Playing it in the middle is silly and confusing to customers.
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