Food and Drink (Philadelphia Restaurants & Bars)Philadelphia Restaurants - Where to grab a bite or a brew? Ask and answer questions on where to go for everything from cheese steaks to chianti! Talk
I talked to the owner at the new sushi place next to King of Tandoor. He said they planned to open for business Wednesday. If you have a snow day, head on over to Callowhill's Little Restaurant Row.
As you can guess, Doma didn't open for business today. It would have been pointless on a day with everyone at home hiding under blankets.
K and I had to get out for a walk. As we passed Doma, it didn't look open but it looked busy with people working inside. We stopped by to ask when the restaurant would be opening. Robert, the owner said it was up to the weather. Since we had taken the trouble to venture into the blizzard he offered us a chance to sample some of Doma's sushi.
Well, I'm not crazy enough to pass up an offer like that! Robert invited us to one of the tables and brought us a selection with a couple rolls as well as salmon, shrimp and eel, a favorite of mine. I enjoyed everything on the plate.
Before the food arrived, we browsed the lunch and dinner menus, which include some Korean dishes along with the Japanese dishes. Once Doma is up and running at full speed, we look forward to going back for sushi, tonkatsu and bento boxes.
Robert said he would be doing a soft opening with the goal of being up to speed by Valentine's Day.
As you can guess, Doma didn't open for business today. It would have been pointless on a day with everyone at home hiding under blankets.
K and I had to get out for a walk. As we passed Doma, it didn't look open but it looked busy with people working inside. We stopped by to ask when the restaurant would be opening. Robert, the owner said it was up to the weather. Since we had taken the trouble to venture into the blizzard he offered us a chance to sample some of Doma's sushi.
Well, I'm not crazy enough to pass up an offer like that! Robert invited us to one of the tables and brought us a selection with a couple rolls as well as salmon, shrimp and eel, a favorite of mine. I enjoyed everything on the plate.
Before the food arrived, we browsed the lunch and dinner menus, which include some Korean dishes along with the Japanese dishes. Once Doma is up and running at full speed, we look forward to going back for sushi, tonkatsu and bento boxes.
Robert said he would be doing a soft opening with the goal of being up to speed by Valentine's Day.
I popped in for a late lunch yesterday. I was the only patron, but I was also there at 2 pm when they weren't fully advertised that they were open. A couple people did pop in for takeout menus, but didn't stay. There were some opening day wrinkles, such as not having the sweet potato for the sweet potato tempura roll (which sounded really good), but I settled on having a basic seafood roll (tuna) and a vegetable roll (can't remember the name, but marinated daikon). I usually try a basic roll the first time because I rank quality of the fish as important as the flavor potential, as my stomach has made me pay for bad raw fish before.
The tuna roll was good, nice fish and was mostly tuna, rather than the typical rice roll with a sliver of fish down the middle. The daikon roll was not bad, either. Wasabi was nice and spicy hot, unlike the Play-doh some places offer. The chef made a small portion of a refreshing bean sprout salad for me to try, which had a nice flavor profile with the sesame oil standing out.
Will likely go back for dinner with friends sometime and order more than a couple basic rolls, and really put them to the test with Umai Umai.
Edit: Atmosphere was nice, although it seemed like a little more of a lunch atmosphere than Umai Umai, which seems to have more of a neighborhoody dinner atmosphere. Weird way to put it, but that's just how it felt. That may change when there are more people in the restaurant.
My fiance and I had our Valentines Day dinner here. I am impressed. The atmosphere is very nice. It feels a lot like Shiroi Hana.
We ordered the Octopus Ceviche as an appetizer, and I had the sushi deluxe, while my fiance had a Dragon Roll and a California Roll. It was all delicious. They treated us to Miso Soup, Edamame, and a few other things. The most impressive was the seven inch sea eel sushi. It was absolutely delicious. One of the best things I've had. Their sushi portions were very large and we both left very full. We had the hand made chocolate dipped strawberry mochi for desert. If you're looking for something that's not overpoweringly sweet give it a try. It's probably relatively healthy as far as deserts go as well.
People talk up Umai Umai a lot, and it is legitimately great, but the portion sizes are small which makes it less of a value for your money, especially if you have a big appetite. Combine that with its popularity, which can make it hard to even get a seat on a weekend occasionally, and this place looks more and more attractive.
They plan on doing take out and limited delivery in very near future.
The two of us will be going back, and regularly. It's a lot more convenient than running to center city for great sushi.
Last edited by AbortedWalrus; 02-14-2010 at 10:53 PM.
Yup, they said you could bring your own. They said that depending how things work out they may apply for a license to serve wine and sake in the future, but I think I'd almost prefer it to be a BYO.