Raisu — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

I’m honestly shocked by the number of strong reviews for this restaurant. The server was very nice, though service itself was paced poorly with one of us waiting 20 minutes for his meal after the other was served. Cocktails tasted like there was no alcohol and was extremely watered down. Miso soup was almost entirely devoid of miso. It tasted like instant Hondashi granules that someone for got to add miso to. It was served room temperature and was awful. Tempura appetizer bore no resemblance to Japanese tempura. Instead of a light, airy and crispy batter, it was dense breadcrumbs like you might see on frozen shrimp. It may have been panko like you might find on a deep fried tonkatsu cutlet, but it doesn’t belong in something being called tempura. The tempura green beans were slimey and inedible. We ordered two appetizer salads; a seared tuna salad and mixed healthy green salad. They were identical save three flavorless pieces of tuna on one. What appeared to be bagged greens were served with dried cranberries, sliced apples and supposedly a ponzu dressing. Any ponzu in the salad was masked by an overly strong vinegar flavor. Hard to eat. One might be happy with the gigantic size of the salad, but it’s billed as an appetizer. The sushi was fine. I steered clear of the “signature” sushi that paired items like grapefruit, lychee, jalapeño, and mustard dressing that would totally mask the delicate flavors of the seafood. The atmosphere was extremely loud with my husband and I struggling to hear each other as people spoke louder and louder in an attempt to be heard over the din. This space could use some soft surfaces and sound attenuation. This is not good Japanese food. I’d say it’s perhaps something that uses Japanese food as an inspiration, except that, even then, the food was pretty bad. Way overpriced for what you get. And the best part? My husband ended up with what we’re pretty certain is food poisoning....

This is a cozy place with good variety for the location. It's not true fine dining, but it's not casual either. The atmosphere provides a chill night or a romantic date night. Food is definitely good, some a bit more gimmicky than others, but what/where isn't nowadays. Let's break down the meal in its' entirety. I've been here before for their Omakase 101 (beginner) which was well good but I decided to go from their direct menu this time. The only real grip I have about this place is their plating is kind of absurd. The portion size to the plate scaling is ridiculously unnecessary. It takes up a lot of space if you're at a small table with a lot of food. Their special nigiri is a must so you can see how the head sushi chef puts a spin on traditional nigiri. If they have Uni, order it, you won't regret it. Their scallop sashimi is good too. Now, whether or not their Wagyu is worth or not, is up to you and your wallet. I opted for their handroll just because I was in the mood for it. The roll was not my idea, but my dining companion's (gimmicky) but taste wise, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best thing ever either. Finally, for the other three items I ordered: squid, chicken and spider (softshell crab wrapped in cucumber). All three were good individually as they were, the squid (D.D.R.) unfortunately has changed since my last dining experience. It used to come with a salad and no longer does not, which is a bit saddening. The wings were fine; think of karaage but bone-in. I do have one gripe with all three of these dishes though: overuse of teriyaki sauce for decoration; drizzle it on the plate not the...

When one orders a dish that has the word "don" in it, there's an expectation implied. In any other Japanese restaurant, a "_"-don dish is a bowl filled with rice, topped with whatever protein/veg/sauce on top. The flavors seep into the rice and the bowl helps insulate said flavors, and assists with consumption via chopsticks. It's very hard to do it wrong. This place did it wrong. I ordered the unagi-don. Instead of receiving what I previously described, I got a small slab of eel with minimal sauce on top of rice equivalent to that of maybe three nigiris on a flat plate, with a side of asparagus. Maybe the " Fine Dining " in the title of the restaurant should have thrown up the red flags. But, I was hungry after a gig, had a craving for eel, and I just happened to be at a red light long enough to spot this place. The only reason I'm giving this place 3 stars instead of 2 was that maybe the other menu items are worth trying, and if I had a craving for raw salmon or tuna, maybe I would have ordered something different and had a potentially better meal. With all that being said, the service was good, and so was...