Blowfish Sushi & Ramen — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Had an okay experience here, though I exclusively went for sushi so I cannot say how they fare on the ramen. The sashimi is good, but nothing special. The tamagoyaki (egg) is not cooked perfectly and is a little burnt on the sides. Slices are thin yet way too big, making it very hard to consume a piece in one bite. This is especially true with the nigiri. I had to bite off most pieces into two which ruins the consistency of the dish. The salmon was quite overwhelming in taste. It felt like it had a lot of fat, but is not super fresh. The same goes for the escolar, though to a lesser extent.

The appetizers were good. "Stuffed avocado" is not really stuffed, just avocado tempura with toppings. The dish tasted good but also had the same "piece too big" problem as the nigiri had, and the avocado is not very fresh. The snowball appetizer had a little bit too high of a rice-per-fish ratio, and is a little oversauced, though I'd rate it the better dish of the two. The wakame (seaweed salad) had too little seaweed and too much vinegared cucumber. For the cost it was fine, but I considered the extra vinegared vegetables unnecessary.

The service is where it really falls apart. I typically don't comment on service, since I'm all for food and consider service to be something too fickle to objectively review. However, for this particular place I have to say something about the speed of the service, not because I had a bad experience, but because the place is obviously understaffed. There are only two waitresses and one of them frequently works check-in. As a result, the remaining waitress has to run the entire restaurant, leading to missed signals and very slow service. It's made worse by the fact that the restaurant itself is WAY smaller than the pictures will have you believe, so you frequently have to listen to the sounds of the door slamming in and out. The chefs also seem to spend way more time decorating the plates with shredded beets of all things, which is a waste of time for both parties, rather than just getting the...

My wife and I stopped by with a couple of our friends as my wife was craving sushi, and our friends wanted to try sushi for their first time. I would have gone to a tried and true place to introduce our friends to sushi, but decided to take a gamble with a new spot, and are very happy Blowfish did not disappoint.

The space is rather small, seating in total about 30-40 people, and offered a low-key, dark type of ambiance; very "hole in the wall." We skipped appetizers and ordered our entrées, which consisted of the Crunchy Dynamite roll for our friends, Aloha roll for the table, the Beef Brisket Ramen for me, and the Sushi Deluxe for my wife. All of the food was brought out at a decent speed, and we started to dig in. My ramen was spicy and full of flavor and textures, with the brisket itself being a delightful standout. It was tender and was a nice substite to the usual pork belly that I have with ramen. The broth itself was very rich, and while spicy, was not overbearing; it warmed the soul without giving me heartburn. I would easily come back just for this, but thankfully, the sushi is delicious as well!

The Aloha sushi was unique in a great way, with the cucumber providing a snap to it that usually does not come with seaweed sheet/paper. As for the flavor profile, it was fresh and tropical, perfect for a hot summer night. I got the chance to try the Crunchy Dynamite as my friends really enjoyed it, and it tasted fantastic! My wife's spicy roll was good, with her nigiri pieces in particular tasting right-out-of-the-water fresh. The scallop, though normally not a go-to of mine, tasted really good.

This is easily one of our top 3 sushi places in the city, and are glad it served as an introduction to sushi for our friends. Everyone enjoyed all of the food, and made our friends fans of this...

Service was... alright. Atmosphere was leaning too much on the dim/dark side for my taste. Could use a bit brighter of an overhead light for the table. But maybe that's your vibe.

For the food itself. My wife and I got the black garlic tonkotsu ramen, and the hamachi jalapeno appetizer. The appetizer was great. Lightly seared yellowtail has a great texture. I wish it had a touch of heat though. The jalapeno was too mild.

The ramen itself... has some issues. I'm slightly upset at this restaurant because it obviously knows what it's doing, but for some reason not chasing heights that it could've been at.

The broth lacks a bit of body. Maybe it wasn't cooked for long enough. There's a distinct taste when it comes to tonkotsu broth with the collagen breaking down. I got a touch of that, but not a deep satisfying warming flavor.

The ajitsuki tamago / ramen egg was... simply not that. It was just a medium boiled egg briefly dipped in marinade. It should be a soft~medium boiled egg with runny center that's been marinaded overnight. I didn't get neither the runny center nor the marinade flavor.

Ramen noodle itself was delicious. It was bouncy and has a slight chew. I do appreciate that they are putting effort into the noodles.

The whole flavor profile of black garlic was also somewhat missing.

Overall, the ramen was decent, and enjoyable. If you gave this to anyone looking for a bowl of hearty warm noodle soup, there's really very little to complain about, especially for the price. But I think you can do...