Niji Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Madison

On a recent trip to Madison, I found that Takumi moved their sushi and hibachi just down the road and rebranded as "Niji".

I was excited to check it out, and my first impression was really positive. There's a large parking lot, the exterior looks great, the interior layout is sharp and I can tell that a lot of consideration and money went into everything from new plates to napkins.

The menu is relatively large, with pages dedicated to the restaurants signature rolls, and more common sushi specialty rolls. There's ramen and other Asian cuisine, but we knew what we wanted and ordered straight away.

Our server was friendly but it seemed like he was in the weeds, even though we were still pretty early before the dinner rush would really hit.

Other groups came in and were seated in the hibachi area, and we watched plates come out with appetizers for some of the tables near us. Has the wait for our for sushi rolls grew longer, I noticed that they had select half price appetizers, so I flagged our server down and put it in order for some crab rangoon.

Our wait continued - I'm usually a very patient guy, but it was past the point where I'm able to give it a pass.

When our food finally arrived, it was well plated and looked delicious. We ordered a California roll, an eel and avocado roll, a shrimp tempura roll, and one of Takumi's old signature rolls, the candy roll.

Unfortunately, shrinkflation has also struck Niji. The number and size of the pieces were less than they used to be - anecdotally, I felt like it was about half the amount of sushi that I used to get when they were Takumi. While I understand why, it was a bit of a shock to pay more and get so much less. The candy roll was a shadow of what it used to be in every way.

The flavor of the fried roll (the candy roll) and the rangoons were off as well. That old oil taste that adds something unpleasant.

I wanted so badly to love the meal, but to quote old joke, "the food wasn't very good... And the portions were so small", comes to mind.

Pros: new, clean and beautiful place, expansive menu, and happy hour specials.

Cons: small portions and high prices, taste was off,...

So, this is what Takumi became... and that's such a shame. The original was such a fun, warm space. This feels like squatting in an abandoned Friday's.

The food was awful. Truly. My Teriyaki was a joke; Luke warm (and got cold quickly), overcooked chicken with zero seasoning and a drizzle of sauce.

The sushi was nowhere near what it used to be. Texture was awful. Flavor was meh at best. The shumai were also overcooked, and the texture was so off. Like, spongy mush. It didn't help that they arrived swimming in sauce instead of sauce on the side. The best part of my meal were the orange slices, which were actually really fresh and sweet. Everything else was just bad.

I asked for a box as a reflex, but left everything but the rice and veg. Even left some sushi... which I have never in my life done. Avoid. Nothing remains of Takumi as I knew it.

And as I sit here looking at the food before I leave, both the shumai and the Teriyaki really seem as though they may have been microwaved. Like, prepared and cooked earlier in the day, and then microwaved.

I can't say that for sure, but if you've ever had chicken that someone has reheated in a microwave, then you'd say the same; this is exactly what it's like.

Never coming back. Waste of time and money. And after I was seated, I honestly didn't feel super welcome either. Food took about longer here than it did at the old Takumi location... and they weren't busy like Takumi would be.

As I left, the manager/host asked me how it was. I decided to be honest and tell her it was not good. She asked why. I told her. She nodded, smiled, said ok and helped the customer that came in while we were talking. No apology, no attempt to make it right. Nothing. This place doesn't really deserve to be successful without...

My husband and I went on a date night at Niji on a Monday night. We were pretty limited with options so I’m grateful they were open. The restaurant itself is beautiful, however the deteriorating mall and pavement nearby is an eyesore - the mall area no longer looks like a place you should travel to. The hibachi appeared to be closed, although that’s usually one of our favorite things to go to. Fortunately, we wanted sushi anyways. We ordered 3 signature rolls to share; black Jet roll, kiss of fire roll, and pink lady roll. They were all delicious. Black jet roll had seasoned cooked tuna on top (which tasted much like a rare steak) and had spicy tuna inside (middle roll in the picture). The kiss of fire roll was topped with sweet chili sauce and jalapeño (bottom roll) and was my favorite. The pink lady roll was made spicy tuna, tempura shrimp, and spicy crab meat- my husband loved it the most but I thought it was too salty. The sushi rolls don’t come with a side or anything, so we also order the miso soup (the air conditioning was cranked and I was freezing). My husband loved it but I’m pretty picky about my miso soup- given we have friends from Japan who make it and it just wasn’t my favorite- I wouldn’t pay extra for it again. Service was a little slow with drinks and soup that I know was already ready, but there didn’t appear to be many servers so she could have been really busy. Overall we were very happy to dinner at Niji for date night and will...