Raw Sushi & Sake Bar — Restaurant in Saint Thomas

We had dinner at Raw during a recent trip to St. Thomas. Our first impressions were good: nice staff, menu looked good, and they had a happy hour menu. However, we also saw that there were only 6 fish available, one of which was boiled shrimp (which we never eat). A pretty unimpressive line-up for a sushi bar.

We started with the miso soup, RAWkin' tacos, and a red snapper maki roll. The soup was good, the tacos better (we added a 4th taco so we each had two). The tuna in the tacos was good, but the overall taco was just OK. The over abundant sauce drowned out the fish. That was the beginning of a trend for the evening.

The red snapper maki roll was small (happy hour size) so no real bargain there. It was also our first taste of the rice used at the restaurant, not so good. That issue continued throughout the evening. We also started with a carafe of hot sake, which was tasty. We had several carafes throughout the evening! :-)

We moved to the regular menu and ordered the hamachi carpaccio. The dish included the fresh hamachi, asian slaw, arugula, and sliced jalapeno. No sauce on this plate, so the fish was the star. Fresh and served at the right temperature. We ordered sashimi next: salmon, (more) hamachi, red snapper, and tuna. The fish was good, all tasted fresh.

We moved on to specialty rolls next, and tried the Four Tuna and Don't Vessup rolls. Both rolls suffered from the rice deficiency noted above. The seemed old, a bit dried out, and simply not the quality one would expect at a top-notch sushi place. Both rolls also suffered from the over-abundance of spicy aioli sauce. Not sure why sushi places do that... the good ones don't.

Service was OK, not great. The sushi chefs were responsive, but our waitress (who we think was new) was pretty slow. For the prices charged, we expected much better-quality food. Raw missed the mark on quality and available fish. With so many dining options in the area, we...

Intimate upscale sushi bar. We started with a couple of cocktails and apps… Matsuyama Mule and the Spicy Geisha (our fav!) and an order of edamame and Hamachi Carpaccio. It was a perfect start! We each had a salad next. I had the house salad and my fiancé had the Wakame seaweed salad. We were both happy with our salads. For our entrees we chose several specialty rolls: Rolling Rainbow, Tree O ‘Dem, Dat North Drop, and Miso Shellfish. The first two were good but we wouldn’t get them again because the last two I listed were absolutely phenomenal. My only complaint has nothing to do with the food or service, although our drinks did take a little longer than you’d expect, but our waitress apologized and said there were a lot of orders in. We appreciated the explanation. So my complaint had to do with patrons who cursed and complained incessantly about their work here, at another table. It is such a small cozy place and these folks were incredibly boisterous; more the sort of behavior of a sports bar than a finer dining establishment. I’m sure everyone heard their conversation (and you can bet we won’t have any dealings with their place of business). It was hard not to. We had reservations and were really looking forward to our meal as it was a birthday celebration or we would have walked out. I felt sorry for the cute quiet couple sitting directly next to them (we were two tables down in a row of three; I think there’s only 6 tables total). They ate their meal quickly in silence and left. It was hard for us to have a conversation so I imagine it was impossible for them. I kind of expected, or hoped, that our waitress would have at least acknowledged the inappropriate behavior, as we weren’t the only ones obviously uncomfortable. Bottom line: I do highly recommend this place and we’ll be back. I mean what’s the likelihood we’ll be there at the same time as those other folks again,...

This was a fabulous experience. To understand the level of kindness, you first need to know that we had just come from a day trip on the beach. We were not dressed up or anything. As a matter of fact, we looked pretty rough. Lol. So we are two people who like to try sushi from all over. If we visit a new place we will look for a good sushi bar. OK, my wife found this place called Raw Sushi and Sake Bar. So with our sun and salt water battered hair. Sun burnt skin and bathing suits, we walked into Raw (RSSB) We were greeted by the staff and asked where we would like to sit. We chose the sushi bar. As we looked over the menu, we told the staff that we were thankful they would let us dine there in our under dressed state. They assured us it was fine. We found all the sushi rolls they offer on the menu, and we're very impressed. As we struggled to decide on a roll for us both. We were curious which one the head chef and the waitress liked the best. Now we have all the information we need to really narrow it down. They all sounded so good we couldn't help but order 4 sushi rolls. Let me tell you that when they were done with our food and presented our dish to us, it was fabulous! The flavors that hit our pallet were abundant. From the presentation to the taste were perfectly done. The chef was friendly and helpful as the waitress as well. This is a much appreciated experience. Oh, and the spicy edamame was my wife's favorite. Give this place your time. They deserve it. From good-hearted people to good food. Amazing job, Raw Sushi...