Cerulean Restaurant — Restaurant in Winona Lake

Oh my! Where to begin? Before I rant, I will say this...I realize we're in a pandemic with the Covid thing going on. BUT with that being said, it's one thing to cut back on quality and service levels to stay a thriving and ongoing business, so the doors don't close for good like so many other restaurants have. -BUT to what degree? I had been to this establishment some years ago before I moved here. So I thought let's support local businesses. My wife and I went here with good intentions to recapture that time we visited long ago. Which was a great experience and the food was really good and the portion sizes were more than adequate. BUT, not this time around! We were served smaller than normal portions. The wait staff and server were really polite and timely. No complaints there! My problem lie with the undersized portions but not so much as the quality of said meal. My wife and I believe we were served can food for the fruit and veggies. And the Salmon I ate was so small and tasteless that we decided to skip the dessert in fear of a vending machine product. So again. I say, at what cost or degree does one compromise to keep patrons coming back. I can't answer that. BUT as we began to leave I noticed the other patrons were quite older. So maybe their pallets are dull to the degree that their food tasted one step better than the nursing home food they'll be eating one day soon. So either they didn't recognize it or they were overly polite and brushed it off. BUT as for me, I still have my sight and sense of taste. So I expect quality for my buck ($$)! P.S. - the 2 stars are for the staff not the meal. Please correct this going forward. Because people like my self who grew up in a big city don't take kindly to being served low rate food out a can. We can taste...

Cerulean Restaurant has been an elevated dining experience in my life since summer 2008. At that time, their evening menu was entirely different than what is offered today (2023) — I can't speak much to their current dinner offerings. However, their lunch cuisine has remained consistent.

Bento boxes has been their primary and staple lunch option, while adding poke bowls and more. As far as their bento mains, my two favorites are their salmon and panko chicken.

SALMON fennel, mandarin, hoisin bbq sauce

PANKO CHICKEN cranberry-ginger sauce, honey

For sides, my top three are:

ASIAN NOODLES red cabbage, carrot, scallion, peanut

ORANGE & ALMOND MIX mandarin, honey-balsamic, toasted almond, mint

BROCCOLINI SALAD cranberry, bacon, scallion, sunflower seed, creamy vinaigrette

When with a group, great starters (appetizers) are Cerulean's red pepper jam with toast and their Midwest cheeseboard — both are fantastic. Additionally, Cerulean has a great sushi menu. Personally, my favorite item they offer on their sushi menu is the Flying Fish roll.

FLYING FISH smoked salmon, tempura fried broccolini, cucumber, cream cheese, jalapeño, avocado, tempura crunch, unagi sauce, spicy mayo

Cerulean has a bar with great creative cocktails, an enclosed porch with a view of the Winona Lake canal and an outdoor Garden open in the summer and early fall. Highly recommend!

*Images pulled from Cerulean's Facebook | sushi roll pictured: Green Dragon Roll, tempura shrimp, cucumber, cream cheese, furikake and wasabi mayo

Cerulean on Instagram:...

My husband received a Cerulean gift card as a holiday gift, and today we finally had the opportunity to redeem it. What a wonderful experience! Colleagues made recommendations for us as far as menu choices, and they did not disappoint. We started with the red pepper dip, and it was fabulous. It's served with freshly toasted bread and the subtle sweetness of the sauce perfectly offsets what can come across as a rather bitter flavor in the pepper. A generous scoop of goat cheese is presented in the center of the red pepper sauce. Smeared on the toasted bread it is divine. I may have discovered my new favorite food! For our main lunch course, we went with bento boxes. We were unfamiliar with the concept, but the meal is served with one main protein - he chose panko crusted chicken, I went with the tuna - and three sides - he chose edamame, udon noodles and broccolini, I with Chinese noodles, cucumber salad, and crispy potatoes. Everything was good on the whole although the cucumber salad was under seasoned and underwhelming. The price was a bit high for lunch ($19 per box) but the portions were such that we ended up taking most of our boxes home in perfectly suited for the occasion takeout containers. The service was quite good and food served in a timely fashion. The atmosphere was casual, and the space is beautifully appointed. I was surprised to hear one of my favorite songs playing on the sound system as we entered. Such a good sign. We're excited to try Cerulean again for dinner when we're back in...