I am always curious and eater to find a Japanese or Japanese-inspired food scenery wherever I go. Here in Philly, I found this spot called Tuna Bar who had some interesting sushi rolls. So, we went over to check it out. I was in a new, modern looking building.

With the wall facing the street being all windows, the inside was flooded with natural light. I liked how open it felt in the inside with high ceilings and no dividing wall. The interior was mainly all wood, from floor, wall, and furniture. It had some pop of pine green color which made it more modern and fun.

They had a quite large sushi and bar counter in the middle, with seating all around it. They also had small two-person booth seating on the side as well. Very clean decor, I am glad they didn’t put up any kind of cheap or fake Asian “artworks” on the wall.

They had plenty of seating to accommodate large groups of customers. We arrived shortly after they opened, so it was almost empty. One interesting and creative seating that they had was sofa/chair seating that was created around a large column. A good way to use the otherwise obstructing item in the space, and also not wasting that space around the column. Clever.

We started with some nice hot tea ($5) and it came in a nice pot. It was nice pot, and we also got free refill of hot water (not refill of tea itself). It was a pretty good tea.

We ordered an appetizer and side dish to go with our sushi rolls. For appetizer, we chose Creamy Rock Shrimp ($12). It is made with sweet chili, garlic aioli, lemon juice, and gochujang.

The shrimp was very plump and had a nice kick to it from gochujang. It was super tasty, lightly fried so it was not greasy. Slices of radish added crunchy texture and fresh flavor. Even though it was a bit pricey for appetizer (in my opinion), it was an excellent dish.

For side dish, we chose Lobster Fried Rice ($14), made with pea shoots, onions, and eggs. It came in a good sized bowl, kind of like a ramen bowl.

It had a good amount of lobster bits, some bits were bigger than others, but most of them were pretty small. It was very flavorful, without being too salty, nice and comforting. Not the best lobster fried rice I’ve eve had, but it was still pretty good.

Now, the sushi rolls. First one was Sindy ($16), made with crispy eel, avocado, mango, wrapped in thin tuna. This one has no rice, which was very interesting.

It had six pieces, and the presentation was pretty. The sushi was super fresh, and just as described, it had no rice! The sweet eel was indeed crispy, it had good crunchy texture. It was and interesting combination of sweet eel with fresh tuna. It had several different flavors and textures, that made this roll a fun roll to have. Crunchy eel, velvety avocado and meaty tuna. The addition of mango gave fruity flavor that was refreshing and tasty!

The second one was Old City ($17) made with spicy tuna, asparagus, daikon, crispy rock shrimp, and chives. The presentation was nice, once again. This one has rice, but the wrapper had very interesting design. This one had eight pieces.

My hubby wanted to order this roll, because he enjoyed the appetizer crispy rock shrimp so much, he wanted to have more. The crispy rock shrimp was used as a topping, instead of being inside the roll. Each piece had one crispy rock shrimp on it. Underneath the shrimp, I could see asparagus and tuna. Asparagus gave good crunchy texture, interesting and creative mix of ingredients. The aioli (?) was really nice! It was filling and satisfying roll.

After having a nice lunch, we decided to get some desserts. They didn’t have a printed dessert menu, but our waitress told us what they have. They had a few options to choose from, we went with the ones that sounded most enticing. Tree Cake ($10) and Green Tea Cheesecake ($6).

This so-called Tree Cake ($10)…I call it “rip-off” cake. Our waitress described it as a cake made with almond, egg and butter. When it came out, I was shocked what it really was… If you are familiar with a common and popular sweets in Japan, one of them is called Baumkuchen, which is actually a German layered cake. They can be purchased from most bakeries and stores, and not so pricey unless you go to some fancy boutique to get it. The cake we were presented with, in my opinion, was store-bought, and sliced as thinly as possible. For $10, you can buy an entire cake!!! Very disappointing… And on top of that, it was dry (with these thin slices being cut off from the cake, I wonder how long it has been since the cake was first purchased?). And if that is not enough, we were given spoons to eat this…why? I don’t know…

The Green Tea Cheesecake ($6) was actually ice cream, in green tea cheesecake flavor. With this one, we at least got two big scoops of ice cream. And the price was right, especially compared to the tiny amount of the other dessert. This one was pretty good, it had nice cheesecake flavor with bits of cheesecake crust mixed in it. It was fun to get that little graham cracker crust with creamy ice cream. At least one of the two desserts were tasty and satisfying.

Their bathroom is located behind the little two-person booth seating. They have more than one bathroom, and they are uni-sex. I liked the sign on the door!

The one I used was very spacious and clean, well stocked and handicap-friendly which is very considerate.

Our waitress was very friendly and polite, and we were well taken care of. Everything we had, other than the Tree Cake was great. High quality and tasty, a bit on pricey side, but that comes with the quality. I wish if we made a different choice with the dessert. But then, you live and you learn. If you go there, avoid the tree cake!

 

 

Tuna Bar – 205 Race St, Philadelphia, PA 19106