I recently found Blowfish on Yelp and had a chance to visit with my husband on a Saturday. It has…read morealready grown from a hidden gem into a popular spot. We made a 7:00 pm reservation and arrived on time. The friendly hostess let us pick a table of our preference. We settled into a spacious booth by a large window overlooking the front patio. Within minutes, the restaurant was completely packed, both indoors and outdoors. There were guests waiting to be seated throughout the evening.
If you visit on a busy night like this one, be prepared to allow longer time for the food to come to the table. I could see that some of the dishes were ready on the kitchen counter waiting to be delivered to the tables, but they seemed to be a bit short-handed, especially for the tables in the patio. Our server took our order at 7:10 pm, and it took 24 minutes for our food to come out at 7:36 pm. It was fine as we were not in a hurry.
The décor of Blowfish is modern and comfortable. Our server, Bu, was friendly, cheerful, efficient, and professional.
Both my husband and I ordered a Hot Green Tea ($2 x 2). I ordered a Sakura Roll ($17), with crab mix, jalapeño, avocado, seared white tuna, white truffle oil, wasabi mayo, sweet soy sauce, and scallions. It was beautifully presented and packed with flavors. There were 9 pieces and I shared 1 with my husband who also liked it. I ate some of the pieces whole and dissembled some of them, each of the ingredients was fresh and tasty, together they created complex flavors that didn't need any other sauces or wasabi. It's a great choice that I'd happily order it again.
My husband had a Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen ($18), with silky tonkotsu broth, pork chashu, kikurage, nitamago, scallions, corn, spinach, roasted seaweed, sesame, and black garlic oil. The bowl of ramen looked attractive. I asked him how it tasted; he said that it was one of the best bowls of ramen he's ever had! Wow! That's high praise coming from him, I don't think I've ever heard him saying that before! He said that there's a nice kick even though it was not noted on the menu. I am intrigued and will definitely try it in our future visits.
He also ordered 2 pieces of sashimi -- Hamachi/yellowtail ($8). There seemed to be a misunderstanding, and two orders of sashimi were entered instead of one. Since the sashimi portions were fairly small, he didn't bring it up to the server, he just happily ate them and paid the bill for 2 orders ($8 x 2). The sashimi was fresh.
We also ordered a Dragon Roll ($16) to go, that had shrimp tempura, BBQ eel, avocado, and cucumber. It was also very good.
Overall, we were delighted to discover Blowfish. Between the welcoming service, fresh, flavorful food, and comfortable atmosphere, it was an excellent dining experience. We'll definitely be back.