Sushi Mambo

I love sushi. Has to be one of my favorite things to eat and I love having it with friends..just makes for a perfect group activity. Although I have a few staples I like in my hood and of course reference the crème de le crème of sushi restaurants when needed, I always like to try new places looking for the next gem.  After reading some good reviews on the web I settled on Ido Sushi in the West Village for my next adventure with my GF who was visiting from London. 

We went on a Wednesday and I was pleasantly surprised how busy and cute it was inside. There was a piano and what looked like a small stage in the front of the restaurant as well. After waiting 10 mins for a table, the hostess lead us to one right in front of the stage. Lovely! Not so fast, no sooner did we sit down, did we hear the sounds of a wannabe Andréa Bocelli belting out his opera tunes in straight up Italiano like he was at the coliseum in Rome!? As you can imagine my gf and I were quite surprised at this but figured it must be a special part of the piano show. After an intense rendition, the Italian man stepped down and all of a sudden a lovely little Asian girl popped right on stage with her sheet music and that’s right you guessed it..started belting out more Italian opera. Needless to say nowhere in the reviews I read did they say anything about an open mic night for OPERA..but I guessed we missed the memo. As expected we dashed out of there before the waitress could say Buona sera.

That led us to try a little joint called Sushi Mamba around the corner. I’ve always walked by it on Bleecker Street and just never stopped in. We both ordered the Plum wine as soon as we sat, which is a must have at any sushi establishment. It was standard and delicious.  I started off with a miso soup which was good as well. Not too salty and not burned so I was happy with it. My GF got the pork gyoza and that was really appetizing as well, nice and crispy on the outside and perfectly warmed on the inside.

We split 4 rolls including the Cornelia Roll (Smoked Salmon, cream cheese, Avocado, crab & cucumber on top), Volcano Roll (Spicy Tuna Crunch with Spicy sauce), West Village Roll (Shrimp Tempura, Spicy Tuna, Avocado, Cucumber, Crunch and Masago) and a Big Apple Roll (shrimp tempura, apple and crab).  I have to say I really liked the volcano one the best with all the yummy tempura flakes and spicy mayo.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the Cornelia only because I think the salmon was a tad too strong(fishy) tasting for my sushi taste buds. All in all though, I thought it was pretty decent sushi, attentive service and will give it 2 Little Stars. Won’t be dying to going back anytime soon but will leave it as an option should I run into any more open mic nights in the hood’.

Happy Eating!

oxox

Little Star