Iron City Rollers Sushi Bar Meetups/Sushi Bar Reviews

Meetup #1 February 17, 2025 @ Blue Sushi & Sake Bar

Video/pics link:  https://imgur.com/gallery/zHds65a

Initial thoughts as a customer:

Decor is great, place seemed very clean and well organized.  Had to wait half an hour on a table on a Monday night, which surprised me but had a beer at the bar and the wait was no longer than 30 minutes.  

Our server was very kind and eager to please, kept a good close eye on us and was right there when we needed anything.

The five us of ordered a variety of sushi, sashimi and appetizers, all of which were good and some of which were great.

Highlights of the night were:

The charred edamame appetizer (I find edamame to be very boring and use either togarashi salt or make a citrus salt myself whenever I have it at home or at a party).  The charred flavor was great, and the addition of togarashi, tamari and garlic gave it a nice kick along with the smokiness.  I would definitely order this as a shareable app again.

The bigeye tuna maki had a very nice proportion of rice to tuna, and while it won't be for people who love to drown their sushi rolls in sauce, this tasted fresh and creamy.  The nori wasn't stale (a huge issue with a LOT of sushi rolls) and the rice had a great balanced flavor that wasn't too vinegary or sour.

I can't believe I'm about to say this but the Squid Ink & Soy Marinated Escolar (which they called black tuna on the menu) was probably one of the top two best tasting things on the menu.  Why that's a problem can be found below in my "Lowlights of the night"

The Tataki Maki was also a big hit (shrimp tempura, spicy salmon, pepper seared bigeye tuna, crispy panko, thai basil, eel sauce) but honestly how could it not be with those ingredients.

The Iguana roll (shrimp tempura, crab and tampico mix, serrano, eel, avocado, soy paper, cucumber wrap, ponzu and eel sauces) was also popular with our group (but you'll also see some more about this on the lowlights section)

The black tobiko (flying fish roe) and ikura (salmon roe) portions were huge and instead of serving them gunkan style with seaweed as a nigiri, it was served in miso soup spoons, which was an interesting choice that I didn't mind, because you can use it to top other rolls if you prefer to.

The menu is ridiculously large, so I HIGHLY recommend looking at it online before you go to the restaurant.  Otherwise, you're going to not know which way is up when faced with the immense list of rolls and even categories. They also have a limited happy hour menu with excellent prices (capping out at $8 a roll). All menus can be viewed at their website.

LOWLIGHTS aka: Thoughts from a sushi chef

The menu can be overwhelming, plus the print is tiny and it's dark inside, so looking at it before you leave the house is definitely recommended, and I'd go so far as to take notes regarding which ones you're considering and/or have questions about. 

Speaking of questions; I asked the server what Tampico mix is as it is featured on several rolls.  When I hear Tampico, I immediately imagine the florescent colored Central American version of KoolAid, so I was VERY curious as to what it was.  When I asked our server, she wasn't 100% sure, asked which roll it was on and when I told her she said it was a "crab mix" but there are rolls on the menu that claim to have both crab mix and this mysterious Tampico in them & I still don't know what it is.  

Tuna:  I noticed all of the tuna on the menu is either albacore or bigeye.  They don't seem to have any bluefin on the menu and I'm pretty sure it's because of cost.  Albacore can be found on west coast sushi menus all the time, but it's not very common in our area on sushi menus.  Albacore is the same tuna that they put in a can and make tuna salad out of, so it's not the highest quality, but I don't have an issue with it being on a menu as long as the cost is fair.  

Bigeye is a personal favorite, so I was happy to see it on the menu.  I did notice that a lot of the sushi rolls that had tuna also had several other ingredients, including "crab mix" which is very very inexpensive to make, so if you're a tuna fan, you should skip the rolls with tuna + other things and either order the bigeye maki or bigeye sashimi or nigiri (more bang for your buck)

 

Blue Sushi & Sake Bar is NOT shy about sharing the wasabi/horseradish, so if you love it you'll be thrilled.  If you don't eat it, maybe you should tell your server so they won't waste it on your plate (because they really do give you a large serving)

Ok, let's talk about my biggest pet peeve in sushi:  Escolar/Walu/Oilfish/"White Tuna"

There is no such thing as a white tuna.  The fish being referred to on sushi menus as white tuna is called a number of things ,but the official name is Escolar.  It is NOT A TUNA, nor is it in the tuna family.  It's most closely related to the snake mackerel.  

This fish has been banned for consumption in several countries, including Japan.  Escolar is a beautiful milky white, dense fish that holds up beautifully and allows us to get some really nice slices to serve as nigiri or sashimi (or to top rolls) but the problem is that a LOT of people react very poorly to eating this fish.  And when I say "react poorly" I mean really bad gastro issues (and I'm saying this the nicest way I can).  There's a reason why the sign at Joe Patti's Seafood in Pensacola says "Escolar-recommended 6oz portion only".  An awful lot of people get really sick after they get home and put it off on "bad sushi" but it's usually because they are sensitive to escolar and ate some at the sushi bar.  The "Black Tuna" on the menu was delicious, even if it WAS a gamble, but it's horseshit that they call it that (and the non-marinated version was called "White Tuna" on the same menu). 

The fact that sushi restaurants know this and still sell it to you is annoying to me; but it's also up to you to know what you're eating...so take my advice here:  if there's a word on the sushi menu and you don't know what it is- you should look it up.  

All in all, I found Blue Sushi & Sake to be above average, with something for everyone.  There's a huge Vegan section as well as "not raw" options and even a big Asian style salad with chicken for that one person in your group that doesn't eat sushi.  The place looks great, the atmosphere/decor was lovely, the service on top of things and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's a sushi fan (but you should certainly check out the menu before you go) If found the pricing to be fair for most of the items; the ones that cost the most were the ones with "all the stuff on them" LOL

 It's also a chain with locations spread out all over the country.

 

Meetup #2 3/12/25 Umami in Lakeview 

First impressions is (once again) the menu is huge and I highly recommend that (no matter which sushi restaurant you're going to) you take a look at it at online before you go and make some notes about which rolls sound best to you.  Otherwise, you're reading this giant listing of rolls, where the ingredient list isn't really that long, but each roll is a different combo of a few items.  

The restaurant itself is spacious, comfortable and we were seated right away.   Our server was really great, and took good care of us even though we were talking amongst ourselves a lot and it took us a while to figure out what we wanted to order.  No one ordered cocktails, although they did have what appeared to be a big selection of drinks.

Ordering was extremely varied, as we had everything from sushi rolls to appetizers (takoyaki, tuna tataki, edamame, tuna tacos and nigiri).  The takoyaki came highly recommended and was topped with spicy mayo, eel sauces and bonito flakes.

Sushi Rolls ordered:

Umami roll: Hamachi spicy sauce, apples, green onion, topped with tuna, avocado, sweet soy-reduction, tobiko, jalapeño, lime zest, sriracha, sesame seeds

This one was absolutely delicious.  The lime zest was a little bit overpowering but was sprinkled on top, so it could potentially be tapered down a bit at the table, but the use of apples vs. cucumbers really set it off with a nice crunch.  10/10

Lakeview roll: Shrimp tempura, cream cheese, spicy sauce topped with crab stick, spicy mayo, masago, sweet soy-reduction

This roll was good, but was too heavily sauced with the spicy mayo/eel sauce.  Both sauces are delicious but the end result here was sauce with a sushi roll underneath. 5/10

Also ordered  was the Weldon roll (hamachi, tuna, green onion, cucumber topped with salmon, avocado, jalapeño, ikura (salmon roe), tobiko (flying fish roe), mango sauce, sriracha and eel sauce) and the War Eagle roll. 

Overall, I feel like Umami is a decent place for sushi, and a very good place to go to when you have friends who like Asian food but aren't necessarily into sushi as there are lots of options for them to choose from.  I would absolutely go back to get the Umami roll, even though at $21 it is certainly overpriced.

Note:  one of our fellow Redditors commented that he ordered the Robins Roll (Hamachi eel, green onion, spicy sauce, cucumber, topped with fresh salmon, avocado, sriracha, tobiko, sweet soy-reduction sesame seeds) preferred the Umami and the War Eagle rolls