Every month in this space we highlight comments from the Reader Restaurant Raters and pick trends from our stream of incoming reports.

Asian Food

This month Raters sample Thai and Japanese restaurants.

Naniwa Restaurant, 607 N. Wells (Report submitted 1/20/04 by William Mohring)

I do have a few "negative" things to say about Naniwa, but let's start with the good. We arrived shortly before the main dinner rush, so we had some quiet talking time. The staff is very gracious, and they seem eager to really ensure you have a quality dining experience. We started with the boiled spinach leaves with a sesame ginger sauce (gomae ae), which was good, but I like Coast Sushi's version with sesame seeds better. The spinach leaves were fresh for the most part, but tasted like they had been sitting in a refrigerator for a couple of hours. We also had the miso soup, which was very traditional, but that's how I like it best. Our main course of only sushi and rolls consisted of: the original rainbow, the fire dragon, unagi avocado, holy mackerel, mayo spicy white tuna, and the Philly. The rainbow was delicious. The fire dragon had a little too much eel sauce poured onto it, but it was still rather delectable. The unagi avocado still stands out as one of my favorite rolls to get. There is just something about that eel and avocado that I can’t get enough of. The mackerel roll had a refreshing taste and texture, as the shisho leaf provided a welcomed crunch against the softness of the fish. Anything with a spicy mayo sauce and white tuna is guaranteed to be good as long as it's fresh, which it was. The Philly ended up being my date's favorite: smoked salmon, avocado, and fresh cream cheese. Their wine list is decent, and has several choices to suit their menu. We wanted to get some sake, but ended up not doing that. Their beer selection is typical of an Asian restaurant, but you can’t go wrong with a Sapporo or an Asahi. We now come to some things I didn't find particularly good. Upon opening the menu, I discovered that it was IDENTICAL to Bob San's on Division. I know they have the same owner, but I did not expect the same exact menu. I was looking forward to a new sushi experience, but all I got was the same quality sushi I could get at Bob San. Although the portions and quality of the fish are just slightly better at Bob San, Naniwa gets high marks. All the food arrived in a timely fashion, and we never felt rushed. The atmosphere did became somewhat unpleasantly loud as the main dinner hour approached and hit, but I would still go there again just for a change in atmosphere.