I've lived in the Sullivan neighbourhood for seven years and had never been to this sushi place before. I was missing out.
Firstly the restaurant was well lit, beautifully decorated, professionally staffed, and spacious. We were kindly greeted and seated quickly. Because we had never...been here before we order quite a bit, mostly our "regulars" to compare against other sushi places.
To start we had the Agedashi Tofu and Prawn Tempura. Both dishes came out in good time. The Agedashi Tofu has a lovely, delicate batter and is lightly fried. The sauce comes separate so you can choose to dip or pour over. The Prawn Tempura was perfectly cooked and delicious.
Our rolls came out quickly after we got our tofu and tempura. The Salmon & Avocado roll is a nice, fresh, roll that is exactly how it sounds. It's a great basic roll. The California roll is smaller than some of the others I've ordered, but just as tasty. The Cali Roll is light on the mayo, which allows the freshness of the filling come through. The Lover's Roll, a specialty roll, was also smaller than I anticipated. I expected it to be a large roll like a typical Dynamite Roll. What it lacked in size, the Lover's Roll made up for in flavour. Unlike other sushi establishments, Tawara takes their spicy tuna seriously. Some spicy tuna is just tuna with a siriacha mayo, but this spicy tuna was mixed and marinated and that made all the difference. Not overly spicy, with the cool smoked salmon and crunch of the prawn tempura makes it a really great roll.
This is not the cheapest sushi place I've been too. BUT it's a beautiful restaurant, clean, great servers, and delicious food. I will definitely be back since this is my local sushi place, and it was a great experience. I would recommend Tawara if you like well prepared sushi, in a clean, professional atmosphere.More