Restaurant of the Month: J

Dinner club this month was a double date night. Kelly and I invited our boys, both named Jason ironically, to join us at Jade. Jade is a relatively new sushi restaurant located downtown. I had read mixed reviews ranging from don't waste your time to best sushi in St. Louis. So I wasn't too sure what to expect. Our experience lands somewhere in the middle. Since it was a Friday night, I made reservations but found out when we arrived that it was completely unnecessary. The place was practically empty at 7:00. I was a little surprised because all of the other sushi places we go to often are packed on Friday night. The atmosphere itself was nice but nothing special. Kind of a big open urban space. It was very dark though and I actually had a hard time reading the menu.

The menu itself was a combination of sushi and classic Asian stir-fry entrées. The four of us opted for two appetizers: edamame and potstickers. Both were good. For dinner each couple ordered a variety of sushi rolls. Jason and I ordered the Philadelphia (always a classic), the DJE Roll (shrimp tempura, crab salad, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado, rolled in crunch w sesame sauce), the Dynamite (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, spicy veggie, topped w crunch, tobiko & spicy mayo) and the Samurai (California roll w cream cheese topped w salmon & spicy mayo then torched to perfection). We had to wait an exceptionally long time for our sushi especially considering there weren't a lot of other people there. The waitress actually brought us free sake because of the wait. Of course as soon as she did our dinner showed up.

The rolls were fresh and tasty and we enjoyed all of them. I wouldn't say it's the best sushi in St. Louis but it's up there. As happy as I was with the food though the overall service and experience wasn't all that great. I don't think we will be in a hurry to go back to Jade and will stick to our old favorites for sushi night in the future. Despite the so-so dining experience we had a great time with Kelly and Jason and enjoyed going to watch a friend's band play after dinner!