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Samurai
Blue Sushi & Sake Bar Reviewed by Stephen R. Lang
Within the
heart of Centro Ybor lies one of the funkiest and chicest places
for cutting-edge Tampa Bayers to dine and be seen at, Samurai
Blue Sushi & Sake Bar. Located on the upper level of Centro
Ybor and facing Urban Outfitters, Samurai Blue is almost
completely hidden in an amazing tucked away space that has
historic importance to the original Centro Ybor building and
theatre life of Ybor City.
 The
building Samurai Blue calls home is literally part of Ybor
Theatre history. The downstairs, now used by the Improv theatre
is the original stage and directly above it was an area called
The Fly Room. After a puzzling look on my face, it was
explained that this was the room that all of the backdrops and
sets would go up to (fly on ropes) to be out of the way
and stored. When you go in you will notice that the floors look
a little off-kilter and that is because the owners of Samurai
Blue had to build one! Being the first to inhabit this amazing
space, Samurai Blue constructed not only a floor but kept the
original historic brickwork and jazzed up the overhead pipes.
With all of the chic-ness of an upscale sushi bar, Samurai Blue
gives Ybor exactly what it needs—sushi and sake!
Samurai Blue
has both booths and tables, but the most impressive attribute
would be their 20 seat curved sushi bar. If you are a party of
two this is the ideal place to sit and Be Seen. They have an
extensive Sakitini menu with over 40 different styles for you to
choose from and even the Classic Sakitini was delicious.
While perusing their fixed menu and their Sushi to Order menus
you have nothing better to do than watch the regimented Sushi
Chefs create masterpieces before your eyes. With a Tapas-style
mindset, it was better to try as many items as possible vice
going for a Dinner like the Samurai Steak with Wassabi-whipped
potatoes or the Soy Ginger Tokyo Beef Short Ribs with
Japanese Habachi rice. After discussing with my Server Blue
Crab Rangoon was recommended as the Appetizer and then two
Rolls: my Tried and True California Roll and to mix it
up The Tokyo Rock & Roll off of Ryo’s Specialty Makimono.
When it is said that everything was delicious—it truly
was. Trying something new every so often at a restaurant can
make you feel like Indiana Jones going through uncharted
territory with a genuinely amazing meal as your goal. The only
thing that could have made it better would have been if there
were more people in my party sharing more things.
Samurai Blue
Sushi & Saki Bar is both an up close and personal restaurant if you want to engage in
conversations at the bar and watch how sushi is made, dining
family style with tables in the middle, or the best cozy and
secluded booth for that perfect date. This is definitely a
restaurant that could serve as the starting off place for truly
discerning “Foodies” night on the town, the place those who want
to be seen before going out or that place you bring people from
out of town to impress. It is truly amazing that given a long
narrow space and a mere catwalk encircling it, the designers of
Samurai Blue have created such a great restaurant that you will
want to go back to again and again. |
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