Restaurant Review: Ronin Sushi, Royal Oak, Michigan

326 W. Fourth Street

Royal Oak, Michigan

248.546.0888

www.roninsushi.com

The northeast corner of Fourth Street and Lafayette in Royal Oak has been home to many restaurant incarnations over the last ten years. This area is three blocks from Main Street and borders the downtown residential area, and thus isn't in the thick of walking traffic. For some reason, luck has not drifted across the street from Sangria, the wildly popular tapas bar and stomping ground of the Detroit Red Wings. This unlucky location has been a high-end chophouse and a sports bar and grill, and neither restaurant survived more than a year.

I noticed workers tackling the restaurant earlier in the year, and waited with anticipation for the newest addition to the bustling Royal Oak restaurant scene. With a living bamboo curtain planted at the doorway and minimalist décor to the front of the building, I imagined something Asian inspired.

In Royal Oak, there's already a low-budget Japanese restaurant, Tokyo Sushi, and a pricier Asian inspired restaurant, Katana. Little Tree is another sushi place, but caters to American tastes and not what I would consider "real" Japanese, or real sushi. (Sorry, but real sushi is not made with mayonnaise or cream cheese!) Each restaurant is fine, but largely uninspired. When the Ronin Sushi finally opened, we were among the first customers. I thought I would be overjoyed with another choice and hoped that Ronin would fit the bill.

The room is nicely done, but very dark. We were greeted promptly and immediately seated by a friendly hostess who probably doubles as a supermodel. Looking around, I could see that Ronin is trying to appeal to twenty and thirty somethings with its décor - being middle-aged, we were surrounded by many younger faces.

The dinner menu only has a few entrée items to choose from, and none are traditional Japanese cuisine. I would consider the dinner menu to be more pan-Asian, combining the flavors of different cultures. For example, here you can order satays, lemon jasmine rice, and diver scallops with risotto - pretty far out flavors to mix. The sushi menu is much like sushi menus in any Midwestern city.

My husband ordered a yellowtail sashimi appetizer in ponzu sauce, for an appetizer, and a king crab club sandwich for dinner, and washed it down with an Asahi. I ordered a dragon roll and tuna roll for dinner with a bowl of miso soup, with a glass of plum wine. His sashimi, while extraordinarily pricey, was delicious. The king crab sandwich was another thing altogether. The bread was stale and crusty, thus making eating the sandwich, which was otherwise tasty, a challenge. My miso was warm and wonderful. The sushi was passable. The dragon roll was small, and compared to others I've had on the Left Coast, was more like a lizard roll. My "glass" of plum wine was a huge disappointment. Served in a wooden box, the actual glass was about the size of a large shot glass. The wine was sweet and excellent, but for $7, I expected an actual glass of wine.

Although the service was excellent, the food was lackluster, and what made the entire night a disappointment was that we left the restaurant hungry. Diner beware: Ronin's portions are extremely small. I also felt that the food was overpriced and the value minimal. I realize that sushi in Michigan is not going to be as cheap as it is in California, where you can buy sushi-grade ahi at the local Safeway. From now on, I'll take my sushi craving to Musashi in Southfield, where the restaurant is traditional Japanese and where I know I won't leave needing to get a pizza on my way home.