Screaming Tuna

I love fish. I love sushi. So I was excited to try out Screaming Tuna Asian Bistro. It was Gallery Night in Milwaukee so the streets were packed with people trying to find obscure artist studios, rubbernecking and fighting for parking. The weather was dreary, cold and wet with just enough rain to be annoying. I looked down at the GPS display which proudly told me I had reached my destination. "Ok, we are here... so where is this place." I parked illegally in an alleyway, got out of my car and ran down the street toward the river. Turns out, Screaming Tuna's sign faces the river so it's a little hard to find. I ran back to my car and pulled up to the front door and was happy to pay the valet five bucks to park my car.

I walked in, glad to be out of the rain and went to the host stand only to find out that they had lost our reservation. However we were still waiting for the rest of our party to show up so they told us we could hang out in the bar while they did their best to get us a table. In the bar, we had a great view of the river and the Milwaukee city skyline as well as the front door. That’s when I saw our photographer pull up and park in the valet only section. After a brief chat and another five dollar exchange with the valet she was inside.

For losing our reservation the hosts handled themselves well. We were seated within a few minutes with a beautiful view of the river. The dining room is made up of four top tables and modern half booths. Once we were sat, we were greeted by our waitress and put in our drink order. The room was packed, and the staff was buzzing around doing their best to keep up. Our waitress returned and informed us that they were out of two of the wines we had ordered. She was very sweet and offered to comp the drinks because of how long things were taking.

So at this point the restaurant was a little tough to find, had lost our reservation, and it took 15 minutes to get drinks on the table. These are not the types of things you want to happen when you go out to eat. However, this restaurant is brand new, the staff is still learning, and it’s a packed house. Even the most established restaurants have to play a little jazz with their service standards on a busy night.  The host might not have been the one that lost the reservation but she rolled with it and found a way to fit us in. The waitress might not have known everything about the wine list yet ( hey its like 3 pages long that’s a lot of drinking... err research) but she knew enough about waiting tables to know it was taking too long for a simple drink order and she took care of us. So no harm no foul at this point. Now let’s get to the food.

Pacific Sampler…24

Alaskan king crab legs, Hama Hama oysters, sweet shrimp, and chef’s choice sashimi served with various sauces.

We started out with this sampler. When it arrived at the table I thought it was a little small for twenty four dollars. Then I tried the Hama Hama Oyster, Wow! A wave of flavor, you could seriously taste the ocean, the beach, sand volleyball, and not having to work until you got back from vacation. Awesome! I was impressed and my fear that this appetizer sampler wouldn't measure up was gone.  The crab was sweet, the shrimp was amazing and the octopus was perfect.

We decided to work our way through a handful of rolls and share everything rather then try the entrees. Although, we were tempted, the entrees looked pretty interesting.

Lobster Roll…17

Tempura lobster and sautéed asparagus topped with spicy kani kama hollandaise sauce.

Spicy Scallop… 7

Scallops, tobiko, sweet spicy mayonnaise

Spicy Tuna…7

Tuna, tempura flakes, spicy mayonnaise

The Screamer…7

Japanese hot mustard, wasabi, and tuna


So what stood out? Well, the Lobster Roll was so good that we had to order a second one. It came with a lobster head mostly for show but if you were willing to work for it, you could get some really sweet pieces of meat out of it.

The Screamer had a note on the menu saying "BEWARE". Two bites in I was about to tell it "where to be" and then, the spices kicked in. I teared up a little, took a third bite and yeah... I was looking for my drink to put out the small fire I had going on in my mouth. Awesome.

There is a bottle of what looks like sake' on every table. Now yes, we knew it was probably soy sauce but it got us thinking about having a round of sake'. We didn't end up ordering any, but had the table been set with shot glasses and had the bottle really been sake', this night might have gotten a little more interesting.

Ok, to wrap up. Screaming Tuna is a new restaurant. The staff at this point is still learning about everything. The food is Great! If you go on a busy Friday night over the next couple weeks cut them some slack because they are going to take great care of you even if a ball gets dropped here or there. I think this place has great potential to become a new city favorite. So go Eat!

Hours of Operation

Lunch

Monday to Friday: 11:00am – 2:30pm

Dinner

Monday to Wednesday: 4:30PM – 10:30PM
Thursday to Saturday: 4:30PM – 11:00PM

Location

Screaming Tuna Restaurant LLC
106 W Seeboth
Milwaukee, WI 53204
ph 414-763-1637
http://screamingtuna.com/


As always there are more pictures on the Eat MKE Facebook Page. Or go to http://www.eatmke.com/ and check us out there!