We are always on the lookout for a great restaurant that offers impeccable Eastern cuisine. In the Osaka Japanese Restaurant on Wabash Ave., Springfield, we found it!

   My colleague and I went there for lunch the other day and enjoyed it. The setting was quite comfortable, with a huge menu that offers sushi, noodles, even Thai curry. We went for lunch, so we didn’t get the option to try the tableside cooking, but that is an option during the dinner service.

    The restaurant itself was modern, sleek, and clean. Lots of different people came through, with most ordering take-out due to the pandemic. They’ve got a fully-stocked western bar and a great-looking Thai menu as well. Perhaps next time we will try their Thai food.

    We ordered a few different things, and the serving size was great – more than generous! The pricing was right too, and, most importantly, we loved the food! We had miso soup along with our meal which is always a great, comforting choice. This was particularly lovely, with fresh tofu, wakame seaweed, and scallions. We have miso pretty much everywhere we go, and this was a great one: I love fresh tofu.

    We shared a starter between us, and we weren’t disappointed. The portion size was plenty big enough that we could share with no trouble, and the food was delicious. We had crispy calamari, which was served with a sweet peach chili sauce. A lot of places serve calamari which is obviously prepared elsewhere, frozen, and reheated in the kitchen. Not so here! This calamari had really crunchy panko breadcrumbs and was so hot and fresh it must have been straight from the fridge, to the prep station, to the plate. In our house we’re huge sweet chili sauce snobs, often making our own, and this surpassed our expectations hugely. The peach flavor really worked with the chili and the calamari, I’d definitely order it all again!

    We also ordered two plates of sushi, which we shared between us. Namely, we had the Dark Knight and the Rainbow. The Dark Knight is a beautifully seared filet mignon wrapped over crispy shrimp tempura, seared onion, cucumber, tobiko, and scallions. It had a really fresh taste and you could tell it was prepared by a knowledgeable sushi chef.

    The Rainbow was a jumbo roll of Kani, cucumber, and avocado wrapped with yellowtail, bluefin tuna, and Atlantic salmon. This was amazing too: the fish was fresh and all of the ingredients were perfectly portioned relative to each other. I’d be sure to order both of these sushi dishes again.

    Lastly, we also had hibachi with shrimp and noodles. It was served with Japanese onion soup and house salad. It was topped off with a little of our homemade citrus infused ginger dressing, as well as fresh grilled vegetables and steamed rice. We went with steamed rice, but the fried rice was also available for another two dollars. This dish was absolutely stunning. The shrimp were fresh and succulent, and the meal, on the whole, was just better than other places that we’ve had from. It wasn’t too salty, the seasoning was just right.

    If you’re on the lookout for quality Japanese food, it’s definitely worth taking a trip to Osaka Japanese Restaurant. We absolutely loved the food and their service, and we’ll be sure to return soon.

Osaka Japanese Restaurant
1665 Wabash Avenue
Springfield, Illinois 62704
 Phone : (217) 726 8037

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