Located in the H-Mart plaza at 2767 S Diamond Bar Blvd, Diamond Bar, Raw ‘n Dash, offers a creative spin on the modern sushi dining experience.
The gimmick of the restaurant is what you order, you get in a to-go box with the ability to eat it in store or take it home. There is some seating in the store but not much for a big group. The boxes are the only way the food is prepared. The box is easy to open and feels cozy and well-prepared. In my case, I took it home. Each box contains pipettes of soy sauce inside to put on the fish, which made it super convenient to season. After ordering, the cashier said it would take an estimated 20 minutes, but the restaurant did not have many customers and still took about 30 minutes.
I ordered a spider roll, chirashi bowl, maki roll set of three (tuna, salmon and albacore) and a hand box roll of four (shrimp tempura, spicy bay scallop, salmon and bluefin tuna). The whole order cost $102 and felt like enough food for my family of four. The presentation is satisfying and feels more “hands-on” than other sushi restaurants.
The spider roll ($15) tasted odd compared to spider rolls I’ve had before. I expected a saucy, savory mix between flavors but the flavoring of the fry batter was the majority of the taste. The tempura shrimp was pretty soggy and there was a peculiar aftertaste to it. The best part of the spider roll was the sushi rice and how flavorful it was.
The sushi rice being the best factor was a common occurrence in the dishes. Next, the handrolls ($21) tasted amazing because of the fish quality and were prepared in a special way. The method of preparation is the consumer tears off the plastic and reveals the seaweed as the fish and rice rests on top mimicking that of asian convenience store sushi. This is done to preserve the crispy nature of the seaweed. The way to eat the sushi was really cool and it paid off as the three handrolls were the best part of my meal. I loved the salmon the most out of all the hand rolls because of the texture it had. The texture felt fresh and gave the dish a more appetizing feeling.
Next, the chirashi bowl ($27) was all around tender and had a melt-in-the-mouth texture. The variety of the fish was diverse with salmon, bluefin,regular tuna and egg. Despite the expensive price, it was worth it as there were additional “sides” in the dish such as seaweed salad and mixed greens. However, if I were to only order this as a meal, it would not be enough food to fill my belly.
Finally, the small tuna salmon and albacore maki rolls ($18). There was much more rice compared to the amount of fish in each roll but, again, the rice at this restaurant is top-notch. I enjoyed the salmon more than the tuna because the mouth feel of the tuna was tougher and had less meat.
Overall, this tiny hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant has a cozy atmosphere and creative gimmicks that take a spin on classic traditional sushi. I would rate Raw ‘n Dash a 3/5.
