Awi Sushi Opens Downtown
New restaurant offers extensive menu, quick service on Water Street.
Site of Awi Sushi, 755 N. Water St. Photo taken April 1, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
The city is busy outside of Awi Sushi.
Cars, buses and the occasional bike rush down Water Street as pedestrians hasten from block to block, heading to nearby gyms, parking garages and office towers, where they join countless others at work in the heart of Downtown.
It’s raining, and the lunch hour is long past. But the sushi restaurant, with its colorful signage and Grand Opening banner, stands out like a beacon.
Awi Sushi opened in late March at 755 N. Water St., joining a handful of other quick-service restaurants in the area — like Waterfront Deli, Jimmy John’s and Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters.
Since then, business has been booming, especially during the lunch hour, said owner Cheraty Par, who noted that the restaurant gets a flood of customers each day during the lunch hour, usually followed by a quiet afternoon. “They all come in at once and then, boom, they’re gone.”
As Par relays the story of the restaurant’s first week, her excitement is palpable. She’s grateful for customers’ patience as employees learn the ropes, as well as their willingness to spread word of the new business.
She’s also happy to simply see the concept come to fruition. It was a longtime dream of hers, after all. “I’ve wanted that since I was a teenager,” Par previously told Urban Milwaukee.
The new restaurant is the first Milwaukee location for Awi Sushi, a Colorado-based chain founded by Roland Biak Nun Awi, who was on-site for the March 22 grand opening.
The sushi spot is known for its extensive menu, which features more than 70 different sushi rolls, along with appetizers, soups, salads, rice bowls and more. So far, said Par, the baked rolls have been most popular with customers.
Baked offerings include the Dove Canyon (crab meat, cucumber and avocado inside, baked salmon and special sauce on top), Dynamite (crab meat, cucumber and avocado inside, white fish, shrimp, spicy mayo and more crab on top) and the Double Dragon (crab meat, cucumber and avocado inside, baked eel, avocado and crunch on top).
Along with the baked rolls, the menu features appetizers, poke bowls, teriyaki bowls and a wide variety of cooked and raw rolls, as well as a handful of vegetarian options. An assortment of beverages — beer, sake wine, tea and soda — and desserts are also available.
The full menu is available to view online. Awi Sushi accepts online orders for pickup and delivery. Customers are also welcome to dine in.
The restaurant space can accommodate roughly 30 customers, offering a window-facing banquette with stools, as well as a handful of tables and a cozy couch for those waiting on to-go orders.
In step with its colorful menu items, the restaurant features a bold interior. The walls, painted scarlet and black, match the furniture, while greenery adds pops of contrast throughout the space. The room is further decorated with menu boards and TVs displaying rotating photos of various sushi rolls.
Awi Sushi is offering a grand opening special for its first month in business. Customers will receive a 20% discount on their orders through April 22.
The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Photos
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