MoMo Sushi and Grill is a new restaurant located in Springfield, MO. Opening just this past Thursday, March 24; MoMo serves all of your sushi and Japanese grill desires.

   My first thoughts of the restaurant are, “woah, this is a pretty chill place.!” With the subtle but pleasing background jazz music, it’s hard to not feel comfortable. Low lighting and comfortable seating are a plus, and this place has it down. The service is pretty good. Not exceptional, not terrible. Just good. With the food ordered, it’s just a waiting game now.

   When the food arrived. I was excited. Each meal came with an order of miso soup and a side salad with ginger dressing. The miso soup was good. Not the best that I’ve had, but I’m definitely not complaining. The ginger salad consisted of a lettuce medley, shredded carrot, and a light, vinegar-y dressing. We were originally going to order the Avocado bomb, a deep fried avocado stuffed with cream cheese, spicy crab, and spicy tuna, but the kitchen put a hold on those as there were multiple complaints about the avocado being hard, like it wasn’t cooked properly. We settled on the Shumai, a fried Japanese shrimp dumpling. It came out pretty fast, but that wasn’t a good sign. The middle of the dumpling was cold as room temperature water. A fresh, properly cooked order came a little after our main course came. The dumplings had a sponge-like texture and a pleasant shrimp flavor. The best way to eat it was with the accompanying gyoza sauce. 

   The main course had arrived. I ordered the TJ Chicken for $17.95. The plate consisted of steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and onions), steamed rice, chicken lightly battered in tempura batter and a spicy teriyaki dipping sauce. The chicken was the star of the show. The light breading on the chicken was delicious and flavorful. The spicy teriyaki was almost too much to handle. I am a fan of spice; However, this was way too spicy. The teriyaki flavor was lost in the spice and it had me constantly reaching for a drink of water. The steamed rice was just there. It’s kind of hard to mess up steamed rice. With a light drizzle of soy sauce, it made for a good side with the star of the plate. The steamed vegetables were lackluster. There was no seasoning on the vegetables, they were just steamed. I highly doubt that there was even salt on them. Nonetheless, they made for a light side dish. I also tried the Shrimp Tempura sushi roll and the Miami roll. Being a Shrimp Tempura roll connoisseur, I was excited to see their roll up to bat. The roll comes with shrimp tempura, avocado, and cucumber; However, I don’t like cucumber so I ordered it without. The Miami roll was very similar, only replacing the shrimp with tuna. Both rolls were pretty good, but I don’t see the need to order them if or when I go back. 

   Overall, I would give it a 3.5/5 stars. The atmosphere was inviting and comfortable. The service was good, where only a few times I can think of where we were going a long time without water refills. The food was pretty good, but I definitely don’t think it’s worth the price. I could see paying maybe $12 or $13 for the dish that I had ordered, but definitely not almost $20. I will also highlight again that at the time of this review, they have only been open for 2 days. Maybe when the restaurant can get some time under their belt and refine their dishes a bit, I would highly recommend this place. For now, I would save your $17.95 for something better.

MoMo Sushi and Grill

• Restaurant at 2767 W Republic Road, Springfield MO
• Price Range: $$
• Rating: 3.5/5