OBON Sushi Bar and Raman, Scottsdale, Arizona

OBON Sushi Bar and Ramen is a Japanese restaurant located in Scottsdale, Arizona. When I

went to OBON there was about 30 minutes until happy hour was over which meant that most menu items were 50% off. And let me just say, on my trip to Scottsdale, this was probably both the best and the cheapest meal we had. OBON has a series of modern adaptations of traditional Japanese food. One of the most intriguing menu items was the Jackfruit Steamed Buns. These buns had warm, steamed bread stuffed with barbecue sauce marinated jackfruit.

I’ve never tried jackfruit before but have heard that it is a great vegetarian substitute to pulled pork or chicken so I was really excited to try it. The buns were delicious but a little too salty for my liking - which says a lot because I usually add a lot of salt to my food.

The next thing we tried was the spring rolls. Spring rolls aren’t something my family usually gets but since it was 50% off we decided why not? They were your standard spring roll, nothing too special. A good, crunchy outside and a soft inside that paired well with the duck sauce.

Another menu item that I was particularly excited to try - and

another modern, Japanese inspired dish - was the fried cauliflower which was battered, fried cauliflower with a side of a spicy, wasabi ranch type sauce (you can also get this cauliflower inside one of their steamed buns which I think could be a little much, but it could be tasty). The cauliflower came out steaming hot with a good, thick crunchy outside. The batter was also a bit salty but definitely not as salty as the buns. The sauce was a nice, cool, and spicy contrast to the salty, warm cauliflower. This was one of my favorite dishes but I recommend you let it cool for a couple minutes before digging in.

We also got the crispy rice with spicy tuna which was my favorite. The rice was hot and had a crunchy and crispy outer layer with a soft inside. In my experience, the way crispy rice can go wrong is if the outside is not crunchy and you have soggy, chewy rice. This was far from the case with this appetizer. The tuna also had the perfect amount of spice where it was not overwhelming but you could still slightly feel the heat.

In terms of sushi, we got the spicy salmon roll, a normal salmon

roll, tuna sushi, yellowtail sushi, and tuna sushi. I wish their specialty rolls were on the happy hour menu so we could have tried them but the sushi was still amazing. The fish was extremely fresh and there was a good ratio of rice to fish. The spicy salmon also had the perfect amount of spice and paired nicely with the cucumber they put in.

The restaurant also had a nice modern vibe with tons of seating both indoors and outdoors and excellent service. All the food came out swiftly right as it was prepared and it was all warm and fresh. On top of all of that, it was a fairly inexpensive meal for the quality and amount of food we ate, only costing about $22 a person. I would rate OBON a solid 9.2/10 and definitely recommend you go there if you are ever in Scottsdale.