REVIEW – Dao Modern Asian Cuisine (Mason, OH): California Roll, Dragon Roll, Tempura Udon Noodle Soup
My mom and went out to eat at Dao Modern Asian Cuisine in Mason, OH. It was a Friday night, and while there were a few sets of customers, it didn't seem very busy. My mom and I shared a California roll and dragon roll as appetizers, and I had tempura udon soup as my meal.
The California roll was just fine, but it was a little bit warm, perhaps because it was next to the dragon roll. The dragon roll had tempura shrimp on the inside, and the shrimp was pretty good, and nice & crunchy. The shrimp went well with the sweet eel sauce. However, I did find there were bits of shrimp shell still on the shrimp
Shrimp shell in the dragon roll
I also noticed that some of the dishes they used for our food were broken. The corner of the shrimp and vegetable tempura plate was broken as well as bowl for the tempura sauce.
Broken bowl of tempura sauce
The udon noodle soup had a nice, tasty broth. It had a very slight hint of sweetness, and it wasn't overly salted. I liked the slightly sweet taste, and as the amount of soup decreased, the sweeter the soup became. The udon noodles in the soup were also good and had a good noodle texture.
The tempura that came with the soup included shrimp tempura and different vegetable tempura like zucchini, sweet potato, and broccoli. The zucchini tempura didn't have much taste. I didn't really care much for the broccoli tempura or the shrimp tempura, either. The shrimp in the shrimp tempura was kind of dry. I liked the taste of the slightly sweet tempura sauce, however, it was a little watery and when I used it with the tempura, the taste didn't last long so it didn't help much. However, I really enjoyed the sweet potato tempura; the taste of the sweet potato went really well with the fried batter.
Food: California Roll, Dragon Roll, Tempura Udon Soup
Source: Dao Modern Asian Cuisine Restaurant, Mason, OH
Rating (California Roll): OK
Rating (Dragon Roll): OK (would be good without the shrimp shell bits)
Rating (Udon Noodle Soup): Good
Rating (Shrimp, Zucchini, Broccoli Tempura, Tempura Sauce): OK
Rating (Sweet Potato Tempura): Delicious