Restaurant Review: Hungry Sumo – Japanese Restaurant 

Closed Sunday/Monday Open Tuesday-Saturday 11:30am-9:45pm 

2663 S. Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee WI 53207 

$$ 

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars  

         I went to Hungry Sumo last night for dinner in Bay View after work with my boyfriend, Jake. We went around 7pm, peak dinner rush and wasn’t surprised that we had to wait about fifteen minutes for a table. While this place is well known in the Bay View neighborhood and very close to my work, we seek out this spot specifically for their allergen friendly menu options. My boyfriend Jake has celiac disease, so we have to be very selective and careful about where we eat out. But whether you have dietary restrictions or not, Hungry Sumo is a great dinner spot any night of the week. 

         Hungry Sumo is a traditional and creative Japanese and Thai restaurant, serving sushi, small plates, rice bowls, and ramen in a modern space. The restaurant itself its quite small. There is a small sushi bar in the back with tables and chairs surrounding. The atmosphere was different than a typical Asian restaurant; they played trendy upbeat music, sports games on the tv, and had a lot of really cool modern Asian decor. Hanging on the walls they had a few red Supreme lantern lights that my boyfriend was really impressed by. Hungry Sumo is everything you’d want in a modern sushi spot. The only thing lacking, would just be the lack of space. They had put as many tables and chairs as they could in the place, but I felt a little squished. Our table was only inches from the people next to us and that made it feel a bit awkward. Hungry Sumo seems to be doing the best they can to accommodate and seat everyone but with its growing popularity they would benefit from more space. 

Dining area (photo cred: onmilwaukee.com) 

         Upon sitting down they gave us glasses of water and brought a bowl of steamed edamame to the table. Any restaurant for me gets bonus points for offering some sort of small plate when you sit down, and I enjoy edamame a lot. It was hot, salted, and a great appetizer without getting too full before the main course. I ordered the crispy shiitake buns and the spicy miso ramen. My boyfriend ordered the gluten free pad Thai and gluten free sake don. I had never tried their buns before but heard from others they are one of the best menu items. I’m glad I decided to order them as they were so delicious. The steamed bun was filled with crispy pieces of shiitake mushrooms, greens, and an amazing homemade “sumo sauce”. I’ve had crispy mushrooms before but not like this, it was fried so perfectly I could barely tell I was eating a mushroom and the sauce had a great kick that complimented all the flavors so well. 

Shiitake Buns (photo cred: hungrysumo.com) 

Moving onto my main course, I was craving ramen for weeks and had some pretty high expectations. The spicy miso ramen is made with a miso pork bone broth, egg noodles, chashu pork, blackwood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, corn, seaweed, a soft-boiled egg, and ito togarashi (dry chili thread). All toppings were very typical of a Japanese ramen dish. There was no narutomaki (fish cake) but that was no bother to me as I don’t like narutomaki anyways. The best part of this dish for me was by far the broth. It was the perfect amount of spicy while still having incredible flavors and warming the soul. It was creamy, nourishing, and satisfied my ramen craving. I ate about half and took the rest home, I ended up eating the rest of it that night I enjoyed it so much. 

Spicy Miso Ramen (photo cred: me, Carlee Kostowicz)

The last dish I tried was the gf pad Thai. The rice noodles were thin, appeared to be stir-fried with bean sprouts, scallions, and egg. The noodles were covered in a traditional Thai sauce and crushed peanuts. It also came with a choice of protein; we went for the grilled shrimp. There are so many versions of pad Thai, it is a very popular Asian dish, if an Asian restaurant isn’t able to make a good pad Thai, they might not be a very good Asian restaurant. Hungry Sumo succeeded again; the pad Thai was so yummy. The sauce was creamy, flavorful, and you could really taste a natural peanut flavor which was great. My only critique would be I usually like pad Thai sauce a little thinner and while this sauce tasted great it was a little thick and on the heavier side. 

Pad Thai (photo cred: hungrysumo.com) 

When we dined at Hungry Sumo, it was a packed Friday night. All tables were filled however I still thought we had excellent service. Our waiter immediately asked if either one of us had any food allergies or dietary restrictions which was so accommodating and great, they initially asked! Most places, Jake will have to ask what on the menu is gluten free and sometimes the workers will have no idea. Here, our waiter knew exactly what options he could have as well as provided us with a gluten free menu and gluten free soy sauce. Our food came quick and it was a great dining experience. Overall, Hungry Sumo is a great choice in Milwaukee when you’re craving Asian food. I highly recommend!