Review
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Sunda is a multi-city concept that has learned how to make Asian-inspired cuisine look and feel expensive without requiring the specificity that makes any single Asian cuisine worth seeking out. The room is genuinely beautiful. The sushi is properly handled — good product, clean cuts, sourced with care. The broader menu covers Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese influences with varying degrees of commitment.
The problem is that 'varying degrees of commitment' is a gentle way of saying the kitchen is most confident when it stays safe and least interesting when it reaches. A restaurant that covers this much geographic territory is structurally unable to do all of it well, and Sunda doesn't. The Japanese side holds up. The rest reads like approximation.
Nashville has Kisser, Noko, and Babychan doing Japanese-influenced cooking at a level Sunda doesn't reach. Go to one of those. The room will be less impressive. The food will be considerably better.
The problem is that 'varying degrees of commitment' is a gentle way of saying the kitchen is most confident when it stays safe and least interesting when it reaches. A restaurant that covers this much geographic territory is structurally unable to do all of it well, and Sunda doesn't. The Japanese side holds up. The rest reads like approximation.
Nashville has Kisser, Noko, and Babychan doing Japanese-influenced cooking at a level Sunda doesn't reach. Go to one of those. The room will be less impressive. The food will be considerably better.
The sushi program shows real product care. The broader pan-Asian menu is competent and generic. The room does more work than the kitchen.
Sunda is a multi-city pan-Asian concept in a genuinely beautiful downtown room. The sushi program is the strongest element — properly sourced, cleanly handled. The broader menu covers Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese with varying degrees of commitment, and the results track accordingly.
