When you’re serving ultra fresh sushi.
And creative dishes that are almost too pretty to eat.
Along with exceptional hospitality.
You know you have some seriously good Karma.
Located at the Burlington Mall, Karma is a sophisticated spot specializing in Asian cuisine, particularly sushi. Owner Iverson Guo is a restaurant veteran, cutting his chops at New York City’s Ruby Foo's and he's taken all of that big city experience and brought it to the suburbs.
“I think to run a restaurant, you need to have a passion. And I liked I always like to go out to learn something can help me to grow. I go to New York City. I take in my friends I take my sushi chef. We like to grow together. That's the best part of Karma.”
And while he was dealing with the food, Iverson brought on General Manager Jimmy Pratt to handle the mood.
“Our lunch crowd is more casual. And then in the evening, we lower the lights a little bit, crank up the music a little bit more. So it's kind of a more fun vibe and then the dining room makes the experience a little more intimate. You can see our artwork and the great design.”
But the best place to sit has to be at Karma’s sushi bar.
“Personally I like to go to sushi bar. I will have a chance to to look how they how to do things and if they are not busy I can chat with him and that's the great way I can I can I can learn about the sushi.”
Sushi is definitely the star of Karma’s menu.
“I think our sushi will be the it's the number one in Massachusetts. We only use the short grain Sushi rice all the seaweed it's a top grade. We get a fish delivery daily. The texture and the flavor. It's perfect. Once you try our sushi, you can see the difference”
You can go big and get the Grand Sushi and Sashimi Platter, an impressive presentation of the chef's choice of assorted sushi, sashimi and special maki rolls. There’s the Fusion Maki- an indulgent roll combining seared tuna, avocado, mango and sweet walnuts with Russian caviar on top. And the extraordinary, unique Kobe Roll- featuring shrimp tempura, avocado and fried onion topped with seared wagyu beef and truffle aioli for a flavor you have to try for yourself.
“You have to taste it You can explain it. It's just delicious. The wagyu It's so tender. It just like ice cream melting your mouth. It gives you like some seafood flavor in it inside the roll.”
Other raw apps include the tuna pizza- a pile up of tuna, tomato and jalapeno on crispy wonton chips. And the Spicy Lobster Bom featuring white tuna wrapped with a whole lobster tail, tempura fried and presented with spicy tuna, caviar and avocado.
“Oh my gosh. It's got a lot of things going on you. You taste the lobster you taste the yuzu. You taste a spicy tuna flavor and also the caviar. It explodes in your mouth. Just like a bomb.”
There’s Karma’s Floral Salmon roll with shrimp, jalapeno and marinated cucumbers in the center and torched salmon on top. And if you really want to combine flames with your salmon, the so called ‘Salmon on Fire’ is a feast for all of the senses.
“It is delicious. The salmon has edible flowers sprinkled on. It’s served with a raspberry truffle butter and you can eat at any point so if you like your salmon more raw, you can eat it almost right away. And if you prefer to be cooked a little longer, you can let it stand with the flame a little bit longer before you extinguish the flame.”
And if you want to cook your own meat, the Japanese Wagyu Ishiyaki is a dish you won’t soon forget.
“The ishiyaki is definitely a treat. We have A-5 wagyu which is the best wagyu you can get. We bring out this hot stone and we cook it tableside it's usually served rare to mid rare. It cooks very quickly. When you bite into it. It just melts in your mouth.”
The other side of Karma’s menu includes Chinese staples like Salt and Pepper Calamari, sticky Thai Style Spare ribs and shareable pupu platters.
“We make all of our appetizer in house including boneless spare ribs,chicken wings, crab Rangoon, chicken fingers and shrimp tempura. It's a shareable dish so the family coming, they always like enjoy that.”
And the whole family will want to try the stunning and tasty pineapple fried rice.
“So we serve in the shell of the pineapple. We use is chicken and shrimp it's a little bit spicy have some Thai chili, onion, green onion and some peppers.It’s got a lot of great flavors. It's a little sweet, a little spicy. I would strongly recommend that.”
There's slow cooked Peking duck, featured either in the duck bao appetizer or as a dish for the table served with pancakes, cucumbers, scallions and hoisin.
“The skin is super crispy. The duck is tender underneath. It's nice and juicy. It served with pancakes and you can make it your own little wrap with the duck and scallions and cucumbers and hoisin sauce. Or you can just eat the duck right off the leg. It's really good.”
And whether you end your meal with their decadent chocolate mousse cake or their house made red bean mochi with a unique dining experience like this, you’ll feel lucky that you found Karma.
