Wild Ginger on 116th Street

It’s Spring time and strawberry season.  We are bringing back the Strawberry Sunshine roll featured in Indianapolis Monthly.  It is on special for $14 until this Saturday.

For Wild Ginger on 116th Restaurant, summer hours for Monday to Thursday dinner will be from 5 pm to 9:30 pm starting June 1st.  We will stay open a little later at night, so come and join us on the patio or in the dining room.

Terry Kirts from Indianapolis Monthly wrote about Wild Ginger on 116th Restaurant in the May 2010 Issue (page 106).  There’s a great interior shot with the Crane Chandelier. Check us out!  Thanks Terry for the write up!

Patio is now open for Wild Ginger on 116th restaurant in Fishers (weather permitting).  Come in and enjoy sushi and take in some of the good weather!

It was truly a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with Naomi and Robert on Wild Ginger. Developing the vision for their new restaurant was by all means a collaborative endeavor. Our collective goal was to create a space that felt contemporary, yet connected to the history of multiple Asian cultures – just like the cuisine at Wild Ginger. Thus, the influence of Asian elements is felt throughout the restaurant from the design of the wall graphic to the ceiling planes and hanging paper sculpture.

The existing volume in the dining room allowed us to create discrete expansive and compressed zones. By hanging false ceilings, we designed more intimate areas that contrast with the open spaces around these ceilings. The party room and wine display were purposefully kept at a lower height than the existing walls and are predominantly transparent to allow the passage of natural light and continue the open feel of the space.

Owing to the many windows and corner location, the incredible natural light in the space afforded us the opportunity to design using rich, warm colors on the interior, all the while maintaining a light and airy feel. The carefully designed all-glass vestibule provides 180 degree views from all tables in the dining room and the cut-out window in the party room captures views of the magnificent tree while patrons are seated.

RDI – Alissa Albers and Carla Remenschneider

Known mainly for its taste and culinary applications, the wild ginger plant is under appreciated for its beauty. We took the plant’s elegant and unique flower as our inspiration for the bold, graphic mural we designed that encompasses the dining room.

The design of the three hanging ceiling planes over the bar, wine room and private dining room were influenced by Tatami mat arrangements, which according to Japanese culture, if arranged “auspiciously,” can bring good fortune. In any ceiling plane, you can see 5 distinct, auspicious patterns/arrangements.

Paper cranes have long been symbols of peace and good luck in Asian cultures. Midway through our design process, it became apparent that we would like to incorporate paper cranes into our restaurant design. The sculpture that hangs in the dining room is being created with love and care by the owners of Wild Ginger. Their hard work and patience are visible in every fold of paper. The sculpture is not only beautiful to look at, but is intended to bring good luck to their new restaurant and their patrons.

Wow! On the morning of Friday February 26th, I got ready for work thinking it’s just another regular day. I opened my email and a friend told me to check out the front page of Indystar.com. A restaurant review for Wild Ginger on 116th from Traci Cumbay just came out.

I get to work and talk to the staff about doing extra preparations for the day. The phone started to ring non-stop at lunch time. Some people wanted to know where we were located. Some people wanted to place carryout orders. And, other people wanted to make reservations for the night.

When Friday night came around, the phone was still ringing nonstop. Soon a long wait line formed in the front of the restaurant. Many patrons wanted sushi even after the servers informed them that it would be a long wait. Just an hour into dinner rush, I realize that we were not able to take care of everyone that wanted to dine in or place carryout orders. We started to tell people that we weren’t sure how long it would take and that we were not taking anymore names for seating or carryout orders. It was a HARD decision to make.

We are THANKFUL to EVERYONE that came in as returning customers or as first time customers. We apologize if you had to wait a long time on Friday night.   If you weren’t able to be seated or place a carryout order, please give us another try. We are usually busier on Friday and Saturday night, but easy to be get in Mondays through Thursdays. We only have 72 seats in the restaurant.

As I made my way through the restaurant at the end of the night, thanking customers for coming in and for waiting, many customers congratulated us on our big debut day in the Fishers/Indianapolis. Your positive comments are what make it worthwhile after challenging days like this one. Thank you for your continual support.

-Naomi and Robert Liu, Owners of Wild Ginger on 116th Restaurant

Traci Cumbay from Indy Star came in to dine at Wild Ginger on 116th recently. We are very glad that she liked the food and the new restaurant. Yeah. Check out the review!!!  The review is available on the Metromix website.

http://indianapolis.metromix.com/restaurants/restaurant_review/wild-ginger-on-116th/1794079/content

Wild Ginger on 116th Restaurant and Sushi Bar first opened on December 23rd, 2009. Since our opening, we get lots of positive comments on our decor. Thank you! We love it too. We asked our designers Carla Remenschneider and Alissa Albers from Remenschneider Design, Inc. to give the restaurant a contemporary look that is warm and inviting and not over the top. Lots of research was done to ensure every detail was perfect. Believe me there were lots of lots of research and discussion. For example, the chairs has to look good and be comfortable too. Or, the main dining room design was centered so that every table would have views to both the north and east corner windows.

You will find abstract drawing of the Wild Ginger flower wrapping the outer walls of the dining room. They were created by Alissa Albers and painted by local artists: Megan Jefferson, Jamie Price and Randy Jordan. If you look at them individually, you will notice the different styles of the artist.

We are glad and happy that it all came together wonderfully.

Wild Ginger Flower

Welcome to WildGinger