Daniel, a sushi chef at Takarajima, slices salmon at the restaurant, which is located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

Yaki udon noodles are stir-fried with chicken, vegetables and sesame soy sauce at Takarajima, located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

The beef teriyaki bento box comes with broiled beef in teriyaki sauce, vegetables, rice, California rolls and fried shumai at Takarajima.

Manager Davis Chan is pictured at Takarajima. Having grown up in restaurants since early childhood — Chan’s mother worked until two days before she gave birth to him — Chan hopes to attend pharmacy school next year. 

From back to front are a Spicy Girl roll, a Dragon roll and a Naruto roll at Takarajima, located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

The Naruto roll is a raw fish (salmon is pictured) and avocado roll, which is wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber at Takarajima.

The Spicy Girl roll, Dragon roll and Naruto roll are pictured at Takarajima. 

Yaki udon noodles are stir-fried with chicken, vegetables and sesame soy sauce at Takarajima, located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

The Spicy Girl roll, Dragon roll and Naruto roll are pictured at Takarajima. 

Explorers need an old, mysterious map to find a treasure island. Takarajima, which means “treasure island” in Japanese, is pretty challenging to find, too.

Hidden behind a Chinese restaurant in the oddly named Rolling Meadows Shopping Center on Cottage Grove Road (which is flat and meadow-less), this sushi and noodle spot sits next to Misty Mountain Games and Mr. Rudd’s Barbershop to the west, with a MovNat Gym, Domino’s Pizza and Lovely Nails to the east.

But once inside Takarajima Sushi, customers will find a spacious, clean hall with Japanese accents, such as a doll in traditional garb, a large fish, wall hangings and — not especially Japanese, but intriguing nonetheless — bar seats lit blue by LED bulbs hidden under the bar counter.

The Naruto roll is a raw fish (salmon is pictured) and avocado roll, which is wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber at Takarajima.

Takarajima is owned by Jeannie Ni, who also owns Takara (which means “treasure”) at 696 S. Whitney Way, featuring conveyor-belt sushi. Ni is from a small town called Guan Tou, one hour away from Fuzhou in southeastern China.

She learned Japanese food while working at a Japanese restaurant in New York City for two years. But even before then, Ni was no stranger to the food industry — her parents owned restaurants and a grocery store. The American way of business, she said, is different, and that hard work served as her school.

Daniel, a sushi chef at Takarajima, slices salmon at the restaurant, which is located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

Ni arrived in the United States in 1993 at age 19, after finishing college in China. She wanted to leave the small town of her childhood and find a life different from her mother’s.

“So many generations living in the same house,” she said. Ni wanted to go elsewhere, be an entrepreneur, explore and experience a new culture.

After stints in Indiana, Ohio, and New York City, which she found too crowded, she moved to Madison in 2001 with her brothers. Madison was a good place to raise her two boys, a town with nice people and good education.

She collaborated with her brothers on other restaurants, including the former Takara on State Street, which ran for 13 years. In 2014, with the lease ending and rent rising steeply, she moved the restaurant to Middleton. Brian Ni took over in 2021 and Jeannie Ni concentrated on Takara on Whitney Way, which she had opened in 2006. A fire in 2019 forced the place to shut down for almost three years; it reopened in August 2021.

“Through the hardship of the fire accident and the pandemic I have learned that being persistent, working with the flow of things, and working hard are some of the key things towards success,” Ni told a Cap Times reporter in January of this year.

Takarajima opened in April 2021. It is managed this year by Ni’s older son, Davis Chan, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee last year with a degree in cell molecular biology; he hopes to attend pharmacy school next year.

Manager Davis Chan is pictured at Takarajima. Having grown up in restaurants since early childhood — Chan’s mother worked until two days before she gave birth to him — Chan hopes to attend pharmacy school next year. 

Because of the difficulty with finding employees currently, Chan agreed to work in the restaurant this year. He finds it to be a valuable work experience.

“It matches with working in a pharmacy environment,” he says, “working with customers, communicating.”

Having grown up in restaurants since early childhood — Chan’s mother worked until two days before she gave birth to him — and with some experience working in a pharmacy with irate customers, Chan is comfortable in his current position, just as long as he gets into graduate school next.

From back to front are a Spicy Girl roll, a Dragon roll and a Naruto roll at Takarajima, located at 4674 Cottage Grove Road.

Takarajima is open for lunch and dinner, offering a sprawling menu of sushi, teriyaki, noodle dishes, hibachi and more. The lunch menu offers choices including four different kinds of bento boxes ($11.75) featuring meat, shrimp or vegetables served teriyaki style (sweet and saucy) or tempura (breaded and fried). Choices include beef negimaki, sauced and rolled with scallions, and breaded chicken or pork katsu.

The beef teriyaki bento box comes with broiled beef in teriyaki sauce, vegetables, rice, California rolls and fried shumai at Takarajima.

On a recent visit, teriyaki beef included miso soup that had a richer taste than the usual fare. The beef was cooked to perfection in sweetish sauce, though it lacked salt. The meat came in a box with rice, a California roll and delicious shumai — three deep-fried shrimp dumplings, that can also be ordered as an appetizer, either deep fried or steamed.

Three chef’s special rolls came on a platter with artistically carved cucumbers and a decoration of artificial flowers on the side. The Spicy Girl ($15.95), from the “secret” specials menu on the wall, had spicy tuna inside and salmon, yellowtail and tobiko (flying fish roe) outside, and was nicely spiced with wasabi mayonnaise.

The Dragon Roll ($15.95), which offered a touch of sweetness, came with eel and avocado wrapped in a jumbo roll. And the Naruto Roll ($11.95) was a surprising avocado and “choose your own fish,” wrapped with sliced cucumber and more fish of your choice. The cucumber wrap offered coolness and crunch.

Among a variety of soba or udon noodles, the chicken yaki udon ($11.75) featured chicken stir-fried with vegetables, topped with seaweed and accompanied by orange slices. It came with a choice of miso soup or salad with ginger dressing.

The service is pleasant, but both Chan and Ni noted the difficulty of hiring staff and cautioned that customers who come during rush times might have to wait for a while. The restaurant is now closed on Tuesdays to give the staff time off.

“Customers understand,” Chan said. “They see that we have only one sushi chef.” 

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