Restaurant news: Popular Daytona Beach sushi restaurant opens Palm Coast location

One of Daytona Beach’s most frequented Asian restaurants has expanded its offerings to Palm Coast.

Wild Ginger, a seafood, sushi and Asian kitchen, opened the doors to its second location earlier this month after teasing the restaurant’s opening on social media for several weeks. The popular spot for sushi and ramen lovers alike will replace what was formerly Red Crab Juicy Seafood, and first informed the community of its expansion in a Facebook post at the end of October.

The then-Red Crab noted in the same post that, following its closure, “We will be remodeling our store and updating our menu to bring a new concept to Palm Coast. The new menu will consist of Asian fusion cuisine, seafood boils, and much more. We are very excited for the change and look forward to serving everyone again.”

After closing its doors on Nov. 1, in just one month's time, the eatery remodeled, rebranded and re-opened as Wild Ginger. According General Manager Carol Smith, owners of the then-Red Crab and now-Wild Ginger wanted to combine several of the restaurant's popular seafood selections with the added flair of Wild Ginger's beloved sushi plates, ramen and more.

The newly opened restaurant features a nearly identical menu to Wild Ginger’s Daytona location, which opened in 2019, while still maintaining many of its staple seafood and boil offerings that Red Crab customers know and love.

“(The menu) is pretty similar. A few items won’t be on this menu, because it’s a very large menu — but we do have the boils here,” Smith said. “The boils are just fabulous. Our seafood boils, from the Red Crab, they’re just — our juicy sauce is absolutely to die for; its garlic butter, lemon pepper and Cajun all in one. Not spicy, but we can kick up the spice levels. You can choose half-pound, a pound. You can really create your own of whatever you want to eat.”

The restaurant offers an expansive menu with options ranging from sushi, ramen and poke to seafood, hibachi, curry dishes, fried baskets and boils — a popular menu must-try known and loved by Red Crab customers that will only be offered at Wild Ginger’s Palm Coast location.

Whether stopping in for a specialty roll, pad Thai, or soup and salad, Wild Ginger has something for everyone with options ranging from the Phoenix Roll — tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, snow crab and avocado in a soy paper wrap with spicy mayonnaise — and the sesame or General Tso’s — chicken breast meat battered and deep fried, tossed with ginger, garlic, broccoli, red peppers, onions, and sweet and tangy sauce — to the Tonkotsu ramen — pork broth, pork chashu (tender pork belly), bean sprouts, kikurage (a type of mushroom) , bamboo shoot, green onion and boiled egg — and the Lucky Dragon Roll — eel, avocado, fresh tuna, fish eggs and scallions.

“The sushi and hibachi is to die for — always made fresh. And the presentation of it — some of the dishes are just so, so beautiful,” Smith said, going on to note that the already-popular new restaurant maintains quality, freshness, and attention to detail as the foundation of its unique menu.

Much like the former Red Crab, a stellar customer experience is what the new Asian-fusion eatery strives for, Smith noted, hoping to bring together both those who knew and loved the former seafood restaurant and those who’ve long frequented Daytona’s Wild Ginger location.

A seamless crossover, the new restaurant’s opening serves as a “best-of-both-worlds” experience for Red Crab and Wild Ginger lovers across Volusia and Flagler counties.

“When people walk through the door, they’re greeted with a smile here. We want them to have a wonderful experience, and when they leave, you know, they’re wanting to come back,” Smith said.

“We still have the boils here, so one positive is just bringing more people in, you know? People that were going to the Wild Ginger in Daytona that lived in Palm Coast, now, (they) can just come here … everything is basically the same, except that (the owners) wanted to really bring in more. People love sushi and hibachi, so why not take from Wild Ginger there, bring it here, and also have the boils. So, it’s really the best of both worlds.”

Wild Ginger is located at 60 Garden St. S. in Palm Coast and is open 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 386-585-4245 or visit wildgingerpalmcoast.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Wild Ginger sushi restaurant opens new location in Palm Coast