Once you step through the doors of Robin Menlo Park, any traffic or stress you felt getting to the restaurant on busy El Camino Real disappears immediately.

Opened last year in the Springline residential-retail-restaurant development, it is an offshoot of Robin in San Francisco, the Michelin Guide-recognized sushi restaurant opened by Chef Adam Tortosa in 2017.

Step inside and the dining room reveals itself only once you’ve stepped past a wall into its cloistered realm done up in high-contrast dark charcoal and light wood. The effect is moody yet chic, and thoroughly transportive.

Don’t come expecting a traditional omakase. Instead, this one is more like Sushi by Scratch in Healdsburg, in that it’s not afraid to break boundaries to take on a more modern approach with global influences.

When you sit down, the only menu you’re given is one for beverages. Because at Robin, both in San Francisco and Menlo Park, the omakase experience starts with a conversation with your server. You determine how much you want to spend: anywhere from $109 to $209 per person, which constitutes 13 to 20 bites. The higher you pay, the more premium ingredients you will receive. At the half way point of the meal, the server will come by to see how satiated you are and inquire if you want to add to your original tab amount. Our party of four settled on spending $150 each. That turned out to be 18 bites, which included dessert.

Each person’s menu can be individualized, not only taking into consideration allergy and dietary restrictions, but also personal likes and dislikes. For instance, one of my dining companions can’t get enough of uni, so the server made a point to include sea urchin in a couple courses. However, her husband is not a fan, so the server subbed in another dish instead.

My beverage of choice was a whisky highball with ume plum ($17) that tasted subtly of vanilla with a soft fruity astringency.

Towels are delivered to clean your hands before being whisked away. A tiny moist towelette is propped beside your place setting throughout the meal to be used to clean your fingers after picking up nigiri to enjoy.

The first dish is communal, to be shared by each couple. A perfect marriage of spicy, tangy and refreshing, it’s cured halibut in a zippy aquachile, garnished with thin discs of smoked grapes and chopped pistachios. It does the job to wake up and reset the palate.

That’s followed by a trio of nigiri: firm shima-aji with a dab of citrusy and spicy yuzu kosho chile paste; Mt. Lassen steelhead trout with a sliver of fresh yellow peach that added a lovely unexpected freshness and tanginess (one of my top bites of the night); and red sea bream with shaved miso cured egg yolk and spicy apricot jam that had a lot going on but worked to bring out bursts of umami and sweet heat.

At Robin, you’re not provided any soy sauce or wasabi on the side. That’s because all the sushi comes already dressed for you.

The next morsel definitely had my uni-loving friend and my husband Meat Boy very happy. It was A5 Wagyu tartare topped with the orange urchin, all atop a crispy nori sheet that served as a cracker. The rich fattiness of the beef served to amplify the sweet brininess of the urchin so that the flavors coated your entire mouth.

More tartare came in the form of toro with herb oil and finely julienned radish. Mix it all up and enjoy atop the thinnest, crispiest, most delicate squares of toast.

Kanpachi is cold-smoked, then wrapped around kimchi melon, and drizzled with a little Korean barbecue vinaigrette, giving the voluptuous fish a hit of heat and summer sweetness.

More nigiri followed: rich, meaty bluefin slicked with Wagyu fat for an even more indulgent bite; smoked salmon topped with truffle that melted in the mouth; and kindai tuna with a puree of intensely caramelized onions with deep sweetness that lingered.

While my three dining companions tore into a beautiful scallop dish with yuzu kosho and stone fruit vinaigrette, which I could not eat because of my allergy, I instead was served belt fish nigiri finished with smoked salt. The eel-like fish was a new one on me. The delicate, buttery textured fish didn’t make me feel like I had missed out in any way.

Next, a share-plate of thinly sliced albacore underneath strands of green papaya, Thai basil leaves, crisp fried shallots, and a creamy peanut sauce. It was like a Vietnamese cabbage salad dish — but with raw fish instead.

That was followed by a dish of cold ramen noodles tossed in a creamy sesame dressing that was thoroughly nutty tasting.

Glistening Japanese toro nigiri got topped with anchovy paste to bring the taste of the sea to the forefront.

Sea urchin got a star turn again, simply served on a spoon with Hokkaido rice, caviar, and a touch of fresh wasabi. Talk about the perfect bite.

Caviar and potato chips always make a perfect duo. Here, the two shine even more with a touch of ramp aioli, all atop a tiny mound of rice. Salty, a touch oily (in a good way), crisp, soft, and redolent of onion and garlic, it’s a nosh that you wish you could start every meal with.

The final savory bite was one that I asked be included after seeing a photo online: thin slices of A5Wagyu rolled up and finished with a blizzard of grated frozen foie gras “snow.” It’s fat upon fat, rich upon rich, and pure decadence.

As with most omakase meals, dessert is a simple affair — a scoop of silky coconut ice cream topped with chocolate chips, caramel, and a sprinkle of sea salt.

All in all, it added up to a comfortable amount of food that satisfied and at times delightfully surprised.

More Places at Springline: Il Mercato de Che Fico

And: Che Fico Parco Menlo