In soft opening news of the week (it’s a biggie), there is the impending arrival of Room Service (2159 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Unit A2) in Bay View. The Thai/Japanese restaurant, in a striking $2.5 million development across from the Kinetik apartment complex, will open this Thursday, April 11. During the soft opening, it will be open for dinner only, and seating/reservations will be limited.

Room Service’s owner/chef, Kanokporn “Joey” Phadungsil, is a native of Bangkok, Thailand, which is where she also worked as a chef in her family’s restaurant. Her menu is elegant and modern – as is this development. Room Service occupies the larger, front space and includes a main dining room, sushi bar and a rooftop patio. The building’s developer is Pramoth Lertsinsongserm, a co-owner of the East Side Thai/sushi restaurant Rice N Roll.

Menu item from Room Service restaurant in Milwaukee, WI. Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki

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Among the starters ($6-$14) on Room Service’s dinner menu are royal flower dumplings, with a sweet-sour radish and peanut filling; and chilled silken tofu delight, topped with kimchi, scallions, sesame seeds and toasted nori. Soups and salads ($4-$18) include tom yum river prawns, crispy catfish salad and zesty sashimi salad. Appetizers ($12-$25): tuna tango pizza, Mt. Fuji fries, Thai-style calamari, Kinnickinnic crisp shell (grilled beef with kimchi slaw and Asian pear in crispy wonton shells), and Wagyu A5 rockfire, which is a Wagyu beef dish that diners grill tableside, on a hot stone.

Sandwiches, too ($12-$15): chashu pork belly bao buns, chicken satay (on buns) and Kobe beef sliders.

Main courses ($15-$28) are grouped by area/theme: Chiangmai Inspired, which includes a classic Northern Thai noodle dish and a short rib dish. Phuket Treasures feature a lump crab curry, and The Ocean fried rice (jumbo lump crab, squid and shrimp with jasmine rice in a seafood sauce). ”Issan” is a category that has one dish: somtam kaitod, which includes shredded papaya/tomato/string bean salad served alongside fried chicken, assorted vegetables, sticky rice and spicy tamarind sauce. Bangkok Street Tastes are things like two versions of pad thai, Drunken noodles, and shrimp vermicelli harmony (glass noodles with shrimp and pork belly).

Did I mention sushi? There’s sushi, too. They range from temaki hand rolls to sushi rolls to sashimi, as beautiful as the other dishes served here.

On Monday, April 15, they plan to add lunch hours. When Room Service is fully operational, those hours will be daily lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and dinner 5-10:30 p.m.

There’s also another tenant in the rear of this building – TODD, I Believe I Can Fry, which is in the business of making fried chicken wings, tenders and the like.