Old Dominion Brewhouse

I was super excited about Saturday; it was my first Washington Capital game of the year. I was meeting up with my coworkers and one of their husbands for good ole night of drinking, eating, and hockey. I Googled a bar named Old Dominion Brewhouse, which is on 9th Street in D.C. about two blocks from the Verizon Center.

When I checked the menu beforehand, I only looked at the appetizers and salads I didn’t scroll down further. I got a basic gist of the menu so I was good and done. I had no idea it was a sushi restaurant. When I heard Old Dominion Brewhouse I was thinking a nice bar and good ole American food. Many restuarauants have Japanese appetizers on their menu, so I didn’t think anything of it. My co-workers thought I had known and that’s why I picked it!

So now I’m intrigued. The reviews on the web weren’t promising. So I’m like oh well we picked it let’s go. The bar is a short walk away from the Mt. Vernon Square Metro station. It was very easy to find. When we walked in the bar was hopping. The restaurant was divided into four sections: bar, seating area, sushi bar, and additional seating probably their party room. They sat us in the main seating area. Which was fine at first, but then they started blasting the Alabama game and we had to move. The speaker was over our heads.

I wasn’t in a mood to make decisions so I just got a sushi regular platter. When it came out it was a California roll, two pieces of Spanish mackerel, tuna, yellowtail, and salmon. The platter was $19. My only criticism is that the pieces looked a little small, but it tasted fine and the sushi rice was good.

Nothing intrigued me on their specialty roll menu. So I just ordered another order of salmon and I was full. I also munched on my friend’s nachos and had three drinks. Which considering my bill was only $47 (it was $54, but it dropped not sure why but why complain?) Our server was awesome.

Would I eat here again for sushi? Yes, if I’m in the area I would definitely consider it again, unless I find a better sushi place. Which is possible with the Verizon Center being so close to China Town.

Grade: B+.
(Drinks A+) :D

Thai Silk Buckhead, Atlanta, GA

This post is long overdue. I went to my first Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA. My friends Matt & Shawn went with me. One of our plans is that we wanted to hit up a sushi place. So I plugged in Atlanta into Groupon and got a deal for dinner at Thai Silk (www.thaisilkbuckhead.com).

Off we went. The place was a little off the main road, but it was easy to find. The restaurant was older and obviously has been a hot spot for many years. Despite it being a weeknight we were promptly seated. The place was seriously busy. The lady had several tables and so service was a little slow.

We started off with an order of egg rolls. I don’t really recall them. I think because they were just an average batch of vegetarian eggrolls. They were served with a sweet and sour sauce. Between the three of us we ordered a selection of salmon, tuna, cucumber roll, California roll, Yumi Yumi Roll, a tuna and avocado roll, and the White Dragon Roll.

Everything tasted fresh and the presentation was nice. I have to say I wasn’t keen on how the cucumber roll was well rolled. It was a little too big, usually they wrap it smaller. Most places wrap it with the seaweed on the outside and smaller so when you bite it, it’s crisper like a cucumber. I don’t know if that made any sense.

They had average sushi in regards to the taste. I was really intrigued by the Yumi Yumi Roll on the menu. It was salmon, cream cheese, flash fried, with their special house sauce. In the middle was seaweed salad. I have to say it was good, but there was something about the sauce I didn’t like. I don’t like vinegar sauces and the sauce they drenched the roll was super vinegary.

Even with a groupon deal we shelled out a lot of money. Our bill was like $60 with the groupon deal. I can’t remember if we got alcohol, but I don’t think so. So if you’re in Atlanta and want sushi this would be a good place, but if you go for the speciality rolls expect to shell out some cash.



Grade: B+

Sushi Rock, Arlington, VA

I’m on twitter. I’m not that crazy with it. I do like how I can keep up with my hockey news during hockey season. One of the Washington Capitals players kept on raving about this sushi place in Arlington called Sushi Rock. I checked the website out and my friend and I headed over there.

The restaurant is hip and edgy with their rock n roll theme. Many of the specialty rolls have rock n roll themed names. They have a huge bar area, upstairs area, and plenty table space. The one cool thing that I loved was that their lamps were drum symbols. I thought that was a fun touch.

This isn’t sushi places were you can just sit down and check off your favorites. The menu I have to say was confusing. There was way too much going on with a lot of the rolls. So my friend and I picked shrimp tempura roll which had a hip rocking name, spicy tuna roll, salmon nigiri, Stairway to Heaven, and Light My Fire.

The tempura was fabulous. The sauce was great and it was perfectly cooked. It was $10 for 3 pieces of shrimp and assortment of veggies. Then our sushi came out. The sushi isn’t made out in public like a normal sushi bar. Everything is prepped in the kitchen. Which irks me just a little. Even cheapo places roll their sushi out in public.

The quality of the fish is good. I had no gripes with the freshness. The salmon had that great melt in your mouth vibe that I love. Now the rolls….
Eating the spicy tuna roll was like putting seaweed wrapped mush into your mouth. They shredded the tuna way too much. It wasn’t very spicy but that was the least of the issues with the roll.

The Stairway to Heaven roll contained spicy yellowtail, scallions, cilantro, ginger, and haberno sauce. Light My Fire roll contained spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, cilantro, spicy aiohi. Both rolls had way too much going on. Your taste buds couldn’t figure out what flavors to concentrate on. It overwhelmed you. Plus the Light My Fire had that mushy tuna which unsettled us.



After that we were still hungry. So we ordered fried calamari. The calamari wasn’t cooked well. I picked at it and my friend finished it off. The sauce wasn’t all that exciting. Up to this point my friend gave it a C. My grade was similar.

When we got the bill the grade dropped to D+. It was $82. A little steep for sushi that wasn’t great in our opinions. I think this place has its niche. Apparently many people love this place. The ingredients weren’t the issue it was the execution. I’ll never come back to this place. But if you want to try some crazy sushi rolls this place would be for you. If wanted to go drinking this place seems like an exciting option in D.C.

Asian Bistro, Alexandria, VA.

I think the past week I have learned an important lesson, take mass transit if you’re going to enjoy sushi in the cities. My friend had a craving for sushi and I was very willing to join in. Hilton Honor’s has a points program, wherever you eat you can get dining points. Of course Asian Bistro was not part of the Hilton program anymore, but I still wanted to check it out.

First of all if you want to go to Asian Bistro on King Street, just park somewhere off the road and walk. It’ll save you the agony of trying to find parking and stopping every 5 feet at a stop light. This is primary the reason why I have never tried to go to a sushi place in Alexandria when I work. King Street is so annoying!

Like many of the places in Olde Town Alexandria, this restaurant is cozy and has a relaxed environment. They serve a variety of Asian dishes, so if your friends want Asian food they won’t be fighting over what kind. In addition to sushi they offer Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Korean.

But we grabbed the sushi menu as soon as we sat down. They have a lot of specialty rolls. If you’re a vegetarian they offer some unique choices including tomato basil roll. Many of the rolls sounded really cool, but a good number of them had cream cheese in them. My friend doesn’t like too much cream cheese.

We settled on salmon nigri, shrimp tempura roll, spicy lobster roll, spicy tuna roll, and fried calamari for appetizer. The fried calamari was awesome, the dipping sauce was kind of boring, but it started to grow on me the more I ate it. As soon as we were finished with the calamari our sushi was ready.

I have to say the presentation was gorgeous. The first thing I grabbed was the salmon. Yum! It melted in your mouth. The sushi rice –you know me and my rice- was great!

Now the rolls. The spicy tuna was good. The shrimp tempura was fantanstic. The sauce they drizzled on top was sort of like eel sauce, but sweeter than I’ve tasted. So I’m going to guess that they made it themselves. It almost tasted like an infusion of eel sauce and tempura sauce.

My friend and I both agreed the spicy lobster was a bit of a disappointment. The roll itself was good, but the sauces they placed on the roll overwhelmed the roll. One of the sauces was chirachi and the other was like a spicy mayo. Both the sauces made it kind of a mess.

Overall I have to say this is one of my new favorite places. I’d definitely go again if I was craving sushi in Alexandria.

Grade: A

Hikaru Sushi Bar, Arlington, VA

No pics. Camera went crazy. If I can fix it I'll post later.

I had gotten a living social deal and so I ventured to Washington, D.C. I had plans to find a sushi place nearby. The sushi place that I had originally plugged in was closed. Then the second place there weren’t any parking spaces. Then I figured Arlington, VA is usually better to navigate anyhow. Plus I wanted to try the cupcake place Crumbs.

I drove into Arlington and being afraid I couldn’t find a parking spot I zoomed into the first free lot I could find. There was a farmer’s market going on so I wandered around before hiking to Crumbs.

I found a small sushi place almost immediately: Hikara Sushi Place on 2200 Wilson Rd, Arlington, VA. The place is cute. I think it’s near the courthouse so it probably gets busy.

When I order I usually get an order of nigiri, a regular roll, and a specialty roll. But today I saw the sushi bento box and I figure I give it a try. I got 5 pieces of sushi, 4 dumplings, steamed rice, and a California roll.

When I got my sushi my heart fell. Normally saba (mackerel) is not a type of sushi that most places put in your sushi box. I hate saba. So freaking fishy and blah. So of course it was the first thing I ate. After I got the bad taste out of my mouth I moved on to the better fishes.

Now the nigiri was a little small. So small it was almost cute. It tasted fine. It wasn’t the best tasting sushi I ever had. Now the dumplings were pretty freaking good. Another thing that tasted good was their miso soup. I haven’t finished a whole bowl of miso soup in a long time.

So overall I say the sushi was average tasting. It was funny how different a person’s perception can be. The ladies who sat next to be were raving about the sushi. I found it to be average.

Grade: C

Whole Foods, Alexandria, Va

One day I asked my sushi chef friend what he thought of grocery store sushi. His reaction was that’s no sushi that’s sushit! But alas I found humor in his grumpiness, because I have yet to find a sushi chain in the grocery store that made me go back for more.

Sometimes I go and eat it because I have a craving for sushi and it fills it. Sometimes I regret it instantly afterwards, other times I’m just left having to scratch my itch later with better quality sushi.

Whole Foods I never have to worry about the quality of the ingredients. I don’t have to worry that I’ll have dysentery several hours later. But it misses the mark.

The sushi rice is better than some places. It was better than the Chinese place. But it just wasn’t quiet right. There is an art of sushi rice that many places just can’t seem to master.

If you’re into brown sushi rice, they have that. I never had brown rice sushi. A lot of places don’t offer it and I’ve never been a fan of brown rice. The pricing seems okay a little expensive for a grocery store, but then again Whole Foods is generally expensive compared to other grocery stores.

They don’t give you wasabi in your take out tray. I had to go back to get it. The ginger was the white kind without preservatives. If they had chopsticks they aren’t easily accessible. So I had to eat my sushi with a fork. That was hard so I ended up using my hands.

Rating: C

Montclair Chinese Restaurant, Montclair (Dumfries), VA

I had a craving for sushi last night. But I really didn’t want to drive to Woodbridge. I turn to Google discovered a Chinese place that served sushi. Sounds a little suspect, but with sushi becoming popular in recent years, you may see sushi type items popping up on menus even American style restaurants.

So I headed there after my massage. I had passed this place many times before but never really paid attention to it. I think I may have gotten food from it when I was younger but I don’t really remember. As I get out of my car I slowly realize that this place was not a sit down establishment. It’s purely a take out/delivery place.

If you were to judge this place by the outside you wouldn’t want to try the sushi. But inside it’s very clean and organized. There are signs boasting that they are the Top 100 Chinese Take Out Place (not sure in the whole USA or VA didn’t say). Judging by how busy the receptionist was this claim may not have been empty words.

They have a very extensive menu both Chinese/Japanese. I finally decided on a Dynamite Roll, California Roll with masago, and an order of sake (salmon). Then I waited.


I ate the Dynamite Roll in my car. It was going to be like 30 minutes before I got home and I was starving. It was fantastic! It was salmon, imitation crab meat, deep fried with spicy mayo and eel drizzled on the top. I have a new favorite specialty roll. It was so darn tasty. It was a good blend of flavors. Very impressed.

So after I got home I open up the other box. Visually I was impressed by the sushi. It looked fresh and delicious looking. The salmon tasted great. The cali roll was slightly different from the normal avocado, crab meat, and masago. They mixed the crab with mayo, cucumber, avocado, and the eggs on the outside of the roll. It was good. I thought the roll was a little soggy, but I think it was the fact that I waited 30 minutes and the eggs got the rice soggy. Because the rice with the salmon nigiri wasn’t mushy.

Now the sushi rice isn’t top quality like in the real sushi places. It was okay. Pricing is almost the same as a traditional sit down place. Which seem a little steep for a take out place.

Rating: B+

Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse, Woodbridge, VA

My good friend and I went to Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse in Woodbridge, VA. It’s the main competition for Sakura Japanese Steakhouse in Woodbridge. I wasn’t impressed with their hibachi cooking. Seasonings seemed a little bland. But I’m here to review sushi.

Tokyo has an extensive menu of Japanese cuisines. So for your non-sushi loving friends they won’t have any problems. They have a sushi bar that flows into a regular bar, then they have a lot of seating. So if you want to have a little meeting and enjoy sushi they have plenty of space for a mediumish party.

Now their sushi. Their sushi meat is of good quality. In all honesty they probably get their meat from the same place as Sakura. You can get cattle meat from 100s of different distributors but there is a smaller amount of sushi grade distributors out there. I think I heard only two in our area.

But Tokyo’s sushi while presented well is average. If I didn’t have the pictures I would have forgotten when I ordered. I got kappa maki (cucumber roll), spicy tuna roll that was fried, and salmon. Spicy tuna roll was made with the sriachi sauce that I’m not a huge fan off. I mean I like it, but it was way too much, detracted from the tuna. I did like that it was fried, it was something different. The kappa maki wasn’t rolled tight so it fell apart easily.

My friend got shrimp tempura roll, Las Vegas Roll, and a spicy salmon handroll. He was pleased with his sushi. I didn’t realize this, but said he only eats sushi with me, because he trusts me. So when I suggested Tokyo instead of Sakura he was a little hesitant. He’s not as adventurous trying out new locations. But he was happy.

Tokyo Rating: B

Osaka Japanese Restaurant

I met up with one of my best friends at Osaka Japanese Restaurant. My friend lives in Washington, DC and this place was pretty much in the middle. I have seen this place while passing it on the way to the Springfield metro station. So I was interested in seeing what this place is all about.

The place is small but very cute. They have tables and a few spots to sit in front of the sushi chefs. We were sat at one of the tables. They had an extensive menu filled with non-sushi entrees for any of your non-sushi eating friends.

Their menu is filled with a lot of specialty sushi rolls as well as the norm. They charge their nigiri by the piece instead of 2 pieces like some places. Their prices were very reasonable. We ordered a shrimp tempura and veggie appetizer. They also served us miso soup and salad. If you’re a big salad eater the salad won’t really impress you. There wasn’t a lot of lettuce in the bowl. I think if they picked a salad bowl that’s a little smaller it may be a better presentation. But that’s just me being anal.

We get our shrimp tempura after our soup and salad. It was good. As soon as we got our tempura our sushi was ready. Score!

It was beautiful. I think half the fun of eating sushi is seeing the presentation. Any chef can roll it and serve it. But when you have a beautiful platter of sushi it really gets you excited.

We ordered Spider Roll (soft shell crab), Lasagna Roll, spicy salmon roll, deep fried spicy tuna roll, and 2 pieces of sake (salmon). Let the fun begin.
Everything tasted fresh and was good. I really can’t fault anything with the sushi. If I was asked to go again I definitely would go back.

Rating: A

will update soon

Sorry! Life has been busy. I wrote up a sushi review and had it scheduled, but it didn't post. I think I read that blogspot had an issue but I ignored it. So blah. I'll see if it's saved at work and I'll repost it. I have the pictures definitely.

;)

This sushi is wrong, it's not like at (fill in blank)

I had these two customers come into Sakura one night. It was really busy and we were super slammed and at that point I was an angry half Asian lady. Customer service tends to go out the door and you start working like a machine. I always feel bad (sometimes) afterwards, but when you’re worked that hard you don’t care anymore.
So they were clearly sisters. One of the sisters was being the nice and diplomatic one. The other sister was being a tart (I’m using kid friendly terms right now). She kept on saying that her rolls were done incorrectly. There was supposed to be mayo in the California roll.
There is no mayo in California roll.
Sushi rolls like the spicy tuna/salmon, etc may be different. Woodbridge Sakura tends to use the spicy mayo blend that the headchef has made. The old chef at Fredericksburg Sakura would use chirachi sauce in his spicy rolls.
Each restaurant is different. The sushi chef is an artist. He may do things differently at his store.
I talked to the head sushi chef later. He did confirm the fact that the other chef at the store she normally frequented did put mayo in his California roll.
So before you go postal on the sushi staff or chef please understand that just because a chain may have the same name it doesn’t mean things are done the same.

Nizi Sushi Place, New Jersey

So this isn’t a review of a Northern Virginia sushi place. I found myself in East Rutherford, NJ last Thursday. My favorite band Rammstein was touring in 9 cities in North America. So we got tickets and journeyed up to New Jersey. My friend and I were craving sushi and so using Google we charted our adventure to dinner and the venue.


We choose a place called Nizi Restaurant. It’s a cute little place that’s owned by Koreans. They had sushi and Korean food. I believe they also had other Japanese entrees like udon, tempura, etc. I chose a chirashi dish and my friend got a few veggie rolls.

They gave us some rice soup, which the Korean kid in me immediately cringed. I hate rice soup. My friend couldn’t eat it because she’s a vegetarian and it had seafood in it. They also offered us mussels, which I turned down. I’m really picky about mussels, I’ve found only one way I can eat them.



So we get our sushi. Star was pretty happy with her veggie rolls. My chirashi was good. I think what makes a good chirashi is the sushi rice. Their sushi rice was okay, nothing spectacular about it. The fish was average quality. Nothing really awe inspiring.

Would I come again? Sure. The staff was good and services was great.



Rating: B-
(Doing a simpler rating system.)

Sakura Japanese Steakhouse: Fredericksburg, VA

Now Sakura is owned by two men. It's not a franchise or a corporate restaurant chain. So if you think that just because you go to one Sakura that it's all the same.

I went to Fredericksburg, VA on a whim. I use to work at this location for about 2yrs. So I went and visited all the old chefs that I knew and the manager. Manager wasn't there, but her husband was. And I haven't seen her husband in quiet some time. He told me their new chef was awesome. So I tried a few rolls since I was hungry.

This Sakura has a larger selection of specialty rolls. A lot of them were pricey so I didn't really go. The only special roll I ordered was the Boston Roll. It was super delicious. The Philadelphia roll was very good. The salmon was money! It was so nice and fresh and melt in your mouth greatness. :)

I have to say this sushi chef was incredibly artsy. The pic probably doesn't show it but when I got the plate I was impressed. Sushi is an art and this chef did an awesome job.

Ratings:
Freshness: 5/5
Variety: 5/5
Decoration/Ambiance: 4/5
This Sakura is small, but I think the manager of this one spent more money on the decorations.
Service: 5/5
Pricing: Sushi is fair for the value and quality.

Sakura Japanese Steakhouse: Woodbridge, VA

So this may be a bit biased. I've worked at the Woodbridge location on and off since I was 16yrs old. Plus my mother has worked there since I was 10yrs old.

Woodbridge Sakura has to be one of the best sushi places I've been too. I always get told by sushi customers that they absolutely love it here. We have a few customers who live in Maryland or DC who travel to Woodbridge for the sushi.

Sushi is always fresh here. I know for the fact that sushi is ordered every Thursday night for the weekend delivery. The head chef always orders during the week days as need as well.

Like most places they have the normal sushi rolls as well as a few fun variety rolls. The ones pictured are the Tiger Roll which is spicy scallop inside, with ebi on top. Rising Sun is spicy shrimp inside with seared tuna on top.

Las Vegas Roll is the best seller for sure. I love the Las Vegas roll, but it's a pretty complicated roll with a lot going on. But the flavors really come together and it's a guilty pleasure for most.

They also have a variety of appetizers and specials. If you have a non-sushi person with you, you can order from the main menu and the food is made in the kitchen. Featured to the right is the Sunomono.

Other Key Features:
Rice Quality: V-san the head chef makes the best sushi rice I've ever tasted. I enjoy eating the rice as much as the sushi.

Tamago: This is one of the only places you'll ever go to that makes their own tamago. Most folks avoid the egg omelet only ordering it for kids. But I order tamago from Woodbridge because it's so darn tasty. At other places it's usually ordered from their sushi distributor and it has preservatives or is frozen. The taste is usually flat, not sweet like fresh tamago.

Ginger: Ginger here is white. It doesn't have the preservatives like the pink stuff does.

Ratings:
Freshness: 5/5
Variety: 5/5
Decoration/Ambiance: 3/5
(You go for Sakura for the food not the decorations. ^_^ )
Service: 5/5
Pricing: Sushi is fair for the value and quality.

Welcome to NOVA Sushi Review

My name is Anna. This blog is inspired by my love for good sushi. My friend called me a sushi snob one day and my other friend said I should create a blog. I intend to showcase good sushi places in the Northern Virginia-Washington, DC area. But if I'm on travel or happen to eat outside the area I'll showcase my adventures.

I worked at Sakura Japanese Steakhouse for many years during my high school and college years. I've been spoiled by great sushi chefs and have a great appreciation for the hard work that goes into sushi industry. Some people just think get some fish, mix some rice vinegar in some rice, and wrap it in seaweed and call it a day. And I'm not talking about homemade sushi.

But we'll get to those places as they come up.

Next Topic: Sakura Japanese Steakhouse, Woodbridge, VA