Restaurant Review: Sushi Japan

Go Fish Downtown at Sushi Japan

by The Law Reviewers of The Law Reviewers

DALLAS — Finding sushi downtown can be a daunting experience. There’s Fuse, which we have reviewed and which we recommend, but really, for all of downtown’s cosmopolitan charm – the street life, the night life, the various things to see and do, the previous three phrases are a joke – it lacks any passable sushi for a quick workday lunch. Or does it?

Well, we’d heard a tale (we almost wrote “tail,” as in “fish tail” here but took it out and then put it back in this parens) of a place that you can only find if you stare at the Dickey’s on Harwood long enough. Relax the eyes and you’ll see a pirate ship come into focus. Relax some more and Sushi Japan will appear on the right, behind the parking garage staircase and elevator bank. Sushi Japan’s "choice" of location makes it seem almost as if the restaurant doesn’t want to be found. We half expected it to fade into the brick facade like a mirage. This led us to ponder some of life’s deep questions: If a sushi bar operates downtown and nobody knows about it, does it exist? If it’s not listed on the internets and you can't Google it, can you review it? If we leave a Cowboys game at the team's new stadium, will we be stuck in traffic so long that we’ll still be in Arlington for the next game? After much inner navel-gazing, our answers to these probing questions are: yes, yes, and we're pretty sure that's what King Jones has in mind.

The interior of the restaurant is a cool and inviting escape from the summer heat (or a nice dry retreat from the summer monsoons, either way). The lighting is muted and there are snow-capped Mt. Fuji-like murals covering most of the walls. But the piece de resistance is the three television monitors that constantly play such karaoke hits as “Wind Beneath my Wings” and “I Need a Hero” in glorious muzak stereo throughout your meal (complete with awkward “Interlude” breaks). So, you can get your meal and your groove on in less than an hour and still get back in time for your afternoon nap, um, conference call. This could possibly be the greatest unknown downtown happy hour spot since happy hour was first invented by Hannibal’s attorneys on a sunny afternoon in 218 B.C. after they successfully obtained an injunction against the Pyrenees Highway Authority’s attempts to limit elephant traffic over the Col de Mont Cenis. The staff (Sushi Japan’s, not Hannibal’s) was very friendly and attentive on each of our visits. They even accommodated our crazy iced green tea request with an understanding nod.

Anthony Lowenberg

2 3/4 gavels' worth of sushi.

Still, as much as we like the place’s atmosphere, the food can be hit and miss. Sticking to the basics seems to be your best bet here. The sushi/sashimi box combo ($14) came with a six-piece California roll (avocado, cucumber and crab), three kinds of sushi and more sashimi (think sushi without the rice – that’s right, naked sushi!) than you can shake a stick at. Let’s see, there was salmon, shrimp, two kinds of tuna, mackerel and another kind of fish we’ll call Fred. It all tasted and looked fresh. The sushi roll lunch special ($11) was lighter than the box combo in that it does not include the box’s salad, watermelon or Fred. When we ventured away from the lunch specials, though, the fish quality suffered. The rainbow roll ($9), which was composed of a variety of fish wrapped around California rolls, looked and tasted a little too lifeless. Finally, we tried the 9-1-1 roll ($10), which combined jalapeno and ahi tuna surrounded by spicy tuna. We were excited to try something with a little more kick, and while it did pack a punch, the pickled jalapeno and limp ahi tuna were disappointing. Another good reason to stick to the lunch specials is that for $11-14, you’ll get your fill of food; load up on enough of the special rolls or order á la carte and you’ll end up spending enough to buy a share of the Dallas World Aquarium.

So, on our sing-along five-gavel scale, where five gavels is Jim Carey’s karaoke rendition of "Somebody to Love" in The Cable Guy, and one gavel is your karaoke rendition of ZZ Top’s "Sharp Dressed Man" last Tuesday night at the bowling alley bar after six cans of Pearl Light, we give Sushi Japan 2 3/4 gavels, or your karaoke rendition of "Sharp Dressed Man" after only two Pearl Lights (you don’t remember singing it twice, do you?), for its groovy, cool atmosphere and for being something different downtown.

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