Sushi St. Louis
(Or where to get good sushi in St. Louis)
Soon to be updated – October 2007
If you have visited a sushi place in the ‘Lou recently, please write a review, and we’ll add it to the site. Really!
Sekisui Pacific Rim
7443 Forsythe
Clayton, MO
314-726-0033
Web Site
Tuesday nights, SPR has all you can sushi for $25!
This review is based on one lunch visit. SekiSui Pacific Rim (SPR) is a new addition to the St. Louis sushi scene. It is related to SekiSui on South Grand; it has much wider variety in the main menu but less variety in the sushi.
SPR is located in the Wash U. West campus building in Clayton on Forsyth east of Hanley. There’s a parking lot and you go into the main building first. The restaurant itself has an open, high ceilinged, modern look. There are about 20 tables and a nine seat sushi bar. Prices for sushi are moderate to slightly high for the area; the prices for the entrees at dinner range from 14.95 to 26.95. Some pretty good looking entrees too. The lunch sushi specials were average for the area. You can visit their web site at Sekisui Pacific Rim Clayton. The sushi itself was pretty good. The fish was very good; the rice slightly watery yet had a nice light balance of seasoning. Their sushi selecion, while not bad, is not as extensive as at other sushi places including their sister Japanese-only restaurant. They do have an item I’d never had — “Taz” salmon, from Austrailia. It supposedly has a higher fat content; it was very tasty. All in all, a nice but not exceptional addition to the local sushi scene. They’ve only been open seven weeks, so I’ll check back later.
Modai
6100 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63112
(314) 725-8330
http://modailounge.com
The February club meeting was at Modai in the east loop. It is located about a half a block east of the Pageant at the corner.
Modai is described as a “hip sake and sushi bar”. It has a great selection of expensive drinks, including several types of sake, and a small sushi selection as well as a few cooked Japanese type choices. It is dark with a “modern industrial” feel. The volume of the music, which was sort of like from Circus de Soleil — was fine for a bar but too loud for a restaurant. There is perhaps ten tables and a cool looking bar on one side, and on the other a couple of tables and a three(?) seat sushi bar. Prices were on the high side. Parking is all on the street.
The wait for the food for our party of ten was waaay too long; nor was the rest of the restaurant all that busy. They did bring us a free seafood dish, which was good but fairly standard.
I don’t usually comment on green tea, but…. In many places the tea is too strong — either old and concentrated from evaporation or simply made that way. Here the tea was much too strong — they said it was freshly made from leaves. It was also very cloudy.
The general consensus of club members on the sushi is that it was OK. No one was impressed, and no one was terribly disappointed. Modai puts a nice emphasis on appearance, but is inconsistent in the follow through. For example, the arrangement of the maki pieces with a very good accompanying sauce had some nice touches, but the roll pieces themselves were, well, lumpy. The consistency of the rice was very good, but there was no discernible seasoning. (Its supposed to be mild, but not nonexistent.) Grades given were B to C+.
One standout was the garlicky, mildly spicy edamame. The hamachi was just about perfect, too.
All in all, if you want a bar with good drinks and modern atmosphere, and want some sushi while you’re there, Modai is a good place to go. If you’re going for sushi, there are better places.
Richard [Feb05]
Crazy Sushi
422 Mid Rivers Mall Dr
St. Peters, MO
(636) 397-2413
lunch Mon-Fri 11am-2:30pm
dinner Mon-Thu 5pm-9:30pm
Fri-Sat 5pm-10:30pm
Sun. closed
A relatively new place, located in Goldren Triangle Center, right on the intersection of Mexico Rd and Mid Rivers Mall Dr. I’ve only gotten take-out, but every time I come in the staff seem very friendly. There are maybe ten tables and a sushi bar in the back. They have five different salads, a decent selection of ala carte nigiri, quite a few different rolls, some hand rolls, and various non-sushi items. I enjoyed the rice and the fish every time I’ve gone.
Inna [Feb 05]
Crazy Sushi replaced a Chinese restaurant, and is run by the same Korean couple. As such, it would be understandable to believe that they are merely trying to cash in on the growing sushi trade and the lack of a decent Japanese restaurant in the St. Charles area. Fortunately, whether or not that is true Crazy Sushi is indeed the first decent sushi I have had in that area. (I have not yet been to Little Tokyo in St. Peters.)
I was very favorably impressed. Everyone was very friendly, the fish was as good as any other restaurant I’ve been to around St. Louis even if the variety was average, and the rice was spot on. For example, Uni, for me, is one of those items that is either very good or really yucky. This was the best Uni I have had in ages. Natto is not on the menu, but a maki of it was enthusiastically supplied when asked for — and was excellent. Was it simply good timing? I don’t know, but the place is worth coming back to.
As a frequent lunch diner, my biggest complaint — and it is a major one — is the lack of a sushi lunch special. Sushi is very expensive already, and their nigiri seems slightly more expensive than average for St. Louis. (When ordering, keep in mind that an order there is one piece, not two as in most other places in the area.) Given that they have a nice lunch selection otherwise, eating sushi for lunch there is even more of an extravagance than usual. Otherwise, give this place a try!
Richard
Lucky Sushi is on Mid Rivers Drive in St. Peters. It is what looks like a take-out Chinese place, although it is a sit down restaurant. The furnishings are sparse — not elegant, just sparse. There are perhaps 20 tables and no sushi bar.
The short take — don’t bother. While not horrible, this is the most mediocre sushi I’ve had in St. Louis, along with Shogun in St. Charles and the new branch of SanSai in Kirkwood. There’s no point in spending that much money on a mediocre meal.
Richard [Feb 05]
(This review is based on one lunch visit.)
Ichiban
12388 Olive Blvd, 63141
(314) 579-6002
Having moved to St Louis recently from San Diego, I have been on a constant hunt for great sushi in my new neighborhood. With the Kosher Sushi Club at Ichiban (12388 Olive Blvd), I got a good meal and met some new friends, too.
As someone who ate sushi in California at least twice a week, I thought that I knew my fish – I like the usual yellowtail, tuna, salmon, mackerel, halibut, etc. This was the first place that I have ever been to that had FIVE kinds of tuna on the nigiri menu! They have a good selection of fish, a variety of standard and creative rolls, and a nice overall menu. The food quality was very good; everything was fresh, well-prepared, and served very nicely. Our waitress was a bit overworked, since most of the twelve tables in the restaurant had customers, but the service was still good considering (although our rice was forgotten, and then taken off the bill without any hesitation). We ate well, tipped generously, and laughed a lot for just under $30 per person.
The restaurant itself was clean and cheerful, including the restrooms. We had a great experience (despite Richard’s corny jokes – just kidding!) overall at this certainly-better-than-average restaurant. We concurred on a solid B+ rating to reflect our experience.
Marcia [Oct04]
Little Tokyo
Off Forsyth in Clayton
This Little Tokyo should not be confused with either the one in St. Peter or the one in the Galleria. This one is in downtown Clayton, at 16 S. Central. Parking was easy; there is a parking lot right next to the block. Prices are pretty typical except the cheapest sushi lunch special is $9.50. I was hoping that being in Clayton in a big lunch area they would have a better deal.
Little Tokyo is a new restaurant in an old space. It is fairly narrow and deep, with perhaps 16 tables or so and a long sushi bar way in the back. Typical appearance; lots of wood and a fairly simple design. The servers were fine, but my chef barely spoke english and the other one barely looked up.
The restaurant had only been open two weeks. The rice was fine. Miso soup was standard; but I like the standard just fine. The salad was mostly the typical tasteless pale iceberg, and had a piece that was browning. The fish was below average. The eel/avocado maki roll on the special was tiny. The shrimp had a touch of that musty smell occasionally found in a bag of precooked frozen shrimp. The signaure maki roll, the Little Tokyo, while not bad was unremarkable, and the scallop in it was barely visable The hamachi was obviously thawed from frozen; sometimes it freezes well and and sometimes it doesn’t. This batch didn’t; it’s the texture that suffers so much. What was annoying is that I specifically asked if the hamachi was good.
All in all if you’re in Clayton go to Miso.
Richard [Sep 04]
Review from Marcia, March 05
Little Tokyo is just steps from Clayton’s Restaurant Row, making it very accessible & easy to find in Clayton. The decor is very… well… simple, and the prices are reasonable (we ate to satisfaction, without cocktails, for $25 per person, including ~20% tip). Considering that we were a group of 12, the service was pretty good. Thus far we were in agreement… and that’s where the plot turns…
Review ratings ranged from C to B to B+. Some people liked the miso soup, some did not (saying that it didn’t taste quite right). The nigiri was nothing special, and the usual traditional rolls (salmon, spicy tuna) rolls were alright. The specialty “Sunset Roll” and “Rainbow Roll” were actually quite good, and the presentation of the food on the various wooden boats, bridges, & “rafts” was nice. They did not have any sake (!), and we were overall underimpressed.
Our recommendation: try their specialty rolls, but look elsewhere for good nigiri, sake, or atmosphere.
Tokyo Sushi
3729 South Lindbergh
Sunset Hills (yes, that’s right, Sunset Hills)
South of 44, close to Growler’s South
(314) 984-5050
This review of the new Tokyo Sushi restaurant is based on two visits, the second with the Kosher Sushi club. It was my first outing with the club, and I highly recommend this group.
Tokyo Sushi is the first Japanese restaurant in South County. (The first to serve sushi was an eminently forgettable mostly Chinese buffet.) In appearance it is a typical Japanese restaurant — clean, lots of wood, modern touches behind the sushi bar, etc. There are perhaps 12 or so tables and a sushi bar along the back of the dining room. The assortment we ordered with the club was delivered on a big boat; a nice touch if a little big for the table. Service was very attentive.
My first visit was the week it opened, and the food was just OK. No bad; just OK. It was much better on the second visit. While I won’t place it in the top tier of Japanese restaurants in St. Louis, the fish and rice were very nice; a solid “B”. The miso soup was one of the better I’ve locally, with the nice touch of shitaki mushroom; I’m hoping other side dishes have similar touches. Prices were moderate; maybe slightly on the higher side. My biggest concern pricewise is the lack of a reasonable lunch special; most area restaurants run specials about $8 – $10, with Tachibana the clear winner with two excellent lunch specials at $5.95. (Get the chirashi!) Tokyo Sushi’s lunch specials are all in the $10 – $11 range.
Tokyo Sushi is certainly worth a visit if you’re in the area, maybe even just to check it out. As there are no other Japanese restaurants even close by I’m hoping it does well.
- Richard
I recommend Tokyo Sushi. It just opened in Sunset Hills (yes, that’s right, Sunset Hills) and it’s located at 3729 South Lindbergh. You will not be disappointed. I believe this is the first sushi restaurant in the first South County area ever.
- Trish, via email
Tokyo Sushi was the worst sushi restaurant I have ever been to. I should have known it wasn’t going to be a good experience when the waitress had no idea what a temaki (hand roll) was. I ordered a spicy tuna hand roll and the kaiware (sprouts) were dried and wilted. The tuna was sour tasting. We’re grateful we didn’t get food poisoning.
Ling Y.
Yoshi’s
1637 Clarkson Rd.
(in between The Sound Room and Crazy Bowls and Wraps)
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Phone: 636-536-7778
Fax: 636-536-2999
New joint from the original sushi chef at I Love Mr. Sushi. Opened May 2004. Best place in town. Period.
Yoshi’s is the new joint from the original chef at I Love Mr. Sushi. Yes, Mr. Sushi is back in town, better than ever. Simply put this was the best sushi I’ve had in years. The title of best place in town, jointly held for years by Seksui and Sansui West, now sits, uncontested, in the heart of Chesterfield. I hate traveling this far west for anything except family (my parents are barely a mile from away), but rest assured, this is well worth the drive. Reasonable prices. Go. Soon. Rating: A
Ran [June04]
Yoshi’s is a great addition to the St. Louis sushi scene. It is in a large strip mall with the (soon to be opened) Trader Joes, on Clarkson near the Chesterfield mall. Yoshi’s is a bright, clean and sunny restaurant with a nice sized sushi bar and perhaps 15-20 tables. This review is based on many lunch visits. Prices are average.
Yoshi’s joined my top tier of Japanese restaurants in St. Louis on my first visit and has remained ever since. While I have had meals as good elsewhere, I have never had any better in St. Louis. Yoshio Aoki, formerly of Mr. Sushi, does a wonderful job — the fish and rice are top rate. He has a deft hand with subtleties like how long to season the various types and cuts of salmon. I have heard complaints about slow food production at night, but my daytime visits have been uniformly quick and attentive. This is defintely worth a trip.
Richard [Oct04]
This month’s club outing was a return trip to many members’ favorite place, Yoshi’s. It was a large crowd (20), in part due to one member’s birthday and in part due to Yoshi’s popularity. Details (location, ambiance etc.) are in other reviews.
The general consensus was that we all enjoyed it. There was some variation in how much; one gave it a B+, others A or A-. I enjoyed it; the only item that disappointed was the hamachi. It wasn’t bad, but the texture was off — almost as if it had been frozen. Otherwise the nigiri that I had was top rate for St. Louis. The maki rolls were uniformly very good to excellent.
What was truly a pleasant surprise was the speed of the delivery of the food. The staff was very attentive, and towards the end of the meal Yoshi came out to say “hi”. If you’ve read the other reviews, the overall impresson remains the same — one of St. Louis’s best.
Richard [Nov04]