This place has potential, but it needs work.
The sushi is good but not remarkable.
The atmosphere and service
The last two times I’ve been there the servers are friendly and helpful, but little things get missed like napkins, plates, and gluten free soy sauce.
They had live music on Friday night and the singer had a great voice. But we were seated in the exact opposite corner of the restaurant. We were not asked if we had a preference in regards to proximity to the singer, but this is part of what creates the atmosphere.
I do not understand why in a nearly empty restaurant, they wanted to seat us next to
The drink station and restroom when the section they were putting us in had one other group seated. Literally any other table in the restaurant is a better option. This table has a folding screen to block the view of the restrooms, but you still hear the chatter of the servers and the clang of the plates in the kitchen to provide ambiance. This should be the last table you seat when everything else is full, but the last two times I have visited, they have wanted to seat me there.
We couldn’t see the musician, but I had full view of the drink station. There appeared to be only 16-18 people eating in the whole restaurant on a Friday night, and while I didn’t want to sit in the section, I understand that you seat tables in a certain order to be fair, so I didn’t ask to move to a different section. In retrospect, I wish I had because hearing plates clanging in competition with the musician in a nearly dead restaurant was odd.
The food
I must preface this section by clarifying I would love to eat wheat, but I will be physically ill, so I am serious about avoiding it. We also have shrimp allergies in our party so those limitations left us with a fraction of the menu to consider. This is not a fair assessment of the depth of their menu.
They have gluten-free options for sushi rolls that are printed in the menu with excellent descriptions of the changes they’ve made. But that’s it- 6 maki rolls out of a 5 page menu. No appetizers, salads, drinks listed with food allergen info. The Edamame is good, but you have to ask if it’s safe because info not listed on the menu.
There are a lot of other rolls that can be made gluten free/shrimp free, but this requires back-and-forth with the kitchen. Two large specials boards for drinks and food- neither listing allergy info and honestly, it is exhausting to have to question everything to ensure that I don’t regret this meal.
They do not print desserts in their menu, but my family enjoyed the basque cheesecake and chocolate layer cake. Sadly, the only gluten-free dessert option is ice cream which I did not try.
The gluten free spicy tuna is lackluster but adding spicy mayo helped. The sushi rice was a bit dry and gummier than optimal. The nigiri sampler was the standout- all delicious. The hot green tea was good. Overall, from my gluten-avoiding standpoint, the meal was underwhelming. My companions that got to enjoy dessert had a better experience. I used to love eating here, but now that we are avoiding wheat and shrimp, it’s not the same experience. They have an extensive menu and I feel like I could’ve had a better experience had they just marked everything in the menu that had a gluten-free option available instead of limiting my meal options to a tiny selection of gluten-free maki.
The Sushi Bar- people that can’t eat wheat also like to eat appetizers and specials and desserts. You’re on the right track, with a few changes the menu could provide useful food allergen guidance and we could have had a great experience. But instead, there was a lot of back-and-forth and checking with the kitchen to determine what was safe. Not fun. Also, consider offering a crustless Japanese cheesecake that is gluten-free. I miss dessert and that would have made my night. Instead, I left The Sushi Bar disappointed that for all the food they have available, they don’t know how to communicate it in a way that makes me feel welcome as a gluten-free dinner. I don’t wanna work this hard to eat