Shiki Sushi
671 N Glebe Rd
Arlington, VA 2220
The other day while leaving the gym, I noticed some signage announcing the soft-launch of a new sushi restaurant in the mall. Given my love of sushi, I decided to check it out. As luck would have it, they were holding a sushi tasting — for free. A quick reality check made me realize that there was no way in hell I was passing up free sushi, so I ventured inside.
The decor is actually really well done, as long as you arent expecting much in the way of Japanese culture. The place has a decidedly american look and feel. Of particular note were the Swarovski-esque crystal cluter lights. Hard to envision, but picture a slew of large Swarovski crystals hanging in the pattern of a large 3-D ball, with a light shining down from above.
The sushi itself (at least at the tasting, more on this in a minute) was pretty good. They were serving four types of rolls, some kind of thin, fried dumpling and Miso soup. The soup was a bowl of salt, the dumpling was cold, but tasty, and the rolls were large an inventive — with almost as much fish adorning the outside as the inside.
As a final bonus, they were offering 50% off coupons for real launch, which was February 5th. As luck would have it, I was in the mood for sushi on the 5th and figured they were worth visiting again.
Ill cut to the chase — the food is over-priced, rolls were small, but decently put-together, and the sushi was mediocre at best. The sushi pieces were on the small to medium small size, relativly fresh but most seemed extra fatty — and not in the good way. I selected Chirashi for mysel, and one bright note was presentation. Definitely not your standard “sushi in a bowl over rice” the chef took the extra time to prepare 3-D triangles of rice (covered in row), interesting arrangement of sushi, and even included some seared Ahi slices.
The problem is, the dish was so visually appealing, that is seriously under-delivered on taste. I believe I had the House roll, and it was OK, but not memorable enough to recall the specific ingredients. Chirashi included; shrimp, egg, king crab, tuna, salmon, white fish, yellow tail, and seared Ahi tuna. Oh, and of course, Ikura.
Anyway, if I hadnt had a 50% off coupon, Id have been even more disappointed than I was. As it stands, I highly double Ill be returning, unless Im desparate for sushi and happen to already be at the mall and am feeling too lazy to drive to any of my other favorite places.
