Sushi Bistro

Sushi Bistro was an accidental adventure.

If anyone should know, I am a sushi connoisseur. Having dined on sushi for the past five-six years, I feel I know good sushi when I’ve tried it, and bad sushi when I’ve experienced it. Sushi is one of those trends that is up and coming. There are dozens of sushi restaurants across the region in St. Louis and the trick is knowing which ones to frequent and which ones to absolutely avoid altogether. You learn to read reviews, you learn to scour the websites, you learn which restaurants are the stars of the neighborhood and must be experienced, you learn which restaurants are like any other standard sushi place with all the ordinary offerings without glory.

At the time when I first encountered Sushi Bistro, I was working at my first real job at Scholastic Book Fairs. I was starting to make a little extra cash and decided that I was going to head across town to Target to purchase a few odds and ends to make my little cubicle feel like home away from home. I had several hours to kill before my class started that evening and chose afterward to find a place to eat. Having downloaded the Yelp app and getting used to its features, decided to see what kind of restaurants were currently nearby to grab a bite before heading to school.

I do have my favorite sushi restaurants – a little place known as Blue Ocean. They offer a rather in-expensive all you can eat sushi which practically offers you the entire menu to sample. Blue Ocean was clear in the other direction, a good twenty to thirty minutes from where I needed to be. I was needing something closer. Sushi was not on my agenda but an option. And as I scoured through the list of nearby places, checking times and reviews, gliding through pictures and salivating, I came across such a sushi place called Sushi Bistro. From where I was parked at the Target parking lot found it was only a five minute drive. The ratings were high, the reviews were extreme positive, the pictures were worth more than a thousand words: sushi was it.

Apprehensive, as usual, I made the brief journey and found the place nestled inside a plaza. The place looked small and intimate with not much to show for on the outside. It was in a heavy trafficked area with a Taco Bell sitting on its own upon its own lot, across the street from a McDonalds, and a post office next door, it was the prime place for a sushi place to be.

As I walked in I was greeted with a warm interior. Gleaming hardwood floors resonated the dimly lit intimate room—not very big but just right, it seemed. Tables were spaced evenly and were made of a heavy dark wood. Not only was the atmosphere humbly inviting but as I was quickly made welcome by the staff. I sat by the window to watch the traffic go by and peered through the various menu options and the descriptions were clear and the ingredients modest, the price a bit steep than what I was hoping for. I was not going to let the idea of cost deter me from enjoying a little time out and pampering you sometimes need.

Wanting the full experience I ordered the mango salad and several of the signature rolls. When the mango salad came out, it was far too pretty to eat. All the colors busting with bright orange from the julienned mango and a hint of green and pink from the cucumber and imitation crab. On top was a smattering of sesame seeds and lightly touched with a light sweet yet tangy dressing that was cold and refreshing and complimented the mango, cucumber, crab well.

mango salad

Instantly this became one of my favorite items on the menu. It was, might I say, delicious. More than delicious but an ideal first impression of what I was in store for when the rolls were brought out. The plate was neat and tidy. The rolls were sitting in a row at the perfect size. None of the ingredients were spilling out of it (like at some places) but tightly packed. A purple-pink-white hibiscus flower was placed delicately on the corner to provide flare. I was not expecting the kind of finesse shown but was quickly realizing this was not your average sushi restaurant, but an excellent destination that felt like a secret only I knew.

Sushi Bistro is warm and inviting and an exceptional restaurant to visit. I have to say the people who work there are friendly and kind and eager to make your stay even more welcoming. These are the kind of people you want to be friends with, the kind of people you want to learn more about, the kind of people you would love to see again. Sushi Bistro is a place I wanted to bring people knowing that even if the prices are a little higher than other area restaurants, by the time you sit down and take that first bite, you aren’t worried about the cost, but the quality and the patience and the time they spent on preparing something wonderful for you to enjoy.