DaFoodie

I don’t discriminate between Asian cuisines, which is lucky for my taste buds but not so great for my pocketbook. I’m always on the hunt for excellent-quality sushi that tastes amazing, and I am pleased to report to you that Orlando Sushi House next to the Florida Mall does not disappoint.

The other night I took my daughters, also sushi aficianados, to the Orlando Sushi House. It was their first venture, and they were as pleased as I was.

Tucked in between an Outback Steakhouse and an urban threads shop, Orlando Sushi House is a blend of tech and class, with some of the nicest staff you’ll ever encounter. The restaurant is intimate, and up front hangs a double-sided screen that plays action movies from Hong Kong.

The menu is mostly sushi (hence the name). They have many different rolls, from maki to nigiri to specialty to house-special rolls. They range in price from $2 to $17, but the majority of the rolls are in the $4 to $6 range. They have the standard tuna, Philly, and California rolls, but also other fun combos like the Cowboy Steak roll (medium rare beef, cucumber, topped with teriyaki sauce), the Tokyo Surprise (roll wrapped with salmon accompanied with lightly cooked chopped crab, scallop, and spicy mayo sauce), and the Yellowtail appetizer (Yellowtail filets, ponzu-unagi sauce, chili, scallions).

The appetizers are pretty requisite for a Japanese sushi place, with edamame, gyoza dumplings, chicken/shrimp tempura, yakitori, sashimi, tuna tataki, and more. One item that I did not get and am now kicking myself for not ordering is the Tuna Guacamole appetizer, which are tuna filets served on avocado blended mix, ponzu sauce. Here’s a pic (courtesy of the Sushi House’s website):

We got the edamame, of course, which was steamed-hot with just the perfect amount of seasoning added.

We also got a tuna roll, a Philadelphia roll, and a shrimp tempura roll, and I’ve committed the Ultimate Food Blogging Sin of not taking pictures of your food before you dive into it. The Philly roll was history before I remembered to pull my camera out, but here is part of the tuna and shrimp tempura rolls (oops):

As you can see, we were seriously hungry. Ahem.

One really cool feature of Sushi House is their sushi cam. At the sushi bar in the back, there are televisions above the bar that shows the sushi chefs at work. Here’s a shot of the sushi cams (but no sushi; it was kind of a slow evening):

The restaurant itself is really intimate, so no matter where you are seated you have a good view of the sushi cams.

The oldest and I ordered a steak teriyaki bento box and a chicken teriyaki bento box. It came with miso soup first, and my one complaint about my meal is that the soup only had about 3 pieces of tofu in it, and one hunk of seaweed. Otherwise, the soup was great. The bento boxes came with a salad & ginger dressing, steamed rice, DELICIOUS tempura (two huge shrimp, sweet potato and zucchini),and large fresh orange wedges. Very yum.

In addition to their bento boxes (salmon, chicken, or beef teriyaki or a sushi bento or sashimi bento), you can also order a regular entree of salmon, chicken, or beef teriyaki or an entree of chicken or shrimp tempura. They also have a wide array of sushi dishes, which are various combinations of nigiri, sashimi, and other assorted rolls.

We didn’t try and desserts, but they offer banana flambe, regular and tempura ice cream, and cheesecake. The bento box is really filling, so I never have any room for dessert!

They serve blush, white, and red wines, as well as sake. They also offer sushi classes - the one that I saw offered in October was $80 for a 2.5-hour class. I’m going to put that on my Christmas list!

Every time I’ve been to the Sushi House, the staff has been wonderful and very prompt. I’ve seen some pretty gruff sushi chefs in my time, but the ones at the Sushi House are really friendly and engage you from behind the counter (and they were happy to have their picture taken, even!). I’m very happy to recommend this restaurant for consistently good food, yummy sushi, awesome plum wine, and great service.

Sushi House - Orlando
1311 Florida Mall Avenue
Orlando, FL 32809-7731
(407) 812-9767 ph, (407) 386-9986 fax
sushiHouseOrlando@yahoo.com

Hours:
Lunch - Monday - Saturday: 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
Dinner - Sunday - Thursday: 5 pm – 10 pm, Friday - Saturday: 5 pm – 10:30 pm