The 23 best sushi restaurants in America

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Last we saw Daisuke Nakazawa, he was toiling over egg custard as the modest apprentice in the film Jiro Dreams of Sushi, humbled by the rigors of an 11-year stint under the world’s most distinguished sushi chef, Jiro Ono. The pupil has emerged as the teacher at this sleek West Village sushi bar. Whereas his master was stoic, Nakazawa is a jokester who places a live squirming shrimp on your plate just for a laugh. But his pranks don’t undercut the seriousness of his nigiri, like pike mackerel, featuring a gentle brininess that gives way to unctuous fat as you chew, and wild yellowtail from Hokkaido, with fatty tails that tantalizingly overhang rice so tenderly packed, it would fall to pieces if you looked at it askew. At times, delicately flavored creatures like scallops or fluke are outstripped by pungent wasabi or yuzu. But the meal at Sushi Nakazawa is like a wave, its gentle lulls rendering the crests all the more thrilling.

Flashy. Splashy. Cold-hard cashy. Iron Chef star Masaharu Morimoto’s flagship is everything you’d imagine it to be. High ceilings, undulating lines and color-changing neon give the two-story space a disco vibe; snazzy cocktails and specialties like yosedofu—tofu made before your eyes—or the infamous fugu (blowfish), prepared three ways in season, only heighten the spectacle. But after more than two decades, the substance here remains equal to the style, whether you’re savoring such rarities as keiji salmon and firefly squid à la carte or splurging on the gorgeously crafted seven-course chef’s tasting.

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Tyson Cole swears he didn’t set out to transform the Austin dining scene when he opened Uchi in a 1920s bungalow 14 years ago; he simply wanted the “creative freedom to get other people as addicted to Japanese food as I was.” But he did both, becoming the first American itamae to receive a James Beard Award for Best Chef and opening a larger but no less warmly chic spinoff, Uchiko, along the way. Despite the expansion, there’s no room here for pretension: for all his technical mastery and cutting-edge proclivities, Cole’s menus change often and range widely enough to appeal to novices as well as connoisseurs, who can compare, say, three different kinds of sea urchin while their warier companions sample tempura-fried cauliflower alongside crisp sakes and white wines.

Though Boston was hardly devoid of Japanese restaurants in 2007, it had never seen anything quite like the arrival of this rustic-industrial Leather District hideaway. From needlefish sashimi served with the deep-fried head and backbone to tomalley aioli-topped lobster-caviar nigiri, every last luxury presented by chef Tim Cushman was as exquisite as it was exotic (as were the beverage pairings his wife Nancy, as the city’s first sake sommelier, oversaw). And so they remain. At around 20 courses, omakase at O Ya fetches a small fortune (around $295), but as you marvel your way through striped horse mackerel in leche de tigre or the famous foie gras with chocolate-balsamic kabayaki and raisin-cocoa pulp, the tab will shrink in comparison to the blissful memories being made.

Omakase menus tend to follow a typical progression: light bites, followed by more filling sushi, nigiri and so on. But at Michelin-starred Noz 17, that all goes out the window. At the intimate, seven-seat restaurant from Chef Junichi Matsuzaki, which opened in 2022 as a sibling to the original Sushi Noz, expect the unexpected. Matsuzaki’s style is as precise as they come, but it’s also surprising enough to keep you on your toes. The 25-plus courses are full of surprising twists and turns soft lotus root dumplings may appear, followed by a slew of nigiri courses, before moving on to shabu shabu and going back to light bites and more nigiri, and so on. The unconventional approach encourages diners to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey—come what may.

A sushi bar and yakitori izakaya headed by former Musashino chef Kazu Fukumoto, this Swedish Hill spot serves perfect raw fish in addition to deeply flavorful marinated and grilled yakitori options. Fukomoto himself is always on site and everything that leaves the kitchen does so with his blessing. Try to get a seat at the sushi bar, where the chef will check in on you in his typically gracious manner. Bonus: The music is always a kooky mix of country, ’80s and techno that drowns out any chance of pretension. Order the chef’s choice sushi platter, with offerings such as fatty tuna with pickled daikon, yellowtail with Thai chili mayo and creamy ankimo monkfish liver.

This upscale restaurant serves omakase (chef’s choice) only: $198 for 18 courses—or $148 per person for 12 courses (Tuesday through Thursday). The carefully calibrated progression of dishes is designed to achieve a distinctive balance of tastes, colors and cooking methods (roasting, steaming, frying, simmering and served raw). Mitsunori Kusakabe, an alum of Nobu Tokyo, New York and Miami Beach, oversees the sushi bar. After leaving Miami, Kusakabe honed his skills at Sushi Ran, the revered Sausalito sushi restaurant. He is an expert in traditional Edomae sushi techniques and a certified blowfish butcher—order accordingly.

Although you can also order everything a la carte, the $90 omakase menu at Melvin and Carlo Vizconde's restaurant is the way to go at this buzzy River Town spot, and includes more food than you can eat—rich oyster and uni shooters doctored up with ponzu sauce and quail eggs, seared tuna maki adorned with truffled scallions and takoyaki, a fried dough ball hiding a tender nugget of octopus. While these are all fun, utterly delicious takes on Japanese food, the decadence stops short of overwhelming the beautiful fish in the maki and sashimi. Tuna and salmon are packed into a balanced roll with jalapeño, avocado, cilantro, masago, chili and lime, and the omakase ends with a generous plate of sashimi.

The dining experience at this Michelin-starred restaurant in Silicon Valley is one you won’t soon forget—but not because of anything flashy or extreme. In fact, it’s the beauty of the restaurant’s simplicity and purity that makes it so memorable. In a bare-bones, one-room restaurant with nine seats around a cypress bar, diners sit quietly and patiently as they await creations Chef Akira Yoshizumi sets before them. The chef has perfected Edomae sushi during his work throughout Japan and New York—a style opposite of sensational. “No torch, no truffles, no caviar, no golden flakes, no music, no fusion at all like high-end true sushi restaurant in Japan,” the website clarifies. Here, the star focuses on the subtle flavors and textures of the in-season fish, delicately treated, plated and presented to you.

This Michelin-starred fish haven is headed by chef Jackson Yu, a local restaurateur and longtime Bay Area resident who has been honing his skills in the preparation of traditional Edomae-style sushi for two decades. For $240 per person, diners receive the full Omakase experience—a couple of appetizers, a course of sashimi, chawanmushi, and nigiri. Nearly all the fish is flown from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market—shipments arrive three times a week and even the Gen-emon porcelain dishware is imported. Splurge on the sake pairing, which is served in handcrafted Seikado pewter cups and pitchers.

Hear the name Tsujita and you'll probably think of the popular ramen spot on Sawtelle. But Sushi Tsujita, another Sawtelle triumph, warrants just as much attention. Chef Kato leads the way here, offering omakase and a la carte sushi in an elegant setting. For dinner, an omakase meal starts at around $150 and includes upwards of 15 courses. To experience the menu at a lower price point, the lunch Omakase is one of the best deals in town at $80 per person. Pair your pieces of snapper, tuna, mackerel and more with beer, wine or sake.

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At this 20-seat sushi counter from rock-star chefs Jimmy Lau and Nick Kim—formerly of Neta—a cool $270 prompts an omakase (chef's selection) of exceptionally made edomae sushi served in its purest form, each lightly lacquered with soy and nestled atop a slip of warm, loosely packed rice. Luscious, marbled toro, a usually late-in-the-game cut affectionately known as the Kobe beef of the sea, boldly arrives first, even before sweet Spanish mackerel with barely-there shreds of young ginger, or sea bream dabbed with plummy ume shiso. The cocksure shuffling, though initially jarring, is a kick hiccup to your usual omakase beat, a winking reminder that, even with the price hike, Shuko’s Lau and Kim haven’t completely shed their subtle sushi-dogma subversions.

When Ryan Roadhouse's Nodoguro closed during the pandemic, fans—including sushi lovers from around the world—mourned the loss. Nodoguro had undergone a transformation from a beloved pop-up to a nationally acclaimed restaurant. But in late 2022, the community rejoined when Nodoguro open in a new spot in the Kerns neighborhood. For $250 per person, with optional wine and sake pairing for $50, the “regular” yet ever-changing farm-to-fork Japanese menu involves a Hassun course of seasonally inspired bites, followed by dishes such as fresh oysters and cooked seafood, to a series of creative dishes, (think: duck with pumpkin and cranberry jam), followed by sushi courses made from fish flown in from Japan before heading into light dessert bites.

Seiji Kumagawa doesn’t give a damn about his uncompromising reputation—as a host. As a chef, he gives every damn. This is why, amid increasingly tough competition, this simply, traditionally decorated Makiki outpost of an L.A. original remains a must-go among must-gos for the gung-ho. If you sit at the bar at Sasabune—and you should—it’s omakase-only, a 12-to-13-course affair about which, barring allergies, you have zero say. The experience will set you back $160 to 180 per person (but you can stop eating at any time if you get full and only be charged for what you ate.) From the cool-warm nigiri (including revelatory negitoro) to the painstaking treatment of local abalone and opah to the rare treat that is Koshu (Japan’s indigenous white wine), you’ll be speechless and powerless to resist your chef’s directives anyway.

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There are more than enough good things at Momotaro to have an entire meal without even glancing at the sushi menu, but that would be a big mistake. Opt for anything off of the extensive nigiri, sashimi and chef's selected sushi sections of the menu, and you won't be disappointed. Maki, like spicy octopus with pickled shallots and mackerel padded with a mix of herbs, is also well-executed and restrained.

At this Midtown Village outpost, you'll get two distinct experiences on each of the two levels. Upstairs, you'll find a creative cocktail bar. Downstairs, a dimly lit dining room serves a Japanese menu complete with sushi, sashimi, meaty entrées and creative sides. Specialties include the crowd-pleasing edamame dumplings, a Philly-inspired duck scrapple bao bun and the signature Big Eye Tuna roll. Behind the bar, unique cocktails incorporate Japanese components like yuzu, Japanese plums and cherry blossoms.

Stephen Starr's Japanese restaurant inside the Bal Harbour Shops features a modern menu that includes sushi bar selections as well as bincho charcoal robata. Raw fish options that are not to be missed include particularly sweet fresh shrimp and meaty amberjack, as well as tempting cooked seafood like a lobster maki roll with pickled jicama and avocado. Complementing the Asian flavors is a menu of handcrafted sake-based cocktails.

A stripped-down, strip-mall storefront sets the stage for a low-key yet high-toned parade of daily specials in the Edomae style: here’s your chance to try Japanese sardines and barracuda, the fatty halibut fin muscle called engawa, and clams galore, including blood cockles. Start with fried smelt and sake in charmingly mismatched cups; finish with a bowl of zenzai (mochi dumplings in sweet adzuki-bean soup); and, above all, bask in the serene glow of Sushi Tadokoro’s seafood extraordinaire, presented with neither pomp nor circumstance.

Yet another example that proves the maxim that strip malls often contain some of the best food around, this perpetually packed Coral Terrace spot is a must-visit for any sushi lover who doesn't want to break the bank. Inside the no-frills, wood-paneled dining room, beautifully fresh, reasonably priced sushi is the name of the game. Selections include ruby-red big eye toro, fresh sweet scallops and meaty hamachi—and at these prices, you can afford to try everything that catches your eye, and then some. For only $50, get a platter of over 30 pieces of the day’s best sashimi, nigiri, and maki. 

Since Chef Masa Miyake opened the restaurant in 2011—expanding from a hole-in-the-wall to a sleek, urbane Old Port destination—Miyake served as a staple in Portland, Maine's dining scene. Like so many others, Miyake closed in 2020 amid the pandemic. But this year, the restaurant is back in full force with its small bites, sushi, and various omakase menus ranging from $45 to $135. chef Miyake continues his tradition of raising chickens and heritage pig breeds on his own farm, and sourcing seafood as locally as possible (uni and monkfish included)   Of course, sake pairings are an option, but take a gander at the streamlined, spot-on wine selection first.

Though the homier Sushi House Hayakawa runs a close second, this glam go-to has raised the bar for A-Town Japanese cuisine to haute levels. In a strikingly glossy, oak- and cypress-filled Buckhead space, Tokyo native Fuyuhiko Ito turns out lesser-known gems of the sushi genre like Osaka-style box-pressed oshizushi and lightly seared aburi, along with such originals as uni-shiso tempura. Craft cocktails and desserts from Ito’s wife, pastry chef Lisa Ito—think chocolate bento boxes and green-tea soufflé—put the finishing touches on a gold-standard gourmet experience at Umi.

At more than 30 years old, Nobu Yamazaki’s Dupont Circle fixture gleams as brightly as it did when his father opened it—if not even brighter, its polish extending from the handsome decor to the smooth execution of multiple menus. You can take an a la carte thrill ride through orders of spotted-parrot snapper nigiri, live-scallop sashimi, soy-simmered eel liver and ginger-blossom tempura. You can indulge in a kaiseki-style chef’s tasting, with or without soft-shell snapping turtle as a centerpiece. Or, with foresight and patience, you can book a reservation for Sushi Taro’s six-seat sushi bar and do omakase as it was meant to be done, in conversation with the chefs. The sake selection’s divine but, for a change of pace, check out the shochus and imported beers.

It’s still named after the legendary founder who studied under Jiro Ono (yes, that Jiro) before introducing Seattleites to Edomae-style sushi. But Shiro Kashiba’s successor, Jun Takai, has quickly put his own stamp on this lively, comfy Belltown classic. The one-time buyer at a Kyoto fish market keeps a tight focus on the fundamentals, maintaining the clout to source top-quality local and imported species for specialties like albacore tataki and beautifully aged bluefin while perfecting the all-important rice. Hold out for a seat at Shiro’s bar and let the personable chefs show you not only what to eat and drink but how, from soy-sauce usage to sake temperature.