Lunch Sushi

[DanielK]

My colleague and I are in the habit of hitting the Lotte Plaza market food court for their surprisingly good sushi every few weeks. But this Friday we're bringing a party of 6-8, and not only will they have trouble with the volume, but there's really no good seating there for a party of that size.

Our office is right at 50 and the Beltway (Fairview Park), so looking for something within about a 10 minute drive. I figure Falls Church, Vienna, Merrifield, Tysons, eastern Fairfax are all within the range.

Thanks!

[vickie]

My colleague and I are in the habit of hitting the Lotte Plaza market food court for their surprisingly good sushi every few weeks. But this Friday we're bringing a party of 6-8, and not only will they have trouble with the volume, but there's really no good seating there for a party of that size.

Our office is right at 50 and the Beltway (Fairview Park), so looking for something within about a 10 minute drive. I figure Falls Church, Vienna, Merrifield, Tysons, eastern Fairfax are all within the range.

Thanks!

Is Tachibana in McLean too far? If not, that's a good choice.

[goodeats]

About a 15min drive is Maneki Neko on Broad St & Wash. Blvd, but I haven't been there yet. In Vienna, there's Sakana, but I think that's more than 10mins as well.

This may be a silly suggestion, pricey, as well as the fact that I'm geographically-challenged, but Todai in Fair Oaks will definitely have plenty of room.

Along the same lines of disclaimer as above, but not on the price, is Blue Ocean too far??

[DanielK]

Tachibana is about 15 minutes, I think.

Maneki Neko is only about 10 minutes, as is Blue Ocean.

Sakana is about 15 minutes, Todai probably 20.

Anyone have a strong quality preference for any of these? We'd probably go for a large platter rather than individual bento boxes - anyone know if any of these places does a particularly good job or has good pricing on large platters?

[goodeats]

@DanielK-where did you end up going? I am really surprised there is not a thread for Maneki Neko.

[DanielK]

No memory of the lunch two years later, sorry.

[pizza man]

I like Maneki Neko, and my kids LOVE Maneki Neko. The Chef is really nice. It's small, about 40 seats including the sushi bar. Usually just one guy behind the bar, (think he's the owner) and 1 server.

the lunch box is a good deal.

[squidsdc]

We recently ate at Blue Ocean and the quality was quite good. I would definitely recommend, but can't say how it compares to the others. I haven't been to Tachibana in years as the quality seemed to go downhill and I have never been to Maneki Neko.

[goodeats]

Maneki Neko is such a cute gem. It's equally cute they have a collection of maneki nekos, including Hello Kitty, of course.

I liked my tempura udon soup that I split with little man, and of course, being a good asian son, he snarfed down the pink kamaboko right after the noodle soup pot was removed. The only complaint was that the tempura oil sat in my stomach long thereafter, making me thinking the frying oil has not been changed recently(?) or something.

My friend and I split an Undecided, one roll each of spicy tuna and spicy salmon. It was fresh tasting fish, but that was the only sample size of fish I had.* I would put this place in my regular rotation compared to Tachibana because 1. the people were nicer here than my last visit to Tachibana; 2. the prices are decent, especially with their $1.01 & $2.02 sushi specials Mon-Thurs; 3. the quality appears to be the same based on my last visit.

Thanks pizza man!

*Fresh tasting = goodeat's stomach not upset after eating fish. Stomach's barometer is: upset = not fresh fish and not upset = fresh fish.