Uptown Sushi is a Japanese restaurant located in the Uptown shopping center in Houston, Texas. For those who aren’t familiar with this area it’s fairly close to the Galleria mall. I’ve only eaten in this shopping center a few times but I’ve only visited Uptown Sushi once, and that was a couple of a weeks ago. My best friend wanted sushi and was working in the area so we met there. It’s a very nice area, some may even call it money because of how pricey those shops and eateries are in that area. You’ll also see quite a few nice cars too. I’m no chef but I’ve eaten out enough times, and have tried quite a few Japanese restaurants in Houston to be able to make a clear judgment of Uptown Sushi and how it compares to the other sushi places around Houston.
Uptown Sushi is definitely the perfect place to take a date or have a work meeting if you’re looking to spend money and impress. There’s also valet parking if you can’t find parking in the area, and there’s a good chance of that happening. I loved the décor and ambiance of the place. It’s a nice restaurant but it didn’t feel stuffy. I liked the way the restaurant was laid out too. There were booths lined against the wall and well spaced out tables in the center. There were more booths up against the opposite wall that was positioned in a way that the customers were facing out towards the restaurant.
My friends and I set on the far wall of the restaurant. I wasn’t sure how I’d like being face out towards the center of the restaurant but it wasn’t that bad, it made the place feel more opened. I thought that the staff were very friendly and attentive, but the hostess didn’t do a very good job. My boyfriend and I went in telling her there’d be at least three people at our table and she only gave us one set of menu, a wine list, the main menu and a sushi menu. Our waiter was fairly attentive too until the food was delivered, after that he sort of just disappeared for a long time before checking up on us again.
The restaurant was pretty busy for lunch time but the noise level was surprisingly mild. Everyone at our table was able to speak with our indoor voices and be heard clearly, there was no need to lean in or speak really loud. Altogether we order several rolls of sushi, hand rolls, a bento box and dessert. I was really expecting the food to be great here considering how pricey it was and the overall look, feel and location of the restaurant. I was very disappointed. It wasn’t the worst sushi I’ve had and it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great. There was really only one that I liked, and it wasn’t so great that it was memorable because I can’t remember what it was called. The bento box was standard but it didn’t come with any sushi. The other sushi and hand rolls were okay, just okay, not mouth-watering delicious. The best thing on their menu that we had was their dessert, which was crème brule, fried cheese cake and mochi ice cream.
I thought that the food was overly priced and the sushi menu sorely lacking and limited considering it’s a sushi restaurant. One of my friend had pointed out that it was my boyfriend’s birthday that day but our waiter just smiled and nodded, didn’t even say happy birthday. Our waiter instead sort of just ignored the birthday comment and asked if we wanted dessert, which of course we did, it was someone’s birthday after all. Our waiter brought out our desserts but he also brought out mochi ice cream on the house for the birthday person. The gesture was very nice of them, however, had we known they were going to do that we wouldn’t have bothered ordering dessert.
I guess I was just expecting too much out of Uptown Sushi because I was very disappointed in a number of ways with this place. Frankly, I won’t be visiting this restaurant again, the food isn’t great and the service was mediocre at best.
