3/23/2001

• Crawfish Roll
• Yellowtail
• Salmon
• Rainbow roll
• Other assorted rolls and sushi

This is a fairly inconspicuous sushi restaurant in downtown Redmond. Our expectations weren't high going in, but we were pleasantly surprised. We had the best sushi on the Eastside so far!

All the sushi was very high quality. My favorites were the yellowtail (like butter!), and the crawfish roll. But the other sushi was also excellent. Fish was fresh and very tender, rolls were large and packed with flavor. The Rainbow roll was especially pretty, with different colors of fish wrapped on the outside of the roll to give it a "rainbow" effect.

The only drawback was the relatively high price, but it corresponds fairly to the extremely high quality. If you love sushi, try this place out at least once. Even if you can't afford to go there often, your taste buds will thank you for the visit.

Bottom Line: Great sushi, with high but fair prices.

7/23/2002

• Salmon
• Yellowtail
• Mackrel
• Kamakaze Roll
• Redmond Roll
• Tempura
• Gyoza

We tried some different sushi rolls this time, and ventured off the sushi menu a bit to sample their Tempura and Gyoza. Our original feeling remains - this is a good quality sushi restaurant that serves authentic Japanese food. However, the Yellowtail wasn't nearly as good this time around, and the mackrel wasn't anything special. The gyoza was good, but not great, although the tempura was above average. The rolls were still our favorite... well crafted and good flavor combinations.

When all is said and done, we had a very good meal. However, the quality this time didn't seem to justify the high prices as much, so we dropped our rating down to a 3.5. Perhaps in the future, our faith will be restored, but meanwhile Nara is still possibly the best quality sushi restaurant on the Eastside, even if it gets pricy.

Bottom Line: Very good sushi, with high prices.