New Restaurant Lounges Open Downtown

Geisha Lounge’s grand opening party featured sushi atop naked women. The sushi was decent.

How were the naked women?

Overall, pretty good but they smelled like fish.

The Park at 14th is a stylish venue with a large dance space, no cover and relatively reasonably priced cocktails. Unfortunately, and like much of the DC nightlife scene, the DJs have not been memorable. The crowd is primarily Middle Eastern.

Speaking of sushi, what do people think is the best sushi restaurant in the DC Metro area? I prefer Makoto but I’m not a fan of giant, American-sized rolls globbed with mayo, wasabi and hot sauce to the point you have no idea what type of fish you’re eating. Besides Makoto, anyone know of any other good traditional Japanese-style establishments?

Interesting on The Park…sounds like its a little more upscale than people originally thought. I remember when they were building that out there was a lot of concern b/c it is run by the same person that runs Dream. MPD fought their liquor license application pretty hard on the grounds that there were already too many clubs in this precinct and they did not have the manpower to cover them all.

looking at the pictures of the park does not excite me at all. In terms of people… Laaaaame

Sushi – Kotobuki above Maktoto is about the best and easily the best price to value ratio in DC.

I am not impressed with DC sushi, it is the one cusine I am not afraid to splurge on since you are basically living on the edge. “Value sushi” just sounds *ahem* fishy to me. Nooshi used to advertise “funky sushi” for dinner . . . NO THANKS. Great sushi is better than a great burger, but bad sushi is much worse than a bad burger. Philly and NYC both have superior sushi to DC.

But: Sushi Taro is kind of cool. I thought the Maktoto sushi was clearly the best in DC, although I ate it as part of the kaiseki meal. Kaz and Sushi-Ko I find overrated.

Sushi Taro and Tono Sushi in Cleveland Park are two of the best. There’s an extensive Chowhound discussion on the subject.

Also, dave is correct when he finds $1 sushi highly suspect: this is the standard method to get rid of fish that’s been around since the weekend. Caveat emptor.

Sake Club in Woodley Park is up there too, although a bit pricey and not the most traditional.

monkeyerotica, thanks for the thread. Lots of opinions!

To bring this more on-topic, in PQ you can get sushi at Zengo, Oya, Sushi-go-Round, Wok’N'Roll and Sushi Aoi. Zengo actually has decent rolls, haven’t tried nigiri. SGR is kinda fun with conveyor belt, although Wasabi on 17th is better. Aoi has strong following but its only ok. Is Oya any good?

I looked at Geisha’s pdf menu, I might as well go to Wok’N'Roll.

Finally, supposedly there is a sushi joint opening on H between 5th and 6th.

Finn & Porter at the Embassy Suites is known for sushi.

#12- Where/when? Do you have any other info about that new sushi place?

Also I like Aoi, but they don’t deliver. Cafe Asia will though!

Per an earlier post, the sushi chef at Perry’s is opening a place right on 7th called Sei in a couple of months. I’ve lived in Japan, and I have to say that Perry’s is one of the better sushi places around here. Sushi Taro is popular, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I have tried it three times to be fair, and was unimpressed each time.

One place that has really surprised me is Raiku, in Dupont Circle, right off the Q St. North exit. Every sushi roll/nigiri I have ever had there was great!! And it’s a decent price too.

I’ve been to Sushi Aoi a number of times and have always enjoyed it. I think of it as a solid neighborhood sushi joint.

I walked into the Geisha and walked out. It was 8PM on a Thursday night and there was not a single person in there.