Anyway, I drive by this little unassuming Japanese restaurant every weekend en route to the grocery store. I've been curious about this place since Day 1, because having sushi options near my place of residence is a wonderful thing. I finally decided to look up Yirasai on Yelp and discovered, to my surprise, that it has garnered rave reviews! Surprised, because the location of the restaurant is rather subpar (more on that later). Anyway, encouraged by the reviews, I dragged my most obvious victim, I mean, my sushi buddy, Moe, over to try it out last night.
The restaurant is not very big, and the ambience is fairly casual, but the food is excellent! I got the Sushi Delight for $17 (quite reasonable!) and it came with a California roll plus nine pieces of nigiri - all fish (even eel!) - no silly tamago egg or anything like that. And I don't usually make comments about the California roll 'cause, I mean, it's pretty standard fare. But Yirasai made it GOOD. They used real crab meat and it tasted fresh. The nigiri was fresh and mouth-watering as well. Moe liked his tuna sushi and soba noodles with shrimp tempura and said he'll be back again.
Oh, and we also ran into some former high-ranking politician, whose name has already slipped my mind. I think he's a Republican.
The biggest drawback of Yirasai, I believe, is its location. The restaurant is tucked in a weird corner inside a creepy plaza and the restaurant is not at all visible from the main street (River Road). Not only that, the parking situation is strange to say the least - there is limited parking on the River Road side of the plaza, but it's not clear how you would get from that parking to the restaurant. Then, there is also a parking lot on Westbard Ave that's not directly attached to the plaza. When it's dark, cold, and snowy outside (as was the case last night), the whole plaza and the area surrounding it feels very shady. And finally, it is not immediately clear where the entrance of the restaurant is because it doesn't look like a real entrance. (But in case anyone reading this ever goes there, the door facing Westbard Ave that doesn't look like a door is, indeed, the entrance.)
Overall, this is a great little restaurant and I'll definitely go back (but maybe not on a creepy dark night). I wish I had taken photos of my food, but alas, I didn't. Perhaps I'll take one next time I go there.
UPDATE (5/10/2009): As promised, I took a picture when I went back to Yirasai Friday night. See it here.
Links:
- http://www.yelp.com/biz/yirasai-sushi-and-cafe-bethesda
- http://www.nbcwashington.com/around_town/dining/Yirasai-Sushi-And-Cafe-Bethesdas-Best-Kept-Secret.html
Pertinent info:
Address: 5110 Ridgefield Rd, Bethesda, MD 20816
Nearest intersection: River Rd & Ridgefield Rd (just north of Little Falls Pkwy)
Nearest Metro: none, sorry
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