yasuke japanese sushi

absolute best sushi in the valley. first off, i'll begin by clarifying that i am a well traveled gentleman is his early 30's who has enjoyed cuisines from various parts of the world and sushi is no exception. being in the valley, i don't expect much from any of the hispanic owned asian restaurants. kumori is the "hype" around here for those who think they know what japanese food is. and honestly i didn't anticipate much better results from this quaint little dive tuckedbackin a plaza off the road. well i was beautifully mistaken. my waiter was exceptional. the salad i wanted wasn't on the menu but he arranged for one to be made that was better than what i had initially desired. the miso soup was good. hard to mess that up though. now, the sushi roll i ordered was by far one of the best i've encountered throughout my years of exploring the manymany different style sushi chefs. the spicy yusake was full of flavor, with nice crunch, very fresh fish and rolled perfect. nothing was overdone or prepared in a manner that's desperate for approval. each ingredient was a fair portion that remained consistent throughout the roll. in other words, my last bite was as delicious as the first. i could continue to add in about the atmosphere being relaxing, the complimentary mini appetizers that were served and the soft music, etc. but just go try it yourself and you'll be pleasantly surprised, i assure you. if i could change anything it would be that i didn't find it sooner and that their location is a bit off the beaten path. yet perhaps that keeps it humble and will encourage a long life of appreciating each customer and every dish served. 5+ stars all the way, can't wait to visit again!

very attentive service and fantastic sushi. there are some restaurants you go to and just fall in love immediately. i can't tell you how welcome i felt as i walked through the doors of yasuke. every single member on the wait staff was friendly and has huge smiles on their faces. the atmosphere was so laidbackand relaxed. i only tired one roll- the tropical roll which was crab, avocado topped with salmon and spicy mayo. excellent choice! i will bebacksoon.

last year, we went to japan and visited the cities of osaka, koyasan, kyoto, hakone, and tokyo. we had an amazing experience then and had many delicious experiences with many kinds of dishes and since beingbackin the us, we've tried many a japanese restaurant. with that background in mind, the atmosphere in yasuke was reminiscent of many of the locally-owned establishments that we visited and really made the visit we had to make to mcallen (due to a family emergency) a sort of tribute to our anniversary of our japan trip. in the first place, the server (irene? - not to be rude, but the name did not seem to fit the pretty asian girl that served us) gave an excellent recommendation for sake (and no, it was not the most expensive). then my husband's order of katsudon was very close to the presentation (and taste!) of what we had in koya-san (after a trip to the temples). while i waited for my own dish - a ramen bowl - i noticed the condiment basket and was (pleasantly!) surprised to find a bottle of s&b nanami togarashi (a chili powder & sesame seed blend) in there. when my ramen bowl came, i was not all that surprised to find noodles that one would buy in the ninety-eight cent bag packet at your local grocery store, but the noodle is not what makes ramen special! the broth in this ramen made the whole bowl (pork, kamaboko!, egg, etc) the best approximation to the ramen i had in thebackalleys of tokyo. we did not expect to find this level of japanese cuisine in texas, much less the rgv, so we were absolutely delighted (and floored) to find this place literally next door to our hotel! we will be eating here again next time we're down here - we even bought a pair of salmon onigiri to bringbackto the hotel for midnight snacks. i'm just sad that they don't offer breakfast for us to indulge in before we leave tomorrow morning.

thank you for making our japan trip anniversary absolutely special!