So I wouldn't recommend going to a sushi restaurant after watching the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi unless you're going somewhere like Sushi of Gari because any other type of place will skew your thinking of what you're eating. I had watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi the night before and anyone who has seen the movie will know that it literally makes your mouth water and makes to run over anything that gets in your way of putting sushi in your mouth. Of course the quality of the sushi featured in the movie is beyond top notch and there are very few places of that caliber anywhere in the world, so it does put an unfair expectation level on any place you try.
My mom and I had actually originally planned on having lunch at this place called Grapeseed in Bethesda but it was closed for lunch on Saturday. So I noticed that there was this sushi place across the street and suggested that we try it out. I knew it wouldn't be 5 star quality but I was craving sushi so badly after watching the movie that honestly any sushi place would have been fine with me. The place is totally fine and your standard mom and pop type of sushi place. It's definitely not high end or sleek or even what I would say is a hidden gem like Sushi Yoshi. It's just your run of the mill sushi place that has lots of lunch specials that totally has it's place in the sushi spectrum. My mom and I both ordered the sushi/sashimi lunch special ($16.95) and the fried oyster appetizer ($7.50). I will say that the one unique thing about this place is that has a "salad bar" that is all-you-can-eat if order more than $6.50. The use quotation marks because it's literally a slow budget fixin bar shoved in the corner. They have all the ingredients of a typical green salad: lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, carrot ginger dressing, bean sprouts, and some raw and fried tofu. I have a soft spot for the green salads that you get at sushi places, so I was secretly a bit thrilled that they had an all-you-can-eat bar. I probably got about 3 servings of salad. The fried oyster appetizer was surprisingly well done. I was expecting it to be over battered or super dry but the oyster inside was a decent size and the overall bite was crunchy and not over done. The sushi/sashimi lunch was pretty hefty as it came with 1 California roll, 1 piece of salmon sushi, 1 piece of tuna sushi, 1 piece of eel sushi, 1 egg sushi, and 9 pieces of sashimi (3 pieces each of salmon, tuna, yellowtail). The quality of the fish was good...definitely not the level of a melt in your mouth but it did satisfy my craving. After seeing the movie and having ok sushi, it makes you realize and appreciate how amazing real high grade sushi is and why it's so expensive. All in all, Matuba got the job done and I was a big fan of the green salad buffet (which is pretty unique) but it's not the kind of sushi that Jiro would probably dream of. Total bill: $50 for 2 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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