Lately, every time I go home to MD, I get lunch at Sushi Yoshi in VA because their lunch specials and cuts of fish are amazing, fresh and plentiful. So I was a bit hesitant to try something new but my old roommate had sent me a note a while back saying that she had heard that this secret sushi place near her house that was supposed to be amazing. Now if there's anything I'm a sucker for, it's trying "secret" restaurants. Turns out, this place isn't really super secret since there is a sign outside for it but it is upstairs from the main Japanese restaurant Makoto, which is supposedly super fancy and much more expensive.
My mom and I checked out Kotobuki on a lazy Monday afternoon for lunch and it was still super crowded. It's pretty tiny with about 10 seats total and then maybe 5-6 seats at the bar. It's not super fancy at all - it's basically the top floor of a slightly worn out townhouse that has a sushi bar shoved in it. We sat at the sushi bar which was slightly cramped but manageable. They have a fairly small lunch menu and the food leans towards more traditional fare of simple sushi, chirachi, sashimi dishes vs. crazy rolls with cream cheese, mango and other weird things in it. We both got the sashimi lunch special ($14.95), and split a spicy scallop roll and a spicy tuna roll to round out the meal. The sashimi comes with a miso soup which was your standard miso soup. The rolls came out next and they looked fresh and well done. The rice was a nice texture and the scallop was the whole piece kind not the chopped up kind, which was great. Strangely, I don't mind when the fish is chopped up for spicy tuna or spicy salmon rolls, which is how it was prepared here. The rolls were simple but well done - no complaints. The lunch sashimi came with 3 pieces each of tuna, salmon, whitefish and mackerel. My only disappointment was that it came with mackerel instead of yellowtail...apparently the dinner sashimi comes with yellowtail but they charge $26.50 for that one - not sure if yellowtail is really worth $12 more. In any case, all the cuts of fish were well cut and of good quality - even the mackerel, which I usually don't like but if it's fresh and good, I'm willing to eat it. It was a satisfying meal even with the mackerel.
Overall, I'm glad that I branched out and tried out a new sushi place while I was home. While I enjoyed it and it is definitely better than most of the MD suburb sushi I've had, it's not as mouth watering or delectable as my experiences at Sushi Yoshi or Tachibana in VA. It's still worth a visit, especially at such relatively affordable lunch prices. Total bill: $50 for 2 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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