The dismal strip center on Wycliffe Avenue may not be what you would expect. Though there really isn’t much else besides a pizza place next door, Oishii, which means delicious in Japanese, sums up this quaint little restaurant that has been tucked away for too long.
You wouldn’t guess the restaurant was off the beaten path when you see the large crowds flocking to Oishii restaurant and sushi bar for lunch and dinner.
Once you walk through the doors, you will be happy you ventured in.
Oishii sushi gives you a break from the normal sushi restaurants you always go to.
Owner and sushi chef Thanh Nguyen Charred, once the head sushi chef at Steel, now works his magic at his own sushi bar.
Oishii, with its contemporary styles, different colored artwork, industrial lighting, and modern barstools, creates a clean and open atmosphere. The restaurant has wooden screens that separate the dining areas from the sushi bar, giving this restaurant a new look.
The friendly staff and tempting menu attract many locals to this delightful sushi restaurant.
Oishii does a great job of varying the menu by including sushi, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai cuisine.
They have table or bar seating with a sports game usually playing on the flat screen TV in the corner. So for those guys who want to catch part of a game on a date, this would let you multitask.
What makes Oishii so special are the unique items on the menu. We tried the chicken sauté, which tasted different from most other places where we have tried this dish, but it still was very enjoyable.
We are sushi fans, so from then on we stuck with sushi and specialty sushi rolls. We had the yellowtail sushi and the “across-the-border” roll. The yellowtail was very flavorful and competed with the yellowtail we recently had at other sushi restaurants around the metroplex including Steel and Nobu.
The “across-the-border” roll is a shrimp tempura roll topped with fresh avocado, pico de gallo and a special sauce. It was probably the best sushi roll we have ever had. The roll was kind of sweet with a little spice from the pico de gallo. It is a must try when eating at Oishii.
By watching the table next to us, we got a good idea of what to order for our next visit to Oishii. They ordered the fried rice as their appetizer, which looked great. They also had a few pieces of their favorite sushi and shared an “across-the-border” roll. Whatever you decide to order will definitely satisfy your taste buds.
We recommend trying Oishii on Wednesday night for half-price wine or Monday night for dollar sushi specials (one piece of nigiri sushi) to save some cash. Also, the restaurant provides free delivery if you live in the area.
This restaurant was recommended to us by a friend of ours, which gave us an idea. We think if a delicious restaurant like this was out there and nobody had heard of it, then there must be many more like it. So we wanted to give an opportunity to the SMU community reading these reviews to offer suggestions for future restaurants.
For those of you who have a favorite restaurant or a restaurant you think deserves our attention and would like to recommend it, please feel free to send us an e-mail. We will check it out!
