Houstonist Bites: Nori Sushi Bistro

One of the few sushi bars we've seen with outdoor seating, the new Nori has lovely teak tables and chairs on its patio, which faces one of the prettier sections of Town & Country Village. As we walked through the front doors, we imagined that it would be a lovely spot for an evening spot of sake. The inside is even nicer, with very fresh and updated pan-Asian decor and handsome, high-backed booths. Overall, it's quite a welcome change from the tired, weary strip mall aesthetic at their old restaurant.

We noticed with slight trepidation that we were the only customers, even though it was the lunch rush. That's okay, we thought, it just means that we'll get great service! Not so much. While our waitress did get our order right, we had to ask multiple times for multiple things before she brought them to us (three times for a glass of water, twice for the check, twice for the green tea, etc.).

The lunch menu at Nori is expensive for your average lunch crowd, especially outside the Loop, but we soldiered through it, finally deciding on a hand roll combination plate, a sashimi combination plate and a shrimp tempura plate. We also ordered seaweed salad and gyozi (dumplings) for appetizers.

The lunch combinations come with the traditional Japanese-American accompaniments of a garden salad with creamy ginger dressing and a bowl of miso soup. The ginger dressing was among the best we've ever tasted, as was the miso soup. Other big winners included the expertly prepared hot green tea and the crisp, refreshing seaweed salad.

Big losers of the lunch, however, were the gyoza and the sashimi combination. The gyoza were puny and undercooked, with an unappetizingly chewy and sticky texture. The sashimi combination featured imitation crab (Krab with a K), a tough little piece of shrimp, a poorly-constructed California roll with more Krab and disconcertingly fishy-tasting hamachi (yellowtail). The pieces of nama sake (salmon) and maguro (tuna) were fine, if small. The sweetly smoked unagi (eel) was the only standout of the plate.

Big middle-of-the-roaders were the hand roll combo and the tempura combo. There was plenty of food on each combination platter -- nearly enough for two people to share -- but it was mostly uninspired and bland. The rolls, in particular, reminded Houstonist of the rolls that we get in Randall's some times when we're in a hurry but also desperate for any kind of sushi fix. But we aren't looking for "desperate" when we slap down $12 at a restaurant.

The problem right now with Nori Sushi Bistro is that they're inconsistent. Some items are wonderful, others maddeningly awful (the hamachi, in particular). One would expect that, to some degree, from a brand new restaurant, but Nori has been around for long enough to know better. Their beloved sushi chef, Brian Yi, is ostensibly still helming the restaurant, which makes their inconsistency even more baffling. Houstonist is hoping that they're still simply going through a few growing pains in their new space, instead of returning to the same mediocre form that they had at their old location.

Nori Sushi Bistro
700 Town & Country Boulevard, Suite 2400
713.467.0400

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Photo courtesy of Flickr user sulla55.