Sushi Happy Hour

i believe uchi has a daily sake social consisting of; hot sake deals, cold sake deals, one hot item, and one cold item. while perhaps not overwhelmingly large in scale it's a good value, and immpeccable quality.

I just tried Sushi Japon last night, because it offers BYOB.... NOT WORTH IT. The place needs a lot of help and the sushi rice was very, very bland. However, they have the best desert I've ever had.....tempura cheescake.

Just tried Snow Pea last night for happy hour and I gotta say the best thing about the place was the company I had at my table. The sushi was average at best. The nori on the hand rolls were soggy and chewey. Not to mention they charged $10.95 for a spider hand roll......at happy hour! The only roll I had that was above average was the "Crispy California"....but you can make anything taste good when you deep fry it. We're going to Mikado next Wedensday, so I'll report here for that outing.

Well, we didn't go to Mikado, but to Fujiyama instead for this week's sushi happy hour. Fujiyama has great happy hour prices on both drinks and sushi. However, the sushi is pretty average. If you go, I'd stay away from the Salmon Skin Roll...and stick with the Unagi Roll and the Spicy Hama Roll (both above average). Don't expect very much from the waitstaff...we asked for a vegetable tempura roll and the waitress brought us a plate of vegetable tempura. This was not a case of language barrier...just a waitress that doesn't listen. Overall, Fujiyama is a good place to hit for sushi happy hour if you want to do it often, as the prices are hard to beat. Next week I think we'll hit Mikado and probably have a better review.

The worst happy hour is by far the one at Kenichi. It is a very limited selection. Also, the conditions to enjoy the happy hour is ridiculous. A group of us came in for happy hour. They wanted the eight of us to sit at the bar or sushi bar to have the happy hour prices. Have you every tried to seat eight people together at a bar or sushi bar? It seems they want to turn away large groups. Also, the selections they choose to be on happy hour are the cheap sushi products with the highest mark up. Even with the happy hour discount, it comes out to what other places charge normally, and without the hassle. The discount is not even half price, as most places are for their appetizers. My advice is to skip it.

Kyoto at 315 Congress has a GREAT happy hour... half priced sushi (and a wide selection) and great priced drinks. I highly recommend it!!! :D Jules

Well, we finally made it to Mikado for happy hour yesterday.....what a wonderful surprise. Mikado is very nicely decorated - keeping with Japanese traditional, while mixing in the Western influence that has dominated Japan over the last several years. The waitstaff was very professional, even though it was 5pm and there was only one other table at the time. As for the sushi, it was incredible. I highly recommend the Chiroshi's Fire roll - it was the best roll I have ever had, at any sushi bar, in any town. While Mikado is one of my top 3 pics for sushi in Austin, it is not one of the best happy hours in town. We had the following: 1 cucumber roll 2 vege tempura rolls 1 Chiroshi's Fire roll 1 Spider roll 1 Spicy crawfish roll 1 Rock 'n roll hand roll 4 Tsingtao bottles (12 oz) 4 Kirin Ichiban bottles (12 oz) Total cost: $82 Now I know what some of you might be thinking right now...."That's not that bad for all that sushi." And you are, of course, right. However, from strictly a "happy hour" perspective, the prices were not that great....but the amazing sushi more than compensates for the higher happy hour prices in my mind. One note here: Their tempura batter is quite salty and thicker/heavier than traditional Japanese tempura. If you have more than one tempura-based roll from Mikado, your stomach is sure to tell you about it later. Now that I have had the pleasure (displeasure in some cases) of trying almost every sushi bar in town (except Mushushino - I'm saving it for a special evening) I have to say that [b]Sushi Sake [/b]and [b]Uchi [/b]tie for my favorite sushi in Austin. Sushi Sake wins for the overall best experience - most consistent/quality sushi at the best prices, and Uchi wins for the most creative and quality sushi. Mikado comes in at a strong second. I look forward to Mushushino soon. Since I started this as a happy hour search, I've yet to find any sushi bar that offers the quality sushi at low prices that is offered by Sushi Sake...and that's amazing, becuase Sushi Sake doesn't even have a happy hour. I think we'll try Kobe or Benihana next week.