Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month!
Today I’m highlighting one of my favorite sushi restaurants: Hana Sushi!
Hana Sushi, established in 2019, is located across the street from Celebration Pointe. They offer popular Japanese items such as sushi, sashimi, hibachi, bento boxes, and more. They have both outdoor and indoor seating, as well as takeout. They also offer delivery through Door Dash and Uber Eats. Their interior has a clean, modern look with dark tiles, high ceilings, wooden tables, and leather seats.
This time I tried the Love Boat ($55.95, feeds two), which came with 10 pieces of sushi, 16 pieces of sashimi (chef’s choice), 1 tuna roll, and 1 dragon roll. This boat was really more of a garden with a tree and flowers. Just a tip: only get this if you like raw fish, as the majority of items are raw.
The Love Boat meal also includes a bowl of miso soup and salad. I liked the salad dressing, which was standard Japanese restaurant-style dressing, and the miso soup was also very flavorful.
As a lover of sashimi, I was pleased to find that the fish was very good quality and fresh. The sushi and sashimi featured a mix of yellowtail, salmon, tuna, white tuna, shrimp, snapper, and surf clam. My favorite was the salmon sashimi. It was thick, tender, and had the perfect texture between firm and smooth. I also liked the surf clam sashimi, which was very tender, chewy, and slightly sweet.
As for the rolls, I liked the rice to fish ratio because sometimes restaurants put too much rice in the rolls, but these rolls had just a thin layer of rice that complimented the texture and flavor of the fish.
The dragon roll, which was stuffed with cooked eel, cucumber, and covered with avocado, sauce, and fish eggs. This roll was nicely flavored with a mix of crunchy and creamy textures.
So was it worth the price? I would say so, because of the quality of the fish and the amount of rolls and sashimi you get. However if you really like a particular type of fish, you may just want to get individual rolls or sashimi.
The boat was certainly enough food to feed two, but just to go overboard (excuse the pun), we also got the Hawaiian fried rice. This dish was around $15, but it could easily feed two people as the portion was extremely large. The fried rice has a savory, strong curry flavor to it, along with sweetness from raisins and crunch from cashews on top. It also has chunks of shrimp, chicken, pineapple, and peas. I personally liked the curry flavor and thought this was definitely worth the price. There were enough leftovers for the next day! This is also a good dish if you want cooked meat or a rice dish.
Definitely try Hana sushi to fill your next Japanese food craving!
Location: 3147 SW 45 St Ste 10, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States
Community Foodwaves 