Hole in the wall sushi shop, that's what Sushi Atlantic is. Located near the hospital downtown, Sushi Atlantic would be easily missed if you weren't paying attention. I've passed it numerous times going to Capitol Market, but I never noticed it was there. 

My friend Karie and I walked inside to an empty restaurant. It was just us and a single, older gentleman who asked us what we'd like to drink.

He came back with a few mismatched glasses and some menus.

Looking around, it looks like the restaurant could handle a good scrubbing. It just looks as though it's old and has accumulated dust and other things.

I looked through the roll sushi, and I decided on the classic philadelphia roll, with smoked salmon, and I tried their West Virginia Roll, which has sour seaweed, cucumber, crab stick, smelt roe and shrimp.

The older man was the only person in the restaurant, and he handmade our rolls, too. So, it did take some time, and I imagine if others were here, it would take even longer.

Eventually, he brought our rolls out. He was really sweet, and he clearly has been doing this for a while. Because they were great.

The Philly roll - salmon tasted fresh. So important. Simple flavors, but fresh and tasty.

The WV roll - little bit more complex here. If the sour seaweed scares you, don't let it. The slight, slight tart flavor really made the flavors shine here. It's like a california roll, but with shrimp on top and the slight tart taste. Really good.

The local sushi place that's down-to-earth, find sushi. A lot of classic rolls here with some fancier ones, too. I can see how others would say it takes a long time, but I guess I lucked out.

They DO accept Mastercard and Via. Minimum charge of $6. Their hours are a bit tough: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday for lunch. 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday for dinner. They're closed Sunday and every third Wednesday.

Grade: A

Friend and journalist superstar Ashley B. loves her some hibachi. Specifically, the Fujiyama Japanese Sushi and Steak House is her go-to. I accompanied her one Friday evening.

I ordered a chicken teriyaki hibachi dinner as well as West Virginia roll - which made me entirely happy. I love the West Virginia roll at Volcano in Morgantown, and it's essentially the same thing here - shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, crab. Divine.

The soup and salad were the same as every other restaurant. The soup is a light broth; the salad has that awful ginger dressing that I abhor.

The actual hibachi portion was fun. Instead of shrimp, the chef tossed zucchini to each member at the grill. I - because I'm crazy - sometimes feel anxious about this. But it was good fun, and I was able to catch it so it didn't mess up my makeup like usual.

Anyway.

The chicken teriyaki was tasty. Your usual. The noodles, as usual, were tasty. And the vegetables were all great. I can't complain about my meal - just that it was exactly what I expected because I've had the exact same thing at every hibachi restaurant. It's like McDonald's, you can get the same burger all over the country.

With that said, it was still very good. Just nothing different, nothing surprising. I do love love the sushi roll, though. And I will probably go back for that alone. I haven't found that anywhere else in Charleston.

Grade: B

Since moving to Charleston, I am on a mission to find he best sushi in town. I miss Morgantown's options, but it gives me an excuse to try all the sushi restaurants here.

Taste of Asia is located in South Charleston, and when I first came to town, I was staying in a place in South Charleston. This was actually the first restaurant I visited on my own. So maybe it has a special place in my heart. It also has other locations in Huntington and Teays Valley.

This was technically my second visit, but it was the first time I sat inside. The inside isn't huge, but I kind of like that it's a little bit more cozy. We were sitting next to the sushi bar, and I was keeping a close eye on what the chef was producing - and everything look fantastic.

Taste of Asia has Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. I wanted all three. But what I was feeling this evening was some crab rangoons, chicken udon and a shrimp tempura roll.

The crab rangoons were very creamy on the inside - which I'm really growing to love - but the outside was just too oily for me. I felt like I was eating a little grease pocket. I really wanted the cheese to be the prominent flavor, but I tried to dab the oil off. Didn't work out so well.

The sushi was of good quality. The blend of flavors were top notch. The taste of the crisp tempura on the shrimp, fresh veggies and a sweet, tangy sauce was hitting all the right spots.

By the time I finished my appetizer and the sushi, I was pretty full. On this day, my eyes were much bigger than my stomach, though, because I still had my udon coming out.

I've only had udon on one or two occasions, because I'm generally not a fan of soups. However, this is more of a noodle dish than a soup. And I like that.

Once the giant pot came out, I knew I was in trouble. I took a few bites before asking them to box it up - or container it up. It was my lunch for the next day, and it was SO GOOD. Oh my god. Is all udon like this? Have I been missing out my entire life? The thick noodles taste like they're homemade, and they come in this broth with veggies and topped with a ton of chicken. It blew my mind.

If you're worried about a soup dish filling you up, don't. This is a noodle dish. With soup. And it tastes like heaven. A beautiful slice of Asian heaven. Maybe an Americanized Asian food heaven, but whatever it is, it makes my tastebuds sing.

Grade: A

For one of my first nights in Charleston, a friend took me to Umami - a new sushi restaurant in the East End. Umami is supposed to be the fifth sense of taste - most often the mushroom is used as an example for this flavor.

Umami is located on Washington Street East, next door to the locally famous Main Kwong. The owners of the two businesses are said to be friends.

Parking is around the back of the building, and I haven't seen that get too busy yet. The interior has clean lines and vibrant colors, and the menu has around 100 dishes, many of which being sushi rolls. I like that they denoted the rolls without raw items. They also have a hibachi grill.


I got a spicy California roll and an eagle roll. The spicy California is pretty straight forward, but I did appreciate their spicy mayo sauce. It had a little tang, but not too much. And the eagle roll was pretty tasty - tempura shrimp, avocado and spider sauce. I think the difference between mediocre sushi and sushi that blows you away is the freshness. Umami is fresh. Simple ingredients, but fresh and prepared correctly make all the difference. For under $15, you can't really beat it.

Umami Sushi and Hibachi Grill, 1401 Washington St. E., is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then again from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturday, it is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Sunday, it is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 304-343-8989 for more info.

Grade: A

I went to Fujiyama in Fairmont a while back because I just wanted a change from Morgantown sushi joints. It seems as though there's a small chain of Fujiyama Japanese Steakhouses, but this one looks to be unrelated.

Located at 422 Marion Square, the restaurant instilled some trepidation in my veins upon approaching it. The area doesn't seem to have been updated very recently, and the building? Looks like a solid double-wide trailer.

Walking inside, though, is a different story. The decor is sleek and elegant. Not something I was expecting. But it is modern and made me feel more at ease.

I ordered crab rangoons that were out. of. this. world. I really have developed a preference for the super creamy, indulgent ones. Most takeout places have this blocky, chunky mixture inside, but this was the opposite. Something about the crunchy exterior and the smooth center does something to my tastebuds. This just got all sorts of romantic novel-like. Moving on.

I ordered two rolls: a boring Hollywood Roll - cream cheese, avocado, crab roll. I tend to do these "buffer" rolls in case I'm not a fan of the other. Can you go wrong with crab, avocado and cream cheese? Not in my book. It's always a solid choice.

 The other roll I ordered was the Bayridge Roll, and it included salmon, asparagus, crab, and cream cheese, and was topped with masago, eel sauce, spicy mayo and house mayo. It was different, but also tasty - maybe the combination of a thousand sauces making it sweet and tangy had something to do with it.

Grade: B

Of the two hibachi restaurants in Morgantown, I had only gone to Fujiyama until recently. That needed to change before my time in Morgantown expires. Hibachi Japanese Steak House is located along University Avenue, and the exterior has probably seen better days. But don't let it discourage you.

Walking inside, you can see some age on the walls. I know the restaurant has been around since I've been here - so 6 years at least. But it's cool and that they have little eclectic momentos and decorations that they've gathered over time. We actually opted not to do the hibachi show and instead just took a table. We were seated right in front of the sushi bar, which was great to see the fresh fish and chef making rolls right in front of us.


The menus were kind of overwhelming, to be honest. While they were interesting - it was slightly difficult to navigate, and I felt like I had to look at three separate places for the kinds of sushi. Or maybe I'm stupid. I decided on the chicken teriyaki dinner and an order of pizza rolls. Pizza rolls? They're a specialty sushi with crab, shrimp, avocado, spicy mayo, crunchies and smelt roe.

They first brought out the salad and miso soup. While the soup was on the more bland side, the salad was better than I've had before. I typically don't enjoy the ginger dressing, but this was smooth and more like Thousand Island dressing.


Next was my sushi. It was very tasty. Fresh ingredients, good flavors, firm texture. Definitely good. It was even in a cute little flower arrangement. Side note: I noticed the sushi chef was not Japanese. And, he's also the head sushi chef. So that was interesting. You don't see that every day. But he seemed really good and really sweet, too.

After sushi, my plate of noodles came out. That's not typically how it's served - usually all three portions of the combo meal are served together. So it was weird to just have the noodles, but soon after the chicken and the veggies came out, too.

The noodles were tasty, as were the veggies. The chicken was pretty average. I was really looking forward to the "yum yum" sauce, but in fact, no sauce was in sight. We asked about the sauce a little later, and our server apologized and brought it out. Might I add our server was actually great - super helpful, super kind.

But the sauce we got, I wasn't super impressed with. It wasn't the creamy "yum yum"; it was more tangy - more of a bite to it. So, it was okay, just not ideal.

Overall, I liked the service, the sushi, and the noodles. The chicken itself wasn't super flavorful, and the sauces didn't help a whole lot. But it's still a fun environment. And if you're into getting pieces of seafood chucked at your face, you might want to hit up the kitchen. If you're one of those guys who is gifted with that, I'm envious.


Grade: B

On our way to the South Hills Village mall, my friend and I decided to get lunch at Benichopsticks because it was on the way and had awesome reviews. It's located in a strip mall plaza, but don't let that deter you.

It was a little classier than your typical Asian joint you'd find in Morgantown - the waiters wore white shirts and ties, the decor was classic - not tacky, and it was very clean. That may be because we were the only ones in there. They have a Chinese menu and a Japanese menu, and a lunch menu for each. I wanted a little of each, so I ordered the crab rangoons, "Amazing Chicken" with an eggroll (you can get salad or soup) and white rice, and a Mexican roll.


Our meal came out in courses. First, the rangoons: Much sweeter filling than what I've had before. It was very creamy and just a little different. But in a good way. It came with duck sauce and hot mustard.

Next up was my eggroll. Pretty good, average eggroll with cabbage and carrots.

The third course was our sushi rolls. My Mexican roll said it contained shrimp tempura, crab and cucumber. To my surprise, it also contained some jalapeno - probably why it's called the Mexican roll. While the jalapeno did add a nice balanced bite to the roll, I took some of it out because I didn't need the extra spice. The six rolls had dollops of spicy mayo and eel sauce, which was really quite tasty. I really enjoyed the rolls - fresh, tasty, unique.

Finally, our main entree came out. Amazing Chicken is just really a codeword for sweet and sour chicken. It was long strips of white breast meat lightly battered and in a sweet and sour sauce. It was really quite good. Having the quality meat makes all the difference. Even for leftovers, it tasted great.

And finally, to make this a true five-course meal, they brought out mochi ice cream with our checks. I've never had mochi ice cream, and I kind of have an aversion to mochi because of the texture. It reminds me of human flesh. BUT with ice cream inside, it makes it a little firmer and quite tasty.

For all this, I only spent $20. Granted, it was lunch time, so we got some specials. But you really can't beat good food - and that much of it - at that price.

Grade: A