Now I’ve never been to Japan, but if I could picture a small family run sushi restaurant in the middle of Tokyo, Sushi Hatsu in Downtown Orlando would be it. Compared to the other Downtown Orlando sushi restaurants I would say Sushi Hatsu’s look and feel is the most authentic. It’s been opened since the 90’s with a focus of good sushi that’s cheaper than the competition.

We started off with an order of their Edamame ($4.30), a Chuka Salad (green seaweed, $4.60) and the Gyoza ($4.95). Not much to say about the edamame except they weren’t overly salted which is nice. The Chuka Salad was excellent. None of the seaweed was crunchy. The Gyoza dish, steamed beef dumplings, was excellent by itself but the sauce it was served with was super salty and overwhelming. I’d recommend the Chuka Salad and on a night when the hand shaking the salt isn’t so heavy, the Gyoza.

We ordered three rolls, the Sunflower Roll ($13.50), the Buffalo Roll ($6.50) and the Crunchy French Roll ($7.50). We also ordered 2 pieces of White Tuna Nigiri ($4.50). The Sunflower Roll had an excellent presentation.  The roll was positioned into a circle with chunks of chopped tuna in the center. Inside the roll were tuna, cream cheese and avocado. The tuna was fresh and the overall flavor was great. The Buffalo roll had shrimp tempura delight rolled with cucumber, scallions, flying fish and a spicy sauce. This roll was ok, nothing special to mention. The last roll was the French Roll. It had crab and crunchy tempura crumbs in a roll that was deep fried and then rolled up in another roll and lastly perfected with a touch of eel sauce. Now I was a little worried when it first came out because it was a big roll, but it was surprisingly good. The crunchy bits added a good texture to the overall flavor. I loved this roll! The last thing we tried was the white tuna nigiri. It was simply fresh and melted in our mouths. It was excellent.

Overall the meal was excellent. If you’re looking for an alternative to the more expensive sushi restaurants in Downtown Orlando such as Amura or Ichiban, then Sushi Hatsu is your spot. Two people can share some starters and rolls for about $40.

Hours: