Momotaro Sushi in Carytown

Last week I tried another sushi restaurant in Richmond - after taking a few days to let it sink in (I just had to get that hash recipe up!) - I am finally ready to write a thorough breakdown for you.

I have no pictures, so I'll try and make this post concise.

First impressions: sticky. Yep, I said it. Momotaro upon walking in just felt dirty. The floor is a weird beige color, it's dark, small, and just kind of grungy. I know that some of the best food comes out of places like this, so we took a seat and waited for the waitress. She was a little dismissive at first but warmed up after a while.

We ordered our staple eel roll, a California roll, a tuna roll, and a special avocado roll. This ended up not being enough so we got another California and a salmon roll. Still not enough, but there was no way I was spending more than $45 on 6 rolls. I must be spoiled because at Sadako you get a good 8 or 9 for that price. Breakdown on the rolls: SMALL - I'm just not used to teeny tiny rolls. What is up with this, Richmond? The eel rolls was not good which was a bummer for us since it's my fav. The eel just wasn't succulent, the sauce too sweet (I like a little more "umami" flavor), and it had nothing inside - like avocado or cucumber or something. But all the other rolls were delicious. They roll the rice in black sesame seeds which add a lot of flavor. I loved the specialty avocado roll - the flavors were perfect and the texture made my mouth happy. The California roll also impressed me. I think I was most shocked by the fact that the fish was so fresh and clean and tasty. Dare I say the tuna roll beats the one in Ann Arbor? This totally didn't match the grunge factor I felt walking in.

And that's when I realized something...sushi is one of those things where atmosphere does mean something. I can walk into a burger joint and look past the fly buzzing around my head - but not a sushi restaurant (which it did, here). Sushi is clean. The place I'm eating it in should be clean, too. So despite the fact that the sushi at Momotaro is quite good - I won't be going back unless I discover they've changed their cleanliness standards.