100 Very Best Restaurant 2016: Sushi Sono

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Photo by Scott Suchman

About Sushi Sono

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cuisines
Japanese, Sushi

If you’d never been and decided to chance dropping by here on a weekend night without a reservation, you’d encounter a line out the door and you’d probably begin looking around the lakefront complex at other options. The reason to stick it out—or make a reservation—is the consistently high quality of the fish and the skill of the veteran sushi chefs. This is special-occasion sushi, but you might not know it, given the lack of trappings and the absence of ceremonial hush. But one look at the rolls ought to persuade you. Yes, rolls. At most places, they’re convenient excuses to use up tougher, chewier parts of the fish; here, they’re conceived as showstoppers. Pay attention to the specials posted over the sushi bar, where you’ll find rarities and choice cuts.

Don’t miss: Sunomono (seaweed and cucumber); fried tofu; Dragon Roll; “Bridal Veil” Roll; shrimp hand rolls; sashimi and nigiri, including yellowtail, sweet shrimp, live scallop, and fatty tuna; aji (mackerel) three ways; fried soft-shell crab.

See what other restaurants made our 100 Very Best Restaurants list. This article appears in our February 2016 issue of Washingtonian.


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.