Sushi Motto — Restaurant in Denton

Cross posted from Yelp. We love this place so I'm going the extra mile and cross posting here. Oh one thing we figured out: Motto Sushi and Sushi Motto are not the same business but the same location. Confusing, right? But the new owners switched the name around and the logo is different. The owners would do a big service for customers and for themselves if they entirely changed their name. Just my 2 cents!

SUMMARY: Yaaas! We found our local sushi spot! We found the decor, friendliness, and quality of CA-style sushi to be better than our expectations. Service was top notch hilarious and pleasant. Highly recommend :)

BACKGROUND: We moved into the neighborhood and to celebrate, we decided to just eat local. Wife loves sushi so I figured why not hit that place by my dry cleaner with the dark windows and bright OPEN sign that my sushi loving coworker told me about? :)

ATMOSPHERE - 5/5 stars Reading the "Sushi Motto" reviews, it sounded like the place became a take out only place and the previous dine-in atmosphere was something less than desirable. I can comfortably say that the new owners fixed whatever was lacking into something very clean and modern. The ceiling lights had that nice blue led light treatment going and the bar area was very clean as were the table seating. The bathrooms were equally clean as well.

FOOD - 5/5 It was probably more closer to a 4.5, but rounding up to 5 because the service made everything taste better! More on that below. But as you can see from our order, we kinda went overboard on the food quantity because we were expecting much less in quantity like we were used to in the Bay Area sushi places we frequented. Here? Nope, very generous and it was really good. The fish was really nice quality and nothing on the older side. Presentation was nicely arranged and plated.

Oh one thing I picked up pretty quickly is that this was more akin to what I have eaten in So Cal where I lived most of my life. I struck up a conversation with our waitress who was Korean and told me that the owners relocated back to TX from So Cal! I talked w/ the owner and his wife for a little bit and learned they were in the sushi biz for over 15 years there before returning back to TX to start their sushi bar here. CA style sushi is a bit lighter quantity and type of sauce than more Americanized sushi (heavier sweeter sauces and volume of sauce on rolls) and so it was more appealing to me. Wife loved it too.

SERVICE - 5/5 Our waitress was hilarious and so nice! We didn't catch her name but since we've decided this will be our go-to sushi place, we'll learn soon enough the next time around. She was so pleasant and chatted us up for a few minutes about her life in TX and all the K-dramas she's been watching, which opened a whole nuther conversation w/ my wife who is a K-drama fanatic. Service was on the spot, water refill timed right, and they gave us a complimentary shot of peach sake. We comp'd them well for this too :)

RETURN VISIT? Definitely! This is a no-brainer with this restaurant being so close to home...

Under new management and the food is greatly improved from before. I had first stopped in years ago when this was still under old management and was not terribly impressed, so I never went back. Had heard that they were under new management and decided to give it another shot. So glad that we came back. We have visited a couple of times now and are always really enjoy the food and the service. First came towards the end of September and ordered a spicy tuna. This is usually my intro roll to a new place I'm trying. It helps me get an idea of rice to fish ratio, seasoning of the rice, and seasoning of the spicy tuna. The rice to fish ratio was excellent, not too much rice, but just enough, and the seasoning was great as well. Also ordered some takoyaki, the octopus balls. I believe these were deep fried but were still good. After being pleasantly surprised by these first two dishes, decided to start ordering for fun. Tried the Japanese scallop and ordered the Motto Lover Special. The scallop came slightly seared and with a house made sauce. It was super tender and delicious. The Motto Lover Special was a great assortment of sashimi and sushi, all super fresh, super tasty, and super tender. You can see some micro cuts were made in the fish to help with that tender feeling when chewing. The salmon is buttery too. My fiance ordered the eel bowl and picked some pieces off of my plate. To wrap things up, we ordered the tempura ice cream, which was green tea ice cream fried in tempura batter, and of course that was really good.

The second time we came was on my birthday, a Wednesday in early November. This time I ordered the Sushi Lover Special, some more of the delicious Japanese scallops, and some fresh blue fin tuna. Seriously, if they have it available, get the fresh blue fin tuna, you won't regret it. I believe chef mentioned he was one of the few places licensed for it too. Deviations from our first visit, we also ordered the mixed tempura and this time got the tempura cheesecake. Yea, I can't decided between the two desserts on which is better. Both are a solid choice, as is Sushi Motto.

One other thing we learned was that chef prepares and makes his own sauces. We had noticed the sauces didn't taste exactly the same as to other sushi places we've gone to, in a good way I mean. Not as much sugar, slightly deeper flavors, just small differences, but really good.

The staff are great and friendly and the decor is ok. We loved the tea set that came on our second visit too.

For the price (not too bad for a sushi place with the quality you get), the location (Denton), and the excellent service, definitely recommend and definitely...

I’ve gone to this place for years through all the different name changes. Service has never been one of their strong suits. But today was just bizarre. At first the waiter was slow to get my order although I was the only person in the place. Then he comes in reaches across me over my drink to pick up a chopstick that wasn’t being used. I Guess no one has ever told him that reaching over people is rude. I had first ordered a seaweed salad some tea. When he finally came back I asked the waiter about the pick three they had on the menu.It was three types of sushi rolls for $9.95 and it came during lunch with Edamane and different things. I asked him how it worked when it wasn’t lunch time and he told me it didn’t come with the things that were in the box. So I picked my three. Next thing I know he comes to my table with 36 sushi rolls. I told him that’s not what I ordered and he stands there and looks at me With a dull expression on his face.He twirled his pen. I asked him who eats 36 sushi rolls. I told him I wanted the three of each that I ordered, And that I had made a point of asking him how it worked.Then he said something about us being at an impasse and he didn’t know what to do. I told him to go have a conversation with his boss. He came back after a while, standing at my table staring at me, and then asked which of the three that I want. I told him any of the three would be fine or a combination of the three would be fine. He said he just didn’t know what to do so he gave me a bill for the seaweed salad and the tea. I left hungry. I don’t know what he did with the 36 sushi rolls maybe if he screws up an order he gets to keep it. But it was the dumbest experience I’ve ever had at a restaurant. He demonstrated no ability to problem solve or work through an issue that he helped to create. He should not be waiting tables. I don’t know if the other people in the kitchen don’t know how horrible he is because of the language barrier. But he alone would be a reason to dine someplace else. The women’s bathroom was locked, not sure why. The men’s bathroom was no treat. UPDATE: Read the "restaurant's" response (the waiter's response written oddly in the third person). It does a better job than I did in describing this waiter's horrible, horrible attitude.. This place has been called Avocado, and Haru and other names. But this is the worst waitstaff in this incarnation, not just here, but...