MF Sushi — Restaurant in Houston

After having a lot of sushi around town and talking about the omakase at Uchi, we were tipped off to MF Sushi's omakase. The experience is unlike any I'd ever had before. Here's the basic rundown: We started at 7:30pm, and the meal lasted for 3 hours. The price ranges from $150-$205 per person, depending on the courses served. There are generally between 20 and 30 small dishes. Our meal that night came out to be $250 per person, drinks, tip, and tax included.

The Experience: There is a sushi bar with 12 seats, all on one side. On the other side of the bar stands 5 or 6 sushi chefs, and as you dine, you can watch the sushi chefs prepare sushi for other customers. After opening with a couple appetizers, Chef Chris Kinjo takes center stage behind the sushi bar and prepares food for all the omakase diners. Almost all of the dishes are a single piece of nigiri, prepared by Chef Kinjo and garnished and served by an assistant, who describes the dish as its served. A separate waiter waits on the omakase diners only; our waiter was extremely attentive and made sure that our ginger, fresh wasabi, and water never ran out. There is a few minutes between each dish, so there's plenty of time to enjoy both the food and the company.

The Food: We had a total of 23 dishes as part of the omakase, plus 3 dishes at the end that were compliments of the chef and charged. They are as follows (apologies for any mistakes; this is about half from memory): Mozuku (seaweed and egg in some light sauce) Madai appetizer (thinly sliced sea bream sashimi with radish) Hamachi Nigiri (yellowtail) Signature Kinmedai (snapper) Shime Saba Nigiri (amber jack) Signature Shima Aji (striped jack) Japanese Cherry Salmon Nigiri Dashi Broth (two pieces of fish inside, but I can't remember what kind) Signature Kanpachi (amber jack) Akamutsu Nigiri (bluefish) Live Octopus Sashimi Hamachi Belly Nigiri (yellowtail belly) King Salmon Belly Nigiri Ocean Trout Belly Nigiri Blue Fin Nigiri Signature Anago (eel) Live Ama-Ebi (sweet shrimp) Chutoro Nigiri (medium fatty tuna) Toro Nigiri (fatty tuna Signature O-Toro (super fatty tuna) Kama Toro Nigiri (tuna cheek) Signature A5 Wagyu Beef Live Uni (sea urchin) Tuna wrapped in avocado topped with truffle cream Tamago Ice cream mochi (Raspberry and white chocolate, macha)

The entire dinner was incredible; I would highly recommend this experience! One more note: the decor in the restaurant is very nice, with the backdrop to the sushi chefs being a really unique...

I wanted to love MF sushi, and maybe there is something to love about it, but due to subpar service- both on the waiters and the chefs at the sushi bar, I am beyond disappointed.

My boyfriend and I went to MF sushi on Valentine’s Day the 14th and sat at the sushi bar, 9.30 pm. I expected an experience I typically get at Kata Robata and Katami, but instead it was that of Taco Bell. Considering the chef has mentioned how a lot of places in town are using poor quality fish or even pretend to use a certain fish when it’s in fact tilapia, I did have high expectations on 02/14/25. Not met whatsoever.

Food quality itself was good, BUT I did not get any recommendations despite asking repeatedly. I first asked the waiter, who was polite and timely, to recommend what we should order considering we are looking for fresh, no rice, love uni, love scallops, love fois gras, love just fresh and interesting combinations of flavors, etc. The waiter only pointed it guest favorites. I reiterated what I said, but again only got a generic “most order is this”. Not even a basic hey, this fish is most fresh today, or if you like what you mentioned, maybe consider such and such item on the menu.

I have attempted to ask questions of the chef, as unless I’m way off, like that’s why you sit at the sushi bar. You watch them, you ask questions, you get ideas and recommendations. Nothing. Zero engagement from either do the 5 chefs working.

The food itself was fine, but the experience fell flat. I understand maybe they were all having a bad day, but I mean no, I don’t. Could it be that their waiters don’t get to taste the food and that’s why they don’t have recommendations? That’s what it felt like. Good service if you consider timeliness but bad as I got no interaction or engagement. Same as if I went to the rotating sushi bar and picked dishes off of a conveyor belt. Oh wait, that would have been a better experience as I would have at least gotten a glance at dishes before deciding without guidance.

To compare, when you go to Kata Robata and you say I don’t want rice, I’m looking for flavors such as… you get an amazing experience. In fact, that’s what we did next day, 2/15/25. We went to Kata Robata, paid about the same, have gotten an amazing excellent experience and they were way busier than MF sushi on Valentine’s Day.

Conclusion, go to MF sushi to eat, it’s fine food. Go elsewhere if what you want is to taste and savor...

When we arrive the hostess is extremely busy, flustered, and doesn't even greet us. The restaurant is packed, very little social distancing possible. She finally tells us there are no tables available and she doesn't know when there will be despite our reservation. Hmmm, I'm a bit perturbed as I made these weeks ago for my partner's bday. Ultimately we are seated within 15 minutes, but we did have to ask again after they mistook us for a different party. When we sat down they told us they limit dining to 90 minutes. Bit of a rocky start, but okay.

Our server was Cardin, and he was extremely good. Fast, friendly, attentive. He definitely made up for the reservation snafu. But the food. THE FOOD! The truffle aioli salmon appetizer was incredible. The madai is chef's kiss - we didn't do the appetizer just the nigiri, but I bet it would be phenomenal. We had a spicy salmon roll, which was good, but after the nigiri it was a let down. I'm sure the rolls are fantastic on their own, but after that we only ordered nigiri. The wagyu tartare was also incredible. Seriously, get it. We also did the tempura shishito - fantastic as well. We ended with a final round of madai nigiri and it was even better the second time. Well worth a visit.

TLDR: Five stars for food! Overbooked, stressed hostess, and issues with reservations was the only concern which ultimately got worked out.

Pros: delicious sushi, great waiter, decent prices Cons: packed - no social...