Sushi MISOYA — Restaurant in Lynnwood

I am from Boston, and like to try sushi in coastal cities I visit. I came here with my family while visiting my parents, because my mom (who is a huge foodie) said it's her favorite sushi place in the area.

This is a family-owned business, and the couple that owns the restaurant does everything from preparing the food to waiting at tables. So a little patience is in order, and it's worth the wait. Since they are personally-invested, they ensure high quality of food and service at every step.

We started with some Shrimp and Veggie Tempura for the kids, and the description on the menu that it was "lightly deep fried" was very apt. It was deep fried enough to be crunchy, but not so much that it was greasy. It tasted clean, unlike tempura cooked in overused, burnt oil.

We, then, tried an assortment of nigiri, and I liked the generous sushi to rice ratio (and it was well-cooked, moist, sticky rice). Generally, sushi restaurants serve too much rice relative to the sushi in my opinion. My favorite here was the Toro (marbled tuna), which has a subtle sweetness and melt-in-your-mouth texture from the fatty, belly part of the tuna.

I also liked the Unagi (freshwater eel), which was grilled to a slight crisp that adds a nice texture to this delightfully sweet and salty nigiri.

In addition to the nigiri, we tried several of the special rolls. They were all very good, but my favorite were the Hot Night and Crazy Rolls. Our Crazy Roll had salmon, albacore, and tuna, along with egg, crabmeat, and avocado. The ingredients complemented each other and the tobiko all around it added a nice initial sensation and sweetness on the tongue.

We mixed the Hot Night Roll with the Sashimi Salad, which was reminiscent of the Korean-Japenese fusion dish Hoe-deopbap--a combination of Sushi with Korean Bibimbap. The spicy tuna inside the Hot Night Roll paired well with the Sashimi Salad, which had a nice, hot kick from the smooth red pepper sauce. What was most impressive was that the spiciness didn't overwhelm the flavor of the sushi.

We finished off with bowls of Tempura Udon. The hot and aromatic unami-flavored broth was a perfect way to top everything off. The broth was clean and not too briny, and the noodles retained their chewy texture and didn't get soggy throughout the duration of the dining experience.

I highly recommend Misoya if you're in the...

3 things about this author: I love excellent food. I've lived in Washington most of my life. My favorite piece is Uni.

Sushi Misoya comes closer to perfect than any other traditional Japanese restaurant I've ever been to - outside of Japan of course. It doesn't look like much, just a nearly windowless hole in a gritty strip mall next to the OLD Alderwood Mall Theater. But walk through the narrow entry into the dining area (which is about as wide as a parking space and the length of a swimming pool) and you've somehow been welcomed into the home of the owners, who run the sushi-bar themselves and stay open later for curious, hungry Washingtonians who want to know their story. The service is excellent, the sushi and sashimi are superb and the price is worth the extra gas to drive from as far north as Oak Harbor or Bellingham. The first time we went to Sushi MISOYA, it was by accident. Knowing we were running late, my husband and I got there at 8:55, 5 minutes before closing, apologized and asked if they'd possibly make us up a "crazy box" to go. We were in luck. The hostess (which we later learned owned the place with her husband) smiled, "No no no, Please. You are not late. You sit. Please. At bar? Yes." She was incredibly nice, not to mention beautiful! We penciled in our orders, learned "Uni is not fresh. Not for you" and nearly an hour later we were comfortably full of the BEST unagi, toro, nigiri, and several other sashimi pieces. We also ordered the dragon roll and rainbow roll, the crazy roll and the spicy tuna roll. I wish I'd had room for seven more spicy tuna rolls. It was the best Spicy Tuna Roll I've ever had in my life. I wish i'd found this place ten years ago. Loved it. Love it, highly recommend it to anyone who loves...

I went at an odd time, at 3:30 pm on a Friday, and hoping that's the reason for this lower review. Besides myself, there was only a couple, the waitress, and a chef, all of whom were calm and quiet, normally a fantastic background to the joy of sushi.

My sushi and sashimi combo was not joy. The many pieces of sushi and sashimi, along with a plump California roll filled up a plate delightfully. But... the food did not live up to the delight. While the California roll was plump and filled with the requisite ingredients, it was too much krab vs the rest of the roll. The beauty of the classic roll lies in the combination of taste and texture. The overwhelming amount of filling did not create a good balance. But honestly, with the California roll, I'm possibly being to nitpicky. If I were rating based on it only, then four stars.

Unfortunately, the rest of the sushi went downhill. From an ok eel, to flavorless salmon sand tuna, I was surprised that such mediocre sushi existed in the PNW given the abundance of fresh salmon. (Yes, yes, not in season. But that is no reason if you're going to serve it).

An overall ok...