Yuzu Japanese Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Rockwall

Just want to start this review by saying this experience was better than Uchi (which is known as the best sushi in Dallas). I've had a lot of sushi in my life, in bigger cities like Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Kyoto, and in Taiwan getting fresh Otoro (tuna belly) fished from the ocean the night before. Having said that, Yuzu the best sushi restaurant I have been to.

Starting with a "basic" roll like salmon roll. I never realized until tonight how a basic salmon roll requires the most utmost careful selection of avocado quality and ripeness, so that when you eat it with FRESH salmon it melts together in your mouth to where the two create a dance of textures of flavors are greater than the sum of its parts, then absorbs into the rice all in your mouth. I had that realization today when Yuzu made this perfectly. I emphasize fresh meaning at Yuzu there are no hints of torn fish meat and crunching from previous ice crystallization in the fish that you would typically notice at other sushi restaurants.

The Otoro (fatty tuna belly) here was a huge generous slab portion and you can see the chef scored it perfectly to maximize surface area to hold as much of their in house balanced sauce as possible. You put it into your mouth and its so soft and rich you can push your tongue to the roof of your mouth and it gently melts into pleasure. While Otoro is delicious fresh from the monger (when I had it in Taiwan), having that additional level of refinement from a trained sushi chef (the cut, the sauce, the seasoning, and the perfectly made sushi rice) here at Yuzu adds an additional level to this dish.

The dessert crepe dish recipe from the chef's own mother caught my eye because it said milk from Hokkaido. Hokkaido is the northern island in Japan, there is almost something agriculturally sacred about this area because it is away from the big cities and has a purity in the quality of the agricultural products that come from it. Combine that with the Japanese culture of "dedication to one's craft" and you get a pure and creamy milk product like nothing you have had before. My wife took one bite and was shocked at how delicious it was. This dish is gently sweetened so that you could taste and smell the aromas without being overwhelmed with sweetness. My wife loved it so much so after we finished it, she ordered another one to go!

After the meal we were offered a tea. I am very sensitive to caffeine and the waiter suggested a barley tea. Never had it before so we tried it out. Delicious, it was full in flavor without having to use cream and sugar. It was just a delicious product in itself.

I have been more mindful of the foods I eat so I wear a continuous glucose monitor to see what kinds of foods spike my blood sugars especially at restaurants where they have no obligation to offer you healthy foods. I was expecting my blood sugars to spike after drinking the sweet unfiltered sake and the dessert... nope, my blood sugars were actually lower than my 90 baseline at around 80! I looked it up and I suspect it was due to the barley tea.

In conclusion, this is by far the best restaurant in Rockwall to where I had to leave a review even though I normally don't. Don't have to drive through busy downtown streets and deal with valet in our own little Rockwall backyard. Check it out before it gets found out and all the...

We went on Sunday, which the Harbor and most restaurants were crowded. Yuzu had a fair amount of people but wasn't crowded. It appeared that there may have not been enough staff to handle what volume they had. With that said, everyone was making a good faith attempt at good service.

There were a couple of people waiting at hostess stand and some confusion as to who was doing what to seat folks. There was a wait for unknown and unapparent reasons.

We were seated and the place is nice, but the music is too loud. We were given the drink menu and asked for the dinner menu, but it was kinda held hostage until we ordered our drinks which was kind of weird. We ordered our drinks, but they were out of one beer, which would be a theme, them being out of items. Drinks came out quickly. We ordered two from the Spicy and Tart section, but they were super, super sweet. They were OK but nothing to write home about @ $16.

The waitress brought the dinner menu and went through the menu after telling us what kind of restaurant we were at, which was kind of odd. We asked about a few things but they were out. Maybe because it was Sunday, but after you ask for several things in a row and they say they are out, that sets the tone for the evening, and not in a good way.

We had the brussel sprouts appetizer which was the absolute best thing we had. I would go just for that. We also had oysters where were really good. We each ordered a specialty roll. They were big, stuffed, and heavy. Too big too eat. The taste was OK but they all had a similar flavor. I would say we were a little disappointed, but maybe our expectations were too high. We asked for wasabi and it didn't have much flavor or burn.

At the end of the day, this is not a Sushi restaurant. The selection and variety of the rolls is limited compared to a more sushi oriented restaurant. It is an upscale Asian restaurant restaurant that has Sushi. It's price point and positioning promise a little more than it can deliver. Maybe going on a Sunday handicapped them somewhat. With that said, I would give them a try and they will go in our rotation of restaurants. We were at the $70/per person range with tip for 2 appetizers, 3 drinks, and 3 rolls. We make no qualms about spending $100+ pp for good...

A brand new Japanese restaurant has opened up at the Harbor in Rockwall. Yuzu! This small restaurant is in a somewhat difficult to find spot near the large fountain in front of the theater. It’s located in the former location of El Potrillo de la Sandia.

Yuzu has been in the works for months and I’ve been really excited for it to open. Though we have a lot of Japanese options in Rockwall county, none of them have ever been at the harbor! Finally, this spot opened approximately on October 15th. So as of this review they are about 3 weeks old.

Yuzu is beautiful; I was immediately impressed with the woodwork, lighting and decorations. A huge wall of lanterns, a massive cabinet of lucky cats, it’s a little bit more of a Las Vegas style restaurant. I was digging it.

The menu was small, though they did warn us that they are planning to expand it as they settle in. There was a selection of starters, cold plates, tempura and hot dishes. They also had sushi, sashimi, and nigiri. The rolls in particular, blew my mind.

We tried the rock shrimp tempura, chicken teriyaki, miso soup, and the two speciality rolls “Yuzu Signature” and “Surf & Turf”.

To be clear: everything was great. But the rolls are where Yuzu pulled ahead and made its power move. I was really surprised.

Both the signature & surf & turf rolls were remarkable. The freshness of the rice could be tasted, which isn’t normally even a thing you’d notice. Each ingredient seemed crispy, clean, and flavorful. I’ve not had sushi rolls this good in Rockwall county since, well, ever.

We were both full , but somehow we agreed we could make room for more if we wanted. The rolls were so good that I nearly considered it for a moment.

I’ll definitely be working this one into the rotation, and I’m glad that there is finally a nice Japanese option not only in the harbor, but in the county at all! Hopefully the word gets out and people can find their sort of hidden location....