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DJs 7 days a week
www.sushilounge.com

For those Hobokenites who like their beer dark and their restaurants and bars even darker, Sushi Lounge could soon become your new best friend. Located on the corner of Hudson and 2nd, this sushi haven has been around for two years. However, myself not a seafood lover (but I eat vegetable sushi. Hey, I didn't say I was normal!) I'd never come across this establishment until it was offered up as a dinner choice if I wanted "the best sushi in Hoboken." Well, as faithful readers of these reviews know (hello, anyone? Bueller?) I have quite the sweet tooth… one, sushi alone can not cure. I was quickly promised there was dessert on the menu and in we went. Needless to say I have since been back, but I do want the record to show I have yet to sample anything off their dessert menu. Lesson learned: When it comes to Sushi Lounge, guys will tell you whatever you want to hear, if it means they can get their sushi fix.

So, when I was asked to write this review I knew that vegetable sushi alone would not be enough to appease my editor. (Note: They do have options for the non-sushi lovers: Chicken, beef, pork, and vegetable dishes.) So I rounded up three sushi aficionados, Bobby, Greg, and Jenn, who luckily enough for me live practically within a chopstick's length distance from this place, and frequent the establishment more than they do their own kitchens. We went on a Sunday night, leaving us enough time to eat and run… back to their place to catch the now infamous "Sopranos" episode where Ralphie lost his head… literally!

The first thing you'll notice when you walk inside Sushi is the décor. Directly in front of you is a sushi bar complete with stools that run all the way down past the full bar. This area of the restaurant is typically full due to the front-row view of their sushi chefs at work (and the fact that they have a tendency to give out samples every now and then doesn't hurt). And the vast bar with nightly drink specials is the other hot spot. With everything from a plethora of martini choices (and if you don't see what you like, concoct your own) to Japanese specialties made with sake, its easy to see why there's rarely an open chair.

We were seated quickly and our server, Marlon, was immediately at our table. As time was a factor we ordered everything all at once. While we were waiting for our food, the general manager, Chris Trust, sent over four sampler appetizers that they give to their regular guests every once in a while that included crab sticks, cucumber, Spanish mackerel, shrimp, and seaweed salad all topped with a Hawaiian sauce. I can only vouch for the tastiness of the cucumber sticks and seaweed salad — but due to the fact that my tablemates gobbled up the rest of my appetizer — I'd have to conclude that everything else was just as good.

Dinner arrived. Steamed, salted soybeans, a.k.a. edamame ($3.75) to start, and I opted for the always-reliable house salad with ginger dressing ($2.50) and the avocado and cucumber roll ($4.25). Helpful hint: If you order the house salad, ask for silverware as the lettuce (and basically everything at Sushi Lounge) tends to come in only one size… large. Bobby chose the Tekka Maki dinner (inside out — which is an additional charge of $1 — and as I later learned is rice on the inside, seaweed on the outside, instead of the standard seaweed inside, rice outside, rice inside). His meal consisted of three tuna rolls (spicy tuna is an additional $3 charge) and choice of soup or salad ($12.95). He chose the soup, which was miso. The Tekka Maki meal is a Bobby favorite because he says, "it's pretty cheap, filling, and really good." Greg and Jenn ordered two out of the four specials offered that night. Greg got the Anaconda special ($13.95) that consisted of eel, shrimp tempura, asparagus, Japanese pepper, wrapped super white tuna, topped with eel sauce and wasabi tobiko. In Greg's words, "the rolls are a little more expensive, but always easily twice the size of other places and they are the only place in Hoboken that gets fish in six days a week so your sushi is always fresh." Jenn got the Superman Roll special ($13.95) which was spicy tuna, kempyo, yamagobo, and tempura flakes wrapped in grouper sprinkled with furikake. Of her dinner choice Jenn said, "Overall I'd rank it very good. The combo of the fish and veggies made for a different taste, but refreshing. Everything hit the spot."

So, to sum it up: Fresh, good, filling, fairly inexpensive? I don't have any reason why you shouldn't try Sushi Lounge. Do you?

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