I had sushi at Miso in Clayton on Tuesday for lunch. It was my first visit, and although I was a little skeptical (always am when trying a sushi joint for the first time), I needed to try it out since I’m now basically working full-time in Clayton.

I went downstairs, sat at the bar (empty, save for the stacks of glass sushi-plates on top of the case), and chatted a bit with the chefs. One was hispanic, the other was anglo, and I’ll admit that I still wasn’t totally certain about the place. The fish in the case didn’t seem quite as fresh as at Sekisui (my usual first-choice in St. Louis for sushi), but didn’t seem bad either. The miso soup was definitely a disapointment – heavy on the tofu and seaweed, and not very smoothly put together. Also, the hot tea was served in a clear glass mug with a tea-packet and a little pitcher of hot water, which tasted alright, but certainly was no sencha green tea. $3.00 seemed pretty steep for a cup of tea. 🙁

However, the part that mattered the most, the sushi, ended up being really pretty good. The portions were generous (and were pointed out to being more so, on account of my sitting at the bar and all), the presentation was good, particularly on the tuna piece, which featured 3 or 4 sprouts tucked in between 2 pieces of tuna. The whitefish was fine, the salmon was excellent, the tuna was good, and the cucumber roll had some of the crispiest cucumber I’ve had in a while. The ginger was tasty and the wasabi had the necessary kick.

I’ll definitely be going back for lunch-sushi again in the future. I’m looking forward to trying some of their other specialty rolls.

For future visits, though, I’ll be skipping the hot tea and the miso soup. That’s ok, though. They have lots of other appetizers to sample, and the sushi is good.

Also, the word from the chefs is that it’s worth a visit in the evening as the downstairs area gets packed with hipsters. I’ve heard rumors of this in the past, of course. Perhaps I’ll have to give it a shot sometime. 🙂
Rating: 4 out of 5 nigiri