Upstart Sushi Joints Are the New “It” Thing

Sure, Mijiuri is a hip new Japanese restaurant. But what about the food?

Like pizza delivery shops and sandwich chains before them, upstart sushi joints are “the new black” in the Springfield dining scene. No place better exemplifies this than Mijuri Sushi and Rhythm, which occupies the hard-luck location north of Andy’s Frozen Custard on Campbell Avenue. Is this place a winner or a loser? Me-jury’s still out, but things look promising so far.

First the spectacular: Mijuri’s service is second to none. I’ve never been greeted as enthusiastically or served as many complimentary appetizers. (It’s not a magazine thing; it has happened each of three times I’ve been there.) More good can be found in Mijuri’s pricing; the weekday early bird special, with a 10-percent discount for diners between 11 a.m. and noon, is a fantastic deal. The lunch specials are almost discount-store cheap, especially if you go with a bento, which is a compartmentalized lunch with different Japanese staples. One fellow diner—who eats her share of sushi—said Mijuri’s bento box was one of the biggest she’d ever seen, and it was only about $10. (I had one lunch special that included a 10-piece spicy tuna roll, a 10-piece California roll and miso soup for a mere $8.50.) For the aesthetically minded, Mijuri has a tasteful Japanese décor that bears no resemblance to the semi-tacky Barone’s Italian joint (not to mention the Dunkin’ Donuts) that preceded it.

With many a droll Springfieldian name, such as the “Cox Roll” and the “James River Roll,” the specialty sushi we tried was good-to-very good. The Tyson Roll (chicken tempura, crab, cream cheese and avocado, $10.95) was the consensus favorite. The Ping Ping Girl Roll (tuna, salmon, yellowtail and masago, wrapped in pink seaweed, $9.95) was just a notch below that on the taste level, but the pink seaweed made it look like something from a Jacques Cousteau documentary. Of the six to eight rolls I’ve tried at Mijuri, only the very basics—a spicy tuna roll and a California Roll—left me underwhelmed. This is what a baseball coach would call “the fundamentals.”

I like Mijuri. Its prices, selection and atmosphere are better than many of its mid-range Japanese-restaurant competitors. If the staff can maintain the quality if its food and service, Mijuri should be able to make it in a suddenly sushi-rich market.

Matt Lemmon is editor of GO Magazine.

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