First look at Sushiya; a new restaurant in the former Hana Cafe space

With the closing of Hana Cafe, a new Japanese restaurant was in the works to open in its place. The owners of Wasabi East have taken over with a restaurant they’ve named Sushiya. The grand opening is set for April 12 with gift card giveaways and some great food and drink specials.

We stopped in before the grand opening to get a first look at what diners can expect.

===========
325 N Mead, Wichita, KS 67202
316-267-3766

Monday – Thursday: 11am – 9pm
Friday: 11am – 9:30pm
Saturday: Noon – 9:30pm
Sunday: 4pm – 9pm

Website | Facebook
Cash/Card Accepted
===========

There’s plenty of seating to be had inside Sushiya which is great for those that work downtown and looking for another lunch option with their colleagues.

The menu (available below) features many of the same dishes found at Wasabi East with some new additions such as different rolls and bibimbap.

I started with some miso soup that came as part of one of the sushi bar special F2 that also included chef’s choice 5pc sushi, 4 pc spicy tuna and 4pc California roll.

The soup came out nice and warm. It came out in a good-sized bowl and was a soothing, delicious way to start my lunch.

I ordered a chef’s choice as noted earlier along with a sushi burrito at the recommendation of my server. She mentioned the Kansas Burrito was one of the more popular options. It came with crab meat, spicy tuna, avocado, soft shell crab and wrapped in soy paper.

My favorite part of the order was probably the nigiri. They were thick chunks of fish placed over a ball of rice.

From there, I felt the rest of my sushi and burrito were pretty average. The reason came down to personal preference (as is any food review). I enjoy sushi that comes with nice chunks of fish rolled inside the sushi; where there’s a texture to it that’s firm and solid.

A lot of what Wasabi does is different, where the fish has a mushy texture like a puree. I’m not sure what the technical definition of what they do is, but it’s just not for me. Plus, in my Kansas burrito, most of the flavor that came through was the crab meat. It could have used a little more spicy tuna inside to balance it out.

I love a bibimbap fan and definitely will return for that.

Aside from that, the best part of my visit was easily my server, Angie. She had this wonderful, infectious energy to her; very positive, friendly and people-oriented. There’s a big menu at Sushiya, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find something I like there, and Angie’s customer service alone is enough to get me to return sooner than later.

Here’s the menu:

Happy Dining,
Eddy