Japanese

Izziban Sushi and BBQ

Address
City
Phone
Price

5310 E Colonial Drive
Orlando
407-270-8811
$$

This is undoubtedly the largest sushi restaurant I’ve ever seen. Izziban Sushi & BBQ occupies a warehouse sized building on the shore of Lake Barton, which lies between Semoran Boulevard and Orlando Executive Airport. There have been a few failed businesses here, including a gay bar.

There is an immense indoor dining area and a couple of very large sushi bars, including one that is shaped like the bow of a big boat. There is also a large covered patio, screened in but with nice views of the lake and planes taking off from the airport. Its rusticity is more suitable for the type of fried foods you’d find at fish camps, but it isn’t inappropriate for sushi to be associated with a waterfront locale.

And sushi isn’t all that is done here. The kitchen food menu is also rather sizable, and if you so choose, your table can be the kitchen, as most of them have built-in griddles and devices that can be used for grilling meats or hot-pot cooking. The cuisines range from Japanese to Korean.

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Jimotti’s

Address
City
Phone
Price

2545 S. French Ave.
Sanford
407-952-3329
$

Jimotti’s is a bit of an odd place. Odd name, too, at least to my ears, which want to hear something Italian.

But Jimotti’s is Japanese and has a surprisingly substantial menu of kitchen foods and a more compact roster of sushi, sashimi and specialty rolls.

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Jinya Ramen Bar

Address
City
Phone
Price

8 N. Summerlin Ave.
Orlando
407-704-185
$$

With the popularity of ramen at a height, it was only a matter of time before we’d see a chain noodle its way into town. It happened with Vietnamese, it’s happening with poke, so why not ramen?

Jinya Ramen Bar is the company with a new franchise in Orlando, its first in Florida (oddly, the website lists the names of the cities for locations in other states but the Florida listing is Thornton Park). It took over and remodeled that space in Thornton Park Central that had briefly been Verde Cantina and, before that, a Tijuana Flats.

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Kaizen Izakaya

Address
City
Phone
Price

54 W. Church St.
Orlando
407-316-8500
$$

Formerly known as Amura, Kaizen Izakaya has very good sushi (especially the nigiri). An izakaya is supposed to be a Japanese pub or tavern where friends hang out. But the dank atmosphere won’t make you want to linger.

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Maki Hibachi Downtown

Address
City
Phone
Price

106 E. Colonial Drive
Orlando
407-730-4355
$$

Second location for a Lake Nona restaurant on the ground floor of a new storage unit complex. The food is mostly modest.

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Naroodle Noodle Shop

Address
City
Phone
Price

10034 University Blvd.
Orlando
407-853-4828
$

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Ootoya Sushi Lounge

Address
City
Phone
Price

621 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando
407-930-2002
$$

Ootoya doesn’t present anything that would distinguish it above the other sushi restaurants that are opening or that have established themselves, though what I sampled on a recent visit was enjoyable.

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Rumaku

Address
City
Phone
Price

3050 Alafaya Trail
Oviedo
407-542-5863
$

Quick serve specializing in rice bowls and ramen.

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Shin Japanese Cuisine

Address
City
Phone
Price

803 N. Orange Ave.
Orlando
407-648-8000
$$

The quality of the food has improved, and that quality and the price charged for it are more closely aligned.

My guest and I ordered some edamame to nibble on for a starter. I ordered the Shin lunch set and my friend chose a combination of three rolls from a list of about 15 options, a pretty good deal for $15.

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Sodo Sushi Bar and Grill

Address
City
Phone
Price

25 W. Crystal Lake Street
Orlando
407-286-4225
$$

Sodo has a new sushi bar and grill. It’s called Sodo Sushi Bar and Grill. It took over the space of the oft troubled Olv, whose name had no hidden meaning or acronymic message. Sodo, or SoDo, is shorthand for south of downtown, which is where it is.

And that’s a good place for this new restaurant, too, because there aren’t any other sushi joints anywhere nearby. Bars and grills, yes, but not sushi bars and grills.

All that seems to have been required to transform the Olv space into a sushi restaurant was to plop a refrigerated case on top of the bar. Voila — or dekiagari, as they say in Japan — sushi bar.

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