3 out of 5 stars

Sunny’s just opened up next to the Bojangles on Glenwood. They’re nestled in with a gas station, an unlikely place for a diner, but as you walk in it feels homey. They’ve disguised the strip mall location with tile walls, vinyl seating and waffle-house style booths.

The menu is small but cheap, it’s more of a northern style diner than Finch’s. Meaning they don’t seem to have biscuits and gravy, the specialties are pancakes and thick slices of French toast. I ordered the corned beef combo, with eggs and potato hash and toast for $5.99. It was average. Corned beef was strictly from a can but they did crisp it nicely. Hubs had an egg white omelet, which they made for him though it wasn’t on the menu.

We both agreed that the food was cheap and of sufficient quality. Service was very quick – the waitress filled up our coffee continuously (a sticking point with hubby) and dashed about at the speed of light. We’re happy to have a diner nearby!

Sunny’s Diner
(919) 787-7715

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2 out of 5 stars

We’ve been here twice now so I’ve had a chance to sample both the sushi and the mongolian grill. This place is a strange cultural intersection with a haphazard decor style with a kinda of depressing run-down feel to it. They have sushi, although it is just ok, and then they have the grill. You basically pile your plate with all the veggies, meats and flavorings you want (sauces and spices) and then hand it to the grill person and he will stir fry it for you. You can go back as many times as you want for about $10. It’s not a bad deal, and my first trip up was a success but not as much on my second. While I like the choices of meats (sausage, tofu, beef, chicken, scallops, shrimp, egg, pork), I think generally Stir Crazy does this concept better.

My husband loves this place because he’s on a low carb diet and he can have as much as he wants without getting drowned in rice. I won’t mind coming back to accompany him because I can get sushi, but this definitely wouldn’t be my first choice. The food is ok but it takes a while of awkward waiting to get it. In addition, our waitress was horrible, just chatting with her friends most of the time.

Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill
13200 Strickland Rd # 110
Raleigh, NC 27613
(919) 866-1300

4 out of 5 stars

I stopped here with a friend for sushi after a shopping excursion and was pleasantly surprised by the sushi. They have a large selection and they let you order half rolls, which is something I’d never seen before.

The wait for the cooked food was really long but we were able to walk right up to the sushi bar to eat. Our rolls were fresh and plentiful, seaweed salad and the edamame were great also. I can’t remember the specifics of what we ordered since it’s been a little while but I know I’d definitely stop back in. I can’t vouch for the quality of the cooked food.

Kanki (lower level, Crabtree Mall)
4325 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27612

3 out of 5 stars

I am so tired of mediocre sushi in this town! Laku has a nice atmosphere and has a lot going for it in the Japanese cooked food and dessert selection, but not much exciting in the sushi selection. One of my favorite types of sushi is white tuna, which wasn’t on the menu (I rarely see it as a choice in Raleigh). After my husband and I had eaten our meals we heard the waiter recommend the white tuna to some other patrons. It is disappointing that the selections aren’t all on the menu and I didn’t see a specials board either.

I had settled for a Philly roll and a two brothers roll.. What was interesting is that the menu said that two brothers included tempura shrimp, salmon, tuna, cream cheese, avocado and eel sauce. But it turned out to be a smaller roll than described because the tuna was on one half and the salmon was on the other. The fish itself was fresh and presented in a nice way, with shapes made out of the wasabi and the garnishes. The edamame was soggy but lukewarm.

It didn’t help to improve our experience that the waitress was brand new. She couldn’t answer questions about the food, and didn’t seem to know the difference between brown rice and fried rice. We’ve yet to find a sushi place in this town which provides brown rice, but we always have to ask just in case we get lucky. In a metropolitan town this place would get 2 stars but since this is Raleigh it gets 3.

Laku
7201 Old Wake Forest Rd
Raleigh, NC 27616
(919) 875-8028

4 out of 5 stars

Ever in search of a better sushi joint, Glen and I stopped here, excited to see a nearby alternative to Tokyo House. It seems to have a Hawaiian theme inside, with a neat sunset type of painting technique on the walls. We also thought the lanterns and candles decorating the interior were a nice touch, accompanied by music you might hear in a spa rather than the traditional Japanese music you sometimes hear (or worse, the asian muzak covers of old American songs).

Tonight they had a few half price rolls, so we tried spicy tuna roll, eel and cucumber roll, the volcano roll with scallops, and the Maui roll (albacore tuna with avocado and a garlic sauce). We loved all the rolls, particularly the Maui. The volcano roll was good, with mostly krab and some bay scallops as well as some mushrooms. The sauce was nice and smoky and a little spicy.

We went to leave a tip for the sushi chef, which is not always possible in NC sushi places. I’ve often found here that there is no tip jar for the guys. I thought I saw a tip jar here but apparently it was a donation jar to help the Haitian children. I’m not sure what happened to the Haitian children, I am probably totally out of touch. I asked the waiter to give our tip to the sushi chef and he said, “Oh yes, I’ll give it to him, it’s my dad!”

We’ll be back.

Carolina Sushi & Roll
6008 Falls of Neuse Rd
Raleigh, NC 27609
(919) 981-5835

4 out of 5 stars

You might not expect much by looking at the exterior of this place as it’s relatively meek in this strip mall (albeit a new strip mall) across from Wakefield Commons. But inside you feel like you’ve stepped into a whole Japanese experience, with cool stone walls and wood floors.

The menu featured lots of pictures, so it was more fun to navigate than the website version of the menu. Angela and I tried out the flying eel roll, Philly roll, seaweed salad and edamame. We ordered another one too but I now can’t remember, I think the Hayashi roll. The eel was fresh-tasting and we enjoyed the other rolls as well, they were bountiful. I also liked the seaweed salad, it was a little different because they had added some dressing and mixed with some spring greens. Our edamame was a little overcooked but that’s really the worst I can say about this place. It’s great to have a good sushi option so close to work but so far away from the hustle and bustle.

Hayashi Japanese Restaurant
13200 New Falls of Neuse Rd. #105
Raleigh, NC 27614
(919) 554-0508

5 out of 5 stars

While spendy, I felt this place was completely worth the $. Went here Friday night with some friends who were in from out of town and we were able to secure a Friday 7pm reservation easily on opentable.com. (Thanks for the suggestion Cristina!) The decor here is amazing – rich dark woods, a glass wall holding hundreds of bottles of wine, and pretty tables and seating. There are a few rooms you can choose from for a private group.

To start, we enjoyed some great drinks – a key lime martini which was delicious and I also tried a muddle blackberry tequila drink that also was quite tasty. My friend also enjoyed her berry martini. We followed these up with an appetizer assortment, which the four of us shared. It was a special, consisting of spring rolls, crab cakes, sashimi, and octopus seaweed salad. The items were delicious but the app had a high price at $36!

My entree was the sushi plate, which was deliciously fresh but somewhat standard as far as a sushi assortment goes. A california roll and an assortment of your choice of sashimi or nigiri. Glen ordered some special rolls, one of which was my favorite: The White Dragon roll – crab, torched white tuna, mango, and eel sauce. He also ordered a toro roll and An’s rolls, which was a spicy tuna Vietnamese sushi fusion roll. The An’s roll was interesting but I would have rather had a full sushi roll. Wendy ordered the walnut prawns dinner which was amazing. They came with fresh pea pod shoots as a garnish which we all had fun checking out. I can’t really describe that entree but I’ll try – crunchy, sweet, but not too sweet – perfect!

We didn’t end up trying any dessert but I’d love to go back one time and try the tasting menu ($60).

An
2800 Renaissance Park Pl
Cary, NC 27513
(919) 677-9229

4 out of 5 stars 

This place is hip and has a great amount of selection of interesting Japanese and Thai food.  My husband and I tried mostly sushi selections, including their interesting take on dynamite (a non-spicy version with tasty smoky freshly grilled fish).  I had a great time trying to photograph my husband as he ate the wasabi roll, which is incredibly spicy with wasabi.  He loved it but it was pretty intense.  We ordered a traditional homemade dessert – small sweet potato balls in a warmed sweetened coconut milk with freshly shaved coconut on top.  Not very sweet but very interesting!

I also enjoyed my drink, a purple haze martini in a pretty glass.  It looks like the lounge in the section next to the dining room would be a fun place to meet friends for drinks.  Service was great also.  I can't wait to go back here and try some of the cooked dishes.

Sushi Blues Cafe

3 out of 5 stars

I may risk being labeled a sushi snob if I keep giving eateries around here less than 4 or 5 but I have mixed feelings about Sushi Blues.  In a nutshell:  atmosphere was nice, food was ok, and the service was slow.  Which is strange considering that the place is tiny inside and there were two servers.

Generally the rolls were bountiful but the fish didn't seem super fresh.  Also, the seaweed was different from the seaweed I am used to, it was thicker and dry.  The rolls offered are relatively creative, and the cooked dishes smelled great.  We ordered a spicy scallop roll (tasty), a bagel roll, a santana roll, and another roll with eel.  We also split a seaweed salad.  You can tell that the owners don't really value high quality sushi because they don't even have a tip jar for the chefs!  It's rare to see that.  I've heard this place described as a "sushi sweatshop".

We were there on a Tuesday so when we left around 9pm, the bar was completely packed and it was hard to even get out!  The people love their half price sushi!  I would probably return but not to be wowed.