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Mon. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Tue. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Tue. 5:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Wed. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Wed. 5:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Thu-Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Thu-Fri. 5:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sat. 5:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sun. 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
A sushi restaurant should be apt in other Japanese dishes if they are going to have them on the menu. I ordered the "soba" noodles and I got ramen. Not cold buckwheat noodles, hot flour noodles in broth!
I have been going to Sushi Blues since 2001. Their sushi was definitely better before the Glennwood south explosion, their consequent expansion, and extremely popular 1/2 price nights. The vegetarian rolls are their saving grace for me. They offer many "jazz & blues" themed rolls as well. It's good, but that assessment is coming from a sushi-slut.
Live music on Friday & Saturday nights is nice. Better place for a large group than a date, unless you're doing lunch date.
Wine bar/chocolatier, wing bar/sportsbar, draughthouse/laundromat - some of the latest trends are matches made in heaven.
But sushi bar/blues bar? Can this possibly work?
Possibly, it could have, but having read the reviews below, it appears our experience at Sushi Blues was par for the disappointing course. Neverending wait for a table? Check. Extremely slow service likely due to understaffing (I realize the fine art of sushi rolling takes time, but we waitied a good ten minutes at our table just to be greeted). Check. Rolls whose clever rock and blues legend monikers could not distract us from the fact that they were just okay. Check times 5.
If you do insist on checking the place out for yourself, here's a couple of helpful hints:
1) Rather than waiting for a table in the main (read: loud and overcrowded) dining room, mention to the hostess that you don't mind sitting in the lounge. You can order off the sushi menu here, too. Our private booth was quiet and fit the five of us well. That and, as we were all dressed to the nines, the candlelit lounge's decidedly swanky vibe seemed more apropos.
2) Stick with the specialty rolls here. Not only does this appear to be one of the few things they get right (aside from mojitos - you have my permission to order as many of these as you please), but with all the extra ingredients involved, you're likely to miss the fact that the fish is not necessarily of the utmost quality.
3) Do not be sucked in by the lure of half-price sushi. I'd rather pay full price and enjoy it than have to put up with the mob that flocks to Sushi Blues on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Perhaps this unusual combo would fare better if the bar were not so greatly outweighing the sushi (and if they'd put more servers on the floor - our server was trying her best but obviously overwhelmed).
For a late dinner in the midst of a Glenwood Avenue night out, I'd sooner head next door to Thaiphoon.
The atmosphere was very pleasant and all of the rolls had cool names. As for the cuisine, more effort was put into the names then the food. I'll eat supermarket sushi, and this didn't compare. The Eric Clapton roll tasted like a California roll with hamburger helper on top.
I came here when visiting a friend in NC and I really enjoyed it. The sushi was delicious and they had a good variety of rolls. The atmosphere is good and I for one liked the theme that some may find cheesy. It's a different concept for Japanese food and it works. However, you do have to wait quite sometime to be seated. Luckily my friend and I passed the time at the delightful Irish pub next door with some Guinness on tap.
Well, at least I can agree with most of what the Yelpers have to say on this restaurant. For some reason all of my friends just LOVE Sushi Blues. I suspect most of this has to do with ambiance. The restaurant is decorated in old Jazz and Blues records and serves expensive drinks. Overall, it seems to be calculated to cater to the "hipster" crowd.
The food is slightly above average, which really doesn't cut it for the prices you pay. An exception to this rule is of course on half price sushi night (Tuesday 10-midnight and Thursday 11-1), but it gets really packed on these nights so be ready to fight for a table.
If you're looking for a good spot to take a date, try out Sushi Blues, but if she's a sushi connoisseur, I'd look elsewhere in town for your rolls.
A lot of people complain about the lack of authenticity at Sushi Blues. But you know what? Sometimes you just need a little mayo on your tuna roll. Is that so wrong?
Sushi Blues has long been more about the scene than the sushi. Lately, though, it has started to show it's age. When I first started going here years ago for half-off Tuesdays and Thursdays, the bar was populated with painfully cool asian kids sporting fresh haircuts, leather jackets, and glowing martinis that cost upwards of twenty dollars (and this was in the days when drink prices in Raleigh were still generally reasonable). Now things seem a little dusty, and the crowd is a little duller. It's still fun and you can still see a lot of beautiful people spending a lot of money, it's just not what it once was.
If you go when it's busy, look for a table in the bar section - it's self-seating over there, so you don't have to wait in that huge line, and the service is the same (read: extremely slow, but generally friendly and helpful).
I suppose you can add my name to the growing list of people concerned that Sushi Blues is a bar that happens to serve sushi rather than a Sushi restaurant. While I still think that the rolls they serve are perfectly good, the nigiri is normally more wasabi than rice and the fish doesn't taste as fresh as it does in other spots around the Triangle.
While some cling to the idea that it used to be better than this, I wonder if it's really a matter of dyed in the wool customers feeling like they've been muscled out of their once hip sushi bar by the roving gangs of drinkers that head up and down Glenwood each weekend now.
If you must go to check it out, be prepared to wait. Bring a book, a sudoku puzzle, a laptop with a Word file of that novel you've been working on...anything to pass the time. You can only look at the walls plastered with their hip decorations for so long before you start to remember that you came in to eat.
Sushi Lite, perhaps. If you're a sushi afficiando, you're probably better served elsewhere, but the food here is still very good. Clean and friendly.
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.
I used to go here a lot more when I was a student at NC State. Half price night on Thursdays was always a good start to a bar crawl on Glenwood South. But I must admit I am not as impressed with their sushi as I used to be. Maybe its because I eat sushi a lot more now than before or that the quality of their sushi has declined. Their lunch specials of sashimi, sushi and a cooked dish are a good deal though. In addition, I have never been disappointed in a mixed drink that I've ordered there. Their spicy fish appetizer (we usually upgrade to Tuna) is my favorite out of any other place I have tried. This place is a nice alternative for a late night snack if you are barhopping downtown, I believe they typically serve food until 1am.
I'll admit that I may be a little a biased towards Sushi Blues...my friends and I love the half off nights. The regular-priced sushi is definitely a lot better quality though, and the menu is more extensive. You also get a little noodle dish, warm towel, and orange slices if you go when it's not half off, which is nice. And the atmosphere is much more relaxed.
But I cannot resist half off sushi! The rest of this applies to half off nights only (Tuesday starting at 10pm, Thursday starting at 11pm):
Half off nights are definitely a bit of a commitment. You will have to wait as it's really crowded. I would not recommend large parties either. Usually my friends and I will just put our name on the list about an hour early and head over to Helio's to pass the time. Some nights seating is a lot faster than others; it seems to depend a lot of the host(ess) working. Service is super quick for half off, and you'll probably feel rushed if you try to stay a while. But if you're looking for a quick and cheap sushi fix, this is it!
Usually I'll split rolls with my friends and my check comes out to about $10 after tip and everything (and I'm not a cheap tipper). My favorite rolls are Across the Street Carmen (fried sweet potato, shrimp tempura), Speakeasy (eel and cream cheese, it's not on the half off menu anymore), Spicy Scallop, and Wolf Pack.
Also, a general tip: there's a parking lot in the back...just get the host or bartender to give you a token to get out, because without one it costs like $5!
I don't like sushi. Yep. Take my groovy urbanite membership card away right now. I mean...it's raw fish. How is that a good idea? Anyway, my issues with uncooked marine life aside, I don't like sushi but I do really like Sushi Blues. Quite the conundrum.
First of all, this place always ends up tops on the list for a girls' night dinner out. It's hip enough that you can spiff yourself up a bit, but not so swanky that you can't wear jeans. They have a good selection of wine and cocktails, and they're located conveniently near fun bars, so the party can continue, if need be. There's plenty on the menu for non-sushi eaters; I've enjoyed my share of tempura/teriyaki entrees, and the pickled vegetable appetizer is delish.
And despite my general sushi reticence, I have sampled a cucumber roll or two here, as few as some with cooked seafood - the shrimp tempura, for instance, and found them to all be pretty tasty as well.
Sushi Blues reminds of places I'd find out in San Francisco: a bit hip, a bit casual and a great spot to grab a bite! I'm not a huge sushi fan, just tried the chicken katsu but the food was decent. The place isn't much to look at from the outside but pretty cool on the inside. Techno music, modern decor with old jazz albums lining the walls. I'll definitely need to try the place out again to see if it's consistently good...
This is probably one of my favorite places to go for sushi. They have a lot of original rolls--especially like their vegetarian rolls. The atmosphere is very nice too. It's kinda upscale and the service is nice. It's a good place to go get a drink, socialize, and get a light sushi dinner.
Marginal sushi. I get the feeling that people think Sushi Blues serves good sushi because of the lack of variety of sushi restaurants in the Raleigh area. I had the sashimi and was served small portions that did not have the delicacy and ephemeral essences that I expect when ordering raw sliced fish on a plate. Other people at my table ordered rolls, and they looked good...although even Fridays can get rolls right. I judge sushi restaurants by their sashimi and/or nigiri and have had better...much better.
This used to be one of our Top 2-3 sushi places in Raleigh. Service WAS great, staff friendly. After they renovated and added the bar, it has gone downhill. We were there 2-3 times after that and have not been back, too bad, used to be a fun place. Having a new "Cool Vibe" has triumphed over good food and service!
I like sushi quite a bit. Sushi Blues provides innovation (and being open late when I've been out drinking, yes) to the typical sushi platters with adaptations named after famous people/places/things. Still, aside from diversity and convenience (oh yeah, and cool decor), its pretty standard. Its a fun place to go if you've never been or you've been out on the town and want some light, tasty food but for a solid sushi dinner-type meal I look elsewhere. Theres better for the price and cheaper for the quality.
I really enjoyed Sushi Blues. It's a great dinner spot. The maki was good (with some interesting combinations of ingredients I had not seen before) and the presentation of the food was nice. What I found completely strange, though, was that while they already has blues music playing for entertainment (hence the name), they also had a muted television in one corner tuned into the Food Network! So, while I'm trying to enjoy the complex flavors of my Bob Marley roll, I'm also watching Rachael Ray make lasagne. That's just weird.
Just eat the lobster tempura roll. That is all you must do in this life, eat that and your mission will be fulfilled. And sit at the sushi bar, the tables are crowded and people bump into you on their way in and out.
This is a popular Raleigh hot-spot for sushi, and I attribute that to the good location and the posh atmosphere. The last time I came, the wait for a table was enormously long. The downside to waiting is that there's not a ton of lobby space. You can wait in the little area by the host stand or at the bar, but otherwise you might be standing outside. We had a large group with us, some of whom were starving, so we grabbed a bar table and huddled together there. Service was i-n-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y slow. I understand it was a weekend night and they were busy with a walitlist, but I've worked in restaurants for 7 years, and was annoyed that we were ignored and unacknowledged (not even a courteous, "Sorry, we're a little busy, but I'll be with you soon" hello) for the first 20 minutes. When a bartender did finally make their way around to get our drink order, it was another long wait for those to arrive and then to put in our sushi. We were so hungry by the time we got around to eating, I can't even remember whether it was good or not! If I were in the area, I'd probably try it again, but not likely on a weekend night.
When I first went to Sushi Blues, I didn't like it - something funny with the rice. But now that I've eaten it more, I like it a lot. The sushi is sliced thin, in about 8 slices. The atmosphere is good - quiet except on half -off sushi nights (Tues night after 9, Thurs night after 10). The sushi is inventive and they appear to like asparagus and tempura flakes. Overall, very tasty. Try the Wolfpack Roll if you go!
I ate their on Tuesday, half-off night. I really liked the atmosphere with good energy, young professionals, but I didn't think the sushi was very good. It didn't seem like it was fresh. It might be better on regular nights when it's not half-off. I would go back and try again.
i really enjoy eating here, though i agree that it doesn't have the best sushi in town. for the total package, tho, i still place it in the top tier of sushi places in town. if you go when its really busy, the service can slow to a crawl. some of the rolls are pretty creative, tho, and i've enjoyed the food most of the time.
Raleigh, NC
Category: Sushi Bars
Raleigh, NC
Category: Chinese
Raleigh, NC
Category: Sushi Bars
Cary, NC
Category: Coffee & Tea
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