Jalon Z.'s Profile

Eating at Sushi House Hayakawa is not fair. I only get to go when I travel to Atlanta, and it is the highlight of every trip. It has also raised the bar high enough that when I travel elsewhere in the United States and have sushi, everything gets compared to here.

The restaurant captures several unique qualities which together make a great experience. As others have noted, the most unquantifiable element is that your dinner is not rushed. This is a destination, not a stop-over. A couple of hours can fly by while you chat with the chefs, enjoy one dish after another and relax. This is rare in many restaurants today. There is no pressure to leave. Because of this, table turn-over is low, so getting a table is important.

Reservations are recommended on late week and weekend evenings. If you bring more than four people, be prepared to wait awhile. Service can be slow when the restaurant is full, but again the restaurant is not conducive to a rushed dinner.

The staff are friendly and the menu extensive. The Ikura Don is in the list of "the best flavors I have experienced in my life".

I have only once been disappointed, and that was with the Onion Miso soup.

The prices are not cheap, but this isn't the kind of place where you nickel and dime your way through the sushi sheet.

The various rolls are a great value, but the best value of all is in the overlooked Udon section in the back of the menu. If you are on a budget, split a couple of rolls and a huge bowl of Udon and tempura. Your bill will be a fraction of what it could be.

Note that for people complaining about seeing empty tables while they are waiting... The tables have been reserved for an upcoming dinner seating. Reservations are recommended, just to be safe. We have had more fun than we thought sitting 3 or 4 people at the sushi bar rather than a table.

I struggle with reviews like this. I cannot rate a sushi restaurant in Manassas on the same level as one on the West Coast or in the city. But in the Manassas area, Naru is the best that I have been able to locate.

Maybe it's futile to search for "sushi" and "ramen" in the suburbs after having had the real thing. Maybe trying to eat sushi in Manassas shouldn't be attempted when my point of reference is a traditional, Japanese-owned sushi restaurant. Does this make me a food snob? I hope not.

There are certainly better options in Reston and closer to DC. But this is Manassas, and people want to eat sushi! I'm giving this review 4 stars to reflect the expectations of local diners. My personal scale has gotten to be a bit unrealistic.

In February 2010, Naru changed ownership to a Korean husband-wife couple who run the restaurant full-time. They have worked very hard to clean up the restaurant and bring it out of the decline of the past few years. Do not be scared of a lightly filled parking lot. The restaurant simply needs the word to get around that here is a decent place to go.

Today, the interior is spotlessly clean and beautiful. When sitting at your table it is hard to imagine the cars rushing by on Centerville Rd. Lunch is very quiet, until more people find out what they are missing.

There are excellent lunch Bento boxes with fresh, tasty sushi, lightly fried Tempura and well-marinated Teriyaki. Bento boxes are around $9. The green tea is hot, lightly flavored and excellent.

The couple says that they make their Ramen and Udon noodles and broth from scratch on-site. I lack the experience to confirm or deny that claim. The Ramen broth is miso-based, which is different than some would expect. It makes the  soup more hearty, and is excellent in the winter. Udon soup is served in a clay pot that is too hot to eat from. You have to ladle the Udon into a small bowl to cool it off. After eating in a variety of Korean restaurants, and having a lot of Kalguksu, my take on the soup is that it is a heavily Korean influenced variation. But it is still good!

Service is attentive and personable, but can be a little slow. Relax, that is part of the charm. After all you are at a small, intimate husband and wife operation.

This is an "off the beaten path" diner with excellent breakfast. The menu provides selections from traditional American, and American-style Italian, Spanish and Greek dishes. The service is friendly and the interior is casual, clean and populated by a large following of local residents.

Sunday morning brunch is quite crowded, as are weekdays at noon, so I don't even try to get in at those times. A late lunch or early dinner is best.

For lunch, the gyro wrap (huge!) and burgers are good, the fries are usually outstanding.

The most important thing here is that this is the deep Virginia suburbs. The clientele does not tend towards sketchy food trucks, dim Taquerias and no-English Pho restaurants. They want simple comfort food. The diner provides some extra variety while staying within those boundaries.

The breakfast is always good, the Greek items seem the most authentic, the Spanish items second, with the Italian food actually being the suburban American equivalent.

Some selections can be very, very greasy due to cheese overload, especially the American "Italian" selections. I have tried the lasagna twice now and both times the dish was not a layered lasagna but what seemed to be ricotta on the bottom, undrained ground beef in the middle and noodles, sauce and a hefty amount of cheese on top. One side of the lasagna dish was covered in a quarter inch of grease.

The tortellini in cream sauce has arrived swimming in almost an inch of melted butter. I have had a dinner gyro platter which featured dried out meat, the edges of which were too tough to pierce with a fork.

Some care is needed when exploring the menu. But every now and then I find a hit, such as a Chile Relleno special that was just amazing.

Sparky's Deli has been a neighborhood fixture for the past couple of years. Unless you stopped to get gas at the gas station and went inside, you would never know that there is an actual chef, Paul, inside having fun making excellent food!

Paul's Chicken Noodle Soup was the best I ever had, and constantly requested by my son. The chili was good as well, and the list goes on and on. It all was good.

However, I stopped by today and Paul was gone. The business has been taken over by a young couple who are getting used to things and working on carrying on the tradition. They are improving some things such as providing better coffee.

Their version of the famous chicken noodle soup is different, clear broth instead of creamy, but the noodles are thick, firm and excellent and there is lots of flavor. This is still some good soup!

I have not had time to try out very much on the menu, so cannot give anything but three starts. I'll come back and update this review after trying things out more.

Still, if you are in Manassas, and want some great food, call for delivery or stop by Sparky's and support a local business!

I stopped by here with my wife the other weekend. This is truly a family-run business with pretty much the entire family helping out.

It's great to see someone start up a local business in Manassas old town and help bring back the sense of community.

You'll need to get there early to get the best cupcakes, they go fast!

The cupcakes were excellent, with plenty of flavor, moist inside and little touches like the piece of lemon candy on top of the lemon cupcake showing the extra effort. I hope that they start to make fruit tarts and other Patisserie fare,

The owner was happy to chat about his business and they are working to expand to meet demand.

We have continued to go here regularly for the past few years and have never been disappointed. This is the only home-style Indian restaurant I know of south of the Reston/Sterling area.

The service is always excellent, the staff is happy to chat and explore the menu with us.

The Naan is home-style, which means it is stretched and thinner than many people are used to. The round, thick Naan is fast-food kabob style.

The food quality is pretty amazing, and the side salads are super-fresh, tasty and an integral part of the meal, not an after-thought.

The specialty here is definitely the Chicken Tandoori. Order a whole chicken, a couple of Naan and you'll get some spicy lentils on the side as well as a nice big salad and rice for people to share. There will (hopefully) be chicken left to take home.

This is a charming little cottage in the side yard of the owner's house. It is extra-special because in an era of cookie-cutter franchises it is so unique.

The owner lived in Japan and Hawaii, and the shrimp breading is Japanese Panko based, which gives a thick, crispy breading with steaming hot shrimp inside. Most importantly, the breading is NOT greasy at all! Our shrimp was even served on a piece of brown bread to absorb any grease that might be left from the fryer.

The interior is tiny, the menu is small, but really, the shrimp and fries are fried to perfection!

I think a lot of people get confused and go to the seafood place across the road cause it is what you see first. The owner of that place was pretty peeved when I asked about fried shrimp. I eventually awkwardly found my way across the street to the right place and was greeted and cared for like I was a close family friend.

My wife and I tried the fried shrimp platter (amazing) and I had the fried fish (double amazing and a LOT). The fried fish was easily as good or better (gasp) than what I had in London. I'm not that much into fried food, and even a small amount of grease will make me queasy. This is the first time I can remember where I had fried fish/shrimp and was not hurting afterwards. Now when I have a craving I know where to go!

The only thing missing with the fried fish and chips is a beer.

A Deli is the best Italian deli I have been able to find in the Manassas/Centerville area. Whenever I go in, It reminds me of "The Italian Store" in Arlington.

The store has hot and cold sandwiches made to order, a variety of Italian specialties and delicacies, wine, cheese, meats, pastas, fresh homemade cannolis, and more.

The interior has a few tables to sit at and things can get crowded fast. However, chatting with the owner and other customers is part of the experience while you wait for your sandwich.

The sandwiches are large, excellent and come in a wide variety. The Italian subs seem to the the core specialty.

I have eaten here a few times now. The joke is asking what time they close. On Sunday night they close "early", at midnight.

The food is excellent, with the rotisserie and pineapple marinated pork Al Pastor being my favorite! The tacos and any daily special is where its at! Enchiladas are a little thin for my preference and the burritos are not comparable to the amazing, excellent tacos!

One night a special was make your own tacos from fried fish, piping hot corn tortillas and slaw. Amazing!

The other great experience here is the homemade salsa bar. There is everything here from salsa to picked veggies, to chiles. A veritable mine-field of flavor!

Also, the best Guacamole I can remember having. And for the local specialty, try the deep-fried cheesecake in a tortilla!

I have been here quite a few times now while in Chicago and it has become a default lunch destination. Very crowded at peak hours. A plate of Katy's dumplings are a must-have and are big enough to be a lunch in themselves.

The atmosphere is hole-in-the-wall "minimal", ordering can be an experience, and there are a lot of regulars. That means the food is good! This is not a place to worry about appearances, and service is food placed on your table. There is nothing to interfere with your dumpling experience!

if I lived here I would raid the freezer for the hand-made frozen dumplings that you can steam at home.

Some of the dishes can be a bit on the oily side, or very spicy, but that is how they are supposed to be made. If you aren't crying from the spicy broth, you aren't eating! There is quite a variety of food, from a fatty brisket beef stew, to more healthy steamed dumplings. Everyone can find something on the menu to like, but it will be an adventure to find it.

Don't forget, Katy's is cash only and closed on Wednesday.