119 4th Street, Santa Rosa CA 95401
(707) 526-2652
Parking: pay street parking
Hours: Lunch Mon to Fri 11:30am to 2:30pmDinner - Mon to Thurs 5pm - 10pm, Fri to Sat 5pm to 11pm, Closed Sundays
Last Visited: May 20, 2006
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 3 to 4 stars
Price: $ to $$$$
Sushi to Dai For is located in the newly updated historic downtown section of Santa Rosa. It’s a new addition to their existing San Rafael location. The colors are rich with lots of blue-purple in the walls and ceilings. The window front is painted with a funny looking character in a bright pink. I’m not sure what this character’s role is, but the inside will grab you. Clean lines and styled. It’s a great night spot with little hanging lights in orange yellow shades and the room looks like it would be perfect for a dinner date.
The sushi bar on the left side of the restaurant features lots of fresh fish in the glass cases. From our spot, I had the opportunity to watch baby crab wandering around a small pagoda encased in a tank. Talk about live entertainment. The sushi chefs are also friendly and you can watch the experts as they make the great delicacies.
The right side of the room offers regular tables. Various wait staff members have trendy hair and an exotic flare about them. You’ll know what I mean when you see them. We asked for hot tea and it came so hot that we had to let it cool down a bit. We love hot tea – it just makes the experience even better – lukewarm tea is just not acceptable so they made a great first impression with their steaming tea.
- Roll Combination Plate - Rock and Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, California roll – This platter contains three types of rolls as listed above. For authentic sushi lovers, I would skip the combo plate since the rolls are not too exciting, but if you’re a first time or amateur sushi eater, this might be the perfect thing for you. All are cut and placed side up – six pieces per roll. Great flavor. Miso soup accompanies this plate. $15
Nigiri sushi:
- Amber Jack (2 pieces) – The amber jack was one of today’s specials. A large piece of fish topping sushi rice. Very fresh without any fishy flavor. Excellent. $5.50
- Aji – This was my first time trying aji. With the skin still on, the presentation is more dramatic and the very thinly sliced strips of ginger and small green onion pieces add to the flavor of this fish. Excellent. $5.50
- Hamaichi (2 pieces) – Fresh and delicious. There’s not much more to say. Excellent. $4.95
- Unagi (2 pieces) – Perhaps since we had to ask about the status of our unagi, we got an extra large version, but two pieces of baked unagi were placed on each piece of rice and rolled with a seaweed strip. The sushi is topped with toasted sesame seeds and drizzled lightly with sauce. As our sushi chef called it, it was an extra large unagi for us to enjoy. I’m not sure if it normally comes with two pieces per sushi (I’m thinking no), but a great way to recover from having the customer ask for it. Excellent. Even if it had been only one piece of unagi per rice, it would have still been very good. $4.95
- Miso Soup – A bowl of very hot miso soup arrives with cubes of tofu and pieces of green onion in it. The soup temperature is great – so steaming hot, you have to wait for it to cool. The cubes of tofu were not cut as nicely as I’ve seen them cut at other places. This is not worthy of reducing stars, but certainly an opportunity to improve presentation. $1.80
In general, I found all of the fish and other ingredients to be very fresh. However, the rice could have been a touch softer, making each piece more soft and tender. Almost there, but not quite which led to the three to four star range for food.
Great food, entertaining sushi chef pros, and a trendy atmosphere. A great addition to historic downtown. I’m sure to be back for another visit soon.
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