Like a lot of people around here, I’m smitten by sushi but I don’t understand it or know what to order.
I stare at menus, lost in translation. What’s the difference between a white fish or yellow fish, sushi or sashimi?
Eel sauce? Eeek, what’s that?
Strawberries on sushi? Huh?
Ho Sushi Bistro takes the enigma out of sushi.
The menus are colorful, like a child’s picture book, with page after page popping with diagrammed dishes.
The servers will guide you and the owner comes around to your table.
Or, get this: Ho Sushi Bistro will even deliver it your doorstep, if you’re nearby.
That’s right. If you can’t come to the fish, the fish will come to you. There’s sushi delivery — in Everett!
But, wait, you’ll want to visit Ho Sushi Bistro.
The modern decor is dazzling. From the neon menu board to neon lights under the sleek bar to the flashing lights in the food presentation to the amazingly delicious dishes.
But first, you have to find the bistro. That’s the hard part.
From the road, it’s a blip in a nondescript strip mall on busy 128th Street SW in Everett. If you’re heading toward I-5, to access the strip plaza you have to go behind it then snake past a bikini barista stand and car detail center to get there.
It’s totally worth it.
I went for lunch on a recent Saturday with my eat-anything husband, Max, and two sushi experts, my Japanese daughter-in-law, Ayako, and my son, Ian, who fell in love with sushi and Ayako while living in Japan.
Ho Sushi Bistro was recommended by the owner of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a Texas chain located in the same strip. I admit, I’m more of a Dickey’s girl than a sushi girl. I can relate to pulled pork, creamy coleslaw and baked beans. (Just writing that sentence makes me crave Dickey’s.)
Ho Sushi Bistro has a wide range of authentic fare, but also brings sushi to a level for us locals. It’s a nice mix of east meets west.
The bistro opened “four months and two weeks ago,” said co-owner Tianrong “Andy” Ho, who stopped by our table to see how we were doing.
Call him Andy, that’s what his name tag says.
Andy and his brother, John, previously had a restaurant in New York City, where the sushi market is very competitive. They moved to Everett for several reasons.
“Everything is more peaceful compared to New York,” Andy said, “and I like the living space here.”
The brothers, who are Chinese, clearly put a lot of time, money, thought into the design of the place. It feels like a fancy downtown Seattle sushi restaurant dropped into Everett.
The dishes look as pretty as the pictures in the menu.
“We try to make the food beautiful,” Andy said. “We make it fresh and make a presentation and make it enjoyable.”
Some of the “Chef’s Special” sushi rolls have local ties. The Boeing Roll ($13.95) has spicy crawfish inside, topped with spicy salmon and jalapeno. The Seahawks Roll ($14.95) has tuna, salmon, yellowtail, snow crab and avocado. The Everett Roll ($13.95) has eel and avocado inside, topped with crab and strawberry.
We chose the Evergreen Roll ($9.95), with snow crab inside, topped with avocado and served with eel sauce and spicy mayo. The eel sauce was tasty, not eeky. I’m hooked.
It was Ayako’s favorite, and she’s picky about her sushi. “I go to Seattle to get real sushi,” she said.
She gave Ho Sushi Bistro the nod on several counts. “It just tastes right,” she said. “I like the restaurant decoration.”
The sashimi combination ($25.95) was a work of art, with lights under the fresh flower petals adorning the naked slabs of fish. Sashimi is raw sliced fish served without rice.
“Only 25 dollars for a lot of different kinds of fish. Salmon, tuna, yellowtail, albacore,” Ian said. “It looked as good as it tasted.”
The pineapple shrimp hibachi rice ($10.95) was mushy but good. The regular fried rice that came with the hibachi vegetable platter ($10.95) was rich in flavor and firm in texture. The stir-fried vegetables were crisp.
A meal for four people came to $79, including appetizers and soft drinks, with a few morsels leftover to eat later.
Service was top-notch friendly, fast and fun. With a $21 tip, for $100, we had a first-class meal.
This place delivers in many ways.
Ho Sushi Bistro
617 128th St. SW, Suite 103-104, Everett, 425-405-3917, hosushi.menucities.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Alcohol: Beer, wine and sake.
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