The Best Sushi Near MAD, by the Record
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Rank 1. Hidden Omakase
Sushi
The chefs pause after every course to hold up the whole fish they just cut from, which is either theater or education depending on your mood. Hidden Omakase is an 18-seat omakase counter tucked inside a strip mall, where Marcos Juarez, an Uchi alum, runs through nigiri that pulls Thai, Vietnamese, and Latin influences into the lineup. BYOB with a corkage fee, so plan accordingly.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
- Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 2. Azumi
Sushi
Seafood flown in daily from Tokyo sets the pace at this sleek River Oaks sushi bar, where the menu runs from delicate nigiri to a flaming king crab roll that arrives with some theatrical intent. It's the kind of polished Japanese spot where the fish is the point and the room knows it. Maki, hand rolls, and omakase-style nigiri fill the card alongside a few non-sushi detours for the table purists inevitably dragged along.
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Rank 3. Nobu
Japanese
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Rank 4. Hachi
Sushi
Tucked into the base of a Galleria office building, Hachi is a sushi restaurant that splits its personality between an 18-course omakase and a full à la carte menu, so you decide how much of a commitment the evening becomes. The chef walks each omakase course to the table with its story attached, which sounds precious until it isn't. The nigiri is the thread either way.
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Rank 5. Uptown Sushi
Japanese fusion Sushi
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Rank 6. Katami
Japanese
- Texas Monthly #1 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Manabu Horiuchi
- Houston Chronicle #15 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
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Rank 7. Oishii
Sushi
Oishii means "delicious" in Japanese, which is either a promise or a spoiler, depending on how you feel about a sushi joint wedged between a dry cleaner and a liquor store in an Upper Kirby strip mall. The family-run room covers the classics: sashimi, tempura, udon, and rolls that don't require a second mortgage. Regulars tend to find it by word of mouth and then act like they invented it.
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Rank 8. Haii Keii
Sushi
An upside-down bonsai tree hangs from the ceiling while a crab butter candle drips tableside, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe here. Haii Keii is a futuristic sushi lounge where the design channels Blade Runner and the menu channels ambition, with inventive rolls, vegetarian nigiri that fools the table, and ube espresso martinis in a shade of purple that has no business being that pretty.
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Rank 9. Neo
Sushi
A sushi counter tucked inside a couture clothing store in Montrose, which is either the most Houston thing imaginable or a fever dream, depending on your mood. The omakase seats only a handful of guests, and the chefs take Japanese tradition as a starting point rather than a rulebook, dry-aging fish flown from Japan and finishing nigiri with black garlic or kumquats. Casual in spirit, meticulous in execution.
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Rank 10. Kata Robata
Sushi
Chef Manabu "Hori" Horiuchi, a four-time James Beard Award nominee, runs this upscale Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in River Oaks. The menu moves between tradition and Houston without apology: amberjack sashimi arrives with foie gras, and a miso lobster mac and cheese sits a few lines below the daily sashimi specials. The room fills with the kind of regulars who know to check the specials board first and order off it almost exclusively.
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Rank 11. Zen Japanese Izakaya
Japanese
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Rank 12. Miyako
Sushi
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Rank 14. Teppay
Japanese
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Rank 16. Uchi
Sushi
Uchi runs omakase and à la carte Japanese small plates out of a warm, low-lit room on Westheimer that fills up fast enough to make a reservation feel non-negotiable. The chef's background is in Austin, where the original location built a following, and the Houston room carries the same ethos: precise, inventive bites plated like someone actually thought about where to put them. Happy hour runs from four to six for anyone watching the tab.
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Rank 17. Osaka
Sushi
A neighborhood sushi restaurant on Westheimer where the menu covers enough ground that nobody at the table argues, from rolls and sashimi to noodles and donburi bowls. The kitchen leans into consistency, which is its own kind of promise. Portions are generous, the room stays calm, and the regulars clearly know it. A second location sits on Bellaire Boulevard if this one's busy.
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Rank 18. Sasaki
Sushi
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Rank 19. MF Sushi
Sushi
The counter at this Museum District omakase spot is made from hinoki cypress, a wood chosen because it's said to sharpen the flavor of fish, which tells you something about how seriously the team takes the details here. Chef Chris Kinjo's sushi restaurant draws a dressed-up crowd willing to surrender the menu entirely, and the kitchen rewards them with plates that read as carefully considered as the room around them.
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Rank 20. 5Kinokawa
Sushi
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Rank 21. Himari
Sushi
A sushi restaurant just outside the Heights where the bar seats fill up with people who already know what they're ordering. The menu moves from cold sashimi plates through specialty maki and into nigiri and tempura, so there's room to graze or commit to a full spread. The patio exists for the handful of Houston evenings cool enough to justify it, which locals treat as a minor holiday.
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Rank 22. Kokoro
Sushi
Kokoro lives inside Bravery Chef Hall downtown, where the team from Uchi turned a food-hall counter into a sushi and yakitori spot that manages to feel genuinely relaxed without the studied casualness of a place trying to prove a point. Nigiri and maki share the menu with grilled yakitori and chicken fat rice. The crowd eating standing up at the counter is not doing it ironically; the food just moves fast.
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Rank 23. Kuu
Modern Sushi
The chef trained under Nobu Matsuhisa, and the menu reflects it: modern Japanese fine dining where sashimi and nigiri share space with contemporary technique and a few ideas that nudge the tradition sideways. The room is polished and the patio offers an escape from it. It's the kind of place where people dress up a little without being told to, which says something about the neighborhood's ambitions.
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Rank 24. Izakaya-Wa
Japanese
Izakaya-style dining in Memorial Village means shareable skewers, cold Kirin, and a sushi menu that does most of the heavy lifting. The gyu kushiyaki, beef tenderloin on a stick, and the Cowboy Roll, seared beef with avocado and eel sauce, give you a sense of the register: Japanese comfort food leaning playful. The crowd fills in after work and doesn't rush out. A second location exists in River Oaks, though the menus differ.
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Rank 25. Sushi Miyagi
Sushi