Restaurant Review - Atami Sushi

Clarks Summit has a brand new sushi bar. Atami Sushi is located next to Gerrity's supermarket in the strip mall off of Winola Road at Old Lackawanna Trail. I was having a light workday today so I asked a friend to join me for lunch at this new spot. It was pouring rain, and I was happy to see a parking space right in front of the door. As one might expect in a new restaurant (that as far as I know hasn't even announced its presence outside of hanging a sign) there were only about eight other patrons seated in the place when we walked in.

I have to hand it to the folks that opened this place. My guess is that they are working on a tight budget, but they are sure making the most of it. There is a lovely new sushi bar on the left as you walk in and just a handful of tables on the right. I noticed the cool track lighting over the sushi bar and another track, as yet with no lights in the middle of the dining room. The walls are freshly painted alternately in deep blue and mango tones, giving the place a funky feel, but there is nothing hanging on the walls to break up the vast blank expanses. I am sure that the abundance of empty space on both the walls and in the dining room will fill up over time as the restaurant establishes itself, and I have no doubt that it will do just that. Atami does not have a liquor license, and you are encouraged to BYOB as the sign on the window suggests.

We took up our positions at the sushi bar and both ordered from the lunch special menu which was reasonably priced in the $8.00 to $12.00 range. My lunch consisted of a choice of miso soup or salad (I chose salad), a sushi roll which I selected from the generous assortment available for the special (I chose spicy yellowtail roll), and three pieces of nigiri which were "chef's choice". Not surprisingly, these turned out to be tuna, yellowtail, and salmon, which was just fine with me. My friend ordered the two roll lunch special and opted for the miso soup over the salad. Her roll selections were the Tokyo roll and the ebiten roll. We both ordered hot green tea as our beverage and eagerly awaited the arrival of our first course.

The miso and salad arrived very quickly and were fine. The salad had a dressing that was a little different from the usual overpowering and heavily applied ginger variety found at some of the other sushi venues in the area. It was milder and had a pleasant orangey tone to it. Judging from the uniqueness and consistency of the dressing, I might guess that it was made in house. Beyond the dressing, the salad was unremarkable. It consisted of the usual iceberg, shredded carrot, and tomato, with a few bits of red cabbage tossed in for color. The miso soup however was quite good. It was lighter in color than one is used to getting in our area and well flavored with both the seaweed and miso shining through pleasantly. There was a generous amount of diced tofu and the soup was the perfect temperature.

Of the three rolls we sampled, the best one was the spicy yellowtail. It was made of finely minced fish blended with a peppery sauce and rolled with (I think) a bit of bonito flake and finished with a sprinkling of sesame seed. It was a bit hotter than I am used to in a spicy roll but I really, really liked it. Our next favorite was the ebiten roll which featured tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, and a delightful sauce that was a hit in both flavor and texture. Last, and in this case least, was the Tokyo roll. I can't say it was bad, but even now, just an hour after tasting it, I can't clearly remember what it was like. It was utterly unremarkable. Perhaps it was because we had some pretty flavorful offerings on the plate competing with it, but the Tokyo roll did not impress, and I will almost certainly not order it again. The nigiri sushi was very good in each case. The rice was superb and the amount was in perfect proportion to the size of the fish. I am always disappointed by a tiny morsel of fish on a huge wad of rice. The fish itself was beautifully smooth and even in texture and possessing an excellent fresh taste.

Though it doesn't have the ambience, yet, of its more well established competition and lacks a liquor license, I think that Atami Sushi is here to stay. I highly recommend giving Atami a try for lunch or perhaps for dinner before heading out to the bar or club on the weekend. You will leave satisfied, particularly if the quality of the food is what is really important to you.

Atami Sushi
100 Old Lackawanna Trl
Clarks Summit, PA 18411
(570) 585-1250