what do I know

Bucky over at 2ndPlayer.net has been raving about Izziban Sushi for the past few months. Never to be one to turn down the potential for good sushi, we headed over for our typical “short” Friday lunch. My expectations for any new sushi restaurant are usually low, but in the case of Izziban I was definitely not disappointed. In fact, I think Izziban has some of the best sushi I’ve tried in the Orlando area to date.

Located in the shopping plaza with World Market, Izziban has taken over the the space formally occupied by Saucy Bella. The restaurant layout hasn’t changed too much, but the decor is simple and well done; I especially like the collection of designer saki bottles lining the back wall. It’s your typical “wait to be seated” place. We were seated right away, our drink and food orders were taken, and our food was received all within 20 minutes. The lunch menu was a single page, back and front, with a great sampling of dishes. They have a large selection of bento boxes and lunch-sized entrees as well as sushi, sushimi, and roll lunches.

The table ordered a pretty big diversity of items from the lunch menu as well as an order of gyoza (~$5 - grilled pork dumplings). The gyoza was very flavorful and came with a sweet/salty dipping sauce. I ordered hot tea ($1.50) and the Roll Combo A (~$14) which came with 3 different rolls, a choice of soup or salad, and a generous helping of ginger and wasabi. The miso soup could have used some more tofu and seaweed. A couple others tried the salad which came with a nice chunk of pineapple, fried noodles, and a mild ginger dressing. The tuna roll is the typical tuna roll, the spicy salmon roll is made with smoked salmon, cucumber, and spicy masago, and the shrimp roll was made with shrimp tempura, covered in salmon eggs, and topped with mayo. The quality of the fish used in the rolls was excellent; the tuna literally melted in my mouth. I also tried some of the tonkatsu that someone ordered and it was extremely tender; most places fry the pork to “bone dry” perfection, so I was shocked to taste how well it was prepared. I wanted to try their egg sushi as well, but unfortunately I just didn’t have enough room left after finishing my meal. In fact, I can’t believe that I even was able to finish all 3 rolls. If that doesn’t spell tasty then I don’t know what does.

I do wish the pricing at Izziban was a little more affordable for lunch, but all and all, Izziban delivers great sushi and Japanese food. I couldn’t find anything that I tried from the menu that I didn’t like. I was sad to see Saucy Bella go, but I’m really glad to see another great local restaurant take its place. Good call Bucky.

Izziban Sushi is located next to World Market at 1700 West Sand Lake Road, Suite D124, Orlando FL.

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