Taka Sushi Café- A Reason To Return to Buckhead

There isn’t much to bring me to Buckhead these days. My once a year trip to Chop’s. The occasional pint at Fado’s. That’s about it. So making my way to some of the mid-tier restaurants in the area has been few and far between. So when in the neighborhood last night, I was happy to finally give Taka Sushi Café a try.

Taka is located at 385 Pharr Rd (404-869-2802) and ranks as one of the better sushi places in town. The décor, like many sushi restaurants, is simple and the menu definitely skews toward the sushi lover. A friend and I sampled the maguro, hamachi, unagi and toro, all of which were wonderful cuts of fish. The toro (tuna belly) was priced at $8.50 for two pieces, which may seem high, but is actually reasonable for the best piece of nigiri you can get. I was surprised that it was a fixed price and not listed as “market”. In general, Taka pricing is about middle of the road for a decent sushi place- not as expensive as Soto of MF, but no RuSan’s either.

The entire back of the sushi menu is devoted to the many sushi rolls that Taka offers. This is one area where I wished I was a little more adventurous. We tried the NY Spicy Tuna Roll, which is basically a regular spicy tuna roll with daikon (Japanese radish). Not really sure why daikon drives the NY moniker but it was decent. The lobster roll tasted too much like mayo and not enough like lobster for my liking.

I will definitely return to Taka at some point- perhaps when Lady Steakhead can eat sushi again. If I can mirror the nigiri experience last night, with better ordering of rolls, it may become a mainstay for me. Grade: B.