Yuraku- New Sushi Bar in Smyrna

Smryna's West Village is a good example of the new urbanism spreading across Atlanta. Sprawling at the intersection of South Atlanta Rd. and I-285, the West Village contains condos/townhomes all with numerous retailers, bars and restaurants. Yuraku Steak and Sushi is one of the latest entrants into this complex, and will probably do quite well.

As we walked into Yuraku, the staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming, which was maintained throughout the meal. They were great with Little Steakhead, constantly humoring her, and she responded with giving us an incredibly stress-free night out. I'll go out on a limb to say the service is amongst the best I have seen in a sushi bar in Atlanta to date.

The sushi menu is quite extensive, although its one of those that provides pictures of the food for each dish. This seems to be indigenous to Asian places, and my usual experience from places that do this usually don't have the best food. Yuraku doesn't necessarily reverse that trend.

We started with the Tempura Udon Soup, which I thought was quite good. (The picture of the Miso Soup with big chunks of mushrooms sort of turned me off...good thing they had the pictures!). We then shifted to what our waitress called their most popular roll- the Super Crunchy Shrimp Roll. If you can get past the presentation where it sits on a bed of rice krispies, this too was actually tasty. For our main course, we split the Sashimi Deluxe plate, which is easily enough for two when you add in everything else we ate. Here, we were somewhat disappointed. The presentation was nice (which can be said about most things at Yuraku), but it definitely doesn't stand up to other places in the city, including the nearby Tomo. The spicy tuna roll was nothing special.

Yuraku will not be a favorite amongst true sushi enthusiasts. But that is not to say the place will not find a niche in the growing Smyrna community. The price is reasonable, and the atmosphere is very inviting. I would probably stick with more pedestrian sushi and roll selections next time, and keep your expectations reasonable. And to me, there are times when that will crave the sushi fix. If in that area and looking for more, make the trip to Tomo.