Gorge Yourself on Incredible Affordable Sushi at Ryu

Gorge Yourself on Incredible Affordable Sushi at Ryu

When we walked into Ryu Sushi last night, my friend John looked around, noticed the two disco balls hanging from the ceiling and said, "This place looks like it's awesome."

He was totally right - Ryu oozes atmosphere. In addition to the disco balls, there's a long sushi bar, a few TVs, and several large Japanese paintings (the one we were sitting next to was a Lichtenstein-esque collage depicting people in the throes of what looked to be some rather serious ennui). The main dining room is cozy and dark in a way that makes you feel sort of like you're eating underground.

The waitress left a menus and a checklist on our table - you look at the menu, then check off the items that you want (in the quantities that you want) on the checklist.

I started with the spicy crab soup. It was a small, appetizer-sized bowl of spicy broth, mushrooms, green onions and lots of imitation crab meat. As far as soup goes, it was near perfection. The only improvement I would make would be to put it in a bigger bowl - after I finished, I sat there and had a little internal debate with myself on whether or not it would be OK to order seconds.

Spicy Crab Soup from Ryu Sushi

We split four sushi rolls: a Kaisu roll, a deep fried salmon roll, a Tokyo roll and a Crazy roll.

The Kaisu roll was the most unique. Instead of seaweed, the soy-sauce soaked crab, avocado and mayonnaise came wrapped in a long, thin slice of cucumber. The crunchiness was nice, but it was difficult to eat it all in one bite.

Kaisu Roll from Ryu Sushi, Memphis, Tenn. Kaisu Roll from Ryu Sushi, Memphis, Tenn.

The rest of the sushi was excellent. The deep-fried salmon roll was filled with salmon, masago and cream cheese. The Tokyo roll had tender raw tuna, avocado, crab and cream cheese. The Crazy roll wasn't too insane - it was stuffed with crab, avocado and masago and topped with raw whitefish and green onions. The rolls were a little heavy on the masago - it seemed like it was used like mortar anytime there was available space. That said, all of the ingredients were incredibly fresh and the presentation was lovely.

Sushi from Ryu Sushi, Memphis, Tenn.

Ryu's rolls are a little bit different than other sushi restaurants in town. Some of the standards (like crunchy crab and California rolls) are there, but there are a bunch of creative rolls and specials. The prices are extremely fair, with most rolls between $5 and $9.

Ryu is open daily until 9 p.m.

Go there:

Ryu Sushi

5137 Summer Avenue
Memphis, TN 38122
(901) 766-7599

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Nathan
The asian market next door is awesome place to pick up odd looking treats.
December 13, 2010 5:05pm
Emily
Do they have a decent selection of vegetarian rolls?
December 13, 2010 7:56pm
stacey
The kaisu looks like sekisui's house cucumber roll.
December 14, 2010 11:09am
wendy
Why would anyone ever want to eat imitation crab? How is this considered good sushi? You don't even know what fish it is and it tastes nothing like crab. Any place that serves imitation crab, when they could have gotten good ingredients is not a respectable sushi place. What does that say about the freshness of their other sushi, if they skimp on quality?
December 14, 2010 2:34pm
Memphis Projec…
[...] If you need a Lucky Cat, you can get one with a moving arm at the Asian grocery store next to Ryu Sushi. [...]
December 28, 2010 3:48pm
BUCK GUNN
Wendy, Most sushi junts use imitation crab because of the cost. Quit acting like an idiot.
July 30, 2011 8:19pm