Matsuri Japanese Restaurant

5759 Bird Rd, Miami, FL 33155

I have to admit I have been disappointed at the Japanese restaurants in Miami, they all have been average or bad. There was this one restaurant that I got sick from having raw sushi, so no more raw sushi for me after that. However, my friend introduced me to Matsuri, it's hidden in a shopping center in Westchester. If you blink and not pay attention you would not even notice it. The set up is very zen and Asian with bamboo wood floor and bamboo wall paper. As you walked through the dining room, there is a sushi bar to the right on the back. It is a nice size place and it's packed with people, we arrived at 12:30pm for lunch with a reservation so we only waited for 5 minutes. The service was quick for a busy place. I ordered the bento box with tempura and it comes with salad, California roll, another choice of meat that you can pick from sashimi to teriyaki, and orange for dessert. My friend ordered the sashimi bowl with rice, he used to live in Japan so I believe him when he said their fish is the freshest you can get at a Japanese place. What makes them unique and authentic is the vinegar in the rice, it adds such a good flavor to the sushi that you do not even need the soy sauce, and the ginger is very high quality and tasty. For dessert we ordered the tempura cheesecake and bananas with vanilla ice cream, of course this is so Americanize but it's good. The price is very affordable, my bento box is only $8 and the sashimi is about $15. The dessert was about $5. I will definitely drive out there for good Japanese food any time. Enjoy!