Sushi Tora

The boyfriend and I came here for the first time after I had a huge craving for sushi on a week night. It’s only like a four minute drive for us since we are in the Heights. Upon walking in we were invited to pick our seats and sit down. I really loved the ambiance and music here (think Thievery Corporation). I ordered the J Roll and then we ordered a few off the nigri menu– salmon, snapper, roe, tuna, etc. I was so surprised by how absolutely fresh and amazing everything tasted. I was seriously blown away and so was my boyfriend, who is VERY picky about sushi.
Who I assume was the owner was an absolute delight. He greeted us when we walked in, checked on us multiple times, and gave us complimentary sake! Kanpai! Everyone here was very welcoming and the food was amazing, I can’t wait to come back and make this our go to sushi spot.

Don’t go here. Our sushi was warm and smelled putrid. Not to mention it was overpriced to boot.

Sushi is great and the service is very fast. The owner is a cute lady and is very friendly! Everyone should come at least once and check it out!

There was very little positive about the experience. To begin, they bring edamame to the table when you sit down. Unfortunately, it was served cold and my wife watched them prepare the edamame from a large bowl just sitting on a shelf at room temperature. Maybe this is ok, but it did not seem standard practice when compared to other sushi restaurants. We also ordered salmon sashimi. I eat at sushi restaurants all over the country when traveling for work and this topped the chart for the smallest order of sashimi I have ever been served. Even worse, it was $ 10.95 which is high for most Houston area sushi restaurants. The small pieces of sashimi were fresh and did taste good.
We also ordered the rainbow roll. $ 14.00. It did not taste fresh and had little bits of sauces mixed in from the sushi chefs preparing other rolls and not washing their hands or changing gloves. My wife saw them prepare the rolls and confirmed there was no hand washing or glove changes. Again, I don’t know standard practice for sushi prep but it did not look right or taste right.
My wife ordered the Atoms bomb which was good, although again a bit overpriced.
The service was good until we needed the check. Our drinks were kept topped off and plates cleared promptly. However, once we were done nobody offered to bring the check.
We will not be going back.

Love this place! Between the bright art and metallic vibes it’s just a fun place to be. The food was amazing the squid salad was delicious and all the rolls were very generous. Good place for a date or small groups but it’s a tight spot so don’t bring too big of a crowd. The service was excellent and so was the sake!

Very good! Nice staff and fresh! We had the tuna ball, hectic roll & the j roll! I highly recommend the hectic roll especially if you like spicy

After half a dozen fine and uneventful trips to Sushi Tora, the Chef/​Owner yelled at me after I sent something back.
The Dynamite Roll, a baked roll I’ve ordered twice before, had a stronger than palatable odor. After sending it back, the waitress told me I shouldn’t order it next time (implying that it was my taste). When I explained to her that I sent it back because I didn’t think it was fresh (implying that it may not, in fact, have been my taste), the Chef screamed at me from all the way across the restaurant, «Fresh? It’s not FRESH? I BAKED it… They can go!» (implying that baked fish smells like that and that I wouldn’t know fresh fish).
It could very well be the case that I was mistaken. Maybe it was baked longer than the two previous times I’ve ordered the dish. Maybe I’m just as stupid as the Chef’s tone implied. Maybe it WAS my first time eating food. Regardless, it’s never acceptable to scream at a customer. I won’t be back. I recommend that you avoid it as well.

Sushi Tora has decent sushi and an inviting atmosphere. The owner is super friendly and welcoming. The interior is decorated with rock concert posters and features good music. It’s a casual, fun place to go with friends and have a good time. Next time you’re debating where to eat, check this place out and bring your friends.

I’m baffled. I wish the folks here well, but nothing about my experience at this restaurant would lead me to recommend it. The whole thing felt like it was «family run» in the sense of being operated by people who are just doing this as a favor to someone.
The nigiri were all tough and bland (I don’t have a terribly sophisticated palate when it comes to sushi, but this stuff felt old). The rolls were okay, although the smoked salmon in the Rainbow roll really just overwhelmed all the other flavors.
But what was really worth comment was the service — the only menus were a sheet to mark our orders on and a small laminated card against the wall that we didn’t notice until we’d been at the table for a few minutes. When someone did come by, he relayed our drink order (just water) by shouting «AGUA!» repeatedly at someone else, who then also brought us an iced tea that was for another table. The waiter shouted at him and came and took it from our table without addressing us at all. After we ate, we admittedly sat and talked for a while, and maybe that was wrong. After some time he brought our bill, and then walked outside and got on a bike and rode off. An older woman came to take the bill after some time. When she brought it back and my friend (a woman) took it, she gave us a reproachful look accompanied by a noise of surprise. I explained that my friend was treating me to lunch as a birthday gift, and she said — and this is a direct quote — «oh no, you should’ve gone somewhere else.» I agree.
Oh! I almost forgot. Again, I know we lingered, and I know how annoying that is. But they closed the blinds and turned the lights out without saying anything to us, which we took as our cue to leave.

Well the boyfriend and I had two drastically different opinions of our meals, so here goes. The atmosphere is loud and funky but lacks any real structure. We showed up on a Wednesday night and just sat down — no one greets you and the staff seems to work double duty as bussers and waiters.
I order the NY roll and thought it was fabulous. But my boyfriend is refusing to ever come here again. Why? Because everything he ordered was weird. He ordered a mound of tuna and instead of a nice sprinkling of sesame seeds, it tasted like it was drowned in sesame oil. The spider roll was okay, with a whole baby cucumber instead of a sliced one — not a huge deal. The biggest issue was that he found a bone in his salmon and no ginger was served with anything served.
I get this is a bit of a fusion place so we weren’t expecting a traditional meal. However, it just seemed to really miss the mark with us. I may sneak back in on my own for a NY roll though…

By far the best Sushi I have had in Houston… I rarely review yet had to review this outstanding meal… the Adam Bomb is a must try! The yellowtail was extremely fresh and the 420 roll excellent. The décor is fun 90’s and a neighborhood gem all the way around.
I would have given this place 5 stars yet the place had incorrect hours listed, opened a little late and the waiter wasnt great. (Didn’t speak English and didn’t fill up tea)
The owner and the Sushi chef were very friendly, food came fast and fresh, will definitely return!!!

In from NYC. THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. Fantastic Sushi. Amazing service. Ken the chief is the best. He helped us to select the best possible sashimi and sushi for our table. I felt as if I was sharing a meal in my own house. A must go to place in Houston if you are looking for authentic sushi and a welcoming experience. The food was top notch absolutely delicious.

Food was fantastic. New York roll, crawfish handroll, albacore sashimi… all good. Ken and mami are amazing and we always have a great time.

Far and away my favorite spot in Houston for sushi. Not only is the sushi fantastic but the overall vibe and energy of Tora is vibrant & fun. When Mama’San is working the room and her son Ken is slicing & dicing the raw fish it is truly a family run restaurant like no other! They are always showing the home team playing on the big screens and hip music as a backdrop. What to order? For a healthy lite meal you have to get the Adams Bomb — a delectable seaweed salad topped with seared tuna! They have the best Miso in town and the dumplings rock! For Rolls get the New York & the 420!
Sushi Tora is my favorite and that comes from a sushi connoisseur!
The word «Hip» & «Cool» doesn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere!

No. Don’t do it.
The sushi here was, sadly, the worst I’ve ever had. I think. I keep trying to think of places I could have had worse sushi and I really can’t. Grocery store sushi? Dorm sushi? Ehhh. I’d rather have those than go to this restaurant again. Which is a huge shame because the location is SO convenient right on studemont.
In short, the fish was oddly chewy and was not fresh. As in, tasted like it’d been sitting out for days. The rice was mushy, and also chewy. Overall it was like they had made sushi, refrigerated it for days, thawed it and then served.
You will just be sad if you go here. Don’t.

I was recommended that I go here from a friend, so we went together. She absolutely loves the NYC Roll. The décor was vibrant and upbeat. The elderly lady that I was told was the chef’s (also owner?) mother was very nice and pretty much the only person whom was nice to us.
That is about the only thing positive comments I have to say about this establishment.
We walked in and were not greeted so we picked a place to sit. After waiting about 5 minutes we had a busser greet us and bring the set up for the table. A few minutes later having not had a drink order I see the chef come over to us and I figure «Ok, they’re short staffed, at least he’s coming over to take our drink order».
The chef greets us by starting out with this–
«I need to move you if we have a 3 or 4 top come in… (he looks around), hm there are no two top tables available, but just keep in mind».
My friend and I just looked at each other pretty surprised at what he just said. But I let it go and ask him to take our drink order. Comes back with our drinks, but doesn’t take our food order.
We wait another 5 minutes for the busser to come back, I feel bad for the guy, he’s obviously not a waiter but he’s doing the job of bussing, cleaning, waiting, and hosting. He gives us a sushi checklist. We order spicy edamame as an app… It comes out and without the spicy topping. We asked him if he could get the spicy topping, after several more minutes, we finish our edamame, then he comes back with the spicy topping, so that was pointless.
At this point I see a group come in, (20 minutes after we do) they obviously know the owner, in that entire time, they got drinks, more drinks, their food, and all before we could even flag anyone down for another drink refill or actually order our sushi… So eventually, we order and never get a drink refill through the entire dinner. I have nothing bad (or good) to say about the food. It was average.
I could have let this go, not wasted even more of my time writing this, except for the last thing before paying that happened.
I stopped the chef and explained to him that we never got another drink order, I was pretty polite about it, and just was expecting an apology and for him to at the very least refill my friend’s ice tea. All we got from him was this–
«Yeah, our service is terrible, you can write a bad Unilocal review or whatever.»
Again, stared at my friend surprised at the complete lack giving a damn by this guy.
I used to bartend and wait tables at an Asian fusion place like this in Montrose, with the same mentality that «The customer is not right, and if you don’t like it, there’s the door». That place is now out of business.
This is that kind of restaurant: A place where they are so cheap and hungry to save a buck that they will gladly move two people from a 4 top to a 2 top if the possibility of a larger group walks in. A place so cheap and hungry to save a buck that they have no hosts or waiters and make their bussers do all the jobs of three positions, and I don’t even want to know what they are «paying» them…
I don’t wish ill will towards this establishment, but you may last a few years before people are done dealing with the way your run your business. This is Houston, and there are always much better places to spend your money, where they actually care and value ALL their patrons. My experience is that this place isn’t one of them.
Again, the only person whom apologized was the elderly lady when she handed us the bill.

If it was only for the NYC roll this place would get 5 stars. Unfortunately, that was not what I am rating it on.
The ambiance is a cool Rock n’ Roll vibe with the bright concert art adorning the wall while they play harder rock music in the back, kind of Rob Zombie-​ish music. I was fine with this, but I think my parents would be miserable here.
The service. It was pretty terrible. I am not sure if they were short handed, but our server seemed like he was the busser. I watched him bus a table then come out immediately out running our food. He in no way had enough time to wash his hands. I had to ask for water repeatedly and had to ask for drink refills despite having an empty cup for awhile.
We asked for Miso soup (it was 6:50pm & it was 42 degrees out), they said they were out. Really?
The other rolls we ordered where the Philly roll, it was okay, and a spicy tuna roll, it was neither spicy nor tasted like tuna. The spicy tuna had zero flavor.
For 4 rolls (one Philly, one spicy tuna, & 2 NYC rolls) & one beer was $ 50. This seemed a little high compared to other (better) Sushi places in the area.
I will not be coming back here.

If you’re looking for a chill spot with some great tunes and rolls, def check this spot out. The rolls I have had are always fresh and tasty. Quick service, funny staff. Ideal for quick & local bite!

Not sure why people complain about this place. If you don’t like great sushi served by great people while listening to great music, then yeah, you won’t like this place. Laid back atmosphere with killer rolls and sashimi.
Enjoy everything while you are here. To those worried about the menu, pictures are posted.
Props to mami, who runs a great restaurant and will talk to anyone who walks in as long as you flash her a smile.

This is a cool little joint. There are tons of old band and concert posters on the walls which are truly a walk down memory lane. The place is very small and intimate.
The sushi was fresh and tasty. It did not blow me out of the water, but it was definitely good.
Sometimes it’s fun to go to a tiny little restaurant where you feel like the service is personal. This is defiantly the case here. The setting is casual and intimate, and the sushi is good. This is defiantly a change of pace form the larger, less personal restaurant.