Nikkō: An Elevated Take on Sushi

All we can say is WOW (…and get the dessert!).

Nikkō is a new sushi restaurant that recently opened in Southlake, TX. Located in the popular Southlake Towne Center, it’s location is tucked away behind many of the shops. You probably won’t see it just driving by, so I would say this is a true “hidden gem”.

Their website talks about their main feature, Omakase, which means I'll leave it up to you. Meaning, instead of ordering from the menu, you let the chef tell you what you’re eating – a great way to experience new things!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience it. What they don’t tell you on the website is that the Omakase experience requires reservations at least 2 days in advance. Additionally, they use Resy to book reservations - which we did - but I didn’t see anywhere on there any way to say if you wanted the Omakase experience versus regular dining. Oh well - no big deal and at least we know for next time (we’re definitely planning to try it - so look for another review on that!).

First thing we noticed when walking in was the decor. Clean. Modern. Elegant - but not stuffy. We didn’t feel like we needed to be super dressed up, but it was also still classy. Wood textures along the ceilings reminded us of butcher blocks and patterned tiles lined the bar in the middle of the restaurant. The sushi chefs worked out in the open like you’d expect, but they weren’t tucked behind a plexiglass sneeze guard. Everything felt very open.

We glanced over the menu and ordered some Sake to sip on, and I immediately noticed this was not your typical sushi restaurant with 50 different sushi rolls. When it comes to menus, the smaller the menu the higher quality the food tends to be. Ever been to The Cheesecake Factory?

Our waiter, Brian, was fantastic. We asked him about the Omakase and how it worked, but he wasn’t very sure (they haven’t been open very long so I’d imagine they’re still working out a lot of details) and got the owner/manager to come over and explain it to us. We were a bit bummed that we couldn’t try it that day, but the regular menu looked like it had a lot of options regardless. I’m a big fan of the “What do you recommend?” question, and Brian pointed out some of his favorites - so we ordered all of them:

Off the Cold Tasting menu, we ordered Hirame Usuzukuri and the Salmon Belly Carpaccio.

Off of the Hot Tasting menu, we ordered the Wagyu Dumplings and the Wagyu Hot Rock.

Each one of these were beautifully plated and on point.

The Hirame was served with some sort of onion/tomato/pepper salad that was super fresh and paired perfectly with the sashimi.

Hirame Usuzukuri

The Salmon Belly was beyond tender. Chewing was not necessary because it just melted in your mouth.

Salmon Belly Carpaccio

The Wagyu dumplings were amazing. We had Wagyu dumplings at Sushi Samba in Vegas that were the best I’ve ever had, and these were right up there with them. Couldn’t get enough of the broth they were served in.

The Wagyu hot rock was fantastic as well. There was an A5 Wagyu that was on the Specials menu, but we opted for the standard Wagyu Ny Strip off the menu. Wagyu doesn’t need much more than a quick sear, so it was nice cooking it ourselves on the hot stone. It came with a side of melted butter (we poured it on the stone so that it didn’t stick) and a small pile of what was likely just salt & pepper, but may have been salt/pepper/garlic or some other blend of seasonings to sprinkle on. 10 out of 10.

Wagyu Hot Rock

After that we were still a big hungry, so we asked Brian what sushi roll he recommended. He said the Salmon Roll was his favorite, so we went with it - and it did not disappoint!

Brian then asked if we had room for dessert and honestly we weren’t even thinking dessert, but we asked what they had. The options were cheesecake or what was described to us as “crêpe with yams”. Not going to lie, it sounded bizarre, and I was expecting a breakfast crêpe. But then Brian said “People come here just for this dessert”, so we knew that we had to try it. HOLYSHIT. It might be my new favorite dessert. First off, when he brought it to our table it looked nothing like I had expected. It was a slice of “cake” with dozens of layers. Also, it was purple. Again, I was expecting a thin breakfast pancake with sweet potatoes in it (I honestly didn’t know what to expect) – not a purple yam layer cake! Growing up my mother used to make homemade rice pudding, and that was my favorite dessert in the world. The reason I’m bringing that up is because that’s exactly what it tasted like! In fact, we both said “it tastes like rice pudding!” at the same time.

Ube Mille Crepe Cake

Pricing is where I would expect it to be. Sushi is never really cheap, nor do I think I would want cheap sushi. You get what you pay for, and this place certainly exceeded my expectations.

In summary, this place was top-notch and one of our favorite places we’ve ever been. We’ll definitely return and highly recommend it to anyone who loves sushi and can appreciate a place that’s that takes a big step above the norm.