Restaurant Overview

I'd heard of this sushi restaurant from buddies of mine I train Jiu Jitsu with. They'd said it was one of the best places in Austin and had the best Happy Hour in South Austin. With such a strong recommendation, I had to try it out. I don't eat sushi as much as I used to because, unlike Las Vegas where everything is All You Can Eat, here in Austin it's a la carte, and the with the way I Play, it can get pretty pricey. I should have waited until Happy Hour, because the damage that ensued put a hole in my wallet.

Restaurant Atmosphere:

Haiku Japanese Restaurant is exactly that, a japanese restaurant, meaning a big open space with large tables and little effort on decoration. The sushi bar was pretty big, but in this open space it looked bit small. There isn't anything particularly interesting about the decor, it's simply a clean, big, and comfortable feeling restaurant atmosphere. I sometimes wonder why restauranteurs don't put more emphasis on decor.

Service and Hospitality:

Despite them asking me not to take pictures of their food (but for you Nomads I did anyway), that was the only hiccup we had. The service was great. The Nigiri came out first and as soon as I was done, my plate was quickly swooped up. The rolls came in a timely fashion and because I was at the bar, I got to converse with the sushi chefs. My glass never got below half full and my server was hustling between helping me and half the rest of the restaurant.

Nigiri Sushi From The Menu:

Unagi
This was by far the best piece of Nigiri of the day. Unagi with Avocado on top. It's one of my favorites, and to find a place that cooks the unagi just right and offers a thick cut of avocado on top is rare and a blessing. I like my Unagi a bit crispy on the edges and more tender as it gets to the middle.

White Tuna
On the right of this picture. The cuts of Tuna were nice and draping like lampshade over a bulb; however, this the rice under the tuna was fairly large its self. With A La Carte I expect less rice, despite the fact that it was a good proportion.

Hamachi
On the left of this picture. The cuts of hamachi and rice ratio was similar to the White Tuna above. The hamachi, however, was delicious and tender, almost like hamachi belly. When I took a bight of it, it kinda melted in my mouth.

Sushi Rolls From The Menu:

Tiger Roll
Tuna and salmon wrapped with a second layer of tuna, salmon and eel then toped with fried tempura batter, smelt roe, scalions and eel sauce. This was my favorite of the two rolls, it was a great combination of fresh fish pieces, crunchy tempura flakes, and eel sauce to highlight the flavor combinations.

South Park Roll
Crawfish and fried tempura batter wrapped with snow crab, spic tuna and wasbitobiko then garnished with avocado eel sauce. I've really learned to love crawfish in rolls and despite their being more rice in this roll than I would have liked, the flavor was still great. I did find odd the glob of avocado and eel sauce sitting to the right of the roll. I had to either dip or place the avocado mix on top of the roll to mix the two together and it started becoming a mess after awhile.

Haiku Japanese Restaurant All Rolled Up

My friends were right, this place was great! I am definitely going to come back when it's Happy Hour because I hear the nigiri is $2 dollars and the rolls are half off! I met a family who told me to try the Haiku Roll next time I'm in, so I already have my first order laid out. If you live anywhere near South Austin or Butta area, I definitely recommend Haiku Japanese Restaurant; you may want to wait for happy hour though.

• Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-10pm, Fri. - Sat. 11:30am-11pm, Sun. Noon -10pm
• Phone Number: (512) 291-5600‎
• All You Can Eat? No
• Reservations Needed? No
• Website:
• Pricing: pricey