Sushi Nami :: Metairie’s New Kid-Friendly Japanese Restaurant Is Worth a Try!
If you enjoy sushi but often avoid Japanese restaurants due to having kids or picky eaters, we have just the answer for you … Sushi Nami is now open in the former Mellow
Mushroom on Veterans (right by Lakeside Shopping Center). What makes Sushi Nami kid-friendly is that there is far more on the menu than just sushi (fried rice, teriyaki, chicken wings, hibachi, etc) AND the prices are extremely reasonable. Additionally, there is ample parking right in front of the restaurant (always a mom’s dream).
The interior of the restaurant is very well done, with colorful pops of art as you enter the building and walk upstairs to the second floor restaurant. The ceiling is adorned with gorgeous cherry blossoms, and the seating is ample and comfortable. We were seated quickly and our server was attentive and friendly. We got the impression that if you were with kids and needed a faster meal, they’d make it happen!
While you can order a la carte, Sushi Nami has an “all you can eat” (AYCE) option that is very reasonably priced. This is what caught our eye to begin with, and we had to see what all you can eat sushi was all about! For ease of reference, the all you can eat pricing is as follows :: Lunch: $22.99 (4-6 kid $8.99; 7-12 kid $14.99) | Dinner: $33.99 (4-6 kid $10.99) (7-12 kid $19.99). These prices are not including drinks, but there is indeed a full bar for adults who are interested. Kids 3 and under eat free! Everyone at our table chose the AYCE, and for $33.99 we selected several appetizers, pieces of sashimi, basic rolls and special rolls. You can see the menu online here, and the options with the red icon are ALL included in the AYCE option. The only caveat is that you must order all food within 1.5 hours (I.e. you can’t sit there for four hours ordering). This is NOT a buffet; you are seated at a table and order whatever you want from the AYCE menu within the specified window.
Our table did not taste any of the fried rice, teriyaki or hibachi, but we loved that our kids would have been quite happy with the alternatives presented and felt that the pricing is fairly hard to beat for a sit down experience with service.
Was this the absolute best sushi we’ve ever had? Not necessarily, but it was quite solid and a few of the rolls (the fleur de lis stood out) were absolutely delicious. We were a tad bummed they didn’t have snowcrab or crunchy rolls on the menu, but there was enough to choose from that we were stuffed! The nice thing is that if you didn’t love a specific item, it was not as big of a deal since you could try something else without running up a tab. Overall, this is a great addition to Metairie for kid-friendly dining.
Sushi Nami is open 7 days a week, and they do take reservations (although it was not necessary on a Tuesday night in our experience).
