Sushi doesn’t exactly scream cheap eats. In fact, there’s something a little bit frightening about eating inexpensive raw fish – it raises far too many questions in my head, at least. Why is this so cheap? Is it old? Is it low-quality? Do I really want to be eating bargain raw fish? It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. When you’re eating sushi you’re willing to pay more to know it’s good, and a night at a sushi place typically turns into an expensive affair.
Courtesy of yelp.com
Enter the $1 sushi happy hour. During happy hour at sushi hotspots around the District, you can pay a dollar and receive one piece of nigiri sushi. It’s that simple. One dollar, four quarters, or ten dimes equals one piece of fish over sushi rice. You won’t be able to chow down on spicy tuna rolls – although some places do offer roll discounts as well – but it’ll let you get rid of that sushi craving without spending your week’s budget on food.
Here are three spots to head after work and get your money’s worth:
Yosaku Japanese Restaurant: Located up in Tenleytown, this small Japanese restaurant supplements the $1 per piece deal with discounts on certain rolls each day. One word of warning: the sushi is a bit on the small side, so you may need to order a couple more pieces than usual. But at $1 a piece, this is hardly a strain on your finances.
Tono Sushi: With its great outdoor seating, we recommend heading to this Woodley Park restaurant on a spring afternoon with a group of friends. Their happy hour goes from 5 to 7:30, so you have a full 2.5 hours to relax outside, have a couple of drinks, and eat all the sushi you can handle. The pieces themselves are big and the fish is fresh. The tuna is particularly good.
Wok and Roll: Not my first choice for sushi in the city, but its two prime locations and $1 sushi deal make this a great happy hour spot. Found in either Chinatown or Adams Morgan, you can go here right after work, go for dinner before a show at any of the number of theaters near Chinatown, or start here before a night of partying in Adams Morgan.
Know of any other restaurants in DC with $1 sushi happy hours? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to the list!
