Food Find: Raku in Dupont Circle

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! I'll be celebrating my 23rd birthday Friday, the same day as Hillary Clinton 60th, although my birthday blow out won't be $1 million. In fact, it will be a quiet weekend of site seeing with Tim.

It's rainy and icky in Washington this week as fall is finally upon us. The other day a classmate and I were feeling particularly gloomy and decided to indulge in a little treat from the ocean -- Sushi! I haven't had sushi since my all-you-can-eat experience at Sushi Para in Palatine and I was itching for a DC sushi experience. Another classmate suggested Raku, which is at 19th and Q streets near the metro's Dupont Circle stop.

I read the reviews before we went and was terrified we'd have terrible service. And yes, we went in the middle of the afternoon, the least busy part of the day, and still had to flag down a waiter to get seated, but oh well. I also would have liked a refill on my water, but we were there for the sushi.

And the sushi was delicious. I got the volcano roll (avocado, salmon, crunchy bits, spicy mayo) and squid nigiri, pictured top right. I thought the volcano roll should have been spicier, but the roll itself was huge and mighty tasty. The squid was a bit chewy, but again, a nice bite with a satisfying portion of wasabi. My dining companion got salmon nigiri and another roll with salmon, tuna, crab and maybe cucumber ... I should write these things down. Anyhow, she loved it and commented on the flavors.

The interior of the place was really trendy and I'm sure it's busy on the weekends. The food itself was ready very quickly; the waitstaff just wasn't particularly attentive. The sushi was standard fare and nothing too spectacular, but it beats Whole Foods sushi or the like. It was also affordable, with my early dinner running $13 with tip.

I'll probably wind up back here again, but maybe I'll try a different one of their specialties to try and get a local flavor. The service isn't stellar, but it's not as terrible as the online reviews say. People, you get what you pay for and this is affordable sushi.