All Aboard!

In the past 13 years 254-04 Northern Blvd., has been a lot of different places, specifically four different Japanese restaurants with four different owners and four different names.

And for about a month now this location has been occupied by a new tenant called , which from the outside looks much like all the others.

However, once inside this new establishment, regulars of the previous four will see slight improvements.

Like the fact that a new secondary dining area behind the old sushi bar has been added and the barrier separating the sushi bar from the main dining room has been removed, allowing for more seating in the restaurant while creating extra space in between tables.

Moreover, classier cutlery and chic metal-bound menus now adorn each place setting on the tables and give Mr. Wasabi a posh feel not known to the other previous occupants of this Little Neck locale.

Upon entering the restaurant my party of 4.5 (.5 being for my 2 year old) was seated almost immediately by a friendly waitress who walked us through the menu right away, which didn't have the all-you-can-eat option like the now famed , but did have plenty of reasonably priced rolls.

So my family and I ordered some edamame and seaweed salad to start, then 2 regular rolls and 6 specialty rolls for our meal.

They brought the appetizers out right away and while we waited for our sushi were treated to a dish of complimentary shumai — bite sized fried shrimp dumplings — to make up for the fact that our rolls were taking longer than expected.

But we didn't mind because these shumai's were a delightful surprise, slightly crisp and super fresh.

Within minutes, our waitress was back, dexterosely moving dishes to make room on our table for the boat of sushi about to dock.

Filled with enough rolls to have taken up two tables, the presentation on this boat was beautiful, a work of art we immediately attacked after our waitress left. 

Every roll we ordered was plump with fresh, delicious ingredients. The fish and veggies were cool and refreshing with drizzled sauces added as an extra punch to the flavors.

Though there were two rolls in particular that stood out from all the rest: the UFO (deep fried spicy salmon, crabmeat, onion avocado and masago) and the Pink Butterfly (oshinko, avocado, cucumber, squash, gobo and grilled spicy veggies in a soy wrap).

Sufficed to say we left happy that night with our choice of dining for the evening.

Mr. Wasabi is starting off on the right foot with scrumptious food, friendly staff and reasonable prices.

My only hope is it stays this way forever at this ever changing location. 

Mr. Wasabi is located at 254-04 Northern Boulevard, Little Neck, NY 11362. They are open Tue - Thu, noon - 10:30pm; Fri - Sat, noon - 11pm; Sun, noon - 10pm. They are closed on Mondays.