From the moment we walked in the door, I had a good feeling. It reminded me of a neighborhood sushi bar in NYC — the kind of place that is packed day in and day out but not pretentious. It’s small, has a bit of a clubby feel and was filled with good looking young professionals. While we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table, we were offered drinks to sip in the meanwhile and the wine and conversation made the time speed by.

There were five of us and we decided to order five specialty rolls, along with edamame and steamed mussels to start. The mussels were wonderful — swimming in a butter sake sauce and so tender and delicious. I only wished they were served with a baguette to sop up the buttery goodness. We used our chopsticks to pluck the mussels out of their shells.

The special rolls we shared included the Hawaiian Roll (ahi tuna with spicy tuna on top), Tiger Roll (shrimp tempura, spicy ahi tuna), Sex on the Beach (fresh salmon with chopped jalapeno and onion on top), Mt. Fuji (soft-shell crab, spicy crap with escolar), Tina’s hand roll (shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, spicy crab, avocado with soy paper), and the Ex-girlfriend (crab, avocado, spicy tuna with halibut tempura and spicy mayo).

All of the rolls were excellent and the Ex-girlfriend and Hawaiian were favorites. I really enjoyed the Sex on the Beach which tasted like a ceviche roll. The Mt. Fuji was very good but we all felt there was too much mayonnaisey sauce on top. We couldn’t figure out how to divide the Tina’s hand roll so we just passed it around the table and all enjoyed a delicious bite.

The servers were friendly and accommodating — unlike some places in Austin, they had absolutely no problem with us bringing our own birthday cupcakes to enjoy. I stopped at Hey Cupcake earlier in the evening and picked up The Standard (vanilla bottom, chocolate top), Double Dose (chocolate bottom, chocolate top), and two more of the delicious Celeste’s Best vegan cupcakes. One was a Carrot-Pumpkin with Cream Cheese frosting and the other was a German Chocolate.

It was obvious that these were not from Hey Cupcake but I refused to let on that they were vegan until everyone was done. They were flabbergasted! These cupcakes are truly among the best (if not the best in Austin). On a side note, I stopped by Sugar Mama’s before Hey Cupcake because those are my favorite but they were out of cupcakes and were not scheduled to close for another two hours. Apparently the Austin Chronicle recently ran a review and they have had to bake an extra batch a day to keep up with the demand.

Back to Tomo — I’m looking forward to my next visit where I’ll likely sit at the bar and enjoy whatever sushi and sashimi the chefs suggest. The owner worked at Nobu in Las Vegas and takes pride in the freshness and quality of his fish. I’ll also probably try the Volcano roll which is reportedly served while on fire and the Japanese Lasagna roll (baked crab, avocado, cream cheese).

While Uchi is still the best and most special sushi restaurant in Austin — Tomo is #1 if you like your sushi affordable, fresh, and fun. Musashino and Maru are up there on the list also but Tomo really did blow them out of the water. What is your favorite sushi restaurant?