I already knew where to find great sushi in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
The 2024 edition of my STL 100 featured four sushi restaurants in the Top 25: veteran chef Noboru Kidera’s late-career reinvention of ±·´Ç²ú³Ü’s, Nick Bognar’s nationally acclaimed Indo and Sado and Heidi Hamamura’s singular Taberu.
As I started my research for the 2025 STL 100 — yes, it has begun again (honestly, it never ends) — I wondered what other sushi restaurants I might have overlooked, both newer and established spots.
I especially wanted to find sushi options that are, if not inexpensive, more appropriate for a casual lunch or impulsive date night than the four great, but expensive choices I mentioned above.
Across an inland ocean of similar menus — nigiri, sashimi, rolls simple and elaborate — I found or rediscovered restaurants that stand out for the quality of their fish, the precision of their knifework and the creativity of their rolls.
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I ate a lot of rice.
The result is the first installment of the new Road to the STL 100 series. In honor of 2025’s 10th anniversary of the STL 100, here are the 10 ºüÀêÊÓƵ sushi restaurants you must visit now.
The reigning champions
±·´Ç²ú³Ü’s
As I said, sushi restaurants starred in the Top 25 of the 2024 STL 100 — none more brightly than ±·´Ç²ú³Ü’s. Behind an unobtrusive entrance set back from the Delmar Loop, septuagenarian sushi chef Noboru Kidera, with wife Taeko and son George, lead guests through a stunning, revelatory omakase dinner, a progression of seasonal dishes directed by the chef himself.
Sushi aficionados in ºüÀêÊÓƵ know Kidera’s mastery from ±·´Ç²ú³Ü’s previous iterations, especially its longtime University City home inside a former IHOP. He dispatches luxurious uni and disarmingly straightforward salmon with equal precision. At this late-career triumph, he also fashions lovely sashimi-based dishes, ethereally light, crisp tempura and soulful fish broths.
(Note: ±·´Ç²ú³Ü’s requires reservations.)
WHERE: 6253 Delmar Boulevard, University City MORE INFO: 314-323-9147;
Sado
Nick Bognar first commanded attention at Nippon Tei, his mother Ann Bognar’s sushi restaurant. He has since opened two restaurants of his own to both local and national acclaim, including the coveted “Best New Chef†award from Food & Wine magazine. Sado, which opened last year on the Hill, showcases Bognar’s modern approach to sushi and also continues the tradition of Nippon Tei, which transferred some of its beloved dishes here after closing.
Nigiri sushi is Bognar’s specialty, and you can’t do much better than putting your selections in his hands. He can do the expected luxuries (bluefin tuna), but I find myself drawn to his knack for less commonly seen fish like nodugoru or masu (ocean trout) or even non-fish nigiri like mushroom.
WHERE: 5201 Shaw Avenue MORE INFO: 314-390-2883;
Indo
Bognar’s nigiri-sushi program moved to Sado from his dazzling first restaurant, Indo. Even without that section of its menu, Indo remains one of ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ best restaurants. Hand rolls have replaced the nigiri, and signature sashimi plates such as the Isaan Hamachi with a coconut nam pla sauce are as thrilling as any sushi dishes in town. Dining with the sushi-wary? Indo’s non-sushi fare — the shrimp toast, lamb larb, palm-sugar ribs and crab fried rice — is worth a visit by itself.
WHERE: 1461D Tower Grove Avenue MORE INFO: 314-899-9333;
Taberu
Chef Heidi Hamamura works out of a professional commissary kitchen, but Taberu isn’t a restaurant. It is a catering and delivery business with ordering available via Instagram. I won’t sugarcoat it. Securing an order during each month’s brief window is a challenge and might take multiple attempts (and some early mornings) to succeed. Hamamura repays the effort and the price with platters of exceptional nigiri sushi with such inspired touches as smoked octopus and the lemongrass-shiso chimichurri atop medium-fatty tuna.
MORE INFO:
The contenders
Benevolent King
±«±è»å²¹³Ù±ð:ÌýBen Poremba announced Wednesday (July 17) that the Benevolent King has closed for regular business, effective immediately. "Unfortunately, (the restaurant) never truly recovered after our pandemic-related closure," Poremba said in the announcement.
If you haven’t visited the Benevolent King in a few years, you might be surprised to find it on this list. Ben Poremba opened his Maplewood restaurant in 2018 with a Moroccan-inspired menu. In 2021, after a pandemic hiatus, Poremba brought Eliott Harris on board as executive chef. A sushi chef (Miso on Meramec, BaiKu Sushi Lounge, his own Chop Shop STL food truck), Harris skillfully incorporated Japanese ingredients and techniques while retaining the Benevolent King’s original concept.
Earlier this year, Poremba and Harris overhauled the restaurant to focus on sushi, and now Harris can flex his full talents, from a plate of the day’s standout nigiri (maybe a range of different cuts of tuna and, why not, a piece of lobster claw) to slices of watermelon fashioned to resemble sashimi to the elegant Clover roll. Plated to resemble a clover leaf, this charges bright hamachi with serrano chile and cools you (slightly) with avocado.
Do note that the Benevolent King is not one of the (relatively) inexpensive sushi restaurants I said I hoped to find.
WHERE: 7268 Manchester Road, Maplewood MORE INFO: 314-899-0440; the-benevolent-king
Sushi Boat
Sushi Boat, which opened in 2022 in a blink-and-you-miss-it corner storefront near Lindenwood University in St. Charles, is not where I expected to find the most ridiculous sushi roll in the metro area. The Rolls Royce, a current special, includes deep-fried king crab leg meat topped with wagyu beef, caviar and gold leaf. It costs north of $160 for a single roll. I didn’t order it.
I was tempted, though, after trying the more modestly ridiculous ($26.98) Last Samurai roll, which mixes snow crab and lobster with a bacon aioli and tops this delicious mess with smoked salmon, eel and multiple sauces and garnishes. Sushi Boat also satisfies with more conventional rolls and straightforward nigiri and sashimi at prices suitable for a weekday lunch as well as a splashy date.
WHERE: 1500 Elm Street, St. Charles MORE INFO: 636-395-7068;
Sushi Hana
I fell for Sushi Hana during the pandemic, when its takeout sushi sustained my hope that I would one day eat inside a sushi restaurant again. I have recommended the restaurant in my newsletter, the First Course, but I still worry I’m exposing a secret by telling you about this small, serene oasis of a restaurant along Gravois Road in the Affton area.
So be it. Sushi Hana is exactly what this list sought: excellent nigiri and fun, thoughtfully designed rolls at a reasonable price. I can confidently order my go-to fish (tuna, salmon, yellowtail) as well as luscious white tuna and oily, meaty mackerel. The signature Hana Roll packs no-fooling heat with its pairing of crab meat and jalapeño topped with spicy salmon. On a recent visit, the server told me to try the shiso garnish, grown in-house and full of a warming spice reminiscent of cu min.
WHERE: 8809 Gravois Road, south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County MORE INFO: 314-257-9079;
Sushi KOI
Whitney Yoon demands your attention behind the bar of her shotgun sushi restaurant Sushi KOI. She works efficiently and seemingly without pause, fashioning plates of nigiri and rolls for dine-customers and packages of the same for takeout and delivery.
Her work is all the more remarkable when your order arrives. The nigiri is cut generously, but precisely, draped over rice that still bears the body temperature of the chef’s hand. Salmon — conventional, sometimes even boring — is as sweet as rich as foie gras. Salmon toro, the fattier belly cut, might as well be from another species altogether.
Yoon belongs to one of the first families of contemporary ºüÀêÊÓƵ restaurants. Her sister is Ann Bognar of Nippon Tei and Sado; her nephew is Nick Bognar of Sado and Indo. Sushi KOI, a Central West End mainstay that deserves as much attention as any sleek new spot, stands on its own.
WHERE: 4 North Euclid Avenue MORE INFO: 314-376-4016;
Toko Sushi & Boba
Toko Sushi & Boba, which opened earlier this year in Godfrey, is the newest restaurant on this list. The storefront is compact to begin with, and the sushi bar in the dining room affords barely enough room for two chefs to work side by side. I understand if readers who don’t already live in this part of the Metro East are unlikely to try it soon.
You should, though. The sushi bar, though tiny, turns out a plate of attractively portioned nigiri uncluttered by unnecessary accents and served on rice the proper texture and temperature. The roll I ordered — the Power of Roll, from an expansive list of rolls with names inspired by pop songs — was equally exuberant and carefully constructed, with multicolored tobiko scattered across a roll of shrimp tempura and crab meat deep-fried, then topped with spicy tuna, scallion and fried onion.
WHERE: 5775 Godfrey Road, Godfrey MORE INFO: 618-208-7440;
Top Sushi
Like Sushi Hana, Top Sushi is a quiet escape from a busy corridor — in this case, the Interstate 270-Highway 364-Page Avenue interchange in Maryland Heights. The shopping-plaza storefront is small and relatively low in frills. It might not look like a dining destination, but if I lived or worked in the area, I would eat here at least once a week.
The nigiri is no-nonsense. The fish is sliced on the longer side, emphasizing its flavor and texture, but not entirely overwhelming the rice beneath. The Top Sushi roll, named for the restaurant, is a study in balance. Yes, it is spicy, with jalapeño and both a spicy mayo and sriracha, but you can still taste the clean, sweet salmon inside the roll and the creamy, cooling avocado draped over the top.
WHERE: 1947 Scheutz Road, Maryland Heights MORE INFO: 314-801-8816;