Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill
Japanese restaurant · Fairfax District ·
Upscale sushi bar with renowned fried chicken and unique dishes
Upscale sushi bar with renowned fried chicken and unique dishes
"Originating in New York City almost thirty years ago, Blue Ribbon has earned a reputation for its super fresh fish and hot Japanese specialties. In addition to thinly sliced usuzukuri sashimi and Blue Ribbon rolls filled with lobster, shiso, and black caviar, the restaurant serves grilled and other cooked fare like center cut ribeye with ponzu, and an eight-ounce wagyu skirt steak with miso pepper sauce." - Janna Karel
"Open since 2015, Blue Ribbon turned one of The Grove’s most cursed and consistently vacant storefronts into a mall staple of sorts. The very fact this upscale sushi bar is still around is a triumph. The sushi and sashimi dishes are solid enough, but you’re going to ignore most of it to focus on their fried chicken wings. They’re crunchy, moist, and served with a wasabi honey sauce that takes each bite to a new level. Paying $22 for six wings is slightly painful, but so is The Grove, and you managed to say yes to that." - brant cox
"Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill is kind of a ridiculous concept on paper - a Frankenstein fusion of Blue Ribbon Brasserie and Blue Ribbon Sushi in a hotel lobby. We’re huge fans of the Blue Ribbon brand, especially the brasserie and sushi outposts. We’re not huge fans of Midtown, especially Midtown hotel restaurants. How is this going to work exactly? Believe it or not, pretty well. The sushi at this Blue Ribbon is excellent (as it should be), and they put some delicious tweaks on a few brasserie classics that will blow you away (see, fried chicken with wasabi honey). This place is, however, insanely expensive. So expensive that we don’t recommend coming unless you’re dropping a corporate card or rolling with someone that’s so rich they eat Faberge eggs for breakfast. Food Rundown Kanpachi Usuzukuri Amberjack sashimi with yuzu pepper. This is in the yellowtail family, and is ridiculously good. The yuzu adds a bit of a kick, and has a little citrus to it, which makes for a tasty appetizer. Kani Sunomono Blue crab rolls wrapped in cucumber and drenched in a ponzu sauce. We recently had a waiter highly recommend these, but they’re not all that. Tasty for sure, but save the dollars for something else. Oxtail Fried Rice This might be the greatest fried rice on earth. It’s a good sized serving of oxtail fried rice with an omelet on top. Inside the omelet? Bone marrow. An absolute must order. Yaki Hama Baked clams in miso butter. These are amazing, but you’ll wish that there were more than four on the plate, and you’ll wish they weren’t four bucks each. Smoked Pork Belly Kushi Yaki Like the fried rice, this is a good sized serving (rare for this place), and is another must order. Basically a pot of pulled pork served with rice and hot sauce. Get it. Fried Chicken “Blue Ribbon Style” Very similar to the signature Blue Ribbon Brasserie version, but with wasabi added to the honey. The chicken is perfect, and the honey has a strong wasabi kick that makes it even better. This is outrageously good." - Chris Stang
"Open since 2015, Blue Ribbon turned one of The Grove’s most cursed and consistently vacant storefronts into a mall staple of sorts. The very fact this upscale sushi bar is still around is a triumph. The sushi and sashimi dishes are solid enough, but you’re going to ignore most of it to focus on their fried chicken wings. They’re crunchy, moist, and served with a wasabi honey sauce that takes each bite to a new level. Paying $22 for six wings is slightly painful, but so is The Grove, and you managed to say yes to that. RESERVE A TABLE WITH RESERVE A TABLE" - Brant Cox
"Take a break from shopping for Blue Ribbon’s modern take on Japanese cuisine. The restaurant features fun dishes like fried chicken wings that come with chile sauce and wasabi-honey and oxtail fried rice with a bone-marrow omelet. There’s even a kids’ menu with simple maki rolls and chicken rice bowls." - Cathy Chaplin
