Cuddlefish

I went back twice in 10 days!!! Cuddlefish is my newest obsession. Lol. I love the attention to detail and the care that was taken. Everything that I have had has been delicious. A must for true sushi lovers or culinary adventurists that want to try something new. I appreciated both of my experiences, and what I observed let me know that these people are in the care of the business they’re in, and it shows in the food and the details taken to curate their menu. The energy is so warm and welcoming. During my second visit, a gentleman came in, not dressed for an interview, not dressed to apply for a job. The person at the host stand was so nice and accommodating he went out of his way to provide him with an email address to him to send his résumé, and he did not have to do that. He could’ve asked him to leave. He could’ve asked him to leave. I savored both of my experiences, and what I observed let me know that these people are in the care of the business they’re in, and it shows in the food and the service.

Love this casual take on an omakase concept. While I have enjoyed sitting at a sushi counter and having a chef personally walk through a meal, sometimes you want to just focus on the company that you are with while still being able to enjoy a curated sushi experience. This restaurant allows you to do that. We had the signature plus menu, which was 10 courses, including an appetizer and dessert. Every course was truly delicious, fresh, and thoughtfully crafted. I was excited to try the negitoro and uni handrolls and the various nigiri (scallop, chutoro, otoro, etc.), and I couldn't pick a favorite after trying them all. The ponzu and shoyu sauces that were on some of the nigiri enhanced them in ways that I hadn't tasted before. The sake flight paired well with the middle courses. We also had the old fashioned, which I would order again.

This newly opened restaurant is at the same location as the former Brush Sushi Izakaya, but more approachable and a focus on hand rolls. Everything we ordered was very good and fresh and the service was great too. The lighting was a little dim so I had to turn on my flashlight to view the menu though. The only negative experience, which may not be their fault, was the smell of old water/building smell when you first walked in.

The presentation of each course was very clean y attractive. You can tell the crew is getting used to working together. They all did their best, we had to call because apparently it was full, but we sat at the sushi bar, which was available all night. They have a great list of sake, too!

Definitely enjoyed this little gem. I had 5 different temaki and all were delicious (two of which aren’t pictured because I devoured them before thinking to take a pic)! To drink I had the NewBees, a nice gin based cocktail that was fresh, floral and packed the desired punch. I sat at the bar during happy hour with the bartender, Mona. She was great and offered awesome suggestions. The customer service was top tier as well. I can’t wait to go back!

In the heart of Decatur, Georgia, one finds a culinary gem in the form of Cuddle Fish, an Omikase sushi restaurant that is nothing short of a gastronomic revelation. The experience begins with a playful yet sophisticated black pepper edamame, followed by a vibrant tuna and salmon poke that dances on the palate. The accompanying sake flute, a triptych of flavors, serves as a harmonious symphony to the unfolding culinary narrative. The sushi, a parade of Fluke, Salmon, Sea Bream, and Kanpachi, is a testament to the chef's mastery, each piece a delicate balance of flavor and texture. The hand rolls, particularly the Salmon Citrus and Yellowtail Snow Crab Salad, are a symphony of taste, each bite more enchanting than the last. The Tamago Brulee and Kabayaki Unagi Hand Roll are delightful surprises, their unique flavors a testament to the chef's creativity. The Wagyu Beef roll, a decadent indulgence, pairs exquisitely with a glass of robust Bordeaux, a nod to the global influences that elevate this dining experience. The ambiance, relaxed and comforting, belies the excellence of the sushi, a testament to the unassuming brilliance of Cuddle Fish. This is not merely a meal, but a journey, a testament to the art of sushi that would make even the most discerning gourmand nod in approval.

Overall, we had a nice dining experience. The service was very good and the restaurant itself is small but nice. The food was good but the sushi was definitely better than the hand rolls. Would like to see some fixed menus featuring just sushi instead of mixing in the hand rolls.

Went for a bday dinner and it was a delight. The pacing was good, the service thoughtful, and the fish, unbelievable. Highlights included: the chutoro (good god!), Hokkaido uni, the yellowtail, the sea bream, and all of the hand rolls — fun to eat, and a solid portion. We left feeling full but not overly so. Also ordered the sake flight and each was delicious, distinct. Could not recommend more highly for a treat!

Cuddlefish has a happy hour on Wednesday-Friday from 4pm-7pm. My girls and I came here for their Friday Happy Hour! There is a paid parking lot right next to the restaurant which was very convenient. Once inside my friends and I were quickly seated and our server came right over. We started with a round of the happy hour cocktails; NewBees and they were tasty. For food we tried a variety of small bites all of which were really good. My favorite piece was the ABURI A5 WAGYU. Unfortunately, during my visit I had an allergic reaction to the new cucumber menu item. The manager came over quickly to insure that I was OK and apologize for the menu not having the nut allergy emphasis next to it and insured they would quickly fix the menus. Overall we enjoyed our experience at Cuddlefish, they had a cute ambiance and some outdoor seating available!

Brush Sushi Izakaya was my first omakase experience, and was always my favorite sushi restaurant in Atlanta. I understand that Cuddlefish (same owners) are trying to offer a more approachable omakase experience. However it is difficult to not compare the two when Cuddlefish has taken over the previous location, the menu format is exactly the same, they offer similar omakase set menus, etc. My brother and I made reservations for the Signature Plus set at the sushi bar. Walking in you immediately notice the relatively drab decorations. What happened to the mural showing the breakdown of the tuna or chicken? Instead we get a plain, white wall. Gone as well is the actual omakase experience. The two sushi chefs seemed more focused on slinging out poorly constructed sushi than the usual quality I'm used to, especially for chefs that I assume would have been trained by Jason Liang. The chefs used to be overly meticulous with presentation/plating (ie, using chopsticks to get that final sliver of scallions on the nigiri just right, using the tweezers to get that tiny fishbone out, etc.). Last night I just watched them throw some pre-cut nigiri (every box weirdly had pre-cut strips) on rice and casually fling the plates across the counter to be served, with some items even coming apart as it hit the surface. There were a lot of quality control issues: - I had several pieces of nigiri that fell apart when trying to pick up - I also agree with the other reviewer about the new handrolls. The filling will easily squeeze out if you try and bite into it. It looks cute and unique, but not very functional - the server said the scallops had yuzu kosho, didn't see or taste any hint of that (disppointing since I love yuzu kosho) - my piece of dessert was missing the white chocolate bits - the pieces of nigiri are also very small, cut thinner than before. This is my first time leaving an omakase meal still hungry. - they don't actually put the cute Cuddlefish logo on the tamago brulee like in the picture, or at least they didn't that night. Also all of the pieces looked sadly deformed and saggy. FYI there is literally no point in sitting at the sushi bar. This is the exact opposite of any intimate omakase experience you have been to in the past. The chefs are there strictly to make sushi, and won't give explanations of their creations or add in little tidbits like in others prior. They won't even hand you the plate even though they are right in front of you. The worst part of the tasting menu is the timing of dishes. The meal was AWFULLY paced. There was one instance where they literally took our plates and replaced with another course with our mouths still full. But most of the gaps were 10-18 minutes apart between courses. It appeared as though other patrons had long breaks between their courses as well. The quality of the food itself is still up to par. Unfortunately the rest of my experience makes Cuddlefish easy to recommend to others NOT to come here. There are just too many glaring issues. They seem to want to be more casual, but still charge premium prices for a lacking experience. This is especially egregrious when there's so many other great sushi places in Atlanta. I loved Brush and was extremely disappointed by my dining experience at Cuddlefish.

Same great decor and clean restaurant as before. Great friendly staff. The cocktails were good. The fish were all fresh and the sushi was great. Although pieces were on the smaller side, like Uchi size if you have ever been to that restaurant. I love that they are bringing the handroll restaurant concept over here. A couple of suggestions though: - rice should be cooled down more before making the sushi- it will ruin the fish for takeouts for sure - small bay scallops have a different flavor and texture profile. I crave the larger Hokkaido or larger scallops in general that is cut in half laid over rice in nigiri form- if that is possible in the future. Overall wonderful experience! Can't wait for takeouts and trying new things!

Had a date night with my partner and another couple. To be quite frank, we were excited to try this new omakase place (it being the other couple's first time) and because my partner and I haven't had omakase in a while. We had entered the restaurant and was overlooked by our host who was standing in front of us for quite a while. No problem, he must have had some things to sort out because there were (3) other tables in the establishment with his phone on his ear. No greetings, but a straight question - "do you have a reservation?" which we did so we were promptly seated. We were only given a single menu to share between the four of us and after multiple attempts to get another menu from either the host or other busy servers, I just got up and grabbed one from another table. Server did not grab our order until 20 minutes since we have been sat down, let alone have any sort of interaction within the first 15. Whenever we were presented with the dishes, a quick mumble of what was served was all we had gotten. We had started to play a game on what we were actually eating and guessing what it was according to the omakase menu order. I had placed an order on the side of the (4) omakase but wasn't asked if I was interested in it until the end of dinner which was about 2.5 hours long.. and after desert was served. Thoughout the entire dinner, I would have to request to have the previous empty plates taken so that it would not clutter the table further. The dishes served were pretty straight forward. Our omakase had focused more on the hand rolls which were quite different than what I ever ordered elsewhere. There were some conflicts in terms of uniformity where some of my party would have terrible portions whereas I would have just enough to cover the rice. It would seem that taste was not as desired as well because everything seem to lacking compared to the nori used (maybe due to ratios?). The pacing in which dishes were served was beyond comprehension as we would take our time in eating the dishes, but still wait an average of 10 minutes for the next which resulted in a close to 3-hour dinner. When the bill came, my date had inquired if the reservation deposit fee would be taken account for the overall bill, but the server did not reply and simply just dropped off the handheld machine to pay and left which simply listed the total and prompted for tip after. There was an option to get a receipt which I had opted for but... another 15 minutes of being ignored by several servers just made me want to cut my losses and leave. Overall, this experience would be summed up as a failure. Do I understand that it's a new concept for the establishment - yes but there would be some sort of redeeming factor at that point. Cannot say the price was worth it because I don't even know what was paid for due to lack of itemized bill.

A huge disappointment. Arguably bad fish. Tried the omakase signature. I don't know what was happening but a few pieces of the fish tasted freezer burned. Some of the rice was too vinegary, other bites of rice were not cooked fully. Rice was too hot so the fish was a terrible texture. I love otoro and never thought you could mess it up but I was proven wrong. The piece of otoro I was served was not cut properly and i had pieces of skin and tendon in my piece that were objectively inedible. It felt like the cuts of fish were way too thick and uneven and poorly done. The "hand rolls" had plastic in them. Like actual pieces of hard plastic film. Couldn't tell what the purpose of the film was. Maybe to preserve the integrity of the seaweed, although there was no sauce that would moisten the seaweed. So the only justification i could think of was the weight of the filling being too heavy for the seaweed. But not a good look at all. If that's the case I would suggest an alternative presentation with only edible components. Removing the plastic was painfully annoying and difficult to do while maintaining the filling and the seaweed piece. Way too overpriced for the quality. Will not come here again.

Cuddlefish is a solid place to try omakase if it's your first time and you don't want to commit to one of the pricier sushi restaurants that offers omakase. The variety of the sushi sets varies depending on how much you want to spend. The price ranges from $32-99 depending on how many pieces you want to try. I think this is what works in the favor of Cuddlefish, whereas most omakase only has one price point. And you get what you pay for, whether here or elsewhere. I wanted to try Cuddlefish because I live nearby and it's seems to be a decent option when I don't want to drive downtown to my usual spot or I want more omakase sets to choose from. I made reservations for 5 p.m. for the Signature set, however, I feel like I could have been seated as a walk-in because I was the only person there on a Friday. Not many others trickled in while I was there, so maybe it was the weather or it gets busier later. I enjoyed everything in the Signature set, as a few folks mentioned in other reviews the sushi pieces are a little small compared to anywhere else. It didn't necessarily bother me just good to know for future visits where I'll likely just order hand rolls instead. The other thing that threw me off a bit was that a few of the hand rolls had a piece of plastic between the nori and the sushi that you have to pull out (obviously) before you eat it, the waitress mentioned why it's there, but I don't remember why it's there. I just thought it would slide right out, but *a tip* take you time and place a chopstick or your finger at the front while slowly pulling the plastic out. I came during happy hour so I also got a cocktail, the NewBees was really good. I also tried an additional hand roll (spicy tuna and avocado) from the happy hour menu. Honestly, if you don't want to commit to any of the sets, the happy hour menu is a decent starting point to try a few things. This might actually be a regular happy hour spot for me when I'm craving sushi.

The omakase was a wonderful experience. We had the $99 pre-paid option and enjoyed a beautiful, fresh, and well-paced meal! The cocktails were also very delicious, my favorite combination of gin and citrus was there and it was the perfect complement to the polished sushi dishes.

The perfect spot for small bites. The food was fresh, the drinks were good and service was great.

Phenomenal, fun sushi. Excellent service, great cocktails. Get the signature set, go during happy hour and order some extra hh temaki = have a blast.

The other bad reviews hit the nail on the head. I'll add my 2 cents though. I came with a group of 3, so it wasn't a large group. 1. The pacing was horrendous. It would take 15 minutes between servings. We literally got hungry between servings. When the server is constantly making excuses on how slow the food is, you've got a major problem. I don't have 2.5 hours to waste on dinner. My time was disrespected. 2. The sushi was bad. Not Kroger sushi bad, but like inedible BAD. I don't complain about Kroger sushi, because it's alright and does the job. The rice here was so warm that the fish on top turned into goop. Like everything fell apart when you tried to pick it up, and the sushi would slide off. The fish goop had no flavor at all. The taco hand rolls were just as terrible. To top it all off, the size of the fish was an absolute joke. A normal size sashimi piece would be bigger than 5 pieces of the fish they serve here. You can literally see the rice through the razor thin fish. 3. Even if you are into goopy warm sushi, you're going to need a Brinks truck. The prices here are outrageous for the serving size you get. It's aggravated robbery. You really have to go out of your way to make the sushi as small as they do here. I tried, but I couldn't find anything redeeming about this place. Brush's name is now forever tarnished for being affiliated with Cuddlefish. The funny thing is that Cuddlefish was suppose to be a more lowkey and affordable restaurant. If I'm going to spend this kind of money, I rather go to Nobu. At least I won't go home hungry or disgusted. If you read this far, just know that you dodged a bullet and terrible night.

My wife and I visited the relatively newish restaurant, Cuddlefish in Decatur Square on a Friday night. We thoroughly enjoyed the warm service provided by our knowledgeable, professional, and courteous server, Jimmy. Jimmy quickly took a moment to determine that we had been to the chef's previous sushi/Japanese concept, Brush Sushi Izakaya, which used to be in this location very recently. He did a great job on explaining this concept, and how the chef wanted to focus on nigiri and hand rolls, while also offering more approachable Omakase experience. We ordered two cocktails, the Nightfall, and Mr. Miyagi. We enjoyed both cocktails and they were unique and delicious. For food, we ordered a wide range of nigiri and hand rolls. We decided to go a la carte to try a big variety. Please see our attached photos that are labeled to help you see the various pieces we ordered and what they look like. The nigiri pieces are small, but exceptionally delicate and fresh. The temperature of the rice and the fish blend perfectly, and we really appreciated the freshness and cleanness of the fish. Each piece of nigiri was adorned delicately and simply with either wasabi or some sort of ponzu, shallot ponzu or chili ponzo, etc. The taco-shaped hand rolls were a newer experience for us, but we found them to be exceptionally delicious! Each hand roll was assembled to have varying tastes and texture. Service was equally warm and inviting. Jimmy was very knowledgeable and had his finger on our pulse and came to check what we thought of the food. For instance, after we finished our first round of nigiri and hand rolls, Jimmy made a couple of recommendations for us to try. we obliged and were rewarded with a delicious Uni hand roll, an equally tasty negitoro hand roll, and fresh seasonal fluke nigiri. Exceptional service that is knowledgeable and predictive is wonderful. So, thank you, Jimmy! Finally, again with Jimmy's recommendation, we opted to share a piece of dessert. On the menu today was a single dessert and it was sublime! It was a small slice of apple crumb cheesecake from, the restaurant's Midtown sister restaurant, Momonoki/Momo Café. The dessert was perfectly light and delightful. While quite expensive, as you may be able to tell from the pictures of the menu that I have included, we think that this restaurant is a wonderful option for a splurge or a special night out! Thank you to Jason, Jimmy, and everyone else that made our special night that much more special. Highly recommended!

We went late afternoon and it was very slow. Probably 3 other people dining. Tough to find because the only identifying sign was on a chalkboard outside. All in all, the service was friendly and the food good but severely missing some ambience. Prices were ok but think there's better quality and better value out there.

Cuddlefish did not disappoint. Each bite of the Omasake was absolutely delicious. We also ordered a wide variety of the hand rolls which were all great, but the Wagyu was definitely the standout. The quality of the fish far outshined any typical sushi spot in town, yet the final bill was comparable to dinner at our go to sushi joint. Whatever issues people have reported with service in the past seemed to have worked themselves out. We were promptly greeted, seated and well taken care of by the wait staff. I highly encourage everyone to try out this new spot.

The former restaurant at this location, Brush, was my favorite spot in Decatur, and we were regulars. We loved the ambience and the menu's variety, as well as the quality. I am so disappointed by this new restaurant, and worried this would be the case as soon as the owners insinuated that Decatur required a more low key concept. Gone is the beautiful mural, natural brick facade and moody curtain -- all interior and exterior walls are now stark white, the curtain is gone, and the space now feels sparse and bizarre. Despite Cuddlefish allegedly being more casual, we spent far more than we ever did at Brush, for less food. However, the true problem lies with the menu itself as it feels pitifully half-baked. First of all, all of the pre set options are the same mixture of hand rolls and nigiri, adding items progressively as the price increases. How can we justify coming here to eat the same exact menu many times? The hand rolls are a huge issue. They take up much of the menu, and they are completely illogical and difficult to eat. Since they're not in the typical cone shape, all of the filling comes out when you bite into these "taco" shaped hand rolls. While visually cute, it's as if no one bothered to actually taste these. It's hard to find them appetizing when the filling is all over your hands. It was a terrible experience and a nigiri-only sequence is very much needed. Overall, the menu lacks the finesse of an actual omakase experience, and the variety of Brush's offerings. It seems unfair that Buckhead can enjoy Brush's splendor, while Decatur is left with this. I'm hoping they will turn it around soon, and giving three stars for the great service and the delicious nigiri alone.

So yummy - go during happy hour!! 5-7 they have great cocktails and $5 cider. You can pick three rolls for $20 absolutely worth it!!!

Better than Brush in that it's less expensive but it's just not great sushi. I appreciate them simplifying the menu and trying to do better with less but it just doesn't seem like they really understand how to prepare sushi correctly. And they still have that awful soy sauce spray bottle gimmick. The sensation of spraying your fish with soy sauce feels like you're squirting cleaning fluid on it. It's just not appetizing. It does seem like the prices are much more reasonable but I just don't see myself coming here again unfortunately.

This is the best sushi restaurant we've tried so far in Decatur. It's got a nice ambiance, the food was delicious, and we plan to come back often. We both ordered the signature, a karaage appetizer, an extra hand roll, drinks, and dessert.

Cuddlefish is the BEST sushi ever! Better than Nobu? Yes. I'm super picky about my sushi and this is by far the best quality fish with the best flavors (hand rolls etc).