Kira

"Kira in River Oaks could be mistaken for a play about sushi in a black box theater. The Japanese restaurant from the team behind Neo has a wooden counter at center stage, 15 seats for its audience, and a sound system playing ‘70s jazz albums for the duration of the show. Kira focuses on handrolls, with chefs routinely placing the temaki in your hand as if they were crisp $100 bills. When people aren’t eating nori stuffed with bouncy salmon roe and silky tuna, they’re having spoonfuls of donburi with clouds of fresh wasabi. Each staff member has lightning-fast service reflexes, appearing with on-tap highballs like a sixth sense. After spending 90 minutes watching chefs slice amberjack and receiving compliments on your sashimi selection, eating at Kira makes you feel like you’re a part of the team. Seats at Kira fill up quickly, and there’s typically only a day-of reservation at 5pm or 9pm on most days of the week. If you’re interested in a primetime spot, online reservations open up three weeks in advance. But if you recently won the lottery and want to test your luck further, you can show up right when they open and check if there’s a free seat." - gianni greene, chelsea thomas

"From the team behind the lauded omakase restaurant Neo comes this hand roll spot in River Oaks. Doubling as a Japanese listening bar with a dope playlist, this 15-seat counter-service bar features an enticing lineup of hand rolls, including a buttery, warm lobster hand roll slathered in seaweed hollandaise and a convincing ode to the lox bagel featuring applewood smoked ocean trout, chives, and freeze-dried sour cream. Diners can complement their meal with sake, cocktails, or wine, and finish with palate-cleansing kaikigori, with ice freshly shaved behind the bar." - Brittany Britto Garley

"Modeled after a Japanese-listening sushi bar, this new River Oaks restaurant dishes out flavorful hand rolls and a curated playlist. Diners get a front-row seat of chefs assembling dishes, including sets of sashimi featuring seasonal fish or bluefin tuna, and an assortment of hand rolls, including a warm, buttery lobster hand roll with a dollop of seaweed hollandaise that some might recognize from its omakase restaurant Neo, and a maitake hand roll slathered in a brown butter emulsion. Pair the rolls with a bottle of sake or an inventive cocktail, including Japanese high balls, and finish with kakigori that’s hand-cranked into your bowl in plain sight. Visit on Sunday nights between 7 p.m. and midnight when the restaurant busts out the red lights and transitions to Bar Kira. The nighttime experience features a special menu of cocktails and bites, including lobster rolls on milk bread, wagyu beef curry, and smoked fish onigiri." - Brittany Britto Garley

"Verdict: This Japanese restaurant looks like a black box theater, with a 15-seat, wooden sushi counter for guests to watch their handrolls loaded with salmon roe and delicate tuna get assembled. Kira's servers keep the pace between courses of caviar-laced temaki and bowls of donburi flowing by materializing out of thin air to replace your cocktail and ask about your favorite dish. This River Oaks spot is best for a smooth date night with someone you want to impress while hearing a Sade album on vinyl through their sound system." - gianni greene, chelsea thomas

"Kira could be mistaken for a play about sushi in a black box theater. The Japanese restaurant, from the team behind Neo, has a wooden counter at center stage and 15 seats for its audience. Kira’s main focus is handrolls, which are placed in your palm like $100 bills. The nori gets stuffed with lobster slathered in hollandaise, and when folks aren’t eating the temaki filled with bouncy salmon roe, they’re working through donburi bowls crammed with amberjack and shrimp. Between the precisely wrapped rolls and the staff stepping in to adjust your coaster a few millimeters to the right, no detail gets left behind. Come to Kira when you want to celebrate a big promotion with pandan kakigori or have a date that needs to experience the fluffy uni. " - gianni greene, chelsea thomas