March 13, 2004
Toyo Sushi and Grill
The Toyo Sushi and Grill is located in Providence Square on International Drive, which happens to be in our apartment complex. After a long day with Sean's office move we decided we did not want to venture too far for dinner.
Although the place is pretty humble we were both pleasantly surprised by the warm atmosphere and friendly staff. Even though it was decorated with some of the kitschy things restaurants use to come up with a theme it was done sparingly and artistically. One of the couples that came in after us chose to sit at the bar where they could watch their sushi being prepared. Sean ordered the Beef Teriyaki Negamaki and I ordered the Spicy Mexican shrimp roll sushi and the California Roll. The presentation was really cool, especially my sushi plate which was a wooden platter, with wasabi, pickled ginger, the sushi laid out artistically and garnished with a carrot butterfly. Really really good sushi. The Mexican roll was $6 and the California roll was $3.50. We each had ice tea and then switched to red wine -- ok no wine list but as Sean said "it was a good day". For dessert we shared fried banana with vanilla ice cream. The bill came to $40 plus tip. This was definitely a case of not judging a book by it's cover. I know when my sister comes to visit we'll definitely have a great place to go for sushi. I took my fancy carrot garnish home so Sean could take a picture.
