Restaurant Review: I Love Sushi in Huntsville, Alabama

Location: 2000 Cecil Ashburn Drive, Suite 102 | Huntsville, AL 35802

Phone: 256-885-1818

Hours of Operation:
Lunch: Monday thru Saturday: 11:00-2:00
Dinner: Monday thru Thursday: 5:00-9:30 Friday thru Saturday: 5:00-10:30
Sunday: Closed

Prices: Entrees from $5.95 to $21.95

Huntsville, Alabama offers a surprisingly diverse variety of food choices for diners, but has always struggled to support a high quality sushi restaurant. Sure, the local buffets sometimes serve up the standard Spicy Tuna and California rolls using ingredients of suspect freshness and the Teppanyaki steakhouses sometimes have a small menu to choose from but true lovers of sushi have traditionally had to drive two hours south to Birmingham or two hours north to Nashville for high quality sushi. I Love Sushi, located on the corner of Carl T. Jones and Cecil Ashburn Drive aims to change that fact.

Located in a strip mall a short drive from the Valley Bend 18 Movie Theater, I Love Sushi is the perfect place to stop in for a quick bite to eat before catching a movie. Decorated in soothing blacks and reds, I Love Sushi works hard to replicate the look and feel of an authentic and upscale sushi restaurant. The only thing that mars this ambiance is the classic rock music blaring over head. It's difficult to get the feel of Asia when "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is playing in your ears.

My wife and I arrived at I Love Sushi at approximately 11:15 AM on a holiday Monday. At this time of morning, the restaurant was almost dead, although by the time we left, a decent crowd of patrons had trickled in. We were greeted promptly and seated at a table in sight of the bar. Looking over the menu, we noticed that I Love Sushi, while offering high quality sushi ingredients like sea urchin and octopus, also has a very broad and reasonably priced menu of hot Asian fare such as Fried Rice and Gyoza. The combination lunch plate, priced at $8.95 and offering a choice of two entrée items as well as salad, soup, and rice, looked interesting but we eventually decided to try out what I Love Sushi is named for, the sushi rolls.

I got the Spider Roll, made with soft shell crab, smelt eggs, cucumber, and avocado, priced at $8.50 and the Spicy Tuna Roll, priced at $4.95. My wife got the Love Wheel Roll, made with tuna, yellowtail, cream cheese, and ponzu sauce, priced at $7.95 and the Tropical Roll, made with mango, tuna, avocado, and cucumber, priced at $5.95. All four rolls were excellent. The Spicy Tuna Roll, the benchmark of any good sushi restaurant, tasted just like it should. The tempura fried soft shell crab in the Spider Roll offered a nice crunch to the roll. The ponzu sauce on the Love Wheel Roll was thick and delicious. The mango in the Tropical Roll was refreshing, if slightly odd.

The service was excellent as well. We were seated promptly and served almost immediately. The waitress appeared very knowledgeable about the menu and offered assistance for any questions we had. Our drinks, Diet Coke for me and hot green tea for her, were refilled promptly, and everyone was very friendly.

Overall, I'd recommend I Love Sushi to anyone in or around Huntsville looking for some great sushi. My wife and I are planning to return in the near future to try the hot meal options. We've neither one worked up the courage to try out the Wacky Roll, made with peanut butter, but we're glad the option is there.