Restaurant Review: Masa Sushi Sake, League City (Dickinson), Texas

One of my favorite things about vacations is the chance to try different restaurants. I've lived most of my life in a small-town West Texas setting, where beer and steak or considered staples, and while I enjoy a slab of cow every now and again, I much prefer fine dining. Fortunately, I have traveled a lot and have had the chance to try many fine dining establishments.

That's why I was so excited when I decided to vacation near the Gulf area of Texas, around Galveston, Houston, and the coastal waters where Hurricane Ike decided to dump his rage this past year. Seafood... fresh... yum!

Masa Sushi Sake Location

Unfortunately, as my friend and host for this much-needed vacation pointed out to me, many of the fantastic restaurants that were sitting on the long peers off the Seawall were completely wiped out, peer and all, when the storm came. This left us searching for fine dining farther inland, and that's when we landed at Masa Sushi Sake, a Japanese American fusion restaurant in League City, Texas, located at 1804 FM 646, Suite R, near Dickinson.

Masa Sushi Sake Parking

Nestled in a shopping center, with easy access and excellent parking, we pulled up on the front side of Masa Sushi Sake, and were met with dark tinted windows, properly obstructing our view of diners, but allowing the folks inside to see out with no problems. I thought the outside looked god, inviting, slightly upscale for the shopping center in which it was located.

Masa Sushi Sake Interior

Inside, the décor was not quite Japanese, but we were met with hanging lamps and the classic paper globe lights. To the left, a balcony dining area was plush with linen table cloths and leather backed chairs. In front of us and to the side were regular color-topped tables and wooden chairs.

Toward the back wall, there was the bar, with a selection of your standard drinks of choice, but also a rack of various sake wine bottles. I had never seen so many choices of sake in one place before!

I could have done without the blaring Cindi Lauper music in the background though.

Masa Sushi Sake Menu

While the lunch menu was very reasonable (albeit with a limited selection for lunch), the dinner menu was average in pricing for my sushi eating experience, with a much better selection of dishes from which to choose. You can find the Masa Sushi Sake menu online at this website (see end of article for link).

With both hot and cold dishes available, and a very limited American cuisine choosing, both sushi fans and picky family members can find something to eat at Masa Sushi Sake.

Masa Sushi Sake Wait Staff

Being my first time at Masa Sushi Sake, I wanted to order a little bit of everything, to taste as much as I could in one meal. That's why we asked our waitress what was best to order for dinner, so we could get a good sampling of as many varieties of sushi and sashimi as possible. The wait staff at Masa Sushi Sake was attentive and courteous, and our particular waitress took the time to tell us all the best dishes and tell us what each of the pieces of sashimi we ordered were.

Masa Sushi Sake The Meal

For appetizers, we ordered a dish called "Yummy Must Try". Yes, the name of the dish was "Yummy Must Try". It was an interesting concoction of shrimp, avocado, crab, smoked salmon, tuna, and yellowtail, rolled in soybean paper and wrapped in white fish, shaped into a fish shape on the plate, and then drizzled in an ocean of sweet eel sauce and spicy mayo and topped with smelt roe. Oh. My. Goodness. The name says it all. It's yummy, and you must try it. Cost: $7.99

My friend and I finally settled on ordering the Sashimi B Dinner Sampler, which is 15 pieces of sashimi, including tuna, octopus with fresh lemon slices, white fish, fresh salmon and super white tuna, nestled beside shredded radish, served with soy sauce and eel sauce. Cost: $23.99

We also ordered the Sushi C sampler, which included 20 pieces of sushi (two each of 10 varieties), as well as five spicy tuna rolls and 10 small California rolls. The Sushi C meal included tuna, super white tuna, salmon, smoked salmon, eel, white fish, red fish, crab, squid and pocket sushi. Cost: #28.98.

Both meals were served with miso soup and a dinner-sized salad with the best tasting ginger dressing I've had at any Japanese restaurant ever. We also ordered to carafes of warm sake that was not the best sake I've ever had, but it was pretty darned good. With happy hour, we managed to get good drink prices.

Masa Sushi Sake Prices

As stated earlier, the prices were reasonable for the type of food we were ordering. We had more than enough for two people and ended up taking some of our meal home with us to eat later that evening. Of course, the rest of the leftovers went to the cats and the dog. Could you believe both cats turned their noses up at super white fresh tuna?

The total for our two dinner meals, two drink orders, and an appetizer was about $80. While it's definitely not family dining prices, for a treat, and for the type of food, the price was more than reasonable in my opinion.

Masa Sushi Sake The Website

You can find the Masa Sushi Sake and the Masa Sushi Fusion websites at http://www.masasushitexas.com/.

While there, be sure to check out the picture gallery of the amazing and nearly artistic dishes and don't forget to play with the little fishes in the background that follow your mouse around.

All said and done, I recommend Masa Sushi Sake to anyone who enjoys sushi.

If you're new to eating sushi, check out Michelle L Devon's previous sushi articles:

Sushi Eating Etiquette: A Guide to How to Eat Sushi

Beginner's Guide to Sampling Sushi

What is Sushi? Information About Sushi and Its Origins