McLean, VA — Tachibana

Tachibana 6715 Lowell Ave McLean, VA

(703) 847-1771 website map

Tonight Sushipilgrim decided to try a new sushi place. Several reviewers gave Tachibana high ratings so it looked promising. Tachibana is open until 10:00pm on weeknights so I watched a couple of episodes of Law & Order and got to the restaurant at 9:00pm.

Tachibana is a large restaurant with a curved sushi bar and a large main dining for tables. In the back I could see Tatami rooms andother private dining areas. The restaurant is clean but the decor is a little bit dated.

Right away I was impresed with the menu. Tachibana has an excellent sushi menu as well as reular Japanese menu items. Several items were worth noting. Uni, mirugai and fresh mackeral were all on the menu.

Tachibana is also notable because it has combinations both as complete dinners and a la carte. The complete dinners come with a choice of soup, salad appetizer and ice cream or sorbet for dessert. I ordered the sashimi combination. I chose Miso soup, and a shrimp sunomono salad. For an appetizer I chose shrimp shumai.

The Miso was good but the sunomono was spectacular. The sunomono was cucumber, shrimp and seaweed. The shumai was good but a little bit on the bland side. The sashimi however was perfect. The sashimi arrived on a plate and in a bowl. It was artfully arranged but not as nicely as at Sushi House in Iowa.

The sashimi combination was the best I've ever had. It had salmon, tuna, yellowtail, halibut and seared tuna. The best part was the diced scallops served in a carved up cucumber shell. All of the fish was just right, firm and fresh. The flavors blended nicely and the portions were perfect.

I cannot think of a single negative comment for Tachibana this is now one of my favorite sushi restaurants.

Tachibana: 5 rice bowls