Charleston, WV — Sushi Atlantic

Sushi Atlantic 422 Shrewsbury St # A Charleston, WV

304.342.0021 map

My son is in the 82nd Airborne (hooah!) and this week he deployed to Afghanistan. I flew down to Fort Bragg, NC to see him off and decided to drive back via West Virginia in search of sushi. I know it seems obsessive but I am trying to review sushi restaurants in all 50 states and West Virginia makes 38.

Several people asked whether I would even find sushi in West Virginia. I am not a sushi snob — I do not have a rule that prevents me from eating sushi more than 100 miles form the ocean. Some of my top rated sushi restaurants are located in Michigan and Ohio. So after looking at some online reviews, I decided to try Sushi Atlantic in Charleston, West Virginia.

After witnessing several accidents driving across the mountains in a thunderstorm, I was ready to relax and enjoy some sushi. Sushi Atlantic is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant run my an elderly Japanese couple. The menu was pretty ordinary so I ordered a sashimi combo and a Philadelphia roll. The combo also came with soup and a salad.

The salad was unusual for sushi restaurants. The dressing had a stronger vinegar taste than I expected and instead of lettuce, it appeared to be primarily finely shredded cabbage. The miso was ordinary but good.

The sashimi combo included yellowtail, tuna, salmon and squid. The yellowtail, tuna and squid were all pretty good but nothing special. I had saved the salmon for last. When I bit into the salomon, I was disapointed. The salmon was mushy and had a relatively strong smell. The Philly roll used the same salmon so it was no better.

The couple running the place were not able to keep up with even the modest number of patrons in the restaurant at the time. The overall cleanliness of the restaurant and food handling were also sub standard.

There may be good sushi somewhere in the hills of West Virginia, but not at Sushi Atlantic.

Sushi Atlantic 1 rice bowl