This is for all the sushi/Japanese food lovers.....
Humans naturally eat to live. Most people who know me would say that I live to eat due to my insatiable curiosity for hunting down diverse delicious grub, like sushi. When Yelp showed me a highly-rated Japanese restaurant in downtown Concord, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
My first visit to "Happy Roll" was on a random Friday night. There was a crowd at the door, which is usually an indicator for fabulous food. I went inside, put my name on the list, and somehow started chatting with a "Happy Roll" regular. He said, "This place is pretty much the best I've had in the area for fresh sashimi, and I was stationed in Japan for 2 years."
Subsequently, I was perfectly content to browse the menu while I waited 30 minutes for my seat. The menu housed a variety of appetizers and entrees, but I zeroed in on "Dax's Roll." It had spicy crabmeat, unagi, salmon topped with mango, avocado, tempura flakes and house sauce. I also ordered an appetizer of salmon and yellowtail sashimi.
I then absorbed the ambiance. It was clean, modern, and intimately packed with the awkward first dates, families of chatterboxes, and buddies having college reunions. For about 15 minutes, I jammed to the modern music and ogled over others' food until my pleasant waitress appeared with my mouth-watering meal.
The vibrant sashimi was presented on a bed of fresh Daikon radish, complete with lemon slices, ginger and wasabi. A rule of thumb is if sashimi ever tastes "fishy" it probably isn't fresh. Fortunately, the sashimi tasted like it was just caught from the sea; the salmon had the texture of butter and the yellowtail tasted like fresh lemon. I wanted to order more but I stopped myself when I saw my roll.
"Dax's Roll" was gorgeous; the thinly-cut pieces were exquisitely arranged on a classy wooden board. I appreciated how the mango and unagi sauces were artistically drizzled on the sides of the rolls so you can control the amount you want in each serving. After my first bite, I knew I would return.
The combination of the melt-in your mouth salmon, unagi and avocado with the sweet mango slices, spicy crab meat kick, and tempura crunch was addicting. The amount of rice was perfect and did not take away from the essence of the roll. I devoured my entire meal with a $24 tab.
After several more visits, “Happy Roll” gradually outranked sushi places that I have sampled in the past and became my ideal sushi recommendation for friends and family. I believe that the intimately lush ambiance with modern music, amiable staff, and deliciously innovative menu makes this a must-try for all foodies, especially the sushi addicts.
Some of my other favorites are the "Raider Roll," "Dynamite Roll,"and "Art Special Roll." The following are some pics from my past visits.
One of the weird things I found about "Happy Roll" was that there is no "Happy Hour." Maybe that's something that they should look into. Even so, I still go there every other week or so for my sushi fix, and trust me, they have NO trouble at all getting customers. I guess they're hooked like me.
Happy Roll
2118 Willow Pass Rd. Suite 200
Concord, CA 94520
Hours:
Tue-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Tue-Thu 5 pm - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 10 pm
Sun 5 pm - 9 pm
