Sugo Hand Roll Bar in Seattle Experience
Sushi = one of my favorite foods. Our best foodie friends group visited Seattle last month, and we’re so glad that we got to fit in something like sushi. We were walking nearby Pike Place Market and passed by a place called Sugo Hand Roll Bar. It looked so good, so we decided that we’d try that spot the next day!
What are Hand Rolls?
Rice and toppings over a piece of seaweed, sort of wrapped up, whether in a fan-like shape, or just like an uncut sushi/maki roll. So good! I hear there was a hand roll place that opened up in SF months ago, but the lines have been ridiculously long, so I was so glad to try a hand roll spot during our time in Seattle.
Restaurant Environment and Seating Area
The header photo shows how the space looks upon entering the restaurant. Tables, chairs, and a bar; however, they wanted us to put our name on the waiting list so that they can track all parties, despite no one else waiting there when we first got in. They were setting up a few things, and then we were taken to another room with the oval seating area – large sushi bar to some extent. The 5 of us sat in a row, so it was difficult for all of us to talk to one another, so parties of 1 – 3 would be optimal in this situation.
Ordering
Each of us were given a menu to fill in what we want. We did not do one big order together as this isn’t their style. Each person does their own ordering so that the hand roll chef places their particular rolls when ready by where they are seating.
How Many Rolls / What to Order
They also have various appetizers and drinks in addition to their hand rolls. There are 3, 4, and 5 roll sets you can choose from, or you can choose individual rolls as well. They recommend starting with around 4 rolls or so and add on more later.
Going Rogue
Nearly our whole party ordered one of the hand roll sets, with the 4 hand roll set being the most popular. I decided to order individual rolls because there was at least 1 within each set that I didn’t care too much for. We were also trying other foods and snacks from other places around the area (notably bakery items!) so we didn’t want to fill up too much here.
Time to Eat!
I didn’t get a chance to take photos of very much here due to the way food was served and how we were seated. Our rolls came at different times as when it was prepared, it was given to the person that ordered that particular roll. The rolls came one at a time as well. Below photos are the rolls I ordered.
Spicy Scallop Roll
From one of the photos above! This was the first roll received, and it was pretty good. The rolls themselves were kind of small, but I suppose this is standard for hand roll spots. It wasn’t spicy to me, but the texture and flavor within the roll were good. Nice topping/sauce to rice ratio. The seaweed wasn’t really crispy, but that didn’t take away much from the enjoyment.
Chef Special Roll
We had no idea what the chef special roll was, so I asked what it was. That day was a salmon roll with ikura. SCORE!! I love salmon and ikura so I got one of those. It was really good! It did fall part a bit easily, but everything here tasted great. I did wish there was more ikura, but perhaps that was saved more for the ikura roll itself.
Wagyu, Uni, Ikura Roll
This roll cost at around twice as much as the other rolls (or 3x their cheapest rolls) at $25! Totally worth it as there’s Wagyu, ikura, and uni! YUMMMMM. All of it tasted really well and fresh. No funky flavors here and hopefully it stays that way! This was definitely my favorite roll and I immediately wanted another one. The Wagyu was torched/seared a bit, but not much seasoning was added to it as the uni and ikura gives it some of that saltiness flavor. Delicious.
Overall Experience
We all seemed to enjoy the rolls here more than any other thing we ordered from Sugo Hand Roll Bar. The disappointing thing was the alcoholic strawberry matcha drink, and I got the feeling that they weren’t surprised by the feedback when they asked and they even took that off our bill, so that was really good! The people here were really friendly. It’s been a solid hand roll experience and I hope to have another soon.
