Nori Sushi Bar – Mexican infused Japanese restaurant in Vomero, Napoli

Nori Sushi Bar is a small Japanese restaurant with about 30 seats in Vomero, Napoli. Although the name might be deceiving, the restaurant offers table dining only. The atmosphere is somewhat stylish and simplistic with a mixture of dark walls and thick wooden tables. Some dishes on the menu are influenced by Mexican cuisine, e.g. sushi tacos, but classical Japanese sushi dishes dominate the menu.

Moriawase Dinner

As a small group we decided to order a moriawase sashimi plate. It came with sake (salmon), maguro (tuna back), hamachi (yellowtail), ika (squid), ebi (shrimp), suzuki (sea bass) and ibodai (butterfish). As a small side order we had some raw ebi (shrimp) nigiri with ikura (salmon roe). The sake and suzuki was quite nice but I was most surprised by the ika, which was excellent. Even more so the raw ebi, which was the absolute highlight of the first course. The sake was good but not outstanding, only the tuna was disappointing.

sake (salmon), maguro (tuna back), hamachi (yellowtail), ika (squid), ebi (shrimp), suzuki (sea bass), ibodai (butterfish) sashimi, ebi (shrimp) nigiri

sake (salmon) sashimi

hamachi (yellowtail) sashimi

maguro (tuna back) sashimi

suzuki (sea bass), ebi (shrimp) sashimi

raw ebi (shrimp) sashimi

ibodai (butterfish) sashimi

ika (squid), ibodai (butterfish) sashimi

sake (salmon), ika (squid) sashimi

raw ebi (shrimp) nigiri with ikura (salmon roe)

While we had some wakama and takoyaki tempura (deep fried octopus –  rather a Neapolitan dish than any other) side orders, we debated other à la carte options we could try. We went with some ika (squid) sashimi and unagi (freshwater eel), suzuki (sea bass) and obviously the raw ebi (shrimp) as nigiri. Although we only found hotategai (scallop) on the maki section of the menu, we managed to order some as nigiri as well. Since we really liked the ika, we were happy to get the sashimi plate on top of the mistakenly delivered ika nigiri.

tako (octopus) tempura

wakame (lobe-leaf seaweed)

hotategai (scallop), unagi (freshwater eel), suzuki (sea bass), ika (squid), ebi (shrimp) nigiri plate

hotategai (scallop), unagi (freshwater eel) nig

hotategai (scallop) nigiri

unagi (freshwater eel) nigiri

suzuki (sea bass) nigiri

ika (squid) nigiri

raw ebi (shrimp) nigiri

ika (squid) sashimi

Sushi Guide Verdict

Nori Sushi Bar is a very nice and cozy restaurant that might get full quickly on busy nights. The atmosphere is dark and only feels a little cold if there are few guests. The menu options are quite good and except for the tuna the taste and quality of the fish was fine. The drink menu is excellent and offered a wide variety of wines and sake to choose from. The service team was friendly and forthcoming but kept their distance. Overall it was a very good experience.

Review date: October 6, 2018