Nori, located in Fitchburg, offers a unique premise for sushi but completely underpromotes it. Here, you can mix and match your pieces of sushi to make a plate, allowing you to try multiple types of rolls without committing to one entire roll.
In other words, you pick a minimum of six pieces of regular sushi rolls ($1.25 per piece), specialty rolls ($1.75 per piece) and/or sashimi ($2.50 per piece). Here’s a rundown of what I tried:
- The spicy tuna had a nice kick.
- The eel was tender and tasty.
- The Dragon was a yummy mouthful of crab, shrimp tempura and eel.
- I really enjoyed the scallop that topped the Volcano roll, which also comes with caviar, shrimp tempura and cream cheese.
- The Dinosaur was okay, as it’s mostly the deep-fried breading that you taste, masking the spicy tuna, asparagus and crabmeat.
- The Spider roll was nice, though I would’ve liked more soft shell crab. It’s also got cucumber, crabmeat and unagi sauce.
- The Godzilla may have been my favorite, as it features spicy salmon, crabmeat, spicy tuna, red snapper and avocado.
- The Volcano is an excellent choice for its shrimp tempura, cream cheese, caviar and scallops.
Beyond sushi, Nori offers appetizers, fried rice dishes, hibachi and yakisoba. Make sure to try the takoyaki ($7.99 for six). These octopus balls are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside with tasty bits of octopus.
Meanwhile, I thought the Japanese fried rice was comforting. You can choose from a variety of meats, such as scallops or salmon. In my case, I got the chicken ($12.50), which was pretty good.
I also liked the yakisoba. The noodles have a wonderful fried flavor without being greasy. The sauteed steak ($17.50) was decent, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the broccoli was.
Nori is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday.
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See more photos in our Nori Flickr album.