Nori Asia Bistro

I drink CH kool aid · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 111 Location: DC

they dp need our support. i'd like to see them either increase the roll sizes or decrease prices. It's not the best bang for the buck right now. the sushi quality is good not great..stilll room to improve. but the service has really stepped it up.

alaaro · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 573 Location: 11th and Park

I finally went for lunch today. I'm not a seafood eater, so I had the fried tofu app and bulgogi salad. Both were excellent, I'll be back for sure.
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Adam Aaronson
11th and Park

aa11 · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 18

Went Friday afternoon for Happy Hour at Nori Sushi.

Sushi Nigiri is $1.00 per peice
Rolls were around $3.50 a set
Draft Beer was around $3.50

The sushi was on target. So, for a dozen pieces of good quality nigiri sushi, 2 sets of six rolls, and a beer, it came to about $25 bucks. NOT BAD TO CURE MY SUSHI FIX FOR THE WEEK! I am very glad they ventured into Columbia Heights.

Mr. T · Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 897

Uh oh - is Nori dead? It seems to be closed at the moment, and has been for a few days (at least when I walk by). I can't imagine the construction is helping their situation.

aa11 · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 18

Rumor has it that it is closed for good. Too bad, where will sushi lovers get their fix from now on?

New2CH · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 649 Location: Park Road

Yeah, saw a big for rent sign up above the space.

Bummer to go from two potential sushi places to none, between this and Saki Club. I'd say this space is jinxed, except that there are real reasons why nothing has worked there. Part is that the square footage and likely rental costs are just too big, and the space is pretty awkward -- I wish the landlord would charge a more reasonable rate. But more importantly, every business that has gone in has been seriously flawed at some level. The Nori people were super nice and tried hard, but the sushi was just awful in my opinion. The fish was just not top quality and even looked a little off in color, and definitely tasted off. I love sushi and would have gone there weekly if it was good, instead I tried it three times and each time left disappointed. They also undertook no discernable marketing or outreach efforts.

I really wish a consistently fresh, high quality japanese place -- with a smaller and more quality controlled menu (no place with a menu that broad is EVER very good) would come to CH. Just look at how the Pho place thrives -- why? Because they prepare a relatively small range of FRESH, high quality dishes, for a very reasonable price. It's a pretty simply formula that a lot of DC restauranteurs just don't seem to get.

This space will be amazingly appealing now that the big apartments buildings nearby are filling up and the civic plaza and park road construction are nearing completion. By the time a new place finishes build out, they will front on a gorgeous new civic plaza that is the hub of area activity. There is simply no reason (again, outside of what I imagine are somewhat unreasonable rental rates) that a business that knows what is doing can't succeed there. I hope the fourth time is the charm for this space, because it is truly one of the prime locations in Columbia Heights. And I hope that other sushi places aren't scared off by the failure of one -- there is a HUGE appetite for quality sushi around here, again, the key word being quality.

GforGood · Joined: 11 Jul 2006 Posts: 605

A pity. But, not terribly surprised its hard to make a restaurant work in an entrance lobby - especially an entrance lobby to nowhere... My point is that it would take a very good concept to succeed in such a big, akwardly shaped space.

Mr. T · Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 897

It would have made sense for Starbucks to have gone in there in the first place, instead of Mayorga. Starbucks in general likes prominent corner sites, and they deal well with historic properties (think ofthe Starbucks locations on 7th street downtown). They would have surely set up some attractive outdoor seating, and found some kind of use for the old box office. The current Starbucks further up is cramped, has minimal, unpleasant outdoor seating, and is an interior space rather than a corner. Oh well.
Hopefully, something creative will be done with that strategic corner!

ben · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:20 pm Post subject:

Please don't encourage Starbucks. They've ruined enough communities already.

As for that space, someone needs to figure out a way around the permitting issues and gut the inside and start the layout from scratch. It has the potential to be an awesome space, but the interior layout pretty much kills it.

Mr. T · Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 897

I would disagree about Starbucks, but that's another topic entirely. Wink

Regarding the interior of Mayorga/Nori, I don't think they can gut it completely, as it is a historic property, with original elements of the old theater lobby remaining; plasterwork, columns, stone wainscoting, floor tiles, the octagonal women's room, etc. Those elements make up much of the charm of the space.

domrep · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 213

I think whoever opens up something there needs to have neon signs somewhere. Half the time I barely noticed the restaurant being there b/c its so tucked in. It may be a historic piece of property, but its a business killer.

eclisham · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Location: Holmead Place

New here, so not up to speed yet on all the issues, but here's my question: What was the thinking behind that space EVER being anything but the lobby space for the theater? Of course nothing else is going to work there -- it's a dumb, unmanageable space for anything BUT a lobby.

And I haven't yet been to the Tivoli so I don't know what the current lobby space looks like, but I'm having trouble believing it isn't a terrible shame that the original space can't serve that purpose once again.

I drink CH kool aid · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 111 Location: DC

i think the space should be split in two. the slmall space on the 14th side could survive as a high-quality sushi place. The other half on Park....I have no clue what that could be.

Nori's space was too big, sushi platters were too small. I would spent $30 and always left hungry.

ma1924 · Joined: 18 Jan 2009 Posts: 15

The sushi wasn't the best, but acceptable, and the only sushi place walkable to the residents of COHO. I agree with the other posts that the space is a business killer.

Its too choppy, no square rooms, all oddly angled. Except for the bar upstairs, that was a great local hangout when Mayorga first opened and before it became more of a Korean place.

The downstairs has no real "front door", and its tucked behind an always busy, dirty bus stop. I spoke once to the owner and he told me his rent was well over $12,000/ montly. Now thats a big nut for such a crazy, laid out space.

Mr. T · Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 897

When push comes to shove, the landlord is simply charging too much rent. They must be calculating the square footage of the space literally, and they really should exclude all the useless nooks and crannies, grand staircases, and the octagonal women's powder room. A more realistic rent would make the awkward, yet beautiful space a viable possibility for retail use.

It would have been nice if they kept it as the lobby for the Gala Hispanic Theater, but there must have been reasons why it couldn't be done. The orchestra part of the auditorium is no more, with only the old balcony seating being used as the main theater now, so that must have been a factor.