Japanese Restaurants in Shirley

Located next to the bobbing boats of a marina, Kingston's Clam Bar serves up fresh air alongside its fresh seafood. Red umbrellas shade a row of tables outside along the dock, and French doors admit sea breezes into the dining room. There, servers crisscross the red brick floor with morsels on casual, plastic plates, such as a lobster roll stuffed with lemon-mayo dressing and tender chilled meat.

Long Island's Hana Japanese Restaurant dishes out sushi, teriyaki, and other Asian cuisine beneath the glow of lantern-like hanging lamps. Within the moss-green walls of the dining room, diners feast on maki rolls and sashimi feasts; exposed wooden rafters recall the restrained aesthetics of traditional Japanese architecture. Korean dishes such as bulgogi and bibimbap round out the dinner menu, and diners can cap off meals with fried or regular ice cream in flavors such as green tea or ginger.

Sushi Ichi Japanese Restaurant's seasoned chefs recruit fresh fish and sticky morsels of rice to build a menu stacked with more than 50 types of maki rolls. The culinary team fills seaweed-wrapped cylinders with predetermined combinations of snow crab, tuna, and salmon, as well as custom-builds sushi rolls to incorporate diners' favorite ingredients. Thai and Chinese dishes also abound and include classics such as spicy kung pao chicken, shrimp pad thai, and green and red curries flanked by rich coconut rice.

Working behind his traditional, glass-front sushi bar, Chef Sho makes believers out of discriminating palates by forging an alluring Japanese menu of delicately fried delights and richly flavored fish straight from the sea. Warm, exotic appetizers such as broiled squid fire gustatory starting pistols before diners delve into heartier entrees from the kitchen, including beef marinated in teriyaki sauce, pork sautéed in ginger sauce, and vegetable tempura.

Ranked first of 177 Zagat rated sushi restaurants, Takara Japanese Restaurant’s sushi bar showcases Sho’s knack for marrying unique flavors, as tasted in the Love lobster roll, whose spicy mayo adds a tangy zest to sweet crustacean flavors. Rather than swallowing a television remote, diners can mute growling stomachs with the Oz roll’s blend of tuna and buttery avocado sliced with laser-like precision. Takara Japanese Restaurant offers catering for private and holiday events, please contact for more information.

Traditional Japanese sliding doors sit next to recessed lighting that glows with the neon hue of a thumping nightclub. This juxtaposition of ancient heritage and fresh innovation extends to the steak house's menu, which features surprising takes on the maki sushi roll staple. The Passion roll, for instance, kisses its white tuna with a searing flame before pairing it with juicy mango for a sweet and savory juxtaposition. The evocatively named Hot Girl Roll, on the other hand, bundles together different types of seafood, with crab and salmon complementing each other's marine flavors. Those sitting at the hibachi grill can enjoy the traditional acrobatic show, with dextrous chefs cooking up steak, chicken, and shrimp, then flipping finished morsels through the air and into diners' mouths and the air ducts as special treats for the AC repairman.

From their command center behind the open sushi bar, Umi Sushi’s skilled chefs champion fresh, authentic Japanese fare by sculpting vibrantly hued rolls and umami-packed entrees. These culinary gurus scuttle about the kitchen decorating sleek white plates with traditional morsels infused with inventive flavors such as honey wasabi sauce and pink soy seaweed. Artistically composed platefuls of fresh fish and bowls of steaming noodles arrive before guests perched on modern wooden benches in the dining room. When warmer weather rolls in, Umi Sushi’s outdoor brick patio beckons eaters to sun on its stone benches as their chopsticks click through the kitchen’s masterpieces.

The sushi chefs at Black Lantern Sushi Den, a registered Green Restaurant, cook up a full roster of Japanese delicacies, tightly enveloping ingredients within more than 35 sushi rolls. Nosh on all-natural options like the stuffed baby mushrooms ($12), plump with breadcrumbs, or sink ravenous teeth into nigiri and sashimi ($4.50+). Eel and cucumber play fine neighbors to seaweed and rice within the Azalia roll ($13). Meanwhile, the Violet Lily Roll ($16) sets up seared ginger salmon and goat cheese on a tasteful double date with roasted portobello and jalapeños before letting them bunk together in one rice sleeping bag.