Sushi, like the corporate world, can be a complicated maze of glass ceilings with no clear route to the top. Today's Groupon offers you a sticky-rice–ladder shortcut. For $15, you get $30 worth of sushi, sake, and more at Giapponese Sushi in Woodbury. Opened in 2008, Giapponese has quickly become one of Minnesota’s premier Asian restaurants, and it’s the only sushi bar in the state that follows the Japanese seasonal fish calendar.

The Giapponese menu offers Minnesotans the chance to taste delicious fish that are rarely served elsewhere in the United States, such as imported fish from the world-renowned Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo. Begin with an order of Kobe sliders ($6.95) while you take in the welcoming yet surprisingly cosmopolitan ambience, which often features live music. Giapponese's lineup of nigiri and sashimi includes a variety of signature rolls, such as the samurai crunch with salmon, yellowtail, tuna, and avocado ($15), and the Louisiana with spicy crawfish and avocado topped with walu and unagi sauce ($18). Less raw entrees include Kobe beef New York strip ($40) and mango chicken ($8). Giapponese also offer $6 bottles of wine and an extensive sake list (starts at $6) with evocative names (Wandering Poet, Dreamy Clouds, Snow Maiden) that might inspire you to scribble haikus on the nearest napkin or face. Giapponese uses sustainable fish and is working toward a menu that is 100% sustainable (the first sushi restaurant in the state to do so). Groupons are good for one per table, so treat all seven of the samurai who saved your village from bandits to some rare sushi at Giapponese.

Reviews

Metromix offers this rave review of Giapponese Sushi:

• To start, we tried the exceptional New Style Sashimi appetizer, a five-fish medley, flashed with hot sesame and olive oil, which just barely cooks the outside of the raw pieces. The finishing touches (ponzu sauce, schichimi pepper, fresh ginger and scallions) add even more flavor to the buttery fish. The recommended Lava Roll was equally impressive–an inside-out roll made with shrimp tempura and avocado inside, wrapped with big eye tuna and finished with a spicy lava sauce and scallions. It had that lingering heat that erupts on the tongue for a few seconds (or hours). – Annie D'Souza

Three Menuism reviewers give Giapponese a near-perfect 4.8 stars, Citysearchers give it a solid four, and 77% of Urbanspooners recommend the restaurant:

• The atmosphere is always welcoming to everyone including kids. The owner and chef is [sic] friendly and will answer any questions that you might have. And the FOOD is AMAZING. – Mark557, Citysearch
• Overall the food was exceptional. The service was good. The atmosphere was unlike any place you’d find in Woodbury. The live music was a nice touch. Very cosmopolitan for the suburbs. – hungrydawn, Menuism