Hiro – Sushi & Modern Japanese Izakaya

They were good, but now they are gone. The building they were in has been torn down to make way for the new Washington University developement. I don’t know if they will reopen in the new retail spaces.

Lunchtime Bento boxes are a good way to try the food. On a Friday afternoon, I tried a Bulgogi Beef bento box ($ 9.95), which came with my choice of Miso soup or House salad and California roll or Avocado roll and fresh fruit and sushi rice.
My friends’ miso soups smelled wonderful, and my house salad was fresh and tasty. The bulgogi beef was tender and flavorful (see pictures). This was a bento-​sized portion; I would love to get a full serving of this next time — so good! This came with 3 orange slices, a large portion of rice, and 4 pieces of California roll, which was also good. Very happy with the food and the service.
We checked into Facebook and also received a free shot of sake — smooth taste. Nice little bonus for our first visit.
There is a single bathroom. It needs some help. A new floor and a cleaner toilet would do it wonders. Otherwise, it was ok.
It appears they have pretty good happy hour specials as well as all-​you-​can-​eat specials Mon-​Thurs.

three of us went for sushi and a movie (Jiro Dreams of Sushi at the Tivoli!) and tried Hiro for our first time. sadly, we arrived in between the two generous Happy Hours, but still managed to get 20% off our bill by presenting student IDs!
service was very so-​so. we probably would have ordered a few more things — definitely drinks! $ 5 martinis on thursdays!!- if we had been paid more attention. my waterglass was empty most of the evening, even though i was seated right near the server station in back, and the check-​backs were few.
food was hit-​or-​miss.
tuna tartar was the biggest hit of the evening — chopped tuna piled atop a base of green apple, cucumber, and avocado, all arranged on a fried wonton, with a mess of greens underneath. very nice flavors & textures working together there.
the unagi don was the other big favorite — a rice bowl with a nice piece of grilled eel on top and a few pickled daikon slices on the side. our japanese friend & recent transplant was pleasantly surprised to see it on the menu (for a better price than back home!) though he did find it a little sweet. i loved it.
disappointments included:
yellowtail & scallion roll — i’m not sure there was more than a fleck of a scallion in there. and the tuna was comparably skimpy, dry, bland, lifeless.
mussels — YUCK. grainy, chewy, almost tasted cheesy. i am HUGE fan of mussels. i can take down the whole whopping steamer at Schlafly Taproom all by myself, easy. but at less than half the serving, i still couldn’t choke these down. no detectable lemongrass, nothing but tired, old, overdone mussel gum.
i think the Hiro roll went over pretty well. i didn’t try it. but our friend wasn’t raving about it as he did the unagi don.
overall, probably won’t go back unless starving on Delmar and within the Happy Hour zone.

This was some of the best sushi I have had. It was fantastic! We went at happy hour and there was a section of the menu that was 50% off the rolls. We ordered 4 – 5 and our bill was super cheap! I loved this place! Friendly service too!

So, it’s definitely fusion as opposed to authentic Japanese izakaya, but the small plates concept is well done, the crispy silver fish are delish, and they’ve got sparkling sake on the menu. Is it Tokyo or Taipei or New York or SF? No. Is it tasty, perhaps even the best Asian-​ish food I’ve had in St. Louis? Probably. And I’ll round up the stars for the fact that not only are they open on Sundays, but they’re OPEN LATE on Sundays. (Among the signs that St Louis is a bit of a sleepy town: restaurants close on Sundays and/​or at random or really early times.) Their website says, incorrectly, that they close at 7 PM or something like that on Sundays. Not true. More like 10 PM. Hooray!

My sister and I went on a sister Valentine’s date to Hiro as we wanted to try a sushi place we’ve never been to before. The place was empty when we arrived so we received excellent service from Jason, who had great suggestions and even brought us some complementary sake. We learned they have a really great happy hour on Tuesdays with $ 5 martinis and glasses of wine, $ 3 rolls and other things I can’t remember.
This space, that used to be Blue Ocean, has been modernized with a fresh minimal décor, large tables with bench seating and an fresh approach that was very opposite of Blue Ocean’s dingy and cheap feeling in that same space.
I’m giving Hiro 3 stars because even though the service and décor were great, I just didn’t end up liking the rolls I picked out. Even though this is my fault, it overshadowed the experience for me. The St. Louis roll was good, but the Philly was my first foray into smoked salmon and I just didn’t care for it. I ordered another roll that was included tempura and roe — I clearly didn’t read the menu correctly and failed to ask the waiter. The roe wasn’t bad but I don’t eat anything fried so this one was a miss for me.
I plan to come back and make some better menu choices, hopefully it’ll be a 5-​star visit.

this place is a joke.
décor is goofy. the sushi bar is silly. the seating is uncomfortable. definitely very un japanese in feeling and character. that’s for starts.
the prices are hgh for what you get.; their fish is frozen. (some of it). you can tell fish that has been frozen because of its watery texture and lack of firmness. my hamachi (yellowtail) was like that. the maguro (tuna) was soft and mushy, lacking firmness of bite indicating that it was not very fresh although i think that it was not frozenand thawed like the hamachi. i octopusi ordered was awful. it too had been frozen at one time in its life and left to wallow in its water in some walk-​in or sushi fridge. the whole presentation was as dismal as the ingredients. i couldn’t finish the rest of my sashimi meal, asked for my check and fled.
be warned, this is not the place for serious japanese food.

We live just blocks from HIRO and this is our favorite place to go for great sushi. It’s very different from most sushi restaurants with the concept of Izakaya — which is the idea of sharing small plates. The calamari is some of the best I’ve ever had and the Firecracker roll is awesome! Other favorites include the Diva and the Funky Roll! Oh yeah, and the Apple Sake is AWESOME!!!

One of my best friends was in town and we usually go on a sushi date when he’s around. Anyway, since i’ve never been to Hiro before and it’s newly opened, i thought I should give it a try.
We got three rolls. They were all edible but not wonderful and happiness fulfulling the way sushi likes to be for me. I was somewhat disappointed. We got the sweetheart roll and I was hoping for some wasabi that with a touch of sweet. Instead, it was a lot of sweet with a touch of spice. The apple worked well, but was not tart enough to balance out the sweet. We also go the not-​so-​japanese roll. My best friend LOVED the bugolgi beef, but it was his first time eating bugolgi beef… The meat was cold maybe luke warm and not as good as i hoped.
And the third roll we go was… er… i forgot.
The space is very nice though. I liked sitting there and looking around with my best friend. We were one of maybe 3 tables filled which made it nice to talk. I might come here again when they have specials, but maybe not.

i was really excited when the bf said a new place had opened that served yakitori, so believe me when i say i came here with very high hopes. we tried a number of things but left highly disappointed:
1) braised pork belly bun — i LOVE pork belly, but i did not love this. i guess i have some high standards bc i’ve been to several places back in NYC, but these were hugely disappointing, esp when every review said these were good.
2) agedashi tofu — this is supposed to be CRISPY tofu, but the whole dish came in a bowl of broth, which obviously made the tofu very soggy instead.
3) chicken wings (yakitori) — one of the better things we had the whole meal, but it was more like the best of the worst.
4) beef & asparagus (yakitori) — same as the chicken wings.
5) spicy tuna roll — it was ok, but the bf claims it wasn’t fresh.
6) chicken fried rice — DISGUSTING. the fried rice was wrapped inside an egg omelette with ketchup all over the top. i’m really not sure what they were trying to do here, but all i know is the rice was then steamed inside the egg instead of maintaining that fried rice quality, right out of the pan. the ketchup ruined it for me since i don’t eat it, but it never occurred to me that i would need to let the waiter know to leave out the ketchup. as for the chicken, it was strips of chicken that tasted like it came out of a microwave dinner.
i think it’s safe to say that i’ll never come back bc even if ppl say the sushi is not bad, i’m pretty sure i know some better places.

Came here for NYE 2012 last night. They were running a 3 or 5-​course meal for $ 35 with sake or champagne and free entry into 6o9 next door, which was a good deal in comparison to other places, so my friends and I came to take advantage of that.
The Exciting: Most of us ordered the 3-​course meal. Appetizers included the pork belly buns, the shiumai, and the octopus balls. I didn’t try the shiumai, but I heard it was delicious. The pork belly buns and the octopus balls were both delicious. Both were very nicely presented, and they contained very intricate textures and flavors that were satisfying to the palate.
The Disappointing: We ordered a variety of rolls from the 3-​course menu, including the diva, the flaming desire, geisha tears, cabana boy… I think that was it. The rolls were… mediocre. I didn’t think they were interesting or very complex. They were very basic rolls, drizzled with different sauces. The diva roll came with an orange cream sauce that had an overpowering mayo taste. The geisha tears was basically a spicy tuna roll inside out with extra sriracha sauce drizzle. Perhaps it was because these rolls were on the fixed-​price 3-​course, so they couldn’t be the biggest/​best of the restaurant, or perhaps we just happen to choose the less interesting rolls. Either way, I was expecting the main course to surpass the appetizers, and unfortunately the rolls just did not do it.
Green tea ice cream was good, ginger ice cream was good, and the mochi was delicious as well.
Our waitress was divine. She was very attentive and friendly. We didn’t have to wait very long for our food, but there were also only a few other tables there. The atmosphere was nice, and I can see it being a hot spot, especially being next to a club. However, the main course was less appealing than the appetizer, and I was really disappointed in that.
I would definitely recommend this place for their appetizers, but I would also suggest future visitors not try the aforementioned rolls…

So we came in here and had two very non-​Japanesey dishes but I left thinking, you know what, I’d totally come back to have them again.
The first being the smoked salmon crab rangoon… there were some good chunks of smoked salmon in there and there wasn’t too much for it to be overpowering. The dipping sauce was pretty much «tian bu la» sauce, on the sweet and spicy side. I was pretty pleased.
The 2^nd was the crunch pig roll. I figured it was a matter of time before some sushi place would put dried shredded pork, a typical Asian rice condiment, in a roll. I mean seriously, it’s probably the most common roll/​onigiri in Asia. The rice was cooked to the point of being mushy, but I didn’t mind, with the mix of dried pork, bacon, and pork fat, with some tonkatsu sauce, it was a pretty awesome roll.
I had to mention to the waitress that she’d have to have the dried shredded pork on a St. Paul some time (I’m looking at YOU, Stephanie!). One day, everyone will put dried shredded pork on their St. Paul…
Unfortunately, there was some smoke coming in from the connected bar next door and the bass was pretty loud. Otherwise, I’m definitely coming back again for these two dishes.

Just went to Hiro for lunch and it was fantastic. I’m very happy with my choice in sushi and the lunch special prices! Calm, quiet and tranquil ambiance with great food and reasonable prices. My opinion comes from the lunch time during the week, I’m not sure if the service and/​or atmosphere would be the same for dinner or on the weekends.

I thought I’d try Hiro’s last night with a girlfriend after reading some reviews on Unilocal and seeing it in the Riverfront Times.
It was pretty late when I got there, about 10:30pm, but they were still serving food.
I ordered a cocktail… I don’t recall the name but I know that it had Malibu and pineapple juice in it so I figured I couldn’t go wrong as I love those ingredients! It ended up being sickeningly sweet and I could barely finish it. Like way sweeter than just Malibu and juice… they put some other kind of liquor in there too and it was overpowering. It tasted like when I attempt to make my own drinks at home and fail really hard because I know nothing of bartending! Meh!
I also ordered the three mushroom miso soup, and the Sexy Asian roll. The miso had great flavor but there were SO many mushrooms in it… I couldn’t eat them all. I kind of wish it had less mushroom and a little bit of seaweed or green onion as well.
The sushi roll tasted alright. Nothing spectacular, just a-​OK. I asked them to go light on the sauce because Hiro sauce is apparently spicy and I don’t really like thing too spicy, also some sushi places tend to drown things in sauce so I was worried. The roll had mango in it as well as avocado, I believe, and some kind of fish on top. The fish didn’t seem too fresh but maybe that’s my fault for coming really late? I dunno. I would hope a place would have fresh fish all the time. The last few bites were kind of hard for me to swallow. I did like the mango but it was almost too fruity. A place that really does sushi x fruit really well is Chi. Their signature roll has little slices of kiwi in it and it’s unbeatable. Maybe I am just picky, IDK.
The interior is nicely decorated. Traditional yet a little hip too. The bar next door (owned by same person who owns Hiro’s) was obnoxiously loud but then again, we were there pretty late so I guess nothing to be too surprised about. Our waitress was super prompt and friendly and answered all of my questions with a smile, so no problems there.
I might go back to try their more traditional stuff, but this place really didn’t floor me or anything. I ended up spending about $ 30 even on the cocktail, the bowl of soup, and the roll. I guess that’s not too bad but for the quality of what I got, I expect to pay a little less. That was the pre-​tip amount, by the way. Like I said, I don’t hate the place, but it’s nothing special either.

So, I literally live a couple blocks away from Hiro… and I’ve only been once. BUT my first time is definitely a precursor to many more trips to come.
Had the sushi and the chicken dumplings YUM! Definitely yummy! Had a cocktail as well. I’d say they make their drinks nice!
LOVE the atmosphere… definitely a bit different and edgy! And that’s always a plus when you’re eating good food !!
On a side note. it’s not in the best part of town. especially with the club next door. so I’d be careful if you’re there out late at night!

Aww shucks I’ve been slacking, and although my pics were posted before I even had a bite of the food my review is finally here to stay!
Hiro is bringing a little slice of sushi heaven to the U-​City Loop! Izakaya (in Japanese) is basically a drinking establishment that serves food, and this is exactly what you will find. I kid you not when I say it’s tiny but there is a great bar next door (609 Lounge). So eat up and then head next door for a beverage and an evening of fun. Keep in mind this is NOT JUST SUSHI! So come ready to sample some delectable bites!
It’s a tiny little gem with a rustic yet trendy feel, reminds me of a place I might find tucked away in Midtown Manhattan. Like Kelly S. mentioned that tables and chairs, the décor and tiny accents really add character and life to this place. My friends and I arrived for the grand opening night, snagged a large table with benches right in front of the sushi bar. It was a great spot to sit because we could see all the food passing by as it was being brought to the tables. The waitress came by and I opted for a beverage… I wish I could tell you what it was, but it was damn good! On to the food: Mackerel (whole fish! see pic) delicious and buttery well presented too. The sushi rolls: diva roll, crunchy pig, caterpillar and fire cracker. All were tasty, I was not a fan of the crunchy pig, I just could not adapt to the texture of pork belly in the roll. Now the yakitori of salmon, chicken and pork belly were all really great offerings. The miso soup was tasty as was the katsudon bowl! Our friends at the table splurged for a large bowl of sashimi fresh sliced fish served COLD on ice!
It was really a lovely night of fun, food and drinks! I would encourage all who are seeking a new sushi experience with a twist to check out Hiro!

Oh my, this was unexpectedly awesome. The husband and I went here because he had a hankering for sushi, and the menu looked varied enough I thought I might be able to find something for my non-​fish enjoying self. Did we ever.
When we walked in, the restaurant was pretty much empty, but the waiter explained they had only been open about a week, and their location is tucked off of Delmar about a half mile. The atmosphere is pretty cool. Rustic-​looking chairs, royal blue tables and a great bench set-​up for larger groups made me seriously consider throwing a half-​birthday party there so I had an excuse to bring like 20 people to the restaurant.
Okay, on to the food. That’s the most important part right?
So, husband and I had:
Edamame
Tsukemono– pickled veggies
Crispy lotus chips
Smoked chicken dumplings
Braised pork belly bun
Grilled ribs
Two types of Yakitori– pork belly and chicken wings
The Golden Child roll– white tuna, mango, avacado, tempura crunchies, rice, and eel sauce.
Everything we had was head and shoulders what we were expecting. We especially were surprised by the lotus chips (a server suggestion), and the pork belly bun. The yakitori was also amazing. The crispy skin on both were perfect.
As I previously mentioned, I don’t really like fish. So, when our server suggested I try a piece of husband’s golden child roll, I kind of rolled my eyes, and didn’t listen. However, I could have ordered my own and finished it off it was so good. The fish was very fresh (always very important), and the different textures of the mango, fish, tempura crispies, and rice were definitely intriguing.
In addition to what we had (their menu is pretty large), they have maybe 10+ dishes I want to try on my next visit. Also, best of all, it’s all available for take out and lunch!
Bottom line: Great food, great service, decently inexpensive. I will be going here a lot in the coming months.