Monday, December 13, 2010

Narita Sushi Closed In Columbia's Hickory Ridge

Morty put a comment on a prior post that confirmed bad news that someone else had mentioned:
Narita Sushi, the tiny sushi place in Hickory Ridge shopping center, has closed. Presumably the much larger Maruha managed to drive them out of business just as Maruha itself was tanking. Peking Chef is the Chinese restaurant that surrounded the much smaller Narita on three sides. I stopped by Peking Chef and asked what was up; the guy behind the counter didn't know the history, but said that they would be expanding into Narita's old space. 
Hickory Ridge has developed a nice cluster of restaurants beyond Peking Chef -- Chick'n Pollo for Peruvian chicken, Luna Bella for pizza, Hickory Ridge Grill for lots of item, including gyros.  You can even get frozen custard and coffee drinks at Meadows Custard.

15 comments:

K8teebug said...

I cannot tell you how sad the closing of Narita Sushi has made my husband and myself. We loved going there on Friday nights for sushi takeout. The couple who ran the place couldn't have been sweeter. They had a sign in book at the entrance with a description about how it had always been their dream to open a sushi restaurant. We loved that little place and are depressed that it closed.

Tom Coale (HCR) said...

Narita sushi also had the cheapest sushi lunch special in town. Sad to see them go.

Sherringham said...

Narita was my first lunch as we moved into our new house in Hickory Ridge. In between painting rooms, I stopped in for a few rolls. Great little place, it will be missed!

little audrey said...

I'm sorry that Narita has closed. I went there a long time ago and was just thinking about them recently.

On the topic of cheap sushi lunches, Tokyo Cafe in Wilde Lake has a sushi/hot food lunch buffet that was surprisingly good, for under $10. We discovered them when we went to the senior expo at WLHS. Guess we should make the trip there more often, before it's too late.

Stephanie said...

We actually tried to go to Narita Sushi Friday night. We stopped into the Peking Chinese place to ask them if it was open, and they said it was being remodeled and would be open again in a little while (I don't remember the time frame he said... a couple weeks maybe?).

YumGrrl said...

I just saw that Maruha is closed too!! My family and I tried to go there Saturday nite. (unless it is being remodeled too?). Although have to say that was fortuitous because we ended up walking back -- we have never checked out the restaurants back there -- and tried Luna Bella and the food was SOO good. So we're glad we found that place now.

Unknown said...

I am not a sushi fan, but my son was & thought Narita was the best. He compared all challengers to them. Very sad to see an independent family business fold.

Maruha, on the other hand, was no loss...

Morty Abzug said...
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Morty Abzug said...

@Stephanie -- I just called the contact number given to rent one of the other property bays, and spoke to "Kevin." He confirmed that Narita Sushi is closed, and that the Chinese restaurant is looking to expand into that space. He made it sound like the latter is not a done deal, though. Sorry. :(

Mo said...

Thanks for the update. I'm really bummed about this - I used to live down the street and Narita was by far my favorite sushi place in the area because it was both fresh and very affordable. And the people were very nice. This makes me wish we had gone there more recently.

Steve Fine said...

Very sad. Nice people, good and reasonably priced sushi.

joy314 said...

Narita Sushi was the best - and the most authentic - sushi in Howard County. My husband and I were extremely disappointed to see that it had closed. Does anyone know what became of the owner and his wife?

Morty Abzug said...

I stopped by Peking Chef yesterday. The old Narita Sushi space is now indeed part of Peking Chef. But the Narita sign is still there. The Peking Chef folks have a new sushi area but it isn't open yet. According to one of the ladies working there, they are still working on permits and the like. I asked if they were hiring the Narita folks, and she said she didn't know.

Morty Abzug said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Morty Abzug said...

I stopped by Peking Chef on Friday. The sushi bar is open.

When I asked for unagi maki with avocado, the guy behind the counter asked me to order by number, and asked if the avocado was a second order. Typical "new service" growing pains. He said they had opened the sushi bar the previous Friday.

@Joy: I asked if they knew what happened to the former Narita Sushi folks. One of the ladies said she thought they had retired. FWIW.