Gwinnett Daily Post

Sushi Avenue

2118 Scenic Highway, Suite F, Snellville

770-985-1800

Open since: March 2010

Owners: Kuni and Izumi Ozama

Location: Sushi Avenue is located across the street from Old Navy, in between Radio Shack and Dominican Hair Salon.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 10:30 p.m. Fridays, noon to 3 p.m., 5 to 10:30 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 3 p.m., 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays

Atmosphere: When owners Kuni and Izumi Ozama bought the space for Sushi Avenue three years ago, they kept all of the dark woods and red booths already in the building.

Other than that, they added their own Japanese influence to the decor. The Ozamas added clean lines with their lighting and put many different pictures on the walls. Most of the pictures are colorful with vibrant blues, reds and golds. One of the most popular pieces is in one of the booths -- a samurai warrior with quarter-sleeve tattoos.

"It relates to many young people with the tattoos," owner Izumi Ozama said.

Other images include geisha girls, cherry blossoms and bamboo shoots.

For dining, guests can sit in the front room with booths, tables or one of the seven seats at the sushi bar, where owner Kuni Ozama builds the rolls by hand. He has been working pieces of fish with sticky rice for the past three decades.

Larger parties usually sit in the dining room, further to the back, where there are tables to accommodate the extra people.

Sushi Avenue is closed in between lunch and dinner so the staff can take a break between shifts.

Menu: Sushi Avenue is the Ozamas' first restaurant, so they made a menu from what they know: Japan.

That includes everything from fish to meat and tofu to vegetables.

Everyday, the eatery offers guests different lunch specials and people can always find a deal on the bento boxes (sushi roll, fried vegetables, rice and meat) and the combinations (mishmash of meats with sides).

At dinner, the sushi rolls are the most popular. There is a variety of rolls to choose from -- there are even rolls for people on a diet. For those who can't eat rice, there are a handful of cucumber wrapped rolls that replaces the grain with the veggie.

Sushi Avenue also offers udon and soba noodle soups, tempura treats and edamame. There is something for everyone -- even the children, according to the owner.

"Unfortunately, we have not made a children's menu," Ozama said. "But they can usually find something."

Thing you might not know: The Ozamas are originally from Japan, although they met each other in the U.S.