Both the Boyfriend and I are avid sushi lovers. There’s nothing that makes us happier than a delicious piece of raw fish on perfectly seasoned rice. When it came time to find a spot to have our annual pre-Valentine’s Day dinner (we refuse to eat out on the actual day), I instantly thought of SenYa. Thankfully, SenYa is on OpenTable, so I hopped on over and snagged us a reservation in less than 5 minutes.

We arrived for our 7:00PM reservation on time and were seated right away. The restaurant is pretty small so reservations are definitely needed. A few of the tables were completely empty until about 1.5 hours into our meal – but they refused to seat any walk-ins. In true Japanese style, they would rather have the table ready for when the reserved party arrives, than seat a table, have to rush them for the table back, and make a few extra bucks. I really appreciate this style since it means my table is always ready when I arrive for my reservation!

We opted to share an order of their edamame ($5.00) and their Uni Toast ($18.00) for our appetizers. The Uni Toast was positively delightful! The tiny, mini toasts are topped with uni and marinated amaebi, or sweet shrimp. The result was a blend of sweet and salty. The uni practically melted in our mouths – like true butter of the sea! They come three to an order, so be sure to order two if you have a larger party.

For our entrées, we opted to order two sushi entrées and split them. The first entrée to arrive was the SenYa Chirashi ($34.00), which features the Chef’s choice of 12 types of assorted sashimi over a bed of sushi rice. The pictures of the Chirashi online are completely deceiving – it’s huge! Unlike Hatsuhana’s Box of Dreams, which has maybe two bites of rice in each bowl, the Chirashi at SenYa has about 5-6 bites of rice with four pieces of fish on top – 2 of each fish. I sincerely think that the Chirashi at SenYa is the better deal. The fish was delicious – I think my favorite was either the slightly seared salmon with black truffle oil or the red snapper.

Our second entrée was the SenYa Chef Assorted ($32.00), which features the Chef’s choice of 5 pieces of sushi, 8 pieces of sashimi, and a negi toro roll. The presentation was gorgeous! The assortment ranged from your typical yellowtail to more special cuts like otoro. My favorite was a toss-up between the slightly seared salmon sashimi with the black truffle oil or the otoro sushi. Both practically melted in my mouth, they were so fatty and tender.

For dessert, we opted to split their Water Cake ($5.00) and the Green Tea Cheesecake ($7.00). The Water Cake is served with maple syrup and azuki beans. It’s sort of like a stiffer jello with barely any taste of its own. It really took on the taste of the maple syrup and azuki beans. The Green Tea Cheesecake was really tasty – you can order it with either green tea ice cream or vanilla ice cream. We opted for the green tea ice cream and the two paired very well together. Both weren’t too sweet and resulted in a very nice and simple dessert.

Service was very attentive throughout dinner. Our empty plates were cleared in a very timely manner. Our waitress would explain every single fish in our entrees – sometimes with where they were from. The uni in the chirashi, for example, was a Maine uni. We were both very pleased and impressed with dinner and cannot wait to return to sample more of their delicious sushi!