Delmarva has historically been starved of quality sushi restaurants, and an enterprising investor would more than satisfy an entrepreneurial restaurant itch by opening an upscale sushi place.  As a kitchen standard, sushi is hard, however, requiring a knowledgeable and authentic chef trained not just in how to prepare the fish and its concomitant combinations, but also experienced in ordering, preserving, and handling the most delicate of restaurant staples – that is why so few Delmarva restaurants catering to seasonal visitors make the sushi leap, especially given the cost of maintaining a quality sushi restaurant during the lean winter months.  Yuzu’s well-known predecessor, Flying Fish, for years met this unique challenge, offering among the finest and innovative sushi and sashimi in all of Delmarva, often inventing new dishes to satisfy the most curious sushi appetite.  Rumors of what happened to Flying Fish evoke local mystery and lure, but it closed and evolved into Yuzu, where a 30-year-old owner-chef and his sushi and pizza-owning restaurant family launched a successor which, for a short period, was a welcome beneficiary of the Flying Fish original in innovation, but, unfortunately, not in service.  Now, a year later, Yuzu has lost its sushi footing as well, morphing into a pedestrian sushi restaurant with such inattentive and novice service that the former sushi star is no longer appointment dining.  Yuzu offers sushi-style tapas dishes that sometimes tease you into wanting more, but the special rolls and innovative fish combinations for which Flying Fish and Yuzu were once known have lost their special ingredient touch, replaced by more traditional rolls commonly found in strip mall sushi joints.  When it first opened, Yuzu maintained its predecessor’s originality and reputation for innovation and freshness, offering among the most appetizing sushi anywhere without a 212 or 310 telephone prefix.  Yuzu stopped being able to trade upon Flying Fish’s reputation, however, months after it opened when it became apparent that its service bordered on the amateur and its innovative specials morphed into the pedestrian.  It seems the owners install friends and family as servers, their only role to act as transfer agent from sushi bar / kitchen to table.  Fenwick Island may be a Gen X service beach town, but if the food delivers, patrons often are willing to navigate through craggy service.  The quality of food no longer covers for uneven service at Yuzu, rendering the restaurant among the highest falling disappointments in all of Delmarva.

300 Coastal Highway

Village of Fenwick

Fenwick Island, DE 19975

443-880-4738