Joss Cafe & Sushi Bar

Best sushi in Maryland. Great service and awesome location. Consistently good all around. No problem driving an hour away for a great dining experience.

Joss has some really good sushi! We got the toro and a few rolls. The sauce that came with the toro was amazing! Next time i want to try one of their soups. Our server was Cindy and she was super helpful and cheerful and explained things on the menu that were new to us and gave us tons of suggestions. I’m all about service and this place was top notch from Cindy and the sushi chefs.

Joss has the best sushi in town. Every time I come here the sushi is consistently good. The spicy scallop roll is phenomenal. They even have a secret menu that they will gladly share if your tastes match.

So, I’m reposting this because it does, indeed, seem that Unilocal has sold-​out and is deleting and «not recommending» reviews that are unfavorable to certain businesses. My friend’s husband had his birthday party here about 1 year ago, and the service we received was ATROCIOUS, (and the quality of the sushi itself had greatly declined from the previous times I’d been there). Long story short, the service was inattentive at best and absolutely rude (and criminal) at its worst. The server started drinking before his shift was up and came to our table smelling of alcohol several times during the evening. He also accosted me as I left the bathroom to question me about the tip I left him (which should have been none). Then, after we left, my friend’s husband realized he forgot his birthday cards at Joss. He returned and found that all of the gift cards had been REMOVED from his cards! He told the manager about it who accused him of lying and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about it. We (as in our entire group of about 15 people) will NEVER be back! If you actually get to read this, (a.k.a. Unilocal doesn’t delete it or banish it to the «not recommended» section for whatever reason they want to claim to make themselves feel better as an organization that now panders to businesses instead of its own customers), DO NOT give Joss Sushi your money!!!

Best sushi and great server Joe in Annapolis. Easy to find and on street parking. Ray and i really enjoyed it..

I feel like joss has improved over the last six months. Used to eat there frequently but began to see major inconsistency in the sushi, especially on weekends. So I took a break and returned this past weekend. So much better than I remember. Keep the quality consistent. I’ll be back

Joss will forever be my favorite sushi place in the Annapolis area. I have yet to go into the restaurant and leave feeling unsatisfied. Not only is the location and atmosphere so fantastic, but the food really does live up to the hype.
For novice sushi fans, you can’t go wrong with the classic Crunchy Ebi (shrimp tempura with spicy mayo and crunchy topping), the California roll with real crab meat (so much better than imitation), or the Main Street roll, which is my absolute favorite. It’s made up of crab meat tossed in spicy mayo, avocado, and topped with smoked salmon wrapped in sweet seaweed. The flavors are spot on and always consistent.
For non sushi lovers, they have other food items as well! I’ve enjoyed the beef Gyoza steamed dumplings as well as the garlic beef babimba. The babimba comes with a sweet sesame soy sauce that is so delicious I could swim in it. The portion is small, but it tastes so so delicious.
Come to Joss! You won’t be disappointed.

Joss is some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. The crunchy ebi roll is legendary and delicious. Give it a try if you’re in Annapolis.

Always our go-​to sushi place every time we are in Annapolis. We love ordering the spring roll. The fresh crab and spicy creamy sauce always hits the spot. Must order for sure!
Service is always friendly, fast, and very welcoming. Definitely a recommend!

Without question THE place in downtown Annapolis for Sushi !! They have an expansive menu and an especially well rounded soup selection. The sushi is always well made, expertly presented and exceptional taste and quality of ingredients. Joss also adds creatively to the menu which yields pleasant surprises for those with an adventurous pallet. We have dined here many times and are never disappointed, the staff is very attentive and helpful. They are a bit pricey, but not overly so, and you never feel as though you got less than you expected. Tonight we were treated to one of the off the cuff menu creations which was a Toro Carpaccio seared on one side and topped with a fantastic Daikon /​Seaweed salad accented with Wasabi Mayo… Where do you go and get to experience a treat like that ??? That is just the starter, and a Miso soup, we also split selections of Yellow Tail, Rockfish and Shitaki Sashimi and a few Rolls, Rainbow and Jalapeño Tuna. Everything was flawless, as usual. Joss can get very busy, but never does the influx of business equal a degraded experience.

One of my favorite sushi spots in the DMV. I’ve never had a bad experience here. Everything has always been fresh, savory and delicious and aside from a couple of occasions when they were really packed and/​or understaffed, the service has always been quick.
All in all, I don’t think that you can go wrong with Joss.

This is an update review.
My husband and I recently went to Joss twice after a couple of years, as another sushi place we used to frequent in the area wasn’t up to our standard anymore.
A little Japanese food/​sushi story about us: we are extremely picky. I started eating Japanese food and sushi while growing up as my family has strong tie with Japan, the culture/​cuisine, and I visit Japan every once in awhile, with a recent trip with my husband a couple months ago. We are usually not interested in the Americanized sushi rolls (we get them sometimes, as long as it isn’t too far off from the basics).
During the past two visit we had in November and December, It did seem that Joss got a lot better! (Better enough that I decided to Unilocal about this place again). However, you need to know what to order. There were lots of non-​traditional «fancy items» added to the menu, I’m sure it’s good in some ways as it attracts people who might be seeking non traditional Japanese food. We ordered the pressed sushi with fried fish (I don’t remember what it was exactly) because our server recommended it saying it was the «special,» and a couple next to us were raving about how great it was. We were not impressed at all. Lots of rice, a bit of sad-​looking fried fish though the sauce flavor was good. I can see why some people love it but just not for us. But if that’s what you like, order away :)
If you are one of those true sushi/​sashimi eaters who care extremely about the quality of fish, you should stay with the nigiri menu. We ordered toro, aji (baby mackerel) and hamachi (yellowtail), it was great, though quality shifted slightly the two times we went, very minor inconsistency but its fine as long as it doesn’t happen a lot.
One thing we did notice is that the fish quality for lunch special menu seems to be different from regular a-​la-​carte menu. We understands why as the lunch special price is really good. Now we learn our lesson that we will only be ordering a-​la-​carte as we care about quality more than quantity.
Let’s hope Joss stays consistently good starting from now on!

What a cool mod setting for a sushi place! Amazingly fresh fish. Their tables were close together, not my personal preference but that seems to be the new mod trend. Anyway a very nice experience.

Get the spring roll off of the appetizer list. It will
BLOW your mind. And crunchy ebi is always a must have

Raw fish wrapped in seaweed and rice. What could go wrong?
A lot, actually, if not done properly. Thankfully Joss has, over the years, delivered impeccable food (if not always great service) to my hungry belly. When I was attending St. John’s College from 2005 – 2009, I’d blow all my work study money on eating here, and have yet to regret it. And I’m one of those psychos who actually drives the 40 minutes from DC to Annapolis just to eat here — it’s that good! So, I’ve basically been eating here for a decade. (Dang, I’m old.)
If you’re from California or NYC, handle your bidness and keep it moving because Joss will never live up to your impossibly high, jerkface standards for raw fish. For people a little more down to earth, like myself, I think Joss is perfect for what it is – a downtown Annapolis staple with really decent Japanese food inflected with Korean touches here and there. I appreciate that they don’t douse freaking spicy mayonnaise all over everything, and instead deploy a fiery, garlicky sesame chili paste (gochujang is what they use, I believe) to some of their rolls (spicy tuna roll, garlic scallop roll, Key West roll). If spicy mayo is your thing (hey, there’s no accounting for taste) you can have your saturated fat and eat it too (order the spicy scallop roll — different from the GARLIC scallop roll — to fulfill your desires).
Other things I’m partial to after years and years of eating at Joss: the kobe beef hand roll special (which, as of writing, is $ 14 for two delicious and generous dollops of raw beef marinated in a sesame oil-​based concoction over perfectly cooked sushi rice, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, fried onion; the spicy salmon gunkan-​maki (they use the gochujang-​based spicy sauce to add the heat, and mercifully not that awful mayo-​based sauce; the fried bananas with french vanilla ice cream (drizzled in honey and studded with sugared walnuts and fresh raspberries); and their chili-​scallop wontons (fried, which I usually don’t like, but is lovingly doused in a chili garlic sauce that undercuts the grease). Lest you think I hate mayonnaise in sushi, I will also give an A+ to their shrimp roll, which is pleasantly creamy without putting you in guilt-​ridden food coma. After like 872 times eating here, I can count on one finger (one finger!) a time when the rice sucked and was mushy.
Service isn’t bad if you’re not an uptight, entitled, secret tyrant expecting to be waited on hand and foot with your ass kissed, just ’cause you’re spending your hard earn dollars in an establishment. (You are a horrible person, by the by.) I will concede that service has taken a dip in quality since the servers of yore from like 2007, but I’ve always found today’s Joss servers to be attentive and passably friendly — waters are always filled (more often than not by unobtrusive food runners, but who cares?), questions answered competently, and food brought out at a reasonable time.
The ambiance is also lovely and balanced, toeing the line between a good date night spot (for first dates as well as those dates one goes on in order to keep LTRs happily chugging along), a chill spot for impressing your parents, and a beautiful haven for weirdos like me who just want to luxuriate in solitude with a book while stuffing my face with sushi in a non-​dicey environment. The restaurant is airy and well-​appointed enough to feel like you’re actually treating yourself without sweating the check too hard later.
Overall, I really love Joss. I really, really, REALLY love Joss. It ain’t modern, it ain’t hip, and, thankfully, it’s not a god damned hyped up place that renders it a complete ordeal to get a table. (Like Sushi Taro in DC is – just don’t go to Joss during these three instances: 1) on a Friday or Saturday night between 6 and 9 pm – sorry!; 2) when school begins at the USNA; and 3) during a holiday/​boat show weekend). What it does well is serve tasty food in a nice space without breaking the bank. Within DC and Annapolis, this combination is rarer than you think. So go.

I have to say, I have some mixed emotions about Joss. I have a bit of a soft spot for this restaurant, being that it’s where my boyfriend and I had our first date. Because of that, I feel the need to give it «another try», but my experience always seems to fall short.
I am someone who enjoys having a side of spicy mayonnaise with my sushi. Most all sushi places I’ve been to has this condiment, and is happy to serve it to me. And if they don’t have it, the politely let me know. For whatever reason, I get the weird impression that Joss employees are stingy with their spicy mayonnaise. One time I asked my waitress for some, and her response was «umm…sure…» as if she wasn’t sure how I even knew they had any. This happened to me a couple times. The last time I’d been there, my friend and I asked our waiter for some, he gave us the same response, and then «forgot» to bring it to us. After a good 10 minutes, he brought us the spicy mayo. We later got the nice surprise that Joss now charges for a small little side of spicy mayonnaise.
Call me a cheapskate, but I don’t see the big ordeal. Are they hoarding it or something? I’m not sure, but I think I’d rather take my business a couple doors down to Nano where I think their sushi is better anyways. And they don’t hoard their condiments.

My friend and I ordered the shrimp tempura and the chicken teriyaki to share. Sharing is always good because you can eat two diffetent things. So we asked the easier for spoon for the tempuras dipping sauce. The waiter gave us the spoon and told us that the side is for dipping that’s why they don’t usually bring a soon out. I thought that was unnecessary to even say because my friend and I were sharing and we didn’t want to double dip.
It gets weirder with our easier. When we asked to have our leftovers packed, he told us that when he takes it to the bank kitchen to pack, they use the same utensil as prepping for the sushi so basically it’s best if we pack it ourselves because we can use our utensils because our food might get the raw stuff on it from the utensils.
Overall, the food is good. It’s just the experience with the waiter was not good.

Try the Yuba dumplings. Delicious! We also enjoyed the salmon negiri. Sushi rolls are excellent. The tempura and grilled banana dessert is creative and yummy.

I was in Annapolis meeting a friend for dinner and since it was a little on the later side, we were in the mood for something a little light. I suggested sushi and my friend was responsible for picking the place. My friend knows about my slight Food Network obsession and took me to Joss Sushi. Joss was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate for their fried shrimp heads. I personally don’t eat shrimp so I didn’t try this, but it was still cool to go to a restaurant recommended by a professional chef.
My friend decided to start with the Seaweed Salad. It was incredibly light and fresh and a great way to start the meal.
I decided to begin with a Miso Soup, even though the days are finally getting warmer, at Japanese restaurants miso soup is one of my favorite things. The miso soup at Joss was very good, not too salty like it can be some places.
My friend and I decided to split three rolls of sushi between the two of us. We ordered a Spicy Tuna Roll with Avocado, a Spicy Salmon Roll with Avocado, and a Crunchy Scallop Roll. The fish was incredibly fresh, which is possibly the most important thing when ordering sushi. I loved the spicy tuna and the spicy salmon, unfortunately my friend did not because they were too spicy for her. She really enjoyed her scallop roll though which included deep fried scallops which she said were cooked perfectly.
If you’re looking for excellent, fresh sushi in Annapolis, look no further than Joss Sushi. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!

I went to Joss Café and Sushi Bar after a college football game in the evening around 7-​ish with a group of 6 people. From a tables standpoint, not much as far as accommodation goes for large groups of people. The waitstaff seemed understaffed as there were a lot of customers there, but service seemed to take a bit of time. I get it, sushi needs prep. But its not like there are complicated sauces and difficult plating.
The bathrooms are practically in a whole other connected building and considering the amount of people eating there (I’m not saying the food makes you go), but there are only two bathrooms and when I went to use it, it was 13 people long for both men and women.
This does make sense though considering food is super overpriced so even if you did bring lots of people nobody would be able to afford a decent enough portion of food. Overall I think I got a bit lucky and chose a dish that at least seemed ok-​ish as far as value which was the soft-​shelled crab for about $ 14 which had an interesting spicy vinegar sauce. I also got some tempura which was a very tiny skant amount for the price. Others in my group had the same experience as far as insane pricing for little amounts of food. A person in my group got a kobe beef trio which was like $ 25 and it wasn’t much food at all. Another person got roughly an equivalent dish in some kind of beef tartar which was similarly priced with a pitiful portion size.
The food wasn’t bad, it tasted good. The wasabi was good. I just wish I wouldn’t have to pay an insane amount for such a small portion. I get it, seafood is expensive, but you could still have a section of non-​seafood related items that are actually portioned for an adult.
Maybe its a being from VA thing, but a single bite of food shouldn’t cost $ 8 in my opinion especially considering the atmosphere isn’t on the same caliber as similarly priced places with better portions. Its not like I’m asking for a sushi buffet.
I am not a large guy. I’m 5’10 and weigh 158 lbs with clothes on, I don’t need a ton of food but I would like to get full off $ 20. I’m not broke, I’m a single person with a middle class salary.
I put not good for groups because unless you are a straight baller, most likely its unreasonable not to split the check because the way orders are taken and the bill is received it is not good for splitting easily with cards and cash. Its also not good for sharing food as easily despite being sushi which is made for sharing, because you don’t know how much food it is and it turns out to be very little which you can’t really share much with other people.
Not sure what the bang-​for-​you-​buck items are on the menu as everything is still somewhat heavily priced which is an interesting dichotomy considering neighborhoods in the area seem fairly broke.
In any case, I should probably know better. If you go to an ethnic restaurant and the number of white people outnumber the number of people by which the food is based off of you should probably go elsewhere for a better experience. While this isn’t the place for me, if you are used to paying an inordinate amount for small portions, than this might be the place for you.
Also, I put «Good for Kids» because the portion sizes for the value are for children.