Sushi has quickly become a popular dish amongst people, and with the recent openings of several sushi establishments, it has also become quite popular among residents of Harford County.

But with all of these openings, it has become quite a search to find good, reasonable sushi in Harford County.

So in order to find the best sushi around, I traveled to three local sushi establishments in Harford County and graded each place on freshness and quality of sushi, price, and overall experience at the sushi restaurant.

I first went to the restaurant Zen 16 Sushi Cafe located in Bel Air. When I first walked in, no one else was there. I thought it was closed, but a waiter appeared from the back. I got one order of the spicy tuna roll which consisted of tuna and a spicy sauce, and the Baltimore roll which was made of crabmeat, asparagus, and Old Bay. The spicy tuna cost $5.00 for six rolls and the Baltimore cost $6.50 for six rolls.

Since we were the only people in the restaurant, we got our food very quickly. However, the sushi tasted like it had been made hours ago.

Good sushi should not taste like raw fish, but the tuna had a bad fishy taste and the asparagus from the Baltimore roll was soggy. Even so, the food was fairly good for an average price.

The next stop was Chopstix located in Forest Hill. This restaurant is always busy and because we were pressed for time, my friends and I opted to eat at the sushi bar, hoping to speed up the process.

One problem with eating at the sushi bar was the awkwardness of the seating as we tried to look at each other, talk, and eat simultaneously.  However, this inconvenience was offset by the fantastic food.

I ordered the same two sushi rolls to keep things constant. The tuna tasted fresh and had just the right amount of spice to it. The Baltimore roll was delicious as well. The spicy tuna roll was $5.25 for eight rolls and the Baltimore roll was $7.25 for eight rolls.

My final stop was at Fugi Sushi in Bel Air, which is located inside the Festival shopping center. This place has extremely weird hours. I went one day after school and they were closed and were not scheduled to open that night until five o’clock.

I ordered the spicy tuna roll yet again, but since they did not have a Baltimore roll, I opted to order a roll made of crab meat and avocado.

The sushi quality here was adequate. The tuna tasted decent and the real crab meat roll did not taste like “real” crab meat.  Instead, it tasted like the filler one finds in a crab cake. The spicy tuna roll cost $6.00 for six rolls and the crabmeat roll cost $6.50 for six rolls.

Consequently, Chopstix is the best place in Harford County to get sushi. The ambiance of the restaurant was superb to all the others, the quality of the sushi was amazing, and even though I had the most expensive bill here, I ended up getting more for my money with the fresh taste and the eight rolls as opposed to six at the other restaurants.

Maggie Cassidy is the Managing Editor for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com.