Executive Chef In Chun leads the kitchen at Neighborhood Sushi, an Austin-born restaurant expanding into Dallas. The company also owns Clark’s Oyster Bar and Swedish Hill, two more brands that will expand into Dallas-Fort Worth imminently.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
At new Dallas restaurant Neighborhood Sushi, which opens June 30, 2026, on Oak Lawn Avenue, expect an unfussy atmosphere.
“It’s classic strip-mall sushi,” said Larry McGuire, managing partner of MML Hospitality, the Austin company that owns 35 restaurants in five states. Neighborhood Sushi is the group’s first Dallas restaurant and the beginning of an “ecosystem,” he said, that will include Clark’s Oyster Bar on the Katy Trail, three Swedish Hill bakeries and more.
Neighborhood Sushi sticks to its name, McGuire said: It’s a stop-in for lunch or dinner, and maybe a date, where diners can order tempura vegetables, handrolls, nigiri, sashimi and sushi rolls. It just so happens the “neighborhood” part of the name is Highland Park, one of the state’s most affluent areas.
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“It’s the sushi bar you want in your neighborhood,” he said. Unlike some of the other buzzy Japanese restaurants in Dallas, like Deep Ellum’s Michelin-starred Tatsu, East Dallas’ Shoyo and downtown Dallas spots Sushi by Scratch and Sushi Bar, Neighborhood Sushi does not do omakase with 18-course tastings.
Neighborhood Sushi is casual, yes. Cheap? No. Sushi rolls range from $13 to $33, and nigiri costs $5 to $17 per bite, depending on the fish. McGuire notes that plenty of diners will stop in for filling, fried bites of executive chef In Chun’s Japanese eggplant, shishito peppers and shrimp-stuffed basil leaves for $10 to $16 per plate, while others might lean more toward the nigiri and sashimi and rack up a larger tab.
Chefs toss grilled edamame at Neighborhood Sushi, a new Japanese restaurant in Dallas.
Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News
From 3 to 5 p.m. on weekdays, Neighborhood Sushi sells a $10 beer-and-a-sake deal. It’s a wink and a nod to the sake bomb, minus the mess.
Neighborhood Sushi originated in Austin, where diners enter from the back door. (More on that in a moment.) The new Dallas restaurant is first to try out a yakitori section with grilled king trumpet mushrooms, asparagus, chicken thighs and Wagyu.
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Know where to go: the back
Neighborhood Sushi on Oak Lawn Avenue is neighbors with Barsotti’s Fine Foods & Liqueurs and Sachet — each Michelin Recommended restaurants flanking either side of the Shops of Highland Park.
But don’t tug on the door facing Oak Lawn, as many did at this exact address, previously Tulum and Aurora. Go around to the back, to the parking lot, and enter from there.
Neighborhood Sushi isn’t meant to feel like a speakeasy, McGuire confirmed: It’s not a hidden door. The idea for a back entrance started at the original in Austin, and they continued the tradition in Dallas.
McGuire said the restaurant is inspired by Japanese restaurants in Tokyo, some accessible from the alley. Once Dallas diners enter a black hallway, the room opens up with warm woods and navy curtains, a live tree in the middle of a 12-seat communal dining table.
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A seating area at Neighborhood Sushi, a new Japanese restaurant on Dallas’ Oak Lawn, shows the indoor tree and communal seating for 12.
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Chefs work the sushi bar at Neighborhood Sushi on Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas.
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Executive Chef In Chun prepares nigiri at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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Executive Chef In Chun holds a selection of nigiri at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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Fluke, Scottish salmon, Baja bass, Madai snapper, big eyed tuna and fatty tuna are on the nigiri menu at Neighborhood Sushi, which opens June 30, 2026 on Dallas’ Oak Lawn Avenue.
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Steamed egg custard is served with mushroom and crab at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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Sous chef Bella Kucera prepares chicken thigh yakitori with scallion, togarashi and house tare at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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Sous chef Bella Kucera fans the flames as she prepares chicken thigh yakitori at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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What to eat and drink
The restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license, an uncommon choice for a new restaurant in Dallas. But diners might not miss the spirits, as Neighborhood Sushi’s sake cocktails are creative and complex.
The Red Dragon, $15, is a magenta-colored cocktail made with beet-infused sake, orange vermouth, ginger beer, fresno chile and lime. The restaurant also has a $16 “margarita” made with sake, yuzu, lime and wasabi honey.
Drunken Angel, left, and the Red Dragon cocktails show off finesse at Neighborhood Sushi. There’s no liquor license here. (Dallas diners, that means: No martinis.)
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For light bites during dinner, McGuire points to the vegetable nigiri, a selection of six vegetarian options like sweet corn with togarashi butter ($5) and fried bean curd with black and white sesame ($4). They’re some of the restaurant’s least-expensive items, and they’ve become signatures at the Austin restaurant.
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You might not want to share the restaurant’s $13 steamed egg custard, which comes topped with king crab and shiitake mushrooms for a blast of umami.
The dessert menu also features $15 kakigori, or shaved ice. On top of this fancy snow cone with mango sherbet, diners add their own waterfall of liquid prickly pear, pineapple and coconut cream. It’s a mountain of cold sweets — big and fun and over-the-top, the kind of finisher best enjoyed with a bunch of spoons.
The restaurant will naturally be a date-night spot, McGuire guessed, but as many as 10 tables offer room for four. A few others with U-shaped seating leave room for bigger parties.
Neighborhood Sushi is at 4216 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas. Reservations recommended but not required.
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Kakigori with mango, prickly pear, pineapple and coconut cream is one of five dessert options at Neighborhood Sushi in Dallas.
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