Beyond Restaurant and Bar

Today for lunch HburgVegetarian and I went to Beyond. It's located downtown on West Water Street right down the block from Cuchi Guido's and Finnigan's Cove. They are open weekdays for lunch and dinner, and dinner on Saturdays, as well as brunch on Sundays. It features Asian cuisine (especially sushi) and also some international dishes.

We arrived around 12:30 and were sat promptly. The inside of the restaurant is very urban chic, and I thought it was very well-decorated. They even have a second floor that is kind of a "loft" above the first which I thought was really cool. They also featured a lot of local art on the walls that you can purchase. Their outside seating is also very nice (it's kind of like a deck), and overlooks a small stream behind the restaurant. If it was nicer outside I definitely would've liked to be sat there.

Our server recommended the sushi so I ordered a "Real California Roll" and HburgVegetarian ordered the "White Pizza". The "Real California Roll" is a typical california sushi roll but made with real crab meat. Also, all entrees and sushi come with miso soup, so that was brought out to us right away.

The soup was fairly good for miso -not the best I've ever had though. HburgVegetarian's pizza came out rather quickly and was presented very nicely. She said she enjoyed it and it tasted fairly good, but was a little greasy for her taste. Finally, about 10 minutes later my sushi came out. It was 8 regular-sized pieces presented on a plate nicely. It tasted like pretty much any sushi you could get anywhere, but honestly I thought the price was a little more expensive than other places I have had sushi of comparable quality. It definitely wasn't the best sushi I have ever had, but was still better than grocery store quality.

My total came to around $9, and HburgVegetarian's was around $8. Overall, I don't know if I will eat here again. For what I got I thought the price was a bit much (compared to other places), but HburgVegetarian said for what she paid she thought the pizza was good and also a good portion. For me, even with the soup included, I felt the food could have been slightly better. I was also expecting great sushi because it is such a big part of their menu and the server recommended it to me. It seemed popular enough though with the local "lunch hour" crowd. If you are going here for something other than sushi, you may end up more satisfied.

Miso Soup:

Real California Roll:

White Pizza:

Food: B-

Atmosphere: A+

Cleanliness: A

Service: B+

Price: $$

Overall: B+