The Rising Sun restaurant emerged from the ashes of an Italian buffet about two years ago, taking the form of a nice family Japanese sushi joint. We ate there a couple of times either side of seeing a movie at the Regal Village Square 18 picture theater. They had good dinner combo deals… your standard neighborhood sushi joint.

About 6 months ago, it once again underwent a change of management, with a completely different and more expensive looking menu. Normally when this happens, I have sighed at the loss of yet another friendly affordable sushi venue, and changed my plans for the evening. Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago, when faced with this sudden case of confounded expectations, I was with some guests from out-of-town and – having promised them sushi – really didn’t want to disappoint them. I explained that I could no longer vouch for the experience, and put it to a vote. We agreed: we’d take the risk.

I’m very glad we did.

Don’t waste your money on the usual sashimi and ngiri choices because that’s not really what they are about. You can get those elsewhere. Instead, go for the special rolls. There’s a large number of options and they are all delicious.

Yes, it’s more expensive. We won’t be idly dropping in on a whim. But the food is worth it. It’s creative, it’s tasty, and in my opinion it competes with the out-of-this-world creations of Nobu and frankly that’s saying something. (I also enjoyed the bottle of chilled, unfiltered saki we had with the meal and I’m sure that last time I tasted that was at Nobu.)

I highly recommend this restaurant for special occasions and the odd treat. I can’t afford to go there every week but I’d like to.