RFK Cuisine · Sushi · Boston
Best Sushi Restaurants in Boston 2026
Sushi & omakase · Boston · 5 counters ranked · Updated June 2026
Reviewed by Daniel Whitford · Visited Q2 2026 · Senior Editor, Restaurants for Kings
For eighteen years Boston had no Michelin guide and one obvious answer to the question of where to eat sushi: O Ya, the Leather District counter where Tim Cushman won a James Beard Award and a national reputation. That changed in November 2025, when the inaugural Michelin Guide Boston handed the city's first star not to O Ya but to 311 Omakase, a ten-seat room in the South End barely two years old. The result is a sushi scene with two clear summits and a short, honest middle — a starred newcomer, the pioneer that built the audience, a Ken Oringer sashimi bar, and the neighbourhood and Fenway rooms where the city actually eats raw fish on a Tuesday. Five counters, ranked on the rice, the room and the bill, with the order to make at each.
1.311 Omakase
Boston's first Michelin star and a ten-seat counter, sold out in minutes; set a notify and book it for a sushi pilgrimage.
Wei Fa Chen opened this ten-seat room at 605 Tremont Street in the summer of 2023, and by November 2025 the inaugural Michelin Guide Boston had given it the city's first star — for sushi, ahead of every older name in town. The 18-course omakase runs from about $250 and leans Edomae: aged tuna, much of the fish flown from Toyosu, brushed with nikiri at the counter and finished over warm, vinegared shari. There are a handful of cooked courses to open, then nigiri in close, deliberate sequence. With ten seats and a star, this is now the hardest sushi reservation in Massachusetts. Watch the booking drop and take any seating offered.
Reserve the moment seats release; the aged-tuna nigiri sequence is the reason to come.
2.O Ya
The counter that taught Boston omakase, still the most inventive in town; book a month out for a special-occasion blowout.
Tim and Nancy Cushman opened O Ya in a former firehouse in the Leather District in 2007, and Frank Bruni promptly called it the best new restaurant in America. Tim's James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast followed in 2012. The nightly tasting is $295, prepaid through Tock, and it is sushi as provocation rather than purism: the kumamoto oyster with watermelon pearls and cucumber mignonette, foie gras nigiri with balsamic chocolate kabayaki, fatty tuna with house-made potato chip and chive. Nancy's sake list is among the deepest in the country. It did not get the 2025 star, which says more about the guide's caution than the cooking. Reserve a month ahead.
Book on Tock a month out; let the kitchen lead, but the foie gras nigiri is non-negotiable.
3.Uni
Ken Oringer's loud, late sashimi bar at the Eliot; book for a raucous raw-fish dinner that doesn't demand a tasting menu.
Uni began in 2002 as a tiny sashimi bar inside the Eliot Hotel and grew into a 100-seat Back Bay izakaya at 370 Commonwealth Avenue, run by chef-owner Ken Oringer with executive chef David Bazirgan. It is the counter to choose when you want raw fish without committing to a three-figure tasting: order à la carte across nigiri, sashimi and maki, then global izakaya plates and a serious sake program alongside. The uni spoon — sea urchin, quail egg, caviar — is the dish the room is named for, and the late-night ramen has its own following. Reserve on OpenTable or Resy a few days out, or aim for a walk-in seat at the sashimi bar.
Book a few days ahead or walk in to the bar; the uni spoon, then sashimi by the piece.
4.Cafe Sushi
Cambridge's reopened sushi standby; go for honest à la carte nigiri without the omakase price or the month-out wait.
Seizi Imura took over his parents' room at 1105 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge in 2007 and turned it into the city's most respected affordable sushi, an under-the-radar omakase gem before the pandemic closed the dining room in 2020. It reopened in December 2025 as Cafe Sushi Shoten — freshly renovated, the old sushi bar now a sake bar — and while the chef's-choice omakase is retired, the à la carte sushi that built its name is back. Expect clean, well-sourced nigiri and maki at a fraction of the South End and Leather District prices, in a Harvard Square neighbourhood room rather than a destination counter. Same-week reservations or a takeout box.
Reserve same week or order takeout; build a nigiri set off the daily fish board.
5.Hojoko
The Cushmans' punk-rock izakaya in Fenway; book for late maki, robata and sake when the omakase counters have closed.
Hojoko is the loud, low-budget cousin of O Ya — Tim and Nancy Cushman's Japanese tavern inside the Verb Hotel at 1271 Boylston Street, a vinyl-soundtracked room in the Fenway. This is not an omakase counter and does not pretend to be: the move is maki, hand rolls and robata skewers washed down with sake, beer and a long highball list, served far later than the serious sushi rooms keep their doors open. The spicy tuna and the toro hand rolls hold up against rooms charging triple, and the kitchen runs past midnight on weekends. Reserve for a group on OpenTable, or walk in solo and sit at the bar.
Book for a group or walk in late; toro hand roll, robata skewers, a highball.
How Boston eats sushi
Boston's sushi map is small, but it sharpened overnight in November 2025 when the Michelin Guide arrived and put its first star on a sushi counter. The serious end is two rooms a mile apart: 311 Omakase in the South End and O Ya in the Leather District, both omakase-only, both prepaid, both north of $250 a head. Neither takes a casual booking — O Ya wants a month, 311 sells out in minutes — so plan the omakase nights well ahead and treat them as the events they are.
Everything below that tier is à la carte and far easier. Uni in Back Bay is the swing room — a real sashimi bar you can book this week or walk into. Cafe Sushi anchors Cambridge and Hojoko anchors Fenway, the two spots where the city eats raw fish without ceremony or a three-figure bill. For the broader picture — where to eat between sushi nights — the Boston dining guide maps every neighbourhood by occasion, and our best omakase in Boston shortlist drills into the tasting counters specifically.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious sushi
The all-you-can-eat and conveyor-belt rooms. Boston has its share of buffet and belt sushi trading on volume over rice; none belong on this list. Even Cafe Sushi or Hojoko, the two casual picks here, will cost more and reward you far better.
311 Omakase or O Ya for a quick or flexible dinner. Both are fixed, prepaid, single-seating omakase that run well over two hours and cannot bend for a late arrival or a half-portion. If you want raw fish on a whim, on a budget, or after 10pm, point yourself at Uni, Cafe Sushi or Hojoko instead.
Frequently asked
What is the best sushi restaurant in Boston?
311 Omakase in the South End holds Boston's first and only Michelin star for sushi, awarded in November 2025 — a ten-seat counter where chef Wei Fa Chen serves an 18-course omakase from about $250. The more established benchmark is O Ya in the Leather District, Tim Cushman's James Beard–winning contemporary omakase, which has defined Boston sushi since 2007 at $295 a head. Between them they are the two essential counters in the city.
How much does omakase cost in Boston?
Boston's top counters sit between $250 and $300 before tax and service. 311 Omakase runs an 18-course menu from roughly $250 a person; O Ya's nightly tasting is $295, prepaid through Tock, landing near $383 once the administrative fee and tax are added. Uni's à la carte sashimi and nigiri let you spend less, around $90 to $150, while a casual maki dinner at Hojoko keeps the bill under $60.
How hard is it to book 311 Omakase or O Ya in Boston?
311 Omakase seats only ten, so since the Michelin star landed its tables vanish within minutes of release — set a notify and take any seating offered. O Ya books on Tock about a month out and prepays in full; weeknights are the realistic target. Uni at the Eliot Hotel is far easier and takes reservations on OpenTable or Resy a few days ahead, with sashimi-bar seats often open to walk-ins.
Where do locals eat sushi in Boston outside the omakase counters?
Cafe Sushi on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge is the neighbourhood standby — chef Seizi Imura took over his family's room in 2007, and after a long pandemic pause it reopened in December 2025 for modern à la carte sushi. For a louder, later night, Hojoko inside the Verb Hotel in Fenway does punk-rock izakaya: robata skewers, sake and maki until the early hours. Both take same-week reservations and neither needs a special occasion.
Does Boston have Michelin-starred sushi?
Yes, as of the inaugural Michelin Guide Boston in November 2025. 311 Omakase in the South End earned the city's first Michelin star and is its only starred sushi room. The guide also recommended several Japanese spots, but no other sushi counter in Boston holds a star. O Ya, despite its national reputation and James Beard award, was not starred in the first guide.
More sushi, by city
More from RFK
Browse the full Boston dining guide, drill into the city's best omakase counters, compare the global picks in the best sushi restaurants worldwide, see how Japan does it in Tokyo's best sushi, plan a special-occasion dinner at O Ya, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
Restaurants for Kings is reader-supported. Some reservation links are affiliate links with OpenTable, Resy or Tock; we earn a small commission at no cost to you, and a link never buys a place on a ranking. Editorial scores and ranking order are independent of any commercial relationship. See our ranking methodology.