At Chiso, you don’t have to choose your sushi persona—you can be either a glib roll-eater or (better) an unyielding traditionalist and feel satisfied with either experience. Perhaps more than any other Japanese restaurant in the city, Chiso offers consistent quality across all pages of its menu, which makes it a great place to bring a group of people with varying expectations.

Omakase sushi is offered at lunch and dinner, and will please purists with relentlessly fresh catches of the day; the chef’s selection is on another plane from the basic lunch combo, as it should be, although the latter is no slouch either. But Chiso also makes excellent rolls—including some of the best veggie maki in the city—and great ippin ryori (a Japanese term translated literally to “one-dish food”) like nicely sauced tuna poke, toothsome tempuras, very lightly seared duck breast, and fried shrimp heads. Drinks begin, and should end, with an equally good selection of both chest-hair-growing sake and delicate, if sweet, mixed drinks featuring lychee, basil, and seasonal fruits. (There’s a lot of room for improvement on the regular wine list, however; the flavors from the kitchen are abused by the big, oaky New World reds on the list.)

The décor follows suit: it’s a bit sparse, neither too homey nor too trendy, with olive green walls, paper lanterns, comfy banquette seating, and an attractive and dimly lit (at night) sushi bar. All of this makes Chiso mutable for friends, families, or couples.