Choosing Japanese food in Oklahoma City becomes easier once the meal has a shape. A table built around nigiri and sashimi is different from an evening that alternates sushi with charcoal-grilled skewers and warm small plates. Sushi Neko, on Western Avenue, and Awaji Izakaya, in the northwest of the city, offer those two useful points of departure. Neither requires every diner to want the same style of Japanese food, but they organize that variety differently.
Sushi Neko’s sushi menu makes the distinctions unusually visible. Individual tuna, yellowtail, salmon and scallop selections share space with cooked items, vegetable rolls and more elaborate combinations. The diner who wants fish and rice without many additions can build a straightforward order, while someone drawn to tempura, cream cheese or sauces can follow a separate route. That is a meaningful advantage for a mixed table: choosing a restaurant does not automatically commit everyone to raw fish.
The house rolls show the more expansive side of the menu. The Dragon combines tempura shrimp and cucumber with eel, avocado and other toppings; the Cowboy adds cream cheese and crab salad to shrimp tempura. These constructions promise a different kind of meal from individual nigiri. The warm kitchen widens the choice further with miso salmon over bok choy and grilled teriyaki chicken with vegetables and rice. Sushi Neko is therefore a sensible choice when companions want to share a restaurant but retain considerable freedom over what they eat.
Awaji puts the gastropub at the center of the story. Opened in 2023 by chef Richard Ly, it brings sushi together with otsumami, or small plates, and yakitori grilled over binchōtan charcoal. Ly’s Japanese training began under Okinawan chef Kazuaki Miyagi in Texas. The restaurant’s contemporary menu draws on that background without limiting itself to one kind of sushi order, and the Japanese-inspired, dimly lit setting is consistent with the idea of building a meal gradually.
Gyoza, chicken karaage and agedashi tofu provide several ways into that meal before skewers or sushi arrive. The appeal lies in the contrasts: grilled food alongside fried bites, or a dashi-based tofu dish beside a roll with richer fillings. Sake, shōchū, Japanese whisky and cocktails belong to the same gastropub approach. A date or a small gathering can make the food itself the conversation, choosing a few dishes at a time rather than expecting an obligatory chef-selected progression.
The distinction is about emphasis. Sushi Neko offers an extensive sushi framework supported by a substantial warm kitchen; Awaji invites a more deliberately mixed small-plate and skewer order. For someone mainly interested in comparing individual fish selections, the first is a clear starting point. For a dinner that moves between sushi, charcoal grilling and drinks, the second has a stronger fit. In a city with several ways to eat Japanese food, deciding how the table wants to order is more useful than relying on one unqualified “best sushi” label.
Explore the profiles: Sushi Neko · Awaji Izakaya
Recommended restaurants
The profiles below explain each restaurant’s cooking and give practical details for planning a visit.
A Western Avenue Japanese restaurant whose extensive nigiri and sashimi selection shares the menu with cooked rolls, rice bowls and warm kitchen dishes.
Nigiri, sashimi, creative rolls and Japanese kitchen dishes.
Richard Ly’s northwest Oklahoma City gastropub brings binchōtan-grilled yakitori, sushi and small plates into an intimate Japanese-inspired dining format.
Binchōtan-grilled skewers, sushi, Japanese small plates, sake and cocktails.
Sources & references
Sources for the information and reporting discussed in this guide.
- Sushi Neko: identity, services and hours ↗ Primary source www.sushineko.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Sushi Neko: sushi menu ↗ Primary source www.sushineko.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Sushi Neko: hot-kitchen dishes ↗ Primary source www.sushineko.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Sushi Neko: official contact ↗ Primary source www.sushineko.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Sushi Neko: Google Maps listing ↗ Primary source www.google.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Awaji Izakaya: concept and official links ↗ Primary source www.awaji-izakaya.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Awaji Izakaya: chef, background and cooking techniques ↗ Primary source www.awaji-izakaya.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Awaji Izakaya: location and lunch and dinner services ↗ Primary source www.awaji-izakaya.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Awaji Izakaya: restaurant menu updated in September 2026 ↗ Primary source www.opentable.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Awaji Izakaya: Google Maps listing ↗ Primary source www.google.com · Accessed September 28, 2026