Sushi Haya — Cypress

EXPERIENCE

Sushi Haya in Cypress serves ordered all-you-can-eat Japanese food, with cooked seafood and small plates worth considering alongside the sushi. Shrimp robata, baby octopus and beef tataki give the meal more to offer than rolls alone. On Northwest Freeway, it serves lunch and dinner with separate selections and a kitchen that gives the raw-fish orders some warm company.

The dining room is memorable for its illuminated portrait murals and rectangular lantern shades. Dark booths run beneath the artwork, with wooden tables and chairs filling the room. The light makes the mural wall a strong part of the setting, so even an ordinary sushi supper has something striking around it. The restaurant opened in 2024, adding this decorated dining room to the Japanese food options around Barker Cypress and Highway 290. It makes a splendid background and quite upscale environment for unlimited dining – competing with the repeated rounds of food for attention.

Food comes to the table in repeated orders. That makes the cooked starters particularly useful: a small seafood dish can accompany sushi or sashimi without turning the meal into a fixed combination platter. There’s a bar as well, giving the room another use beyond the AYCE lunch or dinner. For a group, the shared menu leaves space for different interests without requiring everyone to order the same roll.

The attraction is the combination of that expressive room and a meal with several prepared-food choices. Sushi Haya also offers à la carte, which is worth distinguishing from the unlimited selection when a particular roll catches your eye. A little attention to the current AYCE sheet keeps the order clear. Then the more enjoyable question is whether the next small plate should come from the sushi counter or the hot kitchen.