this place has SO much potential, but is not great. warning i can be extremely pretentious about sushi... (and all food). almost all the fish/seafood that Han serves is more or less ground up, i didn't have any rolls that were chunk pieces of seafood. the vibe, set up, design, menu, drinks, experience, warm hand towel are all incredible. the handrolls are a big miss. i honestly havent had one i really enjoyed. the owner and people that work there are so nice. it would really help them to visit other handroll bars around the country and take notes on their fish prep/presentation.
as far as im aware, kazu nori, owned by sugarfish group, in los angeles, and some in new york were the first to really popularize this type of handroll bar experience in the US. ive been to plenty of different handroll bars since the first kazu nori opened and they are still probably the best experience/food. i REALLY like tekka bar, they are a very similar chain concept too. Yunomi in culver city has a little more expansive menu but is also a similar concept (there are TONS others but those are my favorites that i have the most experience with). the Han owners, partners, investors, chefs, should go to these places and build off what they currently have and some of the things these spots are doing. i really want to see Han succeed, i would go multiple times a week, but not at the current state. i've had it 2 or 3 times hoping the food improves but it hasn't. i will not be back unless there is some sort of press rebrand of their food.
Han has a waygu handroll where they flame the slice of beef in front of you, the waygu is legit so of course its good, but the mesh rack is way past its prime with a bunch of the metal wire missing or broken. i dont think this has to be done all up in the customers face, it can be done on the counter or somewhere else in sight where its more comfortable for the chef. the uni i had was from a new package but was not good. i watched the chef open the package but he didnt try it so he wouldnt know if it was still good or not. the portion was tiny and the price (for uni) was pretty cheap. i think most people ordering uni expect to pay a premium and would also prefer a larger portion than Han currently provides.
everything except the food is fantastic, some of the food is good but the handrolls by in large are all sub-par. i do prefer how they wrap the handrolls smaller here rather than leave them open like other places across tampa bay. also the rice portion is good. some of the handrolls across tampa bay load the handroll up with rice and it drowns out the fish. Han does not do that which is great. right now, if i want handrolls in tampa, im heading to tori bar, their proportions can be off (lots of rice) but the toro handroll there is huge chunks and soooo good. a lot of the other handrolls in the tampa bar area have too many ingredients. handrolls should be high quality and simple. i would be extremely happy to update this review if things change. read more