Ok, maybe saying that “Lunch at Kemuri is a Steal,” is overstating it a bit, but you get my drift. While restaurant sushi can be quite expensive during the evening hours, the daytime shift is a time to find some great values, as is the case with Kemuri in Hillcrest.

First things first … it never gets enough credit for it, but Kemuri is one of the best restaurants in Little Rock. The food never disappoints and the service is usually quite good. The atmosphere is cool and inviting, making Kemuri just an overall ideal dining destination.

Especially for lunch.

We celebrated my wife’s birthday recently at the bar area and took advantage of some of Kemuri’s lunch specials, which include:

• Sushiritos ($10)
• Express Lunch (California Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll, $9)
• Shrimp Bento Box (miso soup, fried rice, tempura shrimp, cucumber salad, and a California or Spicy Tuna Roll, $14)
• Nigiri Lunch (tuna, shrimp, white tuna, yellow tail, crab stick, and tomago, $12)
• Kemuri Lunch Combo (Crunchy Shrimp Roll, OMG Roll, Blue Dragon Roll, $15)
• Lunch Trio (Hawaiian Roll, Blue Crab Roll, California Roll, $14)
• Veggie Roll Combo ($10)
• Sashimi Lunch Special (9 pieces of chef’s selection, $14)
• Various other sushi roll combos ($11-$16)

I was extremely hungry and always have big eyes when it comes to ordering sushi, so I opted for the monster Kemuri Lunch Combo. It’s a ton of food, which I honestly couldn’t finish. True to form, everything was delicious and beautifully presented. My only slight criticism with Kemuri’s rolls is that they are often too big, making it hard to jam each piece into my pie hole. In fairness, I do have TMJ.

Also, on this particular day, the sushi took a while to reach our table, making for an extended lunch when time was unfortunately at a premium. That said, if you’re looking for tasty sushi at a great value, Kemuri’s should be on your lunchtime list.