BY EMILY CLANCE, A&E Editor 

Sushi fans, rejoice: Yakimono Express is exactly what you’ve been waiting for.

After years of having to drive an hour or more for good sushi, this new restaurant brings it to Piedmont at last, and for prices that won’t make your wallet cringe.

Located in the old Hardee’s building across from McDonald’s in Clarkesville, Yakimono Express not only provides a variety of sushi rolls but also hibachi meals similar to Mishima Express in Cornelia.

The chicken, vegetables and rice in the hibachi meals are comparable to the ones at Mishima, but unlike Mishima, Yakimono Express does not provide you with unlimited shrimp sauce.

The menu also offers various side dishes, such as noodles or fried rice.

Of course, Yakimono’s draw isn’t the hibachi, but in the sushi.

While its sushi menu is by no means exhaustive, it provides a nice variety of standard rolls, specialty rolls and sashimi.

Each roll of sushi consists of eight pieces, and prices range from around $5 for a standard roll to up to $11 or $12 for the most expensive specialty roll.

The sashimi is more on the expensive side, with the average price set at around $4 for two pieces.

However, the food is well worth the price. When I went, I got two pieces of crab sashimi and the eight-piece Las Vegas Roll, and I had to take home a few pieces because of how filling it was.

One roll of sushi and a side dish would be more than enough to make a very filling, very affordable meal for a college student who might have missed the dinner hours at the caf – or who is tired of caf food – and is looking for something other than the normal fast food around campus.

The downside to Yakimono Express is the wait. While hibachi meals come out fairly quickly, sushi and sashimi take a bit longer.

If the restaurant is packed, which it has been since it opened a couple weeks ago, be prepared to wait for your food.

I went in on Friday night to grab some sushi to go, and I was told the wait for sushi would be 30 minutes because of how many orders the staff had to fill. The wait was similar when I went with some friends to dine in.

If you’re expecting high-quality, gourmet sushi, Yakimono Express is not that. What it is instead is affordable and easy to access.

The staff is friendly and the atmosphere is not as hectic as the crowd inside the restaurant would have you believe.

Featured prominently in the seating area are two television screens that are playing either family-friendly movies via Netflix or music through Pandora or iHeartRadio.

Yakimono Express also provides free WiFi for customers, should they so desire.

For the price, the food at Yakimono Express is fantastic. If you’re craving sushi or if you’ve never tried it before but are curious about it, definitely give this place a look.