The other day we visited Moca in Hewlett for another round of sushi. The place has a trendy decor, with posh and modern touches throughout and soft club music in the background. There is a full bar in the front a section behind it that you can fully enclose with panels for private parties or meetings. There is a large drop down projection screen located inside the room for pictures and presentations. The restaurant is filled with low booths and some tables. There is a decorative waterfall in the back of the place and the left-hand wall of the restaurant has cool exposed brick. The kitchen, located in the back, has a glass partition so you can watch the chefs at work. We are greeted by the General Manager Ivan who puts us in the care of Steve, our helpful server for the evening.

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  Pineapple Martini Steven recommends two drinks for us. We get the Pineapple Martini and the Lychee Martini. Martinis, one of the best know drinks in the world contain gin and vermouth in their original form but these were anything but. The Pineapple Martini is a house special and it starts with vodka that has had pineapples soaking with it. The drink has a surprisingly sweet taste, without being artificial at all. It is very strong and the pineapple that garnishes it packs a punch.
  
  Lychee Martini The Lychee Martini is a combination of lychee liqueur and lychees juice. It has a nice sweet taste and is pure and light.

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  Spicy Tuna Avocado Salad Our first dish arrives and it is the Spicy Tuna Avocado Salad. It is a chunk of diced tuna wrapped in a ring of sliced avocado, sitting atop a bed of mixed greens. It is garnished with a light ginger infused dressing. It is one of the more true salads that we have had and is a good mix. The dressing is very light and incredibly tasty. The fish is fresh and super soft.

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  Kumamoto Oysters Next arrives Kumamoto Oysters. The restaurant had a quantity of live oysters and ours are served with a dot of sriracha sauce and accompanied by live scallops with a yuzu sauce. Kumamoto Oysters are among the most popular type of oysters available and have been shipped to the U.S. from Kumamoto Bay Japan for over 60 years. The oysters are amazing, very clean, rich and pure. You can almost taste the ocean they are so fresh.
  
  Scallops The same freshness quality goes for the scallops. The scallops, the state shell of N.Y., are very light and the yuzu sauce has a light, slightly tart yet sweet taste.

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  Tuna Three Ways - White Tuna and Wasabi Mayo We move onto another appetizer called Tuna Three Ways. The dish is three different types of tuna with different sauces. The tastiest of the group is white tuna with wasabi mayo. The white tuna is super light with an oily texture. The wasabi mayo is very tasty but not overpowering.
  
  Super White Tuna with Yuzu Serrano Sauce The super white tuna is served with a yuzu Serrano sauce. Serrano peppers originated in Mexico and can be even spicier than the jalapeno pepper. As fans of spice, we love the pairing of the tart yuzu and spicy Serrano with the light fish. Typically, as is the case here, white tuna refers to albacore while super white tuna is escolar.
  
  Pepper Tuna with Garlic Ginger Sauce The last tuna is pepper tuna with a garlic ginger sauce. The tuna is perfectly spiced and the sauce is nicely balanced between the light ginger and distinctive garlic.
  
  

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  Mini Rolls Mini Rolls arrive for us to munch on. Five to an order, they are miniature versions of vegetable spring roll served with a sweet chili sauce. Spring rolls first originated in Asia and today they come in many different forms from vegetable, to pork, to shrimp to ones that are not fried at all and typically referred to as summer rolls. The rolls are light and crispy but a drop on the oily side. The sauce is a great mixture of sweetness and spice. It is the perfect appetizer for sharing and good to split for a large party.

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  Golden Dragon Two sushi rolls are brought next. The Golden Dragon is spicy crunchy salmon and avocado inside. It is then topped with mango and black tobiko, which has been colored with the ink of a squid. The mixture of spicy salmon is lusciously soft and nearly melts in the mouth. The roll has a strong mango taste but the sweetness of the fruit is well balanced by the spicy fish. We love mango so this delicious roll was a hit for us.

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  Volcano Roll The Volcano Roll, is not what typically comes to mind when envisioning a volcano roll. It has shrimp tempura and mango inside and is topped with lobster salad and black tobiko. This makes for a sweeter roll, not a spicy one. Tempura, a dish made by deep frying ingredients in a wheat based tempura batter, is very popular in Japanese culture. Shrimp is one of the more common selections for tempura. At times tempura shrimp can taste more like batter than fish, but not here as there is a strong shrimp taste. The mango and lobster salad are more subtle and the taste of both get a little lost. It is a very good roll though.

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  Spicy Mango Tune Tartar Crunchy Spicy Mango Tuna Tartar is the next plate we try. It is spicy tuna and mango mixed with tempura flakes and topped with a citrus mango dressing. The appetizer is a mini portion served in a bowl set on ice with a blinking pink light underneath. As stated, mango is one of favorites and most others agree as it is the most cultivated of all the tropical fruit, so we had high expectations for this one. However, the dish tasted a little off as the dressing was slightly artificial. The tempura strips that came with the dish were not as crunchy as desired but did have a nice wasabi taste.

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  Mocatini We order some sake and another cocktail. The cocktail, the Mocatini, is another house special. It is Ketel One Vodka, distilled from wheat in cooper pot stills, peach nectar, pineapple, champagne and a splash of grenadine, which is pomegranate juice and superfine sugar. The drink is fizzy and light, with a subtle sweetness. It is definitely unique and very refreshing.

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  Hakushika Snow Beauty Sake We also try Hakushika Snow Beauty sake. This is unfiltered sake, passed through loose mesh and left with much sediment from the rice, with a cloudy finish. It was a milky, almost a chalky, syrup like finish. The fruity taste, coconut and pineapple, is only alright but the drink is pretty smooth overall.

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  Sashimi We are excited by the Moca Special Sashimi. It is a platter of sashimi and here is a brief description of each item.
  
  Salmon The salmon slices are thick and very taste, with a pure finish.
  
  Yellowtail The yellowtail is superb, with a light, fatty, oily texture.
  
  Fluke The fluke is flat and light, with a hint of sweet.
  
  Chutoro The chutoro tuna is amazingly rich, with a pure taste and slick coating. Chutoro is a strongly desire cut from the belly of the fish somewhere between the middle and back of the fish.
  
  Ikura The ikura, salmon roe, is salty and the bubbles burst in the mouth.
  
  Striped Bass The striped bass is cold and tender
  
  Sea Urchin The uni also known as sea urchin, has a nice creamy texture. You can tell it is very fresh due to its slightly salty taste. The tuna was our least favorite as it was slightly tough.
  
  

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  Yellowtail Serrano Next a dish of Yellowtail Serrano finds its way to our table. It is slices of yellowtail sashimi served with a citrus ponzu sauce mixed with Serrano chili and topped with a jalapeno and cilantro. Cilantro is the leaves from the coriander herb and it has a light almost citrus taste. As noted early Serranos are super spicy and combined with jalapenos this dish provides some nice heat. The spice level is not outrageous and if you like spicy this is a great one to try.

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  Spicy Crab with Strawberry We switch back to sushi and order some rolls. The first is Spicy Crab with Strawberry. It is spicy snow crab and avocado inside with strawberries and citrus mango puree on top. Snow crabs come from cold waters of the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Compared to other types of crab, the snow crab can be a little sweeter and this roll is just that. It is sweet, yet very light and the crab is very fresh. We love the strawberries on top and overall it is a great combination between the sweet crab and slightly tart fruit.

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  Peninsula Maki Another roll topped with fruit is the Peninsula Maki. The inside is lobster salad and avocado and on top is kiwi and mango sauce. The combination of rich and sweet lobster is balanced by the kiwi. Kiwis can have a slightly sour or citrus taste and are most often described similar to a strawberry but with tartness akin to a pineapple. This roll is very creative and we have never seen this combination before. It is very flavorful and we highly recommend it.

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  Gyu-Filet Mignon Another unique and great roll was the Gyu-Filet Mignon. The roll is spinach, asparagus and cucumber inside. It is then topped with slices of filet mignon, pepper sauce and fried potato straws. Filet mignon is taken from the tenderloin of the cow and is incredibly flavorful and super tender. The steak on this roll has a great flavoring, which was enhanced by the pepper sauce. The crispy potato adds a nice crunch to the roll and overall it is the best steak roll we have had to date.

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  Sushi Pizza We try their Sushi Pizza next. The pizza is tuna or salmon with seaweed salad, avocado, melted mozzarella cheese, spicy mayo and eel sauce all on top of a Korean rice pancake. We were lucky enough to get our pizza half with tuna and half with salmon. There is a nice combination of texture, between the crunchy from the pancake and seaweed salad and the soft fish. Korean rice pancakes all start with flour, rice flour and very cold water and are deep fried. This makes for a rich taste but it is not too heavy. There is a hint of smokiness and this is the first time we have had melted cheese on sushi pizza. Very interesting and a little different from others we have had.

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  Thai Mango Prawn We decide to try a dish from the signature selection of their menu and order the Thai Mango Prawn. The dish is sauteed mango, green beans, snap peas and prawns in a spicy sweet mango glaze. The pieces of prawn are ginormous and the entire dish is served in mango shells. The term prawn refers to any shrimp large in size, though it is used interchangeably with jumbo shrimp. The fish is very succulent and tasty. The sauce in this dish is sweeter than it is spicy and that surprises us. The vegetables are perfectly cooked, tender crisp and there is a hint of basil. The snap peas are the standout and the actual slices of mango are not memorable as they are not juicy and actually on the chewy side. Overall though, very solid.

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  Pink Lady Roll We cap off the night with the Pink Lady roll. The roll is a new addition to their menu and is eel, avocado and spicy crunchy tuna wrapped in soy paper and topped with eel sauce. The individual pieces of the roll are shaped like a tear drop. The roll has a nice flavor and is well balanced between the sweet eel and spicy tuna. The soy paper and fresh fish make this roll very soft. It is a good addition to their menu.