03/20/2026
NOUTTA SUSHI AND THAI IN WEST DELRAY BEACH IS A GEM HIDDEN BEHIND A PLAIN SHOPPING CENTER FAÇADE
By ALAN J. WAX
© 2026 Alan J. Wax
Noutta Sushi and Thai is an upscale restaurant in a downscale strip center in West Delray Beach.
Open for little more than a year, Noutta is located in the 40-year-old Kings Point Shopping Center on Atlantic Avenue at Jog Road, just a few doors away from Bagel Tree and Famous Market.
The shopping center’s plain white and grey façade belies what you’ll find once you open the door to this gem of a restaurant that features some of the best — and most interesting — sushi and sashimi that you will find in West Delray, making it a go to place for aficionados of raw fish.
Inside, the decor is a stark contrast to the exterior with its modern styling. The walls are bright red. White wave-tiles define the sushi bar. Vases of flowers are everywhere, and red paper lanterns hang from the black ceiling.
Behind this gem are Noutta Phommahaxay and Fernando Garcia, both former sushi chefs at the Broken Sound Country Club in Boca Raton.
Phommahaxay, who is Laotian, greets you with a smile as you are seated and, when you depart — quite satisfied —he offers a friendly wave. On a quiet afternoon, he may stop by your table to ask about your meal.
As for the wait staff. No black T-shirts here. On a recent Saturday evening, servers were attired in white, long-sleeved dress shirts, black slacks, black vests, and ties. My weekday server, Mei, was friendly and gracious.
That’s just appearances, to be sure. The food also sparkles.
Noutta delivers pristine, freshly cut, clean-tasting sushi and sashimi that’s beyond what I consider the vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry varieties typically found in other sushi restaurants in the West Delray Beach area. Videos posted by the restaurant on Facebook show Phommahaxay, who got his sushi-making training in California, breaking down huge fish flown in from Japan.
Some of those finny creatures are destined to be daily specials listed on an illuminated blackboard. Among them are fish species that you may not have heard of ($9-$12 a piece). And a non-seafood item, Wagyu beef with caviar and fresh black truffles ($25).
On my first visit, I opted for some of those unusual piscine sushi offerings, as well as some more common varieties. It proved to be a bit of a wallet buster with six pieces totalling $60.
They included:
Shima aji ($12), also known as white trevally, had a delicate, buttery clean flavor and firm, slightly crunchy texture.
Kanpachi, also called greater amberjack, had a mild buttery flavor that’s less fishy and firmer in texture than hamachi (yellowtail).
Kinmedai, also known as splendid alfonsino, whose white flesh was also sweet, rich, and buttery.
These were artfully presented — placed slanted side-by-side — on an oblong blue ceramic plate. In addition to the specials, I ordered otoro, the most coveted, fattiest, most-premium cut of bluefin tuna, which had intense white-pink marbling and a melt-in-your-mouth texture; chutoro, a less fatty tuna cut, and hamachi —all of them melt-in-your-mouth and mildly flavored, a contrast to the slightly tangy, sticky vinegared rice, salty soy sauce, pungent wasabi, and pickled ginger.
On another evening, I stuck to the regular menu, ordering a sushi sashimi combo ($54.99), which included nine sashimi slices —tuna, salmon, and escolar, six pieces of nigiri sushi — fish slices atop a mound of rice, and a hamachi scallion roll, all served on a round black platter decorated with seemingly real red flowers. These fish offerings were as fresh and delicious as my previous hand-picked choices.
The choices are more limited, but bargain-priced compared to the dinner menu. The quality is the same, nonetheless. On my first lunch visit, I ordered a bento box ($15,99), in this case, a fire-engine red multi-compartment tray that included six slices of sashimi, salmon, tuna, and escolar, three pieces of the same fish served as sushi; one California roll; a pan-fried gyoza, and a serving of house salad with carrot-ginger dressing. All quite satisfying.
For those who opt to splurge, there are two omikase (chef’s choice) options, 10 pieces for $150 and 15 for $200. If someone wants to treat me, I’m in.
From Noutta’s Thai menu, I tried papaya salad ($11.99), a classic dish in Southeast Asia. It was fresh and crisp with long, grated shreds of the popular tropical fruit, shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, and pork rinds atop leaves of lettuce with a slightly spicy dressing. To me, it needed a tad more heat than medium to make it shine.
On the other hand, a lunch-size order of Thai red curry with chicken ($12.99) was creamy and had just enough spark to make it worth devouring.
Dining companions at various times ordered more familiar fare: Pad Thai ($17) and sweet-and-sour chicken ($17) without vegetables for a picky eater. There were no disappointments.
Noutta’s beverage list is not only interesting but also offers some sakes — the best beverage to wash down all that sushi —with prices reaching into the stratosphere. Among them is Daishichi Myoka Rangyoku at $750 for a 720 ml. bottle. I settled for a lesser 120 ml. bottle of the dry, crisp, but smooth and fruity Ozeki Junmaki “Dry Fancy” at $15. There is a range of other relatively inexpensive sakes and a selection of familiar beers, except for Baeran Schwarz Hyukunen, a dark, German-style beer from Japan that I hope to try on a future visit.
The exotic fish varieties, other well-prepared foods, beverages, and a tasteful interior combine to make Noutta Sush and Thai a true dining destination.
Noutta Sushi And Thai
6592 W Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33446
(561) 908-2244
