Shag Roll (tempura salmon, avocado and sundried tomoato) at Uchi Houston. Photo by Rebecca Fondren

The new kid was just too tough to beat.

Uchi Houston, a spinoff of the much-celebrated Austin eatery, earned more than 25 percent of the votes in our poll to find Houston’s best sushi.

Kata Robata was second with more than 20 percent of the vote, while Azuma was third.

Uchi Houston, which Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook tagged as No. 7 in her Top 100 Houston Restaurant project, is located at 904 Westheimer.

The winner of the $100 gift card for “best sushi review” goes to Blanca Ortega, who described herself as a newcomer to sushi and raved about poll contender Aka Sushi. Ortega writes:

I am a newcomer to sushi. I was one of 'those' people that when sushi was mentioned I would say "oh..how disgusting!" The mere thought of eating raw fish made me gag. But as they say, "never, say never". I tried my first piece of sushi at Crave in mid-town. I was hesitant and surprised at how tasty it was. After that moment (which was about 2 months ago), I became obsessed with eating as much sushi as humanly possible.

I'm not even kidding. I try my best to eat sushi once a week. I think there was one week where I ate it almost every day. Can you die of sushi overdose? But..I digress. After my mission of "eat-as-much-sushi-as-humanly-possible"...I found AKA Sushi on W. Alabama. They have THE best tasting sushi by far of any place that I've had in Houston. The ingredients are fresh and they are consistent with the quality and flavor. The service is great as well. You have to get there early because there will most definitely be a line outside when you leave. AKA sushi definitely gets my vote!