Change is hard. Last year, Troy suffered a one-two strike in the departure of founding chef Andy Dong from Unagi Sushi in Troy, followed by the restaurant's closure a few months on. Dong, a 20-year industry veteran who trained for six years under a sushi master in Manhattan, wowed a loyal following with his artistry, offered an eight-course, $80 omakase menu and had a habit of giving out his cellphone number for special-order requests. It's hard to forget saba mackerel sheared into silvery slices, lightly molded nigiri rice that held its form only to fall apart perfectly in the mouth, or a presentation of tuna tartare connected, as I wrote, "by the calligraphic swirls of a honey-wasabi mayo that dead ends at a speckled quail egg to pour over chutoro tartare." Modern Asian styling, white sofas and deep house tracks had positioned Unagi as an upscale sushiya leading the gentrification of Fourth Street, and then it closed.

Until last November, when Unagi Sushi reopened without word or fanfare in a phoenix-like re-emergence that kept the cushioned tatami tables in the window and flat-screen TVs unchanged. Terence Hu, a sushi chef from Brooklyn and Long Island, had signed a lease that included everything from the menus to the Unagi name.

At a first glance, much looks the same: Beautifully fresh sashimi (fatty salmon, magenta tuna, yellowtail, white tuna) is arranged on the same slate boards with decorative orchids and bamboo; specials include slabs of buttery cho-toro tuna and sea urchin (uni) served in abalone shells. Hiyayako — a cold appetizer of silken tofu scattered with bonito flakes — is delicate, perfect to slip under pooling ponzu and onto the tongue. But the work is noticeably less precise: Nigiri rice, the hallmark of a trained itamae, is wadded into uncomfortably hard, large lozenges; uni is scraped in a sloppy puddle instead of pristine lobes bristling with that cat-tongue texture; a tuna tartare ordered purposefully for comparison arrives as a minced sticky mash layered in avocado slices, dominated by truffle oil and clutching a pink cocktail umbrella. It resembles a fashionable armadillo. A tasty hot mess.

More Information Unagi Sushi 118 Fourth St., Troy Phone: 518-326-4300 Web: unagitroyny.com Kitchen Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Price: Moderate to somewhat expensive. Food: Sushi and sashimi a la carte, hot and cold appetizers, signature maki rolls, Japanese noodles, tempura, teriyaki, lunch box specials. Drink: Sake, beer, soft drinks. Ambiance: Modern Japanese sushiya. Noise: 1 to 2 Good for: Solo dining, lunch, dinner, take out, small groups, outdoor dining, ADA accessible. Noise rating: 1- quiet; 2 - comfortable/conversational; 3 - loud; 4 - disruptive. Price range: Inexpensive, Moderate, Somewhat Expensive, Very Expensive See More Collapse

But it's worth looking beyond what's missing. Unagi 2.0 has strengths in broths that are clear and fragrant, particularly a house special seafood soup of terrific depth loaded with crab sticks, mussels, scallops and shrimp, and a soba soup packed with vegetables — the battered tempura shrimp and vegetables served on the side — that thrums with Chinese five spice and lemongrass. A return visit for pork ramen is equally good, with tonkotsu broth milky from bone-rendered fats hiding sliced pork, tea-stained eggs and pressed fish cakes with little pink swirls.

The rest coasts on stateside creations, the kind of hand rolls you find on hibachi-bar menus. True, the "Don't Taze Me, Bro!" roll is no longer available, but signature rolls like the Godzilla — thickly filled with salmon and cream cheese — or 50/50 spicy tuna roll, are battered, deep-fried and squirted in spicy mayo and sticky soy. These are a fusion party under a mantle of sweet excess.

The beef teriyaki is unremarkable, its sauce split into blobs and juice; flat-bottomed takoyaki — popular battered octopus balls — are desperately wet under kewpie mayo. Even a dessert of mochi, in mango, green tea or red bean ice cream flavors, is doused in a thin chocolate sauce and fake canister cream. Such problems are not in the dish, but the sticky execution.

Is it inevitable to be disappointed in a revival after arguably the most artistic local sushi master vanishes overnight? Probably. But it's not a damnation of the joint. Most will be happy with the fresh sashimi and familiar format. There's a short selection of sake and beer and much to like even if pillows are a little dingy and the bathroom floor tiles are adrift, presumably from a leak. As the weather turns colder, I can see myself warming up with crystal clear broths and a plate of cool sashimi. But those hoping for Unagi of yore should modify expectations: The original was a glamour pinup; the revival is the boy next door.

Dinner for two including sashimi and sushi platter, sashimi specials, two mains, sake and dessert comes to $115 with tax, before tip. Lunch of ramen and a signature roll is $30 with tax, before tip.

Susie Davidson Powell is a British freelance food writer in upstate New York. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP. To comment on this review, visit the Table Hopping blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.