I met a friend who lives very close to this restaurant for lunch on a Thursday. I'd never been here…read morebefore and I love sushi places, so I was eager to try a new venue that offered not only sushi, but poke meals.
As it turned out, I wasn't in the mood for poke, but I immediately appreciated the ambiance and decor of this very reasonably priced restaurant. They're in a plaza with plenty of parking, which I also appreciated.
When we entered, it was quite empty and quiet, which I tend to prefer. I noticed a sign indicating that they no longer offer AYCE. This would have really bummed me out normally, but we were planning on a smaller, a la carte lunch that day anyway.
It didn't take too long to be greeted, and we could have our pick of most of the tables. We sat by the booze display case, although we didn't partake on this particular occasion. We were given our menus, which included a dedicated lunch menu. Both of us opted for a 3 roll selection that comes with miso soup and salad for $16.98. There's a 2 roll version for $11.98 as well but I was going to devour the plate itself. I was so hungry. We ordered plain hot water as it was a pretty cold, snowy day.
Our first waters came quickly, and the soups and salads as well. I swear every sushi place I've ever been to gets their soup and salad from the same, giant dispenser, meaning, they tasted exactly the same. Not a bad thing, just makes it an average experience. For my rolls, I chose a deep fried crab/cream cheese; a shrimp tempura; and a salmon/cream cheese. My friend chose deep fried butterfish; eel/avocado; and spicy salmon. They didn't take long to arrive, but after that, we weren't checked on whatsoever.
I liked that the rice to filling ratio on all of the rolls was not too high. The freshness was also good. My main complaint would be that the oil flavour was a little too pronounced on the tempura and fried rolls. That didn't stop me from inhaling my plate, though, figuratively speaking only, thankfully.
We sat for a long while enjoying our meal, and my friend wound up not finishing her meal. While we appreciated not being hovered on as an attempt to clear us out ASAP, my friend had emptied her cup of water early in the meal and was really wishing for more. She tried getting our server's attention for a good while before she succeeded. I could see they do a brisk takeout business and were taking calls, but we really were ignored after being served our food. I ended up approaching the desk for our bill while my friend used the facilities as we finished up. I was able to get a cardboard container for my friend to bring her remainders home. Btw the facilities are very roomy and were clean, if getting worn, so that was another plus overall.
I might return, but I would find the lack of AYCE option a disincentive as I've grown accustomed to that means of having endless variety. I do find the value for price point quite good, even though the food was so average, so I wouldn't mind doing the same place visiting the same friend in the neighbourhood. I'd be more prepared to have to seek out service more aggressively, but at least they were always polite. Overall can recommend.