Jay R.
Yelp
Recent visit: 1.9 Stars; Be mindful what you eat Here!
I really must say, this second visit was an improvement over my first visit years ago. The service was incredibly friendly and attentive, while the rolls, fish, and sashimi were overall decent. The sashimi was cut into good-sized pieces and it was plated SO beautifully. Meanwhile, the spicy tuna roll ranks among the top 10 best I've ever had. My remark, however, is that around 6/45 or so of the pieces of fish I had-- I could taste was on its last day of freshness (while many other pieces didn't have the normal 'sweet' fresh taste I look for, usually only found in the absolute freshest quality). Many of the plates came out beautifully, although on one of them, I smelled a hint of fishiness somewhere, which I later found was attributed to the squid and a few others. I didn't make a fuss about it, because due to my background in culinary, I knew it was probably still good for that last day I had it, but for the sake of guest experience, it probably shouldn't have been sent out (especially if there's a hint of fishiness smell/taste-- it could've been repurposed for something else since I'm assuming due to a 3-day holiday the last delivery was 4 days prior to my visit). Had there been more pieces that tasted this way, I would've spoken up, but besides the 6 that tasted noticeably less fresh, there were probably another 6-8 pieces which tasted inferior in some way in taste (but not quite so bad as the initial 6 pieces; I could just tell they WEREN'T serving same day or two day fresh quality). The food quality, overall, I'd rank as 6/10, whereas my last visit was a 1.5/10 (it was so bad, I left still somewhat hungry).
I might come again in a few months, hopefully then they will have the freshest quality, because I purposefully waited until the day I knew they'd (likely) get a fresh delivery after a holiday, yet still received many pieces which tasted 3/5 on freshness while a select few were 2/5 on freshness. At the end of the day, however, there are 2 "failsafes" with food before it gets sent out, the sushi chef and the waiter. Both decided to ignore the rather strong smell of fish from the plate (probably hoping I wasn't experienced in the freshness of fish; the plate itself I could noticed a hint of smell as he sat it down) which I had later discovered was due to some of the squid/octopus and 1 other fish.
I just find it highly improbable that I came on 2 different days (days which a fresh food delivery would've LIKELY occurred on/near), years apart, yet both days I experience fish that was not fresh. So this leads me to believe they just hold onto their fish for longer periods of time than they should to compensate for the AYCE sashimi since I'm sure that gets very expensive for them (or maybe they source lower quality?).
Last Visit (4 years ago): 1
My last/first visit didn't go as well, the sashimi portions at the time were scant-- resembling trimmings rather than slices, meanwhile, the freshness was probably a 4/10 on many of their nigiri/sashimi I had-- many different foods/fish I had, tasted last day "fresh" (or last day Fresh and Easy sushi quality). Their spicy tuna roll wasn't appetizing at the time (although it's genuinely become the top 10 I've had based on my recent visit). So at least there was some slight improvement in quality, although the quality is probably what you'd expect if you found a place offering dinner @ $15.99 AYCE sushi.
Sadly based off both these negative experiences I don't think I'd want to risk coming back and spending more for it to be the same quality or worse.
The restaurant itself is decently spacious, a smaller sushi bar with an area for Teppanyaki table service and a decent-sized private room for events or something, themed cutely traditional Japanese.
