Eoghan M.
Yelp
All around average, though some aspects border on the bad side. Having tried several of the Lafayette area's sushi offerings thus far, this is the worst I've tasted yet. Pieces are smaller than what you would get at other venues, and the ingredients variously do not taste as fresh or otherwise more bland, by one reason or another. Granted, those better sushi places charge $2-$10 more for most of their equivalent or comparable "specialty" rolls, so I guess the price in this case reflects the quality. You would be spending, for example, $16-$22 on two large or specialty rolls at Katana or Sushi Don, whereas here, you could get two of said-rolls for about $10-$20. That might be a deal for some, but I personally would rather pay the slightly higher price for good sushi, rather than go to a restaurant to eat gas station sushi.
Their other food isn't that good, either. I tried the yaki udon my last visit, for instance, and it was all around bland, like the sushi, without much flavour to it other than no-frills soy sauce and too-much-stir-fry-oil. For $2 more, you could get almost twice as many noodles and in a delicious, mildly-spicy sauce from Katana up on Sagamore.
They give you a "free" appetizer of miso soup and vegetables, similar to Sushi Don. But whereas Sushi Don will give you a delicious salad, Maru's vegetables were a few pieces of raw, cold broccoli with a vaguely-vinegar-like flavour, and raw shaved carrots, turnips, or something like that with an unpleasantly acrid taste. I was at a loss to explain why they would serve something so unpalatable, until I saw another reviewer claim that these things are "pickled," which they certainly are not -- just raw vegetables briefly splashed in a vinegar solution.
The miso soup was also inferior to Sushi Don's, in my opinion -- it could be a matter of taste, but I prefer my miso to not taste and smell like a pungent/stinky variety of tofu. I do not know if it is a regular occurrence, or where exactly the smell was coming from, but the entire restaurant smelled very strongly of sulphur my last visit there, like rotten eggs or sewage. The only other time I ever smelled something similar was in the Jimmy John's nearby some time ago, and given that they don't use eggs over in that venue, I am inclined to think it has to do with West Lafayette's notoriously overloaded sewer system given you "backdrafts" now and then in some of the Chauncey village establishments. Wherever the smell was coming from, it ensured that I could not manage to choke down the miso.
Service is not great, either. I had a family seated by me my last visit, for instance, but then they were told to move -- no ands, ifs, or buts about, and no apologies given -- for what seemed to be the servers forgetting that they had a large party coming in who would need the space. I was rushed out the door for the same reason, being in the way by their fault. All the while, a bus boy would sneak over to your table and spirit away your dishes, often forgetting to ask whether or not you were done with them.
One more thing: they either regularly or selectively tack on a gratuity to your bill. My last visit was the first time I was paying the bill while here, and I noticed that, between the two items (the yaki udon and the Sunday Morning roll) plus tax, the final price was about $17. I give them my card, and they come back with a receipt citing $18.35, adding on at least a dollar. Yeah, I don't play that game -- if I am grateful for your food (as gratuity implies), I will give you something extra. You don't automatically help yourself to gratuities. For that reason, more than the mediocre food, I would not come back here.
