Chris V.
Yelp
From stretching the time limit to stretching my waistline, all-you-can-eat sushi is always a good time. That said, I'm on the borderline about recommending this one.
Tengoku is one of the smallest, if not the smallest of the sushi restaurants which I've seen. Fortunately, they seem to be on Yelp Waitlist, so you can pretty much reserve ahead of time and just drive over. More importantly, it was the opposite of busy when I showed up on what you might call Independence Eve for an early dinner. They offer a la carte as well as AYCE; if you know me, then you know that I tend to pick the latter when it's an option. AYCE prices are $25.99 for lunch, $30.99 for dinner, and $15.99 for kids under 45 inches (in height, I presume). They do charge a 3% fee on all "non-cash" transactions (i.e. cards), so I'm glad that I had cash on hand.
I always order a variety, starting with apps and such. The sashimi set (1 per person) arrived first, and although I did like the large rectangular hunks of salmon, the cajun albacore and pepper tuna came in odd baby carrot-esque shapes that didn't really hit the right visual or mouthfeel. The screaming o salad (also 1 pp) had three thinly sliced, peppered, and seared tuna slices which I would have preferred in the sashimi set despite their thinness. The texture was much better this time. Also, it did have the typical sauce for that salad.
The more-cooked apps were better overall. The baked green mussels were topped with a tasty blend of creamy sauce and what I think was an eel sauce. The dynamite had a great creamy sauce with tender baby scallops, onions, and mushrooms. The creamy spicy salmon kama (1 pp) was immaculately cooked and worked well with a mildly spicy sauce that ironically wasn't all that creamy. The deep fried soft shell crab (1 pp) was tender and crispy, although it was probably left on a counter somewhere and didn't get to my table until it was more lukewarm.
Other than apps, I usually try to stick to nigiri. The nigiri here are a mixed bag. I do wanna note that the portions are pretty much "normal" nigiri size, which means that fish and rice are both 1.5-2x what I expect to get from most AYCE places. This can take away from the variety which you'll be able to handle, and variety is usually a strong feature of this type of restaurant. They don't offer any daily special nigiri currently (just a sake 2-for-1 and maybe some apps), so I guess I didn't lose that much opportunity at all, but it's sad not to have the specials at all.
Anyway, I thought the amaebi / sweet shrimp (1 pp) were fresh although more textured like traditional shrimp. The mirugai / giant clam (1 pp) were crunchy enough but seemed a bit skimpy and less-than-fresh. The escolar and seared escolar were roughly the same and tasted good enough, and they thankfully did not come sauced. The salmon nigiri was better than the salmon sashimi but not the best salmon I've had at AYCE. The yuzu salmon and yellowtail were the stars thanks to the light citrus kick.
They don't say anything about half-rolls on the menu, but they do do them, so I ordered one. I went with the namesake Tengoku roll, which is crab salad and cucumber topped with seared beef, potato crunch, eel sauce, and scallion. The cucumber is crunchy, the potato bits are as crispy as you expect, and the scallion is fresh. However, the beef is slightly too tough to chew and makes it more of a chore to eat this than if I'd gone with something with fish on top. Given that I usually order rolls when I approach nauseating levels of fullness, that's especially not great for me.
Unfortunately, dessert is only 1 per person too, no matter which dessert you choose. They have a standard selection of ice creams and mochi ice creams, but I homed in on the extra fancy Oreo options. After I got the server to explain that the Deep Fried Oreo was more traditionally battered and fried, while the Oreo Crunch was the same thing but with corn flake exterior, I went with the latter. Sadly, the corn flakes ended up a bit tough-crunchy rather than remaining as crispy as they would be in cereal form. At least the Oreo, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup came out as expected.
I would be remiss not to mention a couple of menu concerns. They don't offer uni (sea urchin) at all. Maybe it'd be better than sourcing inferior uni, but I think I'd err on the side of gambling on bad uni than not having the option. Aside from maybe some apps, they also don't offer rice-less rolls or similar concepts, which I do see at newer AYCE places.
In the AYCE sushi realm, I'll say that Tengoku is about a 3.5 (which I should darn well be able to give as an actual rating if Yelp would just code it please and thank you). It's just fine if it's your neighborhood AYCE sushi joint or if you order only the hits rather than the misses, but I would have them in my 3rd tier of sushi at best. I certainly have had better, yet sadly I have also experienced worse in town.
