Alright, it's about time that I documented my exploits. I don't even know how many AYCE (all you can eat) sushi places we've hit since coming here. Let me recap the past 2 months:
Richmond Sushi (lunch visit in Richmond)
Sui Sha Ya (dinner visit in Coquitlam)
Top Gun Sushi (always lunch visits at the New Westminster Quay)
Taisho Sushi (lunch visit in Burnaby's Metro Town)
Fish on Rice (always dinner visits in Burnaby off Willingdon & south on Kingsway)
We've been back to Top Gun Sushi's lunch several times within the past 2 months. They are quite consistent - service and quality of food. Judging by the PDA Bluetooth hook ups with the kitchen and layout of their menu I would guess they were run by the same guys at Richmond Sushi (which is just as techno freakie). The Quay is nice to visit, not much to look in the Public Market - definitely a place I would not visit if Top Gun wasn't around. Don't forget to get your "2nd hour free parking" voucher. Bathrooms are clean. Funky smell sometimes - bleach mixed with funk from paper mills outside. 8 out of 10 bones.
Richmond Sushi is efficient and consistent as well. This is a no brainer for lunch. Technology offers accurate orders - but then again, I have been conditioned by the Sushi joints to ALWAYS miss a few items from my original order. Always an 8.5 out of 10 bones.
Fish on Rice is scoring at the top of our "best place for AYCE sushi dinner." They have a good variety of sashimi, sushi, robata, and yes they also have soft drinks on their menu. By far, the most variety on a menu - yes we did a cross comparison with the other places listed above. We especially enjoy the rock cod robata, toro nigiri, and most definitely the tuna and beef tataki. Always a solid performance, good portions, and consistent taste. However, don't bother using the facilities though. 8.5 out of 10 bones (because of the rest rooms).
Sui Sha Ya in Coquitlam was a pigsty. The place was sticky and dirty - which normally does not concern me - but this place was Taiwan, mildew, humid nasty. The bathroom was worthy of shutting the place down. The service was horrible - I just can't stand hunting down a server visually with the "pissed off WWE superstar stare." A few times we even spoke directly to the servers and they just ignored us - totally deserving of the smackdown! Believe it or not, the California rolls actually tasted decent - which my 2 year old scarfed down. Aside from that, nothing of concern or importance - nothing, nada, zilch. Bad service, bad food, bad experience - I strongly recommend staying away from this place. For the desperately famished, 5.5 out of 10 bones. Yeah, I know they have multiple locations - more places to spread their nastiness.
Taisho Sushi had one redeeming feature - it was in the mall. Bathrooms were okay - way better than Fish on Rice or Sui Sha Ya. Lunch rush consists of self-service pickup of sushi from one of two belt driven sushi movers. Limited sushi selection - not too sure if any of the sushi is made to order . . . 2 hours earlier? Menu is difficult to navigate, not user friendly. The menu was not balanced - nothing was consistent except for the tough beef ribs and old dynamite rolls - well, the salmon and tuna nigiri were no miss. I give them a 6 out of 10 bones.
Note that if any place scores under a 5, they aren't even making sushi. A 5 out of 10 simply means that they have passable sushi and barely legitimate "others" on their menus. I scored these places based on taste, quality, cleanliness, service, and variety.
No comments:
Post a Comment