Sushi Garden

Sushi Garden
4635 Kingsway (Location visited)
4269 Lougheed Highway
Burnaby, BC

In Vancouver, there are some sushi spots that are know to most people. There are high end places like Tojo’s or Octopus Garden and then there are all-you-can-eat sushi spots (too many to mention). One of the best known, non-all-you-can-eat sushi spots is Sushi Garden and, in a way, I find it interesting that I am finally blogging about it…

Now, their claim to fame is that it is “good”, has large portions and its almost endless queue. Out of all these, I find two of them being reasons for me NOT to go and the third one being a subjective one (you can guess which one is which one!). However, I just wanted to “break” that trend, specially because Jessica (of Yum-o-Rama) wrote about their second location, which, hopefully means it will ease the queues and the final enticement came from Mijune (of Follow Me Foodie) who, likewise, wrote about it recently. So, on a noon, I decided to go there for lunch…

Here is one thing that, at times, I don’t care but, at other times, I can’t help but scratch my head: I will assume this establishment is not Japanese operated but that might be a wild guess. In the past, we used that to gauge how good or bad it can be but, reality is, at times, if the final product produced is good, does nationality matter? We can go into an endless argument but, let’s just say, I mentioning this for other reason – service. Specifically, I don’t recall being in a Japanese owned and operated restaurant where the service has been crappy… And, remember, I am the one who seldom cares about service! What happened? I was denied a table closer to the window (for natural light purposes)! Their argument? “For customers who are coming in”. WTH? What am I? Am I NOT a customer???? (sigh). Instead, I was seated in the far corner… *shakes fist!!!*

OK, putting that aside, to the food…

Here is an argument about what I like to order in Japanese restaurants. Or, specifically, what I try NOT to order in Japanese restaurants: maki or rolls. My argument is that pretty much anybody can make one, it is filling and, more often than not, people won’t care much about it. Nigiri sushi, on the other hand requires, a bit more effort to prepare. But, don’t they taste the same? We can go on and on arguing either side but, for me, nigiri sushi it is. And, me being lazy, I went for their deluxe assorted sushi, which has: tuna, salmon, ebi, tako, ika, hokigai, amaebi, chopped scallop, hamachi, unagi, tobiko (one piece of each), tuna and salmon roll. And, once again…

Tuna and salmon roll.

Unagi, scallop and tobiko.

Tako, hokigai and unagi.

Ika, hamachi, salmon, tuna and ebi

Amaebi and ika

All the pieces did not have any odd smells or tastes or texture (i.e., frozen) so, from that perspective, I will give them marks. As for the different pieces themselves, some of them were OK, some of them were meh or disappointing. So, a quick breakdown:

Tuna: As seen in the picture above, it started to naturally split. Feel free to call it odd. Tastewise, it was OK.
Salmon: Better than the tuna but… See comment on neta below.
Ebi: Unfortunately, felt in the realm of bland and almost tasteless. Worst of all? Almost no shrimp texture!
Tako: It had an initial bite to it but, once past that, it was like a blank palette waiting for something.
Hokigai: I was surprised it had two pieces. Anyway, it was sweet so I will give some points to this.
Amaebi: Surprisingly, it was plain. I would have expected some sweetness but that did not work.
Chopped scallop: Pass, absolutely no scallop flavour at all. It was masked by almost all other components.
Hamachi: It was OK but did not separate itself too much from the texture of the tuna or salmon.
Unagi: As expected, this one being grilled, it had a different texture and taste compared to the other ones. So, unless you don’t like cooked, it was good.
Tobiko: Meh.

Now, one thing might not be visible from the picture is the size of each nigiri sushi or, specifically, the neta/topping. As mentioned above, the hokigai had two pieces of surf clam, rather than the usual one piece seen in other places (including cheap all-you-can-eat) ones. Some others, like the tuna and salmon, I had problems eating it in a single bite. And, if I tried to do it, my mouth ended up full barely able to chew around. So, in some cases, it was a challenge by itself.

Aside from the table issue aside, service still sucks. For example, my cup of tea was never refilled and it took them quite some time after I finish to be presented with the bill. Hey, guys, didn’t you want me to get my ass out of there?! Past those service issues, the sushi is quite decent. However, based on the queues (it was starting to get full by the time I settled the bill), that begs the question: would I queue up just to have this? The answer will be probably no. This is a case where I would be willing to fork extra $$$ just to have a calm meal. And even with take out (which I have had experience previously), it might take forever. As a result, while the food offered has its qualities, I would rather not fight the crowds. Instead, as an alternative, I would rather go to Nao Sushi or Shima-Ya.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Japanese • Seafood • Sushi