Episode #230: Richmond Sushi

Richmond, $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.topgungroup.com/restaurants/richmond-sushi

My first experience with Richmond Sushi was when Patrick invited me and 16 of his other friends to a huge all-you-can-eat (AYCE) dinner. The main objective of the dinner was to have a showdown between Patrick and I to see who could eat more. Needless to say, with all the socializing and record-keeping going on, the environment was not very conducive for blogging. However, after dying from the amount of food I ate at the dinner, I decided that dying just once wasn't manly enough, so I went back, the very next day, to try as many items as I could and die a second time.

Richmond Sushi is a very large but busy Japanese restaurant located in Union Square (slightly north of Aberdeen Centre). It is said to be one of the best Japanese AYCE restaurants in Greater Vancouver. Their menu is extensive compared to other Japanese AYCE restaurants. As such, they have a slightly higher price point ($26.95 for the regular dinner menu), though not as high as Shabusen and Kyo, which also serve Korean BBQ. To maximize the number of items I could try, I went for the deluxe AYCE dinner ($37.95).

Gomaae - B-

Ebi Sunomono - B-

To start my meal healthily with some veggies, I went for the Gomaae and the Ebi Sunomono. The Gomaae came with thick peanut sauce, which I thought could've been more evenly spread. A light touch of savouriness was mixed in with the sweetness. The Ebi Sunomono was strong and acidic and came with a single somewhat sweet shrimp. 

Beef Tataki - C+

The Beef Tataki was cut into super thin slices and dressed in ponzu sauce. The beef had little flavour, which was drowned out by the ponzu sauce. 

Sockeye Salmon Sashimi - B-

Hamachi Sashimi - B+

Tuna Sashimi - B-

Hokkigai Sashimi - B-

Salmon Sashimi - B

Tai Sashimi - B

Geoduck Sashimi - B

Amaebi Sashimi - B

There was a consistently moderate level of freshness across the sashimi. The best piece in my little sashimi platter was the hamachi, which was smooth, very soft, and not fishy. However, the tuna itself was slightly fishy and cut a little too thick, while the hokkigai lacked flavour. The Atlantic salmon was soft and marbly, though also a bit weak in flavour.

Tuna Tataki - C+

Sockeye Salmon Tataki - B-

The light ponzu sauce used to accompany the tataki did not overwhelm it. I enjoyed the soft textures of the fish, although there was a lack of seared flavour.

Inari Nigiri - B+

Atlantic Salmon Nigiri - B-

Torched Salmon Nigiri - B-

Unagi Nigiri - B-

The bean curd in the Inari Nigiri was delectably sweet, with sufficient moisture inside the bean curd pocket. For the other pieces of nigiri, the rice was quite sticky and packed a little too tightly. The Atlantic salmon here had the same pleasant marbly texture as the Atlantic Salmon Sashimi above. The Torched Salmon Nigiri lacked a torched flavour, while with the Unagi Nigiri, there was way too much rice given the amount of unagi provided.

Lobster Delight - B+

Tuna Chop Chop - B

XO Tuna - B+

Scallop Pearl - B

Going along with the tradition of turning every imaginable food into sushi, Richmond Sushi serves an assortment of sushi sundaes. If you've ever wondered what a sushi roll would taste like with 10 times the usual amount of filling, this is it. The results were not disappointing. The sweet imitation lobster in the Lobster Delight was delightfully creamy and soft and was a good complement to the kappa roll at the bottom. The Tuna Chop Chop and the Scallop Pearl were slightly weak in flavour, while the XO Tuna was quite spicy.

Salmon Avocado Roll - B

Top Gun Roll - B

Dynamite Roll - C+

The Salmon Avocado Roll came with cream cheese and resembled a Philadelphia roll. The creamy textures of the salmon, the avocado, and the cream cheese worked together. The Top Gun Roll (lettuce, cucumber, tempura bits, imitation crab) was also decent. Enhanced by a light drizzle of teriyaki sauce, the crunchy textures of the lettuce and tempura bits were a good contrast to the softer, sweeter imitation crab. The Dynamite Roll was sloppily constructed and a tad dry.

Salmon Tempura - B-

Prawn Tempura - B+

Yam Tempura - B+

The tempura generally exhibited good moisture preservation. However, some sauce or seasoning would've been nice for the Salmon Tempura, which tasted rather plain. The Prawn Tempura was wonderfully crispy and juicy. Interestingly, the Prawn Tempura was an entire letter grade better than the Prawn Tempura I had with Patrick the previous night (does bringing a notebook help?). The Yam Tempura was slightly greasy, but the thinly sliced yam was deliciously sweet.

Spring Roll - B-

Deep Fried Shrimp Bomb - A-

Fried Scallop - B-

Chicken Karaage - B+

Continuing down the fried region of the menu, the Spring Roll was crunchy, though the filling was nearly identical to that of a Chinese dumpling. The Deep Fried Shrimp Bomb was indeed bomb, and the sweet chili sauce brought it to life. The bombs lose their crispiness quite quickly, so it is wise to consume them quickly. The Fried Scallop contained sufficient moisture, but much of the sweetness of the scallop was lost in the frying process. The Chicken Karaage was juicy and garnished with an appropriate amount of spices.

Black Cod - B

Salmon Belly - B+

Chicken Drumstick - B

The Black Cod was sweet with a gingery touch, though it could've been a little softer with more of a grilled flavour. The random bit of cod on top was an interesting garnish. The Salmon Belly reminded me of BBQ Salmon Kama—creamy and juicy with a delicious smoked flavour. The Chicken Drumstick was quite standard fare. It was sufficiently moist, but slightly plain.

Chicken Brochette - C+

Beef Short Rib - C+

One common mistake seen in many Japanese AYCE restaurants is overcooking the grilled food. Here, both the Chicken Brochette and the Beef Short Rib were overcooked and ended up quite chewy. However, the Beef Short Rib had a decent smoky flavour.

Oyster Motoyaki - C+

Seafood Motoyaki - B-

The oyster in the Oyster Motoyaki was quite juicy, but the mayonnaise was quite heavy. The motoyaki ended up very oily in general. The Seafood Motoyaki consisted of mainly salmon (chopped and soft in texture) and ebi. The herbs sprinkled on top alleviate the heavy feel of the motoyaki somewhat. 

Flaming Lava Chicken - B-

New York Steak on Skewer - B-

The Flaming Lava Chicken was dressed in ketchup and turned out a lot less spicy than expected. The chicken meat could've been smoother in texture. The New York Steak on Skewer was lightly spiced, and despite its thick appearance, it wasn't too tough to chew.

Chicken Udon - C+

Seafood Fried Rice - C

Vegetable Yakisoba - C

After trying the 40 items above, it was time to conclude my feast in style with 3 fillers. Unfortunately, the fillers were not very well-prepared, which made the task of finishing them all the more challenging. In the Chicken Udon, the noodles were too soft, and the chicken was slightly soggy. The Seafood Fried Rice tasted more like Bland Sticky Rice, and the scallops and shrimp were overdone. The Vegetable Yakisoba was dry and also tasted dreadfully plain. The one saving grace here was that all of the fillers came in small, manageable portions.

Coconut Pudding - B

Mango Pudding - B+

Finally, the pudding came in neat, square-shaped cuts. The Coconut Pudding had a pleasantly sweet flavour, though it felt slightly powdery around the edges. The Mango Pudding was the better tasting of the two, with an easily discernible mango flavour. Despite the appearance of bits of jelly inside, the "jelly" had exactly the same texture as the pudding itself.

I enjoyed friendly, timely service during my visit, although during my dinner with Patrick, it was apparent that tables that order large quantities receive less service. This was not preventable given the number of people we had. Overall, I found the food generally above the standard for Japanese AYCE restaurants in Vancouver. Although the food was not exactly first-class, Richmond Sushi is one of the restaurants I would recommend if you must have AYCE sushi in Greater Vancouver.

Episode #214: Koto Izakaya

Richmond, $$ (Moderately Priced)

After one splendid afternoon in which I discovered the marvellous wonders of e-Spot and turned snooker into a game of "whack the ball with the stick," it was time to join the swarm of Richmondites seeking dinner on a Friday evening. Joining me on this adventure were Adam and Puzzlefighter. Puzzlefighter suggested that we hit up Koto Izakaya, but upon arriving there, we discovered that he had really meant to take us to nearby Manzo. Unfortunately, there was a huge lineup at Manzo, and we had no choice but to head back to Koto Izakaya.

Koto Izakaya is a moderately small Chinese-operated restaurant serving sushi, sashimi, and a variety of izakaya-style dishes. Inside, there is a clear attempt to maximize the use of every inch of space. It was essentially the restaurant equivalent of the Crystal Mall parking lot. The three of us were seated at a table really meant for two. When I suggested that I should be the only one sitting on my end of the table because of my blogging equipment, Puzzlefighter was quick to suggest that I should therefore pay half of the total bill. To his dismay, I politely declined.

It turns out that space wasn't the only thing that Koto was running out of. They ran out of so many of the menu items that Puzzlefighter had a hard time ordering. We made do with what was available.

Salmon Sashimi - A

Hamachi Sashimi - B+

Toro Sashimi - A-

Tuna Sashimi - B+

Our first dish, the Assorted Sashimi, was a success. The Salmon Sashimi was very fresh and buttery and had an excellent soft texture. Each piece was sliced to just the right thickness. The Hamachi Sashimi was also pleasantly soft, but was the recipient of some unclean cutting. Both the Toro Sashimi and Tuna Sashimi had wonderfully melty textures, although the Tuna Sashimi showed slight hints of fishiness.

Imperial Roll - B

Puzzlefighter was against the idea of ordering special rolls, but I insisted on ordering one anyways despite the somewhat lofty price tags on the special rolls. The Imperial Roll consisted of unagi, cucumber, tobiko, tuna, salmon, and spicy unagi sauce. The flavour of the unagi was prominent, though some parts of the unagi ended up being grilled to a crisp. Although the ingredients themselves were fresh, the spicy unagi sauce mix didn't exactly work for me, as the chili sauce clashed against the sweeter unagi and unagi sauce.

Ikura Nigiri - B

Tai Nigiri - B-

Saba Nigiri - C-

The Ikura Nigiri came with a generous helping of juicy ikura, but the sushi rice underneath had a bizarre texture. It was not only dry, but also very sticky. The tai was sliced thick, but it was not too chewy. However, little could have prepared me for the disastrous Saba Nigiri. Not only was it tougher than a well-done steak that had been flattened by a rolling pin, but it was also salty enough to leave me feeling salty. Apparently, the other piece of Saba Nigiri was more reasonable texture-wise.

Fresh Oysters - B+

Our next item, the Fresh Oysters, fared much better. The small kusshi oysters had a pleasantly soft, jelly-like texture and were dressed with tangy ponzu. An even lighter application of ponzu would have helped bring out the delicate flavour of the oysters more.

Miso Soup - B+

After finishing our first round, we went for a second round, hoping that their cooked food would be consistently on point, as is often the case with Chinese-operated restaurants. Our order of Tonkatsu came with a Miso Soup, which contained tofu and green onion. It was served at a comfortably hot temperature, and there was nothing particularly amiss about it.

Tonkatsu - C

The Tonkatsu itself looked very promising when it arrived and was accompanied by a small bowl of salad as well as some steamed rice. Unfortunately, when we bit into the breaded pork cutlet, we were dismayed to find that the batter was very thick and hard. Once we got past that, we also found that the pork was sliced very thin and yielded little flavour. I began praying on the inside, hoping that our robata would be prepared better.

Pork Toro Robata - B+

The robata was indeed better. The Pork Toro Robata was tender and had a prominent smoky flavour. It tasted fresh out of the grill. The sweetness of the sauce went well with the pork toro, and all this was nicely balanced by the zing from a generous helping of sliced green onions on top. 

Lamb Chop - B

Our final item, the Lamb Chop, came with a good amount of black pepper. It was adequately soft, but a touch too dry on the inside.

Despite the restaurant being very busy, the service remained friendly during our visit. The quality of the food ranged from terrific to terrible. The salmon sashimi was some of the freshest I have had in a long time, but it was a shot in the dark for many of the other items. There did not seem to be a category of dishes that performed clearly better than the others. However, the reasonable prices appeared to be enough to supply the restaurant with a constant stream of diners. By the time the late night specials menu came out, there were so many diners in the waiting area by the front entrance that it was a challenge to squeeze myself out of the restaurant.

Episode #211: Ramen Izakaya Okawari

Richmond, $$$ (Higher Priced)
www.izakaya-okawari.com

I suppose we all have our off days from time to time. This time, Tamsen and I were on our way to visit Ramen Izakaya Okawari, and we agreed to meet at Richmond Centre. I got to Richmond Centre 15 minutes early due to a few lucky transfers. Tamsen, on the other hand, somehow ended up at the airport all because he was trying to make a post on Instagram. He tried again and then ended up getting off one Skytrain station too early. By the time he walked over to Richmond Centre from Lansdowne Mall, we realized that he also forgot his hoodie at home, so he was basically freezing. I had no choice but to fire the facepalm cannon at full throttle.

Due to the name of the restaurant, I previously thought they only served ramen, but I learned from Tamsen that they also served sushi. An assortment of manga posters, manga books, and toy cars lined the dining space. The place was somewhat busy for lunch, but not so much that we had to wait for a table.

The menu had by far the most typos out of any menu I have ever seen. It didn't take me that long to find a must-try.

Oh damn, that looks delicious...

At no other sushi restaurant in Greater Vancouver can you find the exclusive crap meat being served. As a bonus, the roll also came with Tamsen's favourite topping: chopped scallop.

Snow Mountain Roll - B+

The scallop on top of the roll had a nice sweet flavour enhanced by a moderately light application of mayonnaise. Tempura bits added some crunch to the roll, and the ingredients worked together nicely. However, at $12.95, the roll is very expensive for what it is. Besides the tempura bits, the roll really does not taste that different from a regular chopped scallop roll, which is much, much cheaper.

Miso Soup - B

Next, we had the $9.95 Lunch Set with 6 pieces of oshizushi, which started off with a bowl of Miso Soup. The Miso Soup was standard fare with green onion and wakame (seaweed). It was slightly salty, but there was a good amount of miso paste as well.

Saba Battera Sushi - C+

Aburi Tuna Oshizushi - C

Aburi Salmon Oshizushi - B-

The oshizushi was quite affordable, but also quite disappointing. The Saba Battera came with chewy saba, and there wasn't enough saba to balance the flavour of the rice. With the Aburi Tuna Oshizushi, all I could taste was rice. The salmon in the Aburi Salmon Oshizushi came in thin slices too, but at least there was a hint of seared flavour with this one.

Salad - B-

The Salad came with mixed greens and was dressed with a light amount of tangy, fruity ponzu. There was very little dressing, so the salad ended up quite dry. I was almost tempted to dip the Salad in my bowl of ramen to see if that would help.

Takoyaki - B+

The Takoyaki was the highlight of our meal. Although a little floury, it had sufficient flavour and leaned towards the sweeter side. There was a juicy, chewy piece of tako in each piece, and the mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce were well-balanced.

Okawari Ramen - B

Going for the most Asian-sounding ramen on the menu, we went for the Okawari Ramen, which came with grilled chicken, bean sprouts, and green onion in a whole chicken-based ginseng herbal broth. A plump Chinese date served as the centerpiece for the ramen. The noodles were on the thinner side and did not really have that distinctive egg-like ramen flavour. The grilled chicken was on the tender side, and the broth was light. The ginseng flavour is not overwhelming, but also quite hard to notice.

The service was quite friendly and efficient. As with many of Richmond's other sushi restaurants, we found the food very expensive for the quality. We spent close to $50 on an average meal that left neither of us full. Fortunately, we always have a backup plan in cases like this. Yes, it was once again time to stuff ourselves by ordering the largest sizes of bubble tea we could find in the area.

(Thanks, Tamsen, for your contributions to this post.)

Episode #205: Takifugu Japanese Dining

Richmond, Luxury ($$$$)

This year has been a truly special year with a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I ever dined on a patio, the first time I ate with other food bloggers, the first time I had an alcoholic shot (which went rather awry), and the first time I was so sleep deprived that I experienced microsleeps. I could not have asked for a more amazing year. It was also the first time that I managed to get someone to pay for one of my sushi adventures. You see, this was not an easy accomplishment because I don't exactly eat like a normal person when it comes to sushi. As a bonus, Puzzlefighter was treating me to a luxury restaurant, Takifugu, whose menu featured an assortment of fancy nigiri.

Takifugu is one of the higher-end Chinese-operated Japanese restaurants in Richmond. It is remarkably well hidden. As blind as I may be with everything else, I have an eagle eye for sushi restaurants, but I managed to walk right in front of Takifugu twice without noticing it at all. It is a very quiet place, and the whole time we dined, it felt like we were the only ones there.

Takifugu is Japanese for pufferfish, and lo and behold, there was one in the fish tank right by the entrance...

I'm not sure if I can ever bring myself to eat a pufferfish after seeing how adorable they actually are. I was slightly relieved to see that pufferfish did not make an appearance on the menu.

Puzzlefighter enjoys and understands fancy nigiri just as much as I do, so off we started with a plateful of nigiri, which gave us plenty of conversation material for the next half hour or so.

Kajiki Nigiri - A

Toro Nigiri - B

Kanpachi Nigiri - A-

Uni Nigiri - B+

The first piece of nigiri we had, the Kajiki Nigiri (swordfish), had the most amazing soft and creamy texture we could imagine. It would have been an A+ in my books if the sushi rice had a little more flavour. The Toro Nigiri (tuna belly) was slightly fishy, but the Kanpachi Nigiri (amberjack) was fresh and buttery. I was told the Uni Nigiri just came in earlier in the day, and it was indeed fresh, creamy, and melty. However, there wasn't enough uni, so the balance of flavours was a little off.

Pork Intestine Skewer - B+

Beef Tongue Skewer - B

I'm not exactly into the idea of consuming innards, but after being vehemently peer pressured by Puzzlefighter, I gave in and tried the Pork Intestine Skewer. Much to my surprise, it turned out quite crispy with a nice, chewy rebound. It actually tasted good to me. Uh oh... Next, the Beef Tongue Skewer was on the chewier side with a tad too much salt, but it was savoury and projected a pleasant, smoky flavour.

Assorted Veggie Tempura - B

Our platter of Assorted Veggie Tempura came with two pieces each of zucchini, eggplant, and yam, one piece of carrot, and some tempura enoki mushroom. The tempura enoki mushroom had a very... erm... interesting appearance. As much as I enjoy novelty, there were many parts where I could only taste the batter. The other vegetables turned out to be juicy and flavourful. The only catch was that the batter was quite greasy.

Nabeyaki Udon - B+

For our filler, we got the Nabeyaki Udon, which came with two tempura prawns on the side. The udon noodles had a nice chewiness, and the dish as a whole was generally well-prepared. The mushrooms went well with the udon, and the broth was light and well-balanced. The prawns also had a decent, meaty snap, though they shared the same greasy fate as the Assorted Veggie Tempura.

The service was friendly and respectful during our visit. Like many other Japanese restaurants in the area, the food at Takifugu is pricey given the quality. Puzzlefighter paid almost $80 to get us out of there. However, they sometimes have seasonal specials that offer a significant discount from their regular prices. One such special was the Lobster Sashimi Dinner for 4 for $138. We actually spent a significant amount of time debating whether the two of us could finish a dinner for four, and now, I slightly regret not attempting the challenge. After all, one of my favourite sayings is "there's no such thing as too much sushi."

Episode #203: Sushi House

Richmond, $ (Budget)
www.sushihouse.ca

I'm only about 40% of the way to conquering all the sushi restaurants in Greater Vancouver, but there are some areas in which I've pretty much been to all the major sushi restaurants. Richmond is one of those areas. Unfortunately, a large majority of Greater Vancouver's escape game rooms seem to be located in Richmond. Tamsen and I were on a roll with our successful escapes, and we weren't going to let the trend stop. Once again, we did our usual routine: start the day with sushi, bubble tea our hearts out, solve a few escape rooms, and then stuff ourselves with dessert. I always feel "great" and "healthy" at the end of it all.

Things started off wonderfully as I arrived way too early and Tamsen had difficulties getting a ride on time. Snapchat was the only thing that prevented my fingers from turning into icicles. Going inside before noon, we found that there were already a good number of diners inside. The menu was quite extensive and featured many special rolls and Aburi sushi (seared sushi) options. Of course, I wasn't going to pass on the Aburi sushi.

Tuna Sashimi - C+

Salmon Sashimi - A-

We started off with a four-piece order of Tuna and Salmon Sashimi. The Tuna Sashimi was not particularly soft and tasted rather fishy. However, the Salmon Sashimi was served at a nice, cool temperature and had a fresh, buttery flavour. 

Ichi Roll - B-

Chopped Scallop Roll - B-

While we were trying to select a special roll, a typo on the menu caught our attention, which led us to ordering the Ichi Roll. They had called it the "Ich Roll" on the menu, and we deliberated over whether the roll would make us itch in some way until we discovered the typo. 

The Ichi Roll came with fresh crab, scallop, tamago, amaebi (sweet shrimp), tobiko, and avocado. The soy wrapper was very thin, and its sole purpose seemed to be to hold the roll together. The sweet tamago overpowered pretty much all the seafood inside the roll.

With the Chopped Scallop Roll, there wasn't enough scallop inside to give the roll a well-rounded sweet flavour. The scallop was overshadowed by the strong, nutty flavour of the sesame seeds on top.

Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi - C

Kaede Roll - B+

Finally, we had two items from the Aburi page. The Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi was surprisingly cheap (at just $6.50 for 8 pieces), but my soul died a little when I brought it to my mouth. There was virtually no seared flavour, and the smoked salmon tasted quite salty. It essentially tasted like an Alaska roll with a quarter of the avocado, double the rice, and salt as the garnish of choice instead of an appropriate sauce or vinaigrette. 

The Kaede Roll (with salmon, crab, ikura, cucumber, tobiko, and house sauce) was an attempt to imitate the signature Miku Roll at Miku. This fared much better than the Aburi Smoked Salmon Oshi. Here, there was a nice smoky flavour, along with lots of crunchy tobiko and some sweet imitation crab. The creamy sauce rounded off the flavours well, and I wished there was a little more of it.

The restaurant got slightly busy as peak lunch hours came around, but the service remained reasonably attentive throughout our visit. The food we had was largely hit-and-miss, and it seems that the cheap prices are what attracts customers to this restaurant. 

Episode #193: Banzai Sushi House

Richmond, $ (Budget)
www.banzai-richmond.ca

Continuing with our theme of "the bigger the better," Sean, Patrick, Joanna and I headed over to the Vietnamese-operated Banzai Sushi House for dinner after going to Sushi Ville for lunch and visiting two ice cream places in between. If it weren't for Joanna suggesting that we exercise, we would have basically been eating non-stop. What did we do for exercise? We walked along the Stanley Park Seawall. Now, if you thought that we made it all the way around, you had overly high expectations for us. We walked like 15% of it before we decided that ice cream was more interesting and thus headed back to our car.

By the time we got to Banzai, I believe I was the only one who was actually in the mood for more sushi. Everyone else was either too exhausted and falling asleep or not even close to being hungry yet. However, by virtue of the divide-and-conquer method, we each sort of managed to sample a decent variety of dishes.

House Roll - B-

I learned from Sean that Banzai is the sister restaurant of Samurai and is known for its large portion sizes, but nothing could have prepared me for this. With tuna, salmon, tamago, crab meat, tobiko, and avocado all packed in there, the House Roll was a whopping 4 inches in diameter. Each piece of salmon and tuna inside could have been one legitimate piece of sashimi. I almost never have trouble picking up my sushi, but with this one, the struggle was real. I enjoyed the soft tuna, the creamy avocado and the sweet crab meat, but the sushi rice was quite bland and the salmon was a bit chewy.

Alaska Roll - C+

The Alaska Roll, which was slightly less intimidating in size, came with the same sweet crab meat and the same tough salmon. Without the sweetness from the tamago and the softness of the tuna, the tough salmon was more obvious here than in the House Roll.

Salmon Roll - C+

Spicy Tuna Roll - C

Usually, the quality of the sushi rice is less noticeable in a roll if there is less of it, but here, the rice was packed on like the whipping cream on a Starbucks Frappuccino. It was a little hard to taste the flavour of the salmon in the Salmon Roll, and the Spicy Tuna Roll ended up being almost non-spicy.

Prawn Tempura - B-

For our cooked item, we had the Prawn Tempura, which came with seven juicy prawns that had ample moisture and flavour. Unfortunately, the batter was hard and does not really have a nice crunch.

Unagi Nigiri - B-

Toro Nigiri - B

Ikura Nigiri - B-

The last obstacle I had to surpass was the attack of the jumbo nigiri (which I rearranged in the photo to only show the pieces that I had). If you asked me one thing I would recommend from this restaurant, it would be the toro. The toro was fresh, juicy, and melty. It was one of the best pieces of toro I have had in a while. The unagi, albeit a little fatty, had a nice smoky flavour, and the ikura provided a savoury burst of fish oils. 

The service we received was timely and friendly. Our server regularly came to ensure that things were in order. Banzai Sushi House satisfies a certain purpose, and that is to make you full and make your wallet happy at the same time. I'd be hard-pressed to find any other sushi place where I could get full with less than $15. Although I did not have enough stomach room for a full order of sashimi, it seems apparent that sashimi is one of their strengths. From what we tried, the salmon wasn't excellent, but the tuna and toro were both very fresh and enjoyable.