Sushi Town (North Burnaby)

After a lazy morning at home, it looked like there was no interesting eats on the horizon.  Yet, all of a sudden, Viv wanted to go out for Japanese food.  Score!  An unplanned food adventure!  But where?  There are not many nearby Japanese joints we've not visited as of yet.  I briefly considered AYCE, but common sense prevailed (and the fact it would be like $15.00 per kid, they can't eat $15.00 worth of food!).  We finally settled on a place we hadn't visited in awhile - Sushi Town.  And really, with their pricing and portion size, it is practically AYCE.

We started off with their Seafood Salad which wasn't exactly pretty to look at.  With a pile of iceberg lettuce topped by vermicelli noodles, the result was a pool of unappealing water on the bottom of the plate.  However, when mixed together with the ginger dressing and wasabi mayo, it did taste okay.  There was only a modest amount of seafood consisting of tako, salmon, ebi, hokkigai and crab stick.  Next up was a Sushi Town best seller being the Spicy Salmon Sashimi.  Considering the price, this was both large in portion size and decent in execution.  The salmon had a firm, yet buttery texture while the cucumber was fresh and crunchy.  The best part was the flavourful spicy and sweet sauce.

Another best seller and their most popular roll is the Awesome Roll.  We finally got to try it as believe it or not, we've never had it despite eating here many times.  For $6.95, I wouldn't say it was exactly awesome, but definitely a good value.  It featured imitation crab, avocado, cucumber and masago with salmon, green onion, masago and bonito flakes on the outside.  This didn't need soy as it was flavourful enough on its own with the fishiness of the bonito and sauciness from the mayo and teriyaki.  Once again, we got the Chirashi Don consisting of tuna, salmon, tako, tai, hokkigai and amaebi. The sashimi was pretty decent although I'm not a huge fan of tuna being cut that thick.  As for the sushi rice, it sucked.  Texturally, it was dry and not at all sticky.  Furthermore it was pretty bland.

For the kiddies, we got them an order of the Tempura Udon.  For a Korean-run Japanese restaurant, the udon was prepared the way we like it.  Typically, unauthentic Japanese restaurants dump various amounts of veggies into the broth which, in my opinion, messes the whole thing up.  Not here.  It was simple and straightforward (like it should be).  In addition to the side of tempura, we got an extra order of Ebi Teumpra because the kids can't get enough of it.  These were done nicely with an airy and crispy batter which was not greasy.  The ebi itself had a light snap while being seasoned.  I know there are people out there who detest places like Sushi Town and Sushi Garden, but for the price, the food is respectable enough.  Consider it an alternative to AYCE where the food is better and probably costs less in the end.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Large portions
- Okay eats considering the price

The Bad:
- Don't expect complete authenticity nor super carefully made eats
- Service gets sparse when busy