Sushi Oyama (Burnaby)

There we were, faced with a difficult decision.  One that was super important and would decide the fate of...  where we were going to eat after hockey.  Hey, it's important relatively speaking...  What we had was a larger than usual group and the stipulation was it had to be in Burnaby and preferably Japanese.  Okay, that pretty much eliminated the best choices as they were too small or closed for the night.  Hence, we headed to an ol' standby being Sushi Oyama.  Sure, it's far from being the best sushi out there, but there is no denying it's a good value.

With that in mind, we went in with reasonable expectations and it appeared that everyone else was there for inexpensive eats as the place was packed.  I hadn't been back since they first opened.  We started with some Chicken Karaage.  The wings were crispy with nicely rendered skin while the meat was somewhat juicy.  They were seasoned where we could taste more than chicken meat.  Next up were a couple orders of Gyoza.  Nicely fried up and not overcooked, the skin was crisp on the bottom while chewy everywhere else.  The filling was a bit vegetable-heavy, but was moist and not chewy.

Dressed more than Lady Gaga could ever imagine, the Spinach Gomae was surprisingly much less sweet than it appeared.  There was definitely a nice sesame hit, however, there was indeed too much dressing as it was swimming in it. Onto a specialty roll, we had the Black Dragon consisting of imitation crab, avocado and cucumber inside with eel, masago, bonito, mayo and unagi sauce on top. I thought the rice was a touch gummy but decent nonetheless with a mild sweetness.  The roll itself was a bit messy but it did taste good though with just enough sauce in my opinion.

Looking over the menu, it seemed like the best deal was to order Party Tray D to share.  It included an order of Deluxe Assorted Sashimi consisting of Tako, Hamachi, Tai, Tuna, Salmon, Amaebi and Hokkigai.  Thankfully, these were not sliced incredibly thick because I find that it changes the texture.  Hence, the sashimi was pretty decent considering the price.  Also in the tray was a Deluxe Assorted Nigiri made up of Salmon, Tuna, Ebi, Ika, Hamachi, Hokkigai, Tako, Amaebi, Unagi, Scallop and Masago (with 3 pcs each of salmon and tuna sushi).  The ratio between rice and sashimi was good which meant each piece was balanced.  Lastly, the tray included on each of California Roll, Dynamite Roll, Alaska Roll and Chopped Scallop.  I found the rolls to be a bit rice heavy which made them a bit dense, but otherwise, they were alright.

For some odd reason, the 2 orders of Tempura took a really long time to arrive.  But in the end, they were hot and crispy with a light batter. Similar to my last visit, Sushi Oyama provides good value much like Sushi Town and Sushi Garden.  Hence, expectations should be tempered to coincide with the price points.  No, you will not find authentic carefully prepared sushi here (well, not the Japanese kind at least), but you will find more-than-acceptable eats for a low price.

The Good:
- Well-priced
- Decent portions, but not humungous (which is a good thing)
- Interesting building

The Bad:
- Will offend sushi snobs
- Interesting building means strange seating arrangements