Sakura Sushi

Often, most restaurants fall into the "okay" zone.  They are neither awesome nor terrible.  That probably accounts for 80% of them and their popularity/ratings would be dependent on the subjective thoughts of each individual diner.  However, there are those select spots that blow us away where we are already planning a return visit while we are still there.  On the flip side, there are restaurants that make us want to leave and/or not eat the food while we are still there!  Sakura Sushi is one of those restaurants.  Hot Mama, Zamboni Guy and Dee Dee all had the unfortunate task in joining me for that visit.

We were started off with a complimentary order of Veggie Spring Rolls.  This Chinese-style appy was a strange starter for a Japanese restaurant.  Yes, there is a  Japanese variation, but this wasn't it.  However, I have to give it to them because these were hot, crunchy and not greasy.  Inside, the veggie filling was rather overdone and slimy though.  Dee Dee decided to get an order of Gyoza to begin.  The dumpling wrapper was thin but overcooked to the point it broke on contact.  Inside, the filling was moist and a good mix of pork and cabbage.  It tasted a bit too sweet though.

For myself, I decided to get the Assorted Sashimi consisting of Hokkigai, Salmon, Tuna, Tai (with tobiko) and ebi.  Although nothing looked amiss visually, I found the salmon to be overly soft and fairly bland.  The same could be said about the tuna as it was lacking natural sweetness.  Furthermore, the knife skills were a bit lacking.  I also got the Sakura Roll made with salmon, imitation crab and smoked salmon.  Again, the skill was lacking in the preparation of the roll as things were falling out and the slices were uneven.  I found that there was a generous amount of moist salmon, but the sushi rice ruined everything.  It was very soft and wet.

Hot Mama and Zamboni Guy both went for the $8.95 Bento Box special which included Chicken Teriyaki, Green Salad, California Roll and half BC Roll.  This was a super value, but unfortunately was subpar.  The rice for the teriyaki was also wet and the sauce was rather weak.  The chicken was tender though.  Both rolls suffered from the abundance of the soft rice while even the salad dressing was terrible.  It had far too much raw onion in it that made it too sharp and pungent. Okay, it's pretty clear the food at Sakura was not very good.  We certainly didn't enjoy our experience except the people were super nice and definitely trying.  But yah, we won't be back.

The Good:
- Super nice people
- Cheap
- Comfortable seats

The Bad:
- Sushi rice is terrible
- Everything was a little off