Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Monday Night Sushi...at Shoku

I've heard about Shoku's half-price sushi from my friend and have decided to give it a try. I'm fairly picky when it comes to sushi because I was subjected to fresh and great sushi growing up in LA. I've tried Shoku before for lunch, and their bento box is only so-so. But since this time was going with a bunch of friends, I guess the food would taste better because of the flavor added from good company. It turned out that only the rolls and specialty rolls are half-price. My beloved nigiri still stayed at regular price. That was a bummer because if you wanted to taste whether the sushi was fresh, you had to taste the fish in their birthday suit and unaltered so you could truly tell the delicate flavor and texture different fish provided. But being a bargain lover, I wasn't going to argue with their price and ordered their Budda roll, which was their tempura roll top with tuna and spicy mayo, and a Rainbow roll, which was the California roll top with assorted fish. My boyfriend also ordered their Grandview roll, which is spicy tuna roll top with avocado, and a crunchy roll, which is tempura roll sprinkled with fried breading.

The fish on the Budda and Rainbow roll had only so-so quality and the fish was cut very thin. But Shoku was great at hiding flaws using overpowering flavors such as frying and spicy mayo. Unfortunately, those technique not only robbed me from truly enjoy the fish flavor, but also made rolls of different kind taste pretty much the same. I tried one of the Element roll that my friend ordered, and the fish inside the roll was half cooked and resulted in fishy smelling roll. The rice in the Element roll was packed too tight, so the harder texture of the rice was not complemented by the crunchy texture on the outside.

The overall food experience was ok for the price that you paid. I would give it a 2.5 out of 5. However, my dinner experience was enhanced because I had great companies and also met some new friends. So the moral of the story is if you want to try a restaurant that you are not sure of the food, bring a bunch of your friend so at least you'll be guaranteed a good time!

*UPDATE: If mediocre sushi is your thing, please come to 1312 Grandview Ave. Columbus, OH 43212

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that your first actual food blog is about sushi. Couldn't think of anything more disgusting, huh? Cow intestine or pig brain didn't sound appetizing enough, so you went with some nasty fish. I'm disappointed you're not more creative. What's next, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

~Disappointed in Denver

Anonymous said...

So uncultured...you've obviously never enjoyed the delicacies of perfectly done tripe or duck tongue with your dim sum...oh...wait...or bananas in your PB&J....

Anonymous said...

i want to hear more about your birthday suit!
sickforsushi

Anonymous said...

what the hell does 2.6 mean, and how is that different from 2.7 or 2.453378?????
Is there some freakin algorithm for fish that only you know about?

Anonymous said...

the service, it was horrible! i think i only saw the waitress when the food was delivered and the check was served. they were lucky to add the tip to the meal because i wouldn't have tipped a dime.
distressed diner

Anonymous said...

Not everything can taste like weiner.