Marinepolis Sushi Land [Redmond]

Neighborhood: Redmond
Address: 8910 161st Ave. NE Redmond(map)
Phone: 425-284-2587
Web: www.sushilandusa.com
Parking: Free parking space

Overall Rating: 4.7 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
After giving somewhat harsh review on Sushi Land in Queen Anne, friends and family of mine that live in the Eastside have told me that the new Sushi Land in Redmond, next to Bella Botega movie theater is much better. How could same chain restaurant taste so different? A lot of the restaurant experience is based on atmosphere, and on that level, Sushi Land Redmond does much better than the one in Queen Anne. Since it’s newer, it’s cleaner and has more modern feel to it. I wouldn’t call it as modern looking as Chiso in Fremont, but for kaiten-sushi place, it was pretty much on par with Blue-C Sushi in Fremont (but at much cheaper price).

SUSHI:
Even though Sushi Land in Queen Anne and Redmond may be getting the same fish from the same market, a lot of the taste depends on who cuts the fish, and who makes it. On the making department, sushi here was similar to the one in Queen Anne, but I felt like they were cut better. But at the end of the day, this is still kaiten-sushi, so unless you ask the chef to make something that’s not already on the conveyer belt, fish tends to get dry.

OTHER DISHES:
Just like the restaurant in Queen Anne, they also served udon noodles, tempura and other fried food. When I was there, I felt like they were making lots and lots of udon (there must not be udon place nearby).

SERVICE:
It’s the Eastside, so I felt like people were more laid back, and there were no wait staff running around. That meant, the service is a bit slower, but at least you don’t have to hear staffs running around. Overall, the place is clean and cheap, and the fish taste decent. It’s probably a good place to go for a casual lunch when you have light craving for sushi.

Imo Asian Bistro

Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 704 1st Ave. Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-264-9570
Web: N/A
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 7.0 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Imo is owned by the same person who runs Wasabi Bistro and Red Fin. Both of those places are more on the upper scale side, but Imo is catered for younger restaurant goers, such as college kids. Imo, in Korean means, “auntie”, and although the place doesn't feel like an aunt's house, it does feel like a good casual place to go for late night snacks and drinks. They also have a giant screen as well as karaoke machine (not a private booth, so everyone in the restaurant can hear you sing). On weekend nights, the place is packed with Korean college kids, and can get quite loud, especially when they start singing.

SUSHI:
Imo has a decent lunch sushi combo for about $10. For dinner, they let you order sushi a la carte single order (as opposed to having to get two pieces per order). The quality is not the greatest, and they don’t serve any special season fish, which means the selection is quite basic (tuna, salmon, squid, egg, etc). Although the single order sushi isn't that expensive, you can probably get the same quality of fish (if not better) from Uwajimaya supermarket.

OTHER DISHES:
Imo may not have the best sushi in downtown, but considering that it’s more of a Korean restaurant, they have excellent Korean tapas dishes for a very reasonable price. The selection is also amazing long. You can get something cheap like kimchee and Korean seaweed or Korean pancake and grilled pork belly.

SERVICE:
On weekend nights, Imo is packed with Korean college students, and the service gets quite slow. The staff tries their best to get your orders, but it always seems like they are under-staffed. On some tables, there is a “service button” (the kind you can find at family restaurants in Japan), which you can push to call the wait staff, but it doesn’t seem to be working on most of the nights (if it worked, it would be brilliant).

Nijo

Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 83 Spring St. Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-340-8880
Web: www.nijosushi.com
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
The owner of Nijo is a daughter of Lap My Linh who owns The New Hong Kong restaurant. So she grew up running a restaurant business. Instead of opening a Chinese restaurant like her mother, she decided to open Nijo because she simply loves sushi. The atmosphere feels slightly different than Japanese owned sushi places, but it’s classy and stylish. On some nights, you can even catch a live jazz band playing. Everything about this place is stylish, from the dish and the mood from the lighting. Even the bottle used to pour sake is fancy and comes on a big bowl full of ice (the bad thing is that it takes up quite a bit of room). So, if you are looking into traditional Edo-style sushi place, this may not be it, but it’s a good place to take your date.

SUSHI:
The fish tastes fairly fresh and they have pretty good selection. The staff knew which fish was in season, which is always a plus. There dinner combo is also reasonably priced. The quality may be just slightly below the fine establishments in Belltown, but within the downtown neighborhood, Nijo might have the best fish.

OTHER DISHES:
Since the head chef is not Japanese, a lot of the food here sound Japanese, but tastes slightly different. Some come across well, such as fried sweet potato with wasabi dipping sauce, but others like karaage (fried chicken) tastes slightly different than the traditional one that you can’t help but to wish that it didn’t taste that way.

SERVICE:
The staff is quite knowledgeable about what is on the menu, and they can also recommend which fish is fresh depending on the season. The live music here is not too loud, so you can still enjoy your dinner conversation, which is nice.

Marinepolis Sushi Land [Queen Anne]

Neighborhood: Queen Anne
Address: 803 5th Ave N Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-267-7621
Web: www.sushilandusa.com
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 3.2 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
If you've ever been to "family restaurants" in Japan, like Denny's, Jonathan or Skylark, you might get the same feeling here at Marinepolis Sushi Land in Queen Anne. From the cheap looking floor and the lighting, to lots and lots of highschool and college kids dining and waiting in line, this place has that "fami-resu" feeling. For those of you who don't know "fami-resu", the atmosphere feels just like McDonalds or Taco Bell. Compared to the other conveyer belt "kaiten-sushi" place like, Blue-C, Sushi Land gets 0 points for atmosphere (unless you are young and like that kind of environment). There is a big conveyer belt in middle of the restaurant, and inside stands several sushi chefs, and the customers sit on outside of the belt. On the belt, several different colors of plates pass by in front of you. Different colors represent different prices. It doesn't matter what time of the day, or weekday you go to, this place is always packed, and you have to sit and wait.

SUSHI:
Their sushi is what it is. Sushi Land is probably one of the cheapest places to eat sushi in entire Seattle. Where else can you get two pieces of uni for just $3? Most of their basic sushi such as salmon, tuna, squid, white fish run for just $1.50 for 2 pieces. If you stick to this basic $1.50 plates (there are $1 plates, too), you can eat 20 pieces of nigiri, and walk out with just a $20 bill. This is where my poor-and-starving college friends go to do get their sushi craving. Although the fish is cut fairly decently, a lot of the sushi I picked out tasted dry. It makes me wonder how long these sushi had been going around and around. If there's something you don't see on the belt, you can always ask one of the chefs to make one for you, which I found out is better because at least it's fresher that way. I picked out an interesting sushi, which had kazunoko inserted in thin slicked saba. That was actually quite tasty and unique, but everything else was not great. Still, I like that they represent themselves as a cheap place, and charge very little, instead of places like Todai that tries to sell "slightly upscale" with crappy food.

OTHER DISHES:
At Sushi Land, you can order non-sushi stuff, like udon for $3, or just pick up some gyoza or edamame or tempura that goes around on the belt. Most of them taste like an instant, microwaveable food, but since they are all less than $3, you really can't complain much.

SERVICE:
Depending on which sushi maker you sit by, you get a different kind of service. Some chefs seem to be faster and more knowledgeable than the other. Since the place is always busy (even right before the closing time), the wait staff is always running around to serve some tea to the sitting customers and to run the credit cards at the cashier. Even if I were in highschool or college, and needed a part time job, I don't know if I will want to work here at Sushi Land since they have to run around constantly.

Umi Sake House

Neighborhood: Belltown
Address: 2230 1st Ave Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-374-8717
Web: www.umisakehouse.com
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 8.6 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Located on the 1st Avenue of Belltown district, this fairly new sushi place is decorated nice and has a stylish interior. Atmosphere wise, it's a good place to take your date. This place has an excellent happy hour (even on weekends), so it gets quite packed during those hours. I like the bathroom doors since it doesn't even look like a door, and reminds me of a ninja house.

SUSHI:
They have excellent daily menu where they offer the freshest fish that is not on the regular menu. One time when I went, they had kinmedai and warasa, which were flown directly from Japan. They were excellent along with aji, which was also on the daily menu. You can order sushi individually as opposed to in pairs, but be wanred that they are a bit pricey ($4 to $6 for one piece). These specially flown fish tastes excellent, however, they need to invest more money on the sushi chef (and possibly a rice cooker). The rice is a bit too moist and packed a little too tight. As I watched the sushi chef, who didn't look Japanese or any other Asian ethnicity, I got the impression that they weren't that into sushi. But at the same time, most of the customers didn't seem to care much for the sushi. I will have to add that they have an excellent happy hour sushi set. For $5, you can get tuna, salmon, yellowtail and albacore nigiri. I haven't seen any better deal than that.

OTHER DISHES:
Everything here is decent, but they are just overpriced. On the menu, they sound fancy and when they come out on the table, they look fancy. Their happy hour deal is excellent and has decent selections including tempura. The scallop dish was excellent, but agedashi tofu didn't have as much dashi flavor as I would have liked. But they have excellent selection of sake menu. Maybe that's what they are focused on more than sushi since the restaurant name is Umi Sake House, insead of sushi house. The only problem with their wide selections is that most of the sake needs to purchased by a bottle, so unless you are there with groups of friends that enjoy sake, you are stuck with about a dozen selection (which is still not bad). One time I tried their red rice sake, which had a tint of red (that looked like rosa wine), and tasted a bit like red wine.

SERVICE:
The wait staffs seemed to be more knowledgeable about the sake selection than the sushi selection, but compared to most American owned sushi restaurants, I have to give the staff credit for knowing more than not knowing. Overall, the service is good. Your water is filled all the time. Since there are usually only one or two bar tenders, your drink order can take a bit of time.

Musashi's

Neighborhood: Wallingford
Address: 1400 N 45th St Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-633-0212
Web: N/A
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 7.8 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
A lot of my American friends have told me that Musashi on 45th St in Wallingford is one of the best sushi places in Seattle. I've been wanting to check it out, but there is always lines of people wanting in front, even on a weeknight. Compared to other small Wallingford sushi joint like, Kozue, Musashi is much smaller and feels more crammed. It is definitely not a place to sit around and enjoy the dining experience.

SUSHI:
Be warned. The sushi here is huge. It is almost twice as big as the normal sushi anywhere else (with the exception of Sam's Sushi in Ballard). I can normally eat 8 to 10 pieces of sushi, but here 4 sushi filled me up. Both the fish and rice are big. The fish itself is decent tasting, but I have to dock off points for their humongous sushi. Sushi is meant to be eaten in one mouthful, so it defeats the purpose when I have to take a bite, and put down the half eaten sushi. To compensate for this, rice is packed way too tightly. However, the good thing is that for their huge size sushi, the price is very reasonable, so if you are a student on budget, I guess it's worth the wait and taking multiple bites. Also, since this is a small neighborhood joint, their sushi selection is just basic.

OTHER DISHES:
They have some non-sushi stuff, including the bento box which has the basic stuff like Japanese teriyaki. Like their sushi, the portion is big and it's cheap. Nothing stands out as being bad or delicious. If you can eat a lot and are on budget, you'll enjoy the bento box.

SERVICE:
Since there are only a few tables in the restaurant, the service is usually fairly fast, unless the kitchen is busy with take out orders (which seems to happen quite frequently). As I said earlier, there's always a wait. On a cold rainy weeknight, you may only have to wait 5 minutes, but most likely you'll have to wait. Make sure to bring cash with you since that's all they accept here.

Sam's Sushi Bar & Grill

Neighborhood: Ballard
Address: 5506 22nd Ave NW Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-783-2262
Web: N/A
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 7.9 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Located next to the movie theater in Ballard, the inside of Sam's Sushi Bar & Grill feels more like a Chinese or Thai restaurant than Japanese restaurant. For the most part, this place is fairly quiet and even on weekends, it's not hard to get a table.

SUSHI:
The sushi was priced a little higher than I had expected for a place in Ballard, but when I was served, I could see why. The fish was quite large though not as obscenely huge like at Musashi's in Wallingford. My two pieces of uni could've been made into four pieces at other places. The fish tasted fresh and excellent, but I have to be picky and say that the sushi was not made well. The rice tasted a little different than the normal sushi rice, and it was also packed too tight. When you take a bite of sushi made by a real trained sushi chef, the rice should easily fall apart in your mouth. It's a shame because when I first took a bite of their sushi, I tasted the fresh fish, and a second later, everything felt awkward. I did enjoy that they knew what was fresh and in season. Their recommended fish (at this time it was kampachi and uni) were definitely worth the Belltown-ish price.

OTHER DISHES:
For non sushi eaters, or for those only want to take try a couple of sushi, they have excellent bento box choices where you get to try variety of traditional Japanese food. Everything tastes good, but something about it tastes a little different from the ones you would get in Japan. I did however love the fact that they served Orion beer from Okinawa, which is hard to find here in Seattle.

SERVICE:
Sushi comes out fast at this place, and so does everything else. The reason could be that this place is usually only half full, but for that reason, the service is pretty good.

J Sushi

Neighborhood: International District
Address: 674 S Weller St Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-287-9000
Web: N/A
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 8.2 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Located just a few blocks east from Uwajimaya/Kinokuniya, J Sushi, is a fairly new sushi joint that opened 2007 in Chinatown/International District. Compared to the rest of the neighboring sushi places in International District that has been in business for 20+ years, the interior is clean and has modern feel to it. The wall has cool koi and octopuss mural on it. This is also the kind of place where you can easily become a regular as the place is not too big, and you can get to know the friendly head sushi master, Dave Nakamura (third generation Japanese). Dave is young compared to most of the sushi masters, and he likes to chat, so if you are in mood to dine, but don't have anyone to go with, sit at the counter, and Dave will talk to you and make jokes. I give one extra point for Dave's friendly casual personality, but I also have to dock off one point for their stainless steel chopsticks (the metal and raw fish doesn't mix well in my mouth).

SUSHI:
Sushi is quite good here. It's not the best or highest quality of fish, but they are fresh and tasty. The presentation of the fish is done nicely as well, and on top of that, for this level of fresh sushi, it's a pretty good price. And you can just order 1 piece, unlike most sushi places where you have to get 2 pieces per order. Their rolls are also made well and taste good. Since it's not a high level sushi place, the selection isn't that great but they still carry aji, uni and geoduck on their menu.

OTHER DISHES:
For lunch I highly recommend their katsu curry rice, which is only $7 and will fill you up. There aren't very many places where you can get such a crisp and yet juicy katsu that matches decent tasting curry like here. Their dinner menu has most of the basic traditional Japanese food, but not as extensive as izakaya food. If you are on a budget or just want to try a bite of lots of different things, the bento set is always a welcoming choice. They only have a few sake selection, but have the decent level ones such as Otokoyama and Hatsumago.

SERVICE:
Since the place doesn't stand out from the outside and they are not advertised too well, you hardly find this place packed with people. With that said, the service is usually pretty good. If you sit at the counter, the master chef, Dave really tries to make your dining experience a pleasant one. Overall, it's a decent sushi place where you can quickly get to know the chef after just a couple trips, and I hope that they will stay in business for a while.

Ricenroll

Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 214 Madison St. Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-262-0382
Web: www.ricenroll.com
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 2.9 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
A small take out place located in the downtown business area on Madison St, just down the hill from 3rd Ave. Lines will start forming around noon, which indicates that it's a popular spot. There are a couple of chairs inside that you can sit and dine in, but most people use those chairs to sit and wait for their take out order to come out.

SUSHI:
As this place is a take out place for quick and cheap healthy sushi, the quality is exactly what you would expect. Most of the fish lack any flavor and you can even tell from the color that they are not in the upper class. What you get here is basically the same kind of sushi you would get at a supermarket deli section, except it's made fresh in front of you. The Korean owner has stated that she wanted to create a fast food place for sushi (instead of fancy sushi restaurant) since there were hardly any before. This concept was actually quite popular and now Rice-n-Roll have multiple stores in Seattle region, including one in Bellevue Square and even a couple of stands inside Safeco Field. It's nice that Ricenroll has given non greasy lunch meal fan a chance to choose something else other than burgers or tacos, but if I were craving cheap rolls, I'd rather go one block east and pay a couple dollars more for rolls at Rolls n Sushi. But I should point out their three unique factors. One, if you ask and pay a little extra change, they will make your rolls using brown rice. Two, you can choose what you want in your roll by selecting your choice of fish/meat and something else. And three, their fish may not be that great, but their bulgogi beef roll is worth trying.

OTHER DISHES:
They have a few rice bowls you can choose from such as teriyaki chicken, tonkatsu and bulgogi. If you order lunch combo, that will usually come with a side of edamame (which is a bit too crunchy for me). Sushi here isn't fancy, but bulgogi bowl and salad is worth giving a shot.

SERVICE:
Since this place only caters to business people, they are only open on weekdays from 10 to 4pm. Try avoiding the peak noon to 12:30pm time as the line could get a little long and you may have to wait a bit for your order.

Ohana

Neighborhood: Belltown
Address: 2207 1st Ave Seattle (map)
Phone: 206-956-9329‎
Web: www.ohanabelltown.com
Parking: Street

Overall Rating: 6.2 / 10pts

ATMOSPHERE:
Ohana is located on 1st Avenue and Blanchard part of Belltown, next to Frontier steakhouse. As soon as you step in, you realize that their theme is Hawaiian with bamboo booths and tables with all the tropical decorations. There is a small sushi counter with Hawaiian looking guys behind the counter. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, they have a DJ spinning, and on Sunday night they have a karaoke night. On Wednesday nights, they have live Hawaiian (they call it Island) music.

SUSHI:
Looking at their sushi menu, you realize right away that their price is much lower compared to the other sushi restaurants in Belltown. Their Chef's Choice Sushi Combo goes for $18 and comes with 8 pieces of the usual stuff and California Roll, which is served on a big plastic boat shaped plate (though some parts are chipped off as seen on the photo). As for the taste, everything is just sub par. There is a fast food sushi restaurant in Japan called Kozozushi. That would be the closest comparison. Tuna tasted very watery like it had been frozen and defrosted a couple of times, and the seaweed they use to wrap the sushi also tastes cheap. Fortunately their salmon wasn't too bad, but in Seattle, even at a low end sushi place, it's hard to get a bad tasting salmon. I should however mention that their rolls aren't too bad.

OTHER DISHES:
Their sushi may not be the best in Belltown, but let's remember that this is a tropical Hawaiian themed restaurant, so they are probably not that serious about sushi. They do however make up for it by having good Haiiwan food. Their Kalua Pork is a tasty blend of very moist and tender pork and veggies. And let's not forget their tropical umbrella drinks, which are quite superb.

SERVICE:
With the exception of Friday night happy hour (5-7pm), when the place is quite busy, they have a pretty good service. The waiting staff will explain to you their unique Hawaiian dishes or the different sushi on the menu. Overall, go here for good tropical time with solid Hawaiian food and drinks, but avoid sushi if you are looking for the freshest fish in town.