Thursday, August 4, 2011

Sushi To Go

Sushi To Go, located in South Salem off of Commercial St. SE, serves up teriyaki plate lunches and sushi.



A friend and I met up on Monday for lunch. We wanted to go to Lanxang about two doors down, but we both forgot that Lanxang was closed on Mondays. I saw this place and figured I'd try it out -- and also see just how spicy these guys make their food.

I got a Hot & Spicy chicken bowl -- extra hot ($6.50). My friend got a spicy tuna roll and a California roll. I have to say that the man taking my order was very friendly and told me extra hot would not be a problem. So far, so good.

Hot & Spicy Chicken Bowl -- extra hot
Had to get a closeup of the spices on the chicken
Spicy tuna roll (front) and California roll (back)


Sushi To Go serves a pretty large portion for $6.50. I thought it was a successful dish from a flavor standpoint. The chicken was moist, the vegetables stir fried to my liking (cooked, but still retaining that crispy feel to it). The hot and spicy sauce that the chicken and veggies sat in was also delicious. It appeared that they may have used some sweet chili sauce in there to balance out the flavors a bit; hence, it was not going to kill my insides. Alas, I was a bit disappointed that my "extra hot" request was basically still not extra spicy. I got the "teary eye sweats," but nothing more than that.

The rice was not bad, perhaps just a bit on the dry side. However, the rice that sat in the hot and spicy sauce was off-the-hook awesome.

I felt bad for my friend, because the sushi was a disaster. I only had one piece of the spicy tuna roll, and instantly detected that off-putting fishy taste in the tuna. I instantly knew the tuna in the sushi was old and should not be consumed. Yes, that was definitely not fresh tuna being used. Not only can that significantly ruin a sushi experience, it could make the customer very sick and possibly make that person go to the hospital. Never, ever serve raw tuna that isn't fresh, people. My friend even said that the California sushi roll looked and tasted like something you could get at a market for dirt cheap. Ouch. At least it looked like real crab meat and not the stick imitation crab stuff.

The service, coupled with my hot and spicy chicken dish, would probably get near an eight out of ten. However, our experience was severely marred by that egregious sushi error. I certainly hope that the old raw tuna gaffe was more of an anomaly and not a frequent occurrence. As a result, this place will receive a below-average score. 4.75/10

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