Overall: 4/5

Walking down New Scotland, it’s easy to pass right by Sushi House.  If you didn’t notice that one of the names emblazoned on the large backlit awning said “SUSHI HOUSE”, you could easily miss it entirely.  Far more attention-grabbing is the attached “CHINA HOUSE”, with which it shares an awning (not to mention one with the same color, number of letters in the name, and font) and whose Chinese-take-out-standard giant picture menu hanging above a to-go counter encircled by large glass windows on the corner sends glowing flourescent light into the street.  Not so surprising that the door just to the North, which leads into a small, quaint sit-down restaurant, is easily missed in favor of its glowing, attention-grabbing, take-out screaming neighbor.  The little Sushi House is certainly worth noticing, though.

Upon entry, you will likely be struck by just how small the place is – there are only six tables and a small sushi bar, and the entire place seats a whole 26 people.  The low lighting lends to an intimate, if not a bit sleepy feel.  The decor is pleasantly Japanese, and from what you would expect having seen the outside of the place, almost “nice” (although certainly not worth any specific praise).

My date and I wandered in at about 9:45PM, and we were one of two tables the entire time.  The menu was impressive for a hole-in-the-wall – 5 pages of sushi, sashimi, appetizers, soups, lunch specials, and entrees that don’t consist of raw fish, and desserts.   The menu was reasonably priced – even the specialty rolls averaged about $8.50.  The wine list was house wine by the glass only, they had a whole two beers (Asahi and Sapporo, of course), and they had a modest sake menu consisting of five different 300ml bottles (all $7.95) along with a cheap house sake.

The best deal in the place – and if nothing else the reason to go – are the sashimi combos.  I got the imperial sashimi, the largest of the sashimi combos, which consists of 21 pieces of sashimi (chef’s choice), miso soup, and salad – all for a whole $18.95.  I also ordered a forest roll: one of the specials consisting of white tuna, cucumber, crabmeat, avocado, and roast pork inside, eel, lettuce, and massago outside.  My lovely date ordered a lobster miso soup (unlike many places, miso is not included with rolls), a holiday roll (crabmeat, shrimp, cucumber inside, roast port, avocado, massago outside, with a side of spicy mayo), and a spicy tuna roll.  Unlike at many places, the spicy tuna roll at Sushi House is not just a regular roll of marinated tuna, but rather has an inside of tuna, cucumber, avocado, and crabstick, and is covered in a healthy dollop of their “spicy tuna” – a ground composite of tuna, scallions, spices, and their spicy sauce.  A bottle of Yaegaki sake topped it off.

We quickly realized that we shouldn’t expect too much from the service since they never set the table with napkins and chop sticks (we stole some from a vacant neighboring table) and the first roll that was brought out was not the correct one (they took it back and got the correct one with little delay).  Aside from those distracting but otherwise forgivable mishaps, the night was filled with pleasant surprises.  The hot tea, which unlike the miso is indeed free, was very fresh and tasty, with the little bits of debris in our cups serving as evidence that it was freshly brewed from loose leaves.  While my salad and miso were standard issue, my date’s lobster miso ($2.95) was “really good”, with the little pieces of lobster infusing the broth with the delicious flavor of fresh lobster.  The sushi itself was well-presented and the rolls were quite large.  Her holiday roll was smothered in generous slabs of buttery avocado and ended in explosions of crabmeat out the sides.  As generous as the portions of avocado on her holiday roll were the portions of eel on the exterior of my forest roll – there were two sizable cuts of eel running the length of the roll.  In both, I looked for the flavor of the roast pork, which I was hoping would be a pleasingly interesting addition.  I never found the pork to provide anything but the slightest hint of flavor – certainly too little to meaningly contribute – playing more of a roll in the texture by adding a pleasant crunch to two otherwise fairly “soft” rolls.  The spicy tuna roll was marvelous, and a distinct break from the “norm”, being both well larger and far more complex than what you may expect (although you pay much more for it as well – $8.95 – more than most specialty rolls, although they have a “normal” spicy tuna option for about $4).

My 21 pieces of sashimi were a pleasant variety – both red and white tuna, yellowtail, octopus, salmon, mackerel, halibut, and a little bonus piece of shrimp that was more a garnish than anything.  Most of the sashimi was very pleasantly fresh and tender, most notably the yellowtail which I could have easily chopped into little pieces with a spoon.  The mackerel lacked the quality of the tuna, yellowtail, and salmon, but was still good, however the halibut left a lot to be desired – it was a little tough, tasted a bit stale, and felt dry in the mouth.  That being the only bad part, it was still quite a steal for $19.

Going along with the genuinely mediocre service, we were never asked if we wanted dessert or anything else after dinner, and were given the delivered the check, without requesting it, almost 10 minutes before we were done.  In the end, however, we had a good, enjoyable meal for $57.19 before tip (it should be noted that we were undercharged for the sake – it was $7.95 but we were charged the price of the generic sake, $3.50).

If you’re not feeling too snobbish for the neighborhood and don’t mind dealing with parking on the South side of Washington Park, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by good food and very reasonable prices at this quaint little hole-in the wall.  Even if you are feeling a bit snobbish but you live in the area – they deliver.  Either way, it’s certainly worth it.

/CH

Sushi House

Dine-in, take-out, and delivery.

Tuesday – Thursday 11AM – 10PM
Friday 11AM – 11PM
Saturday & Sunday 4 – 11PM
Closed Monday, closed 3-4PM every day.

6 New Scotland Ave., Albany
(518) 935-2270
No website.

wow, I went more than an entire week without posting my food! I’m even more surprised that I took so many photos! Oftentimes, when that much time lapses, I tend not to take any photos, but this time I almost got all of my food. I tried to list them in order as best I could, hopefully that’s the correct order….

Wednesday, 7.01.09

egg filled crepe with pick-nic sticks. Those sticks were not as good as I used to remember them to be. They were also very unhealthy and small. Must have been that my hands are a lot bigger compared to when I was just a kid.

Thursday, 7.02.09

homemade vegan pizza topped with red sauce, jalapenos, red onions, MorningStar Farm’s meal starter crumbles, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast (added later) mushrooms and zucchini.

Chocolate cake

Shared with Long

Boca burger patty sandwich filled with L,T, and mayo and ketchup

Cranberry-Apple cider

Loc Lac.

I made a video of this. Will post it up soon. By the way I added the Banh Cheo video already. See here

“Fish” Dipping Sauce

Friday, 7.03.09 (DAY 1 OF CAMPING)

oatmeal with banana, granola, and raspberry preserves as the topping

Many many MANY sandwiches on this camping trip.

A few salads as well.

Another burger….

Sides were chips and salad

I put chips in my burgers/sandwiches—It adds a nice crunch to it. How many of you do this as well?

Saturday, 7.04.09 (DAY 2 OF CAMPING)

I had a few bites of the egg filled crepe I made for Long.

For myself, I made a nutella and banana filled crepe.

Lots of COLD soda      

Another salad. That’s parm you see on top of the baked tofu

vegetable and mock meat kabobs with sides of mashed potatoes and potato-egg salad

Dessert: grilled corn w/ garlic butter YUMMMMM!!!

Sunday, 7.05.09 (FINALLY HOME)

Monday, 7.06.09

Sushi House

seaweed salad

Futomaki – 4.95
assorted vegetables & cooked eggs

Oshinko Roll – 3.95
pickled radish

Avocado Roll:

Shitake Roll - 3.95
black mushrooms

Tuesday, 7.07.09

Di Lac Vegetarian Cuisine in San Jose. FRied rice, Lemon grass gluten, mock meat and vegetable kabob with a sweet sauce.

Close ups

Mock lobster

vegetable stir fry with kabocha squash

Lulla = evil

More vegetable kabobs at home

More mashed potatoes

Wednesday, 07.08.09

pbr with banana

Sorry for the lack of detail. I’ll catch up later with ya!

Address: 2549 Santa Clara Ave., Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: (510) 521-9121
Website: http://kamakurarestaurant.com/
Hours: Daily 5:00pm-10:00pm; Mon-Sat 11:30AM- 2:30PM

For dinner, my side of the family met up with Joyce, Melody, and myself at Kamakura Japanese Restaurant in Alameda.  I yelped the restaurant before in search of another Japanese restaurant to frequent.  We ordered a bunch of rolls, my usual Amaebi, and Edamame/Inari for Melody.  The food was pretty good and the service (I think) is better than Sushi House due to the place being smaller.  I was surprised when they turned out the lights and the staff and owner sang Happy Birthday to me.  They gave me a card and a birthday platter decorated with a golden tree, paper crane, cup of Green Tea Ice Cream, an orange cut-up in an orange bowl, and a Fuji apple sliced in the shape of a bird.  I was truly surprised.  At the end of every meal, guests get plum wine apertif (a really sweet dessert wine with hardly any alcohol) and kids 10 and under get Botan Rice Candy.

All in all, this was a pretty good Japanese restaurant.  The only thing you have to worry about is the bathrooms.  Kamakura’s bathrooms are shared with the chiropractic offices next door.  There are two keys before you head back to the shared hallway: one for men and one for women.

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station [n]
Highchairs/Boosters [y]
Stroller Access [minimal]

Other reviews of Kamakura:
Citysearch
tripadvisor
yelp
insiderpages
Yahoo! Local
menuism
urbanspoon
BooRah

Lunch Menu
Dinner Menu

- Norm

Yummy!

I like Sushi House. It’s super convenient and the fish is fresh. The rolls are kind of small, especially for their price, but Sushi House has some great specials, like the Victoria’s Secret roll. Seriously, the sauce is amazing (that’s what she said?). Accommodating chefs, good ambiance. Miso and beer usually come out extra fast, which is certainly appreciated. Downsides? Expensive and it always smells a little bit like dirty bar. You can usually find coupons in the PennySaver or Clipper. It helps.

Recommended: Victoria’s Secret roll,  probably the Tuna Tataki, too but I haven’t tried it. It looked awesome. The chef totally seared it with a blowtorch. Sweet.

Sushi House

Le restaurant Sushi House à Paris est situé 50, Rue Dauphine dans le # arrondissement (75006). La station de métro la plus proche est « Non Communiquée ». # – Le Chef de cuisine du restaurant Sushi House  propose une cuisine que l’on peut classer dans la catégorie: « Cuisine Japonaise Sushi ». Les plats proposés par le chef sont entre autres: Sushi ou Sashimi ou Miso Soup etc.
Parmi les vins proposés par Sushi House on peut trouver de belles bouteilles de Asahi beer , de Sake, de Biere Kirin , de Thé vert japonais etc.…
Site web:
#

Pour vos réservations cliquez ici !
Fiche du restaurant Sushi House

———————————————————-
Horaires du Déjeuner pour le restaurant Sushi House :
Lundi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Mardi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Mercredi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Jeudi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Vendredi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Samedi: 12:00pm – 2:30pm
Dimanche: #
Prix moyen du déjeuner au restaurant Sushi House est de € 25.00
———————————————————-
Horaires du Dîner pour le restaurant Sushi House:
Lundi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Mardi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Mercredi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Jeudi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Vendredi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Samedi: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Dimanche: #
Prix moyen du dîner au restaurant Sushi House est de € 30.00
================================================
Note! Les horaires et prix du restaurant Sushi House peuvent changer sans préavis;

I wish I could find words.  But I can’t. 

Hoje, perto da hora do almoço, recebi um amigo de Porto Alegre na minha baia. Ele, sempre animadíssimo, falava sobre a vontade que tinha de jantar hoje, plena sexta-feira fria e chuvosa, num restaurante japonês no Rio. Foi aí que tive um estalo: por quê nunca escrevemos uma crítica sobre a culinária nipônica?

Bom .. rodízios não faltam na cidade : Nik Sushi, Benkey, Manekineko, Mirai, Sushi House, Sushi Rio.. etc etc etc , todos terão direito a um post por aqui, mas vamos começar pelo melhor deles , o japonês Taiyou Sushi & Sake Bar do Hotel Marriott em Copacabana. Confesso: restaurantes de hotel me dão arrepios ( já que raramente a comida é boa, e quando é , o preço é exorbitante), mas esse japinha contraria todas as previsões . O rodízio inclui entradinhas, makimonos, sushis, sashimis fresquinhos, temakis, pratos quentes, sobremesas e várias surpresinhas em um ambiente confortável com serviço bastante atencioso. Por R$ 50,00 você ainda terá direito a uma taça de espumante e por um pouquinho mais terá chopp Devassa à vontade. Agora cuidado, fuja das bebidas ! Uma garrafinha de água mineral nacional não sai por menos de R$ 7,00.

Ah … e se São Pedro colaborar, ainda será possível ter uma linda vista da praia de Copa, com direito a lua cheia e tudo mais !