Ottawa Foodies

Just noticed this evening that a location has opened up at Baseline/Clyde. Has anyone been yet?

I tried this sushi place last week with my husband for the first time. We wanted to try out their sushi and see if it was worth coming back when we just want take out meals. We waited much more than expected but the people there were really nice, they apologized for the delay and offered tea while waiting. We really liked the sushi, we thought the prices were good for such good quality. We got the "two salmon roll", the "spicy shrimp tartar" (in my opinion, those were the best we had!!) and another one with spicy salmon.
It's a good place to go for take out but I would advice to call in advance so you don't wait too long for your sushi. :-)

Alright... I'm going to have to be the one naysayer.

I thought the sushi was "fine", and I appreciate an easy takeout sushi option in Ottawa (when will we finally get free, 7-day-a-week sushi delivery?).

But -- this reminds me of fast food sushi in California. No artistry in the rolling, cheap prices, and "eh" fish. The fish is fine... nothing wrong with it... but on the whole, the "generous" rolls are pretty rice-y. And crabstick permeates the menu... pollock... ew.

There are loads of places just like this around Montreal, and I notice the owners seem to be Montreallers (based on accent, not on hard data, so I could be wrong here). Anyhow, its wildly successful here but I think they'd have a hard time with the same offering in a larger city which already has many such places.

I've been thrice. And I'll go again for a quick, cheap fix. But is this anything to crow about, other than its different from what native Ottawans are used to? No. Phoning 15 minutes ahead to Genji for a takeout order and paying an extra $10, in my opinion, is a far better option.

Last week when it was so horribly hot out about half the staff from the French Baker were living on takeout sushi from this place. I enjoy how fresh everything is, and the prices, but I think they don't give enough ginger and wasabi in the takeout packages. They also have a "sushi lovers" card you can get stamped everytime you spend more than $10.

Thanks to all your comments, I decided to try this new sushi shop last night. I went in around eight thirty, and it was pretty quiet, although people came in pretty consistently while I was there. I was looking at the prepackaged stuff, when one of the employees mentioned that I could order anything from the menu and they would package it for me to go. I wasn't aware this was an option, so that was great. In any case, I got the Salmon Kamikaze roll and the Spicy Tuna roll. Whomever mentioned that the rolls are huge was spot on. However, they are SO tasty. The ingredients were fresh, the rolls were perfectly spicy, and they used fresh tuna as opposed to the canned/flaked stuff you find in cheaper places. Very, very good. Try it!

I was delighted to see a new sushi place open up in the market, where I happen to eat a lot of lunches. I went with a coworker yesterday and ordered off the menu rather than choosing one of the pre-made boxes. We shared a spicy tuna hosomaki and one of the regular maki (I think it was called "Sunshine") which had smoked salmon, crabstick, avocado, mayo, tobiko, and other good stuff I don't remember. And we each had two pieces of nigiri--salmon and tuna for my friend, white tuna and "spicy scallop tempura" for me.

Everything was good; the spicy scallop tempura nigiri was fantastic. It was made in the style of uni or fish roe nigiri, but with a big scoop of fresh scallop dressed in spicy, kind of citrusy tasting mayo, with crunchy little tempura bits mixed in. The white tuna was nice and fresh, and quite a generous slab. The spicy tuna hosomaki was excellent; it's the smallest size of maki on the menu, but this and the nigiri would have made a light but satisfying lunch. The regular maki are very substantial, impossible to eat in one bite, but very tasty.

The two of us ate our fill for $21, which is pretty impressive for this kind of quality. And we waited probably less than ten minutes for sushi to arrive. I think I'll be filling up my frequent-eater card rather quickly. And as foodlover says, the decor is great--it reminded me of the kind of hip Asian eateries you'd find in London (UK, not Ontario!).

I was in the market today and noticed this new place which had a sign outside saying 11 piece sushi boxes starting at $4.95! So I had to check it out and I must say, I really like the decor in here. Super simple and sleek clean lines. Black shelving accented with red. White walls...behind the counter is exposed brick. Very cool...you could see the chef's behind the bar making sushi too. There is an open unit where they store the assorted sushi to go boxes and they range in price anywhere from $4.95 to $17.00 (I think). Read my comments on what I had....

I think this was a California Classik, and it was very enjoyable. Interesting because it was not made "inside out" like most California rolls.

The sushi here isn't the world's best but it's pretty darn great and very convenient. I'll pop in again for sure!

The Pacific maki (salmon, smoked salmon, avocado, tempura, masago, mayonnaise) was super tasty and tender. Yum! You'd better like lox though -- the taste is quite strong. Highly recommended as a snack or light meal.

I had the Go Chef's 11 piece box to go. It included 5 futomakis (Boston, California classik, Spicy Salmon) and 6 hosomakis (Chef's favorite). Very fresh and reasonably priced at $5.75 + tax which came to $6.00. The Spicy Salmon piece wasn't remotely spicy which I find in most sushi I eat where they claim to be a spicy roll :(