ottawa foodies

there's a documentary called END OF THE LINE which extrapolates the brink of extinction of most sea life by 2048 with current unsustainable and sustainable fishing practices coupled with the rise in global population and massive numbers of sushi restaurants opening. ya think? if you don't like it, don't eat it!

i wish 1000SI offer low sodium soy sauce to serve with sushi. i know sushi kan does...cuz SALT is among the #1 turbo booster for high blood pressure which leads to creeping damage to all your organs. having cut out salt as much as possible outta my diet and keeping the BMI under 24.9, shopping for life insurance and the assessments gave me huge thumbs up and fantastic low premiums.

but but but...i think i gotta get my mercury levels checked...

chose a couple o' veggie tempura for a shindig @ 1000SI. this is as close to mcdonald's as japanese food gets. i choose this over mcdonalds' or any fast food poison any day.

comes in a purdy l'il basket...

slab of grilled mackerel @ 1000SI. now we're talkin' cuz daddy loves his omega-3's and solid tasting seafood.

what's with all the resto's doing small plates? for 20bones cheap, places like 1000SI gets you all the small plates to feed a 3rd world country. WARNING: don't eat till you get sick to satisfy an unsatisfied disorder or emotional foodie id or ego, only eat enough until you're comfortable.

grilled prawns on a stick, don't stop sending these to our table sweetheart until i give you permission to stop.

alternatively you can get also 4 of these at restaurant 18 or navarra for 24 bones...

grilled eggplant teriyaki @ 1000SI. now this is one of my faves; a definite deep dish delish.

beef skewers with terikayi @ 1000SI. protein makes you look LEAN and GREAT.

GET YOUR MERCURY ON!!!!!!! not TOO much raw seafood for 20 bones cheap @ dinnertime.

if you stare into this long enough, you'll prolly unlock the keys to the universe, find unconditional love and experience life's rare and amazing violent exstacies.

oh btw, this is miso soup @ 1000SI.

Slow around dinner, usually packed normally always busy.

My favorite items would have to be the shrimp tempura which is nice and crispy and decently sized, Cuttlefish balls (best soaked in tempura sauce I find) nice outside and not to overly chewing on the inside, Salmon sashimi is normally always on par but on a few occasions I have gotten less desirable cuts although it was when they were packed they may have ran out.

Unagi sushi here is simply delicious, another favorite along with the udon soups.

Desert fruit has always been orange....they should change it...

Service is normally fast, sometimes a few items may arrive late, mainly shrimp tempura and getting water is not an issue although when we sit down we automatically get it now since we have been over a dozen times.

Great value for a AYCE sushi, I found it better then sushi kann

Oh here they don't enforce a seating limit as long as you have food in front of you, we normally spend about 1h30m in the restaurant we once had a group of six for 2hs and we were perfectly fine.

Servers normally always have a smile. 1+

Spicy crispy crab hand roll.
Really good!

White tuna sushi.
Very nice. The fish was very fresh and delicious.

Salmon sushi.

Salmon roll.

White tuna roll, pickled mushroom roll, pickled radish roll.

Rainbow roll, spicy crispy crab roll, shrimp tempura roll.
All very delicious!

I strongly believe that sushi should be in large pieces, not chopped up into tiny itty bitty pieces - this shows me that the fish is not good quality, so you're trying to hide it.

and the fried bits in the rolls?

Gross.

Not bad. The food came promptly and the tempura was quite yummy. I really liked their 1000 sushi islands specialty roll. It was pretty busy when I went there on a Wednesday night, but overall the service was okay. I would not recommend the white snapper sashimi, ours came out warm! =(
However, the seaweed salad was great...but the flying fish salad had a little too much mayo for my taste...

The best in Ottawa but abit far from downtown where I live, but totally worth the trip!

The nigiri was good for an AYCE. Nothing to complain about. We also ordered a seaweed nigiri and it was good as well. The spicy tuna nigiri wasn't that great. It was just mayonnaise, sriracha and a bunch of tempura flakes. I hardly noticed any presence of fish.

What isn't in the photograph was the sushi pizza. It was satisfactory (I love my sushi pizza.)

We had also ordered ice cream for dessert. I loved my green tea ice cream, and my friends loved their mango and red bean.

Overall, good experience, bang for your buck on lunch time. For AYCE sushi places, I recommend bringing a party of friends so you can sample different dishes.

Mushroom tempura.
Hot and fresh!

Very fresh, crisp, and hot.
There was more batter than shrimp, but it was still really nice.

For people who like to know what they're actually eating this might be helpful.

Make sure you know your surf clam from your squid, because they generally don't. I've ordered surf clam several times to get squid on my plate, and vice versa. I've been here several times over the years and this hasn't changed. Surf clam pieces have one red, pointed end and the other end is white. Squid is white and squishy with ridges.

The crab is, of course, not real crab but surimi. Every restaurant does this, and I like surimi but I wish they would label things as they are.

Watch out for that white tuna, because it's not tuna. Going by the taste it's probably escolar, which has a way of giving some people the runs. It sure is delicious though.

Quality and size of the cuts varies with the day. I've had good stuff here and absolutely awful stuff here. Then again that's pretty much the same for every AYCE place I've been in Ottawa.

I have tried to like 1000 Island Sushi, but it is a no go! Sorry, not even a little bit good.If you want AYCE go to Sushi Kan.

I keep coming back to 1000 Sushi Islands b/c I LOVE their Mango Shrimp Tempura and Dynamite Rolls, but in the last 2 months I've been sick twice immediately after eating there. Other people have expressed the same experience to me before, but I attributed it to them overeating rather than the freshness of the ingredients. Sadly, I find myself personally confirming this after my meal yesterday.

I've never been to Hockey Sushi so I'll give them a shot next time (understanding they are under the same ownership), again because I find 1000 Island's rolls to be some of the best I've had in Ottawa, but for me the Carling location is now a no-go.

Fried dumplings.
Hot and crispy!

I have gone here several times and enjoyed it each time. Nice quality sushi. All you can eat specials with tempura, soup and other treats included. Try the little meat and onion rolls!
Reasonably good and fast service. Parking can be tricky though. One annoyance is they ONLY take credit cards or cash.
Be careful when you order as some items are single piece and others are 6 per order... which can have you wind up eating a LOT of the same items if you don't read carefully.

Salmon sushi pizza.
A bit greasy due to the mayonnaise, but still good.