SUSHI
Hubbs & I decided to give I Love (Heart) Sushi a try one sunny afternoon when we decided to do an impromptu lunch. The restaurant is a small, unassuming little spot located behind a Subway off Jasper Ave. Anyway, when we got there, the place was packed. Although the place only had like 14 tables or so, all of them were full. There wasn't a lot of standing room but we managed to squish ourselves against the wall as we waited in line to place our order.
The restaurant itself had a very fast-food-esque feel to it. There was no fancy Japanese decor, and the tables and chairs were pretty basic in their appearance. The menu consisted of individual sushi pieces (nigiri) as well as sushi and maki combinations. They also offered a selection of bowls and bento boxes, and the menu seemed pretty extensive given the size of the restaurant.
Once we placed our order (one sushi combo, one sushi-and-maki combo, and two extra sushi pieces), it took almost 10 minutes to fill. Apparently, this sushi joint was trying to complete three different types of orders all at once: take-out (for those of us eating outside in the sunshine), dine-in, and delivery. Our order was sandwiched between a take-out and a dine-in order, and these were preceded by another take-out order and a big delivery order. The one (and only) sushi chef was quickly trying to assemble all of the sushi pieces (all of them made fresh except for the maki), while the cooks in the back completed the cooked food orders.
When we finally got our order, found a place to eat, and opened our take-out boxes, we were disappointed to see that the two extra sushi pieces had been placed in the wrong box. As well, the 6 pieces in the combo were really really small, and one of them was imitation-crab pollock (which we all know does not even count as real sushi!). Thankfully, neither one of us got a piece of that awful tamago egg sushi, which neither one of us enjoys. They did give us an abundance of ginger, which was great for cleansing the palate between bites of fish. For what we paid ($9.00 per combo), however, this was definitely not the best value we could have received. Although the sushi pieces tasted fresh, they didn't blow us away in terms of their quality or their cut. My California maki tasted a bit stale, too, as though they had made these a day earlier; the Japanese mayo was definitely lacking in the rolls (which is great for those who don't like the mayo, but not so fabulous for those of us who enjoy the combined tastes of pollock and mayo).
Overall, I would have to say that this restaurant disappointed us. They may love sushi, but not enough to do it really well or give us good value for our money, so we certainly don't love them!
Rating: 5.5 / 10
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