I have heard many great things about this restaurant, but never went to try it because I’m not in that area. One night, I was craving sushi and decided to finally come here after hearing Cheese rave about this place. House special rolls for around $5? Count me in!
We went a bit later and since it was a Friday evening, we knew for sure it would be busy.
Sushi California is located inside a small strip mall right across from Lougheed Mall. There is a small parking lot, but some spots are reserved for other merchants in the strip mall. I would imagine that the small parking lot gets pretty crazy during peak hours.
Anyways, we found parking with no problem since we got there around 8:30pm. To our surprise, there was still a lineup inside the restaurant! I thought that the restaurant was more spacious than I expected.
It was a typical Japanese restaurant, nothing really special about the decoration or interior design. But the food, now that’s a different story…! The two of us ended up over-ordering and had to pack half our food to go. We weren’t sure how big their portions were because it was our first time!
This was their box sushi, which came with shrimp, smoked salmon, scallop, and more things that I can’t remember anymore ($4.95). The sushi rice was pressed very nicely, giving the rice a great texture. It tasted very refreshing due to the lemon.
For $4.95, it was an amazing deal! Also, I ordered a single tobiko and salmon nigiri as well, which tasted fresh. Since we decided to not order a sashimi plate, I wanted to sample their sashimi and thought that it tasted pretty sweet and fresh.
Deep fried california roll, or as they call it, the “crunch california roll”. It was lightly fried, and crispy. Overall, I thought it was okay due to the sauce, but the boyfriend preferred Sushi Mura’s because it was crunchier and there was also more sauce. But again, for $3.95, it was a good deal.
Up next were our smoked salmon garlic roll ($4.50), chopped scallop roll ($3.95), and double spicy roll ($3.95). My favourite was the smoked salmon garlic roll because I am a huge fan of shrimp and smoked salmon!
I actually thought this roll tasted better the next day, because the rice absorbed the garlic overnight giving it more flavour. Some of the garlic flakes were also rock hard. The chopped scallop roll was pretty average. The double spicy roll came with spicy sashimi on top and in the inside. It wasn’t too spicy for me and I enjoyed the spicy tuna sashimi, as well as the crunchy flakes on top.
Last but not least, our chicken karage ($3.95!!! WHAT SO CHEAP?!)! This was absolutely delicious. You think for $3.95, they would cheap out on small chicken wings but nope, these were the juicest and biggest chicken wings I’ve seen! They were super hot, the skin was crispy, and was perfectly seasoned. If I knew how good it tasted and how big the portion was for $3.95, I would have ordered this instead of one of the rolls!
Overall, we really enjoyed our visit to Sushi California. There were many servers working, and they were all attentive and knowledgeable. The most amazing thing about this place is their PRICE though. For $4, you can get their house specialty rolls and the size is not compromised. We paid under $30 for our dinner and we were in disbelief at how cheap everything was. I love Sushi California because their food is delicious, and it is easy on our student budgets.
-Carmen
