Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Vancouver Sushi Dilemma



One of the strange dilemmas in Vancouver is sushi.  There are over 400 places to get sushi in this city and they range from $6.95 for a 24-piece combo to $35 per roll. Some have amazing prices, but not the highest quality. Others have great sushi at reasonable prices, but terrible service. Are you willing to sacrifice price, service, or quality? I have yet to find “bad” sushi here. I hope to review a higher-ranking sushi restaurant in a few months, but in the meantime, here is a review of the average Vancouver sushi joint.

Yuko Maki is located on Davie St. next to KFC near the 25-cent peep shows. The sushi is served fresh, albeit slowly and there is unlimited hot tea. My friend L and I ordered four specialty rolls and a seaweed salad. The seaweed salad came out quickly, but then there was at least a ten-minute gap between each of the rolls arriving. Furthermore, L and I were not sharing our sushi, which made it difficult when they first brought my two rolls and then hers. By the time she was eating, I was almost finished.

Despite the mediocre service, the sushi is always delicious. I ordered the golden roll (yam tempura) and the bagel roll. The yam tempura was crispy and warm as always with delicious mayo and cream cheese.  The bagel roll had good quality smoked salmon and was well balanced. It was not the best bagel/Philadelphia roll that I have had, but it still tasted great. Both rolls held together well and the rice was perfect. Overall the food at Yuko Maki is on the higher end of the average Vancouver sushi eatery.

In the end you have to decide if the poor service is worth it at Yuko Maki, given that there are hundreds more sushi places to try. Personally, I will be out trying new places and hoping that good service and good sushi can come together at a reasonable price.

Yuko Maki (Davie) on Urbanspoon

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