| Extensive menu selection ranging from bento boxes to creative maki rolls |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 2/23/2007
Rating: 7
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After reading the glowing reviews from both ne00 and jsatre, I convinced 2 of my co-workers to head out to Cherry Sushi for a japanese lunch. We rolled in Chris's Civic as he weaved through traffic while bumping lil' jon. Good thing he was driving or it would have taken an addition 10 minutes on my Rolla. The parking lot is large so no real problems finding a spot but finding a table was much harder. Restaurant was going off as we had to wait 10 minutes for a table to open up.
Yes, the menus are something to see. These have got to be one of the nicest menus I've seen. With menus like these, were they going to stick it to me with the food prices? Yes and No.
If you stick to the bento boxes, the prices are reasonable between $9-13 pending on how many items you choose. Being the big daddy spender that I am and alimony/child support wasn't due for another 6 months, I went with sushi.
Maki Rolls, the 1 that we did have was super good, free basing tempura comes to mind. Chris ordered this $14 shrimp tempura crab roll (image 10) with a spicy orange sauce. The piece were gi-normous and too big for even the fattest mouths. I'd order again if I had more money.
tako nigiri (image 8) - loved it but don't remember the price. So fresh I think the suckers were sticking to my tongue.
This review is like 3 weeks overdue but from what I recalled, I ordered the sushi combo 1 and I think it was roughly $20. Not too bad for 7 pieces, it's doable. I made my rounds around the place through the tai, maguro, ebi, hamachi, tekka? The fishes were great but where the hell was the dab of wasabi under the fish. They were poorly formed and the rice portions were ridiculously tiny. Unagi was overdone to the point of being a charcoal. The unagi wasn't as bad as the salmon. There needs to be a some sort of sushi law, if the fish taste bad, you should be able to throw it on the floor and that was the case with my sake (salmon). Since the pieces are relatively small, I shoveled the entire piece into my mouth and it tasted like old fish or as I love to obscenely call it 'hooker fish'. Salmon shouldn't taste or smell like cannery row in Ensenada, Mexico. Salmon gets a 5.5 rating and would have received a 5.0 if I would have yacked.
To recap, bento boxes are a yay for the $10 range. The maki rolls are expensive yet huge. For the 1 roll we tried, if someone else is buying, take them to the cleaners as the roll tasted great. If you're getting nigiri or sashimi, from what I tried, I think you're better off going elsewhere for cheaper and better selection of fish. I know the other reviews mentioned awesome service but the service we had today was no where to be seen. We waited for teas, food, waters, and even had to remind the waitress for the check. Off days happen.
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 1/28/2007
Rating: 8.5
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Had lunch on 1/28
I went for lunch today on a Sat. They had this really confusing sign on the door that said 'Open on Sundays for lunch starting April 26th' At first my friend thought the place was closed, I had to get out of the car and check to see if the restaurant was open for lunch on Sundays. They are open until 3pm for lunch.
The inside is really swanky and modern. Like the two reviews before me, service is really efficient. They had one sushi chef behind the counter and two waitresses. Service is fast and waters are refilled when needed. It does not seem they refill on tea unless you ask them to.
The menu is gorgeous as Jen described. There is a photo of all the shushi and roll items, for the rest there are only a primary photo of the main entrees. The lunch special is the ONLY deal here. They honor lunch specials on weekends as well. The cheapest roll here cost $14. Yes, they are big and they come out right away, like 5 minutes after you order (given only 3 tables in the restaurant with one sushi chef). Rolls range between $14 to $18 per plate. Sushi is expensive too but I'm sure quality is good. The Blue Fin Toro was today's special, going for $13 for two.
My friend and I each went for the 3 items lunch special. Like Jen said, you can pick from a list of the items you want. There is something for everyone. I went with steak, salmon, and tempura. My friend went with steak, salmon, and chicken katsu.
Our food arrives about 10 minutes later. The presentation is beautiful. Even the miso soup is served in a trendy bowl with 4 round corners instead of the usual round bowls. The miso is just average. The salad comes with yummy home made creamy dressing. The salmon is crispy on the outside and flakey on the inside with a nice tangy teriyaki sauce over a bed of crispy shreaded lettuce, a nice portion size as well. The steak is cooked a little over medium with a tangy teriyaki sauce over a bed of crispy shreaded cabbage. Tempura had a nice crispy batter around it and the veggies were soft and juicy.
You can't miss this restaurant on El Camino, which is before Kiely blvd. There's a huge sign decorated in black and red. Great service, beautiful plating, quality food, efficient, but a tad bit expensive. I'm sure you could easly go all out and run up a nice decent bill here. They do give you a good amount of food though.
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Reviewer: jsatre
Total Reviews: 75
Reviewed: 8/22/2006
Rating: 9
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Finally met up with my buddy from NVIDIA for lunch today. She's been talking about Cherry Sushi for quite some time.
We walk in and I'm already liking the atmosphere. Waitresses in long black skirts and red tops, beautiful window decorations, lovely funiture... All felt expensive, yet relaxed. We are seated immediately (and mind you, it's noon). We are handed menu's immediately. And impressive it is... beautiful photos, and beautifully done. We settle on ordering bentos. I was impressed with their prices so far, 2 item bentos for $9 and 3 item bentos for $12. Not only that but Sashimi and Sushi are choices on the bento menu and they don't lump them into 'pick an item from column A or B' stuff. Nice! Just order what you want from the all inclusive list.
Our friendly waitress takes our order winin 5 minutes of us sitting. EFFICIENT! My friend orders the sashimi and sushi bento, I order the Pork Katsu and Chicken Teriyaki. We were served drinks and miso soup (good, a bit above average) in just minutes.
I like the ambiance here (feels lush) but the music doesn't seem to fit. Top 40 music was a little too loud for my ears. I noticed we had to lean in to talk to each other.
Our bentos were served within 10-12 minutes on lovely 4 sectioned white platter. Included was a crisp iceberg salad with ginger-miso dressing, orange wedge, Rice with back sesame seeds and our entree choices. My freind's sushi looked beautiful and she only had a minor complaint - the salmon was a little tough. I got a nice portion of pork katsu (tender, juicy and NOT oily) and plenty of tender chicken teriyaki (white meat)- very good and the size was just right for lunch. Plenty of rice and sauces were served as well. Service was excellent! Our water/soda/tea refills were topped off and we didn't feel rushed or intruded on.
When we were ready to pay, our bill came right on que.
I'm not a sushi fan but the bento box I had was delicious, a great value and I felt relaxed and well taken care of at Cherry Sushi. It was easy to forget we had to get back to the office. I only wish they'd change the music and lower the volume. A well deserved 9!
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