As a Yelper, so many times when going out, you end up judging a restaurant on a small selection of their menu. Sure, you may not like their Braunschweiger, Horseradish Cheddar, and Pickled Onion Bagel Sandwich, but you would have loved the Roast Beef and Pastrami on Toasted Honey Wheat if you'd tried it; and now you've robbed the shop of a good review simply because of your choice.
Sushi bars dance on that line, with so many choices of rolls and nigiri, offering the option of trying so much in one sitting, but you can leave something amazing off your plate because of your choices. Regardless, when coming here on a date night with my wife, we ordered a good spread and touched on most of our typical favorites. And still, we came away disappointed.
First off, the decor is fantastic. Hyuga Sushi has a great dive bar atmosphere that I really love when eating at a hole-in-wall spot. With anime posters and figurines behind cases, it really is a comfortable go-to place to eat at.
We started with the Edamame, a simple pleasure anywhere you eat.
Next up were the California Roll and Philadelphia Roll. Both were made well, packed tight with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. But, the California was made with a crab stick instead of the usual surimi salad, making it very dry, without much flavor, and not that good. Honestly, even seeing them come out with a stick is always eyebrow raising for me as you know the roll will lack sweetness and essentially just have the faint, metallic taste of that fake meat.
The Squid Nigiri was better, great chew and texture with a good swipe of wasabi for flavoring. However, the Salmon Nigiri tasted foul, as if the fish was a day or so passed freshness. Thankfully, neither of us got sick from it; though I can't remember if the chef took it off the check after we mentioned it.
After that was the Hyuga Special Roll which led to a theme that seemed to run through the night. With yellowtail and lime juice it's very similar to a terrible roll we had at Sushi4Reel. There it was sour, overly flakey, and unappealing. Here, it was sour, lightly crunchy instead of flakey, and just about average; a decidedly marked improvement of flavor and technique. Not our best choice, but still fairly well done.
Next was the Del Mar Roll, something I wanted for the chew from the octopus inside. What hit the table had a flavor and smell not entirely unlike cat food. Like the Hyuga before, it was very similar to a terrible dish we had elsewhere that gave us the same thoughts of lukewarm, feline cuisine. Still, here it almost entirely edible, giving us our nightly theme of terrible food done a little bit better here.
Last we had the Hawaiian Roll, which I honestly don't remember how it was, but it certainly sounds good on paper.
In the end, an ultimately disappointing night out highlighted only by having those similar dishes we hated elsewhere being kinda alright here. If it wasn't for the rough start with the California Roll and Salmon, it could almost be a low 3-star review for me. But, the lows coupled with the high price tag at the end pushed it down to a middle 2-star review for me. read more