The text on the website sums up the concept of the food.
"It's sushi ... With a Thai kick!!!"
Translation: We're being upfront with you about the fusion style of food and are not pretending to be authentic Japanese.
This is refreshing! I don't mind fusion, not everything has to be authentic. They get a star simply for being proud and honest about what they are, rather than being one of those places that says it's Japanese and then you go and it's fusion.
"Irashimase." ("Welcome" in Japanese, misspelled.)
Translation: But sometimes we do try to do things the Japanese way, and when we do, it's careless and poorly researched.
I tried Sushi Studio twice since I really wanted to like it.
Good:
* Party atmosphere is fun when you're in the mood for it.
* TVs showing sports.
* Cool comic book menu.
* I wouldn't say the prices are great, but they're not awful.
* Girlfriend says the rolls with a million random ingredients are good. I wouldn't know. Haven't tried them. When I think of sushi, I think of raw fish. When she thinks of sushi, she thinks of avocado, jalapeno and cream cheese. I don't get it but I'll take her word for it.
* The food I tried was pretty good while I was eating it, not the best ever, but good enough that I would come back if it weren't for the below.
Bad:
* Bad aftertaste that was hard to get rid of. I suspect it was the salad dressing.
* Even the non fusion Japanese stuff doesn't quite taste Japanese. It's not bad, but not a real Japanese taste. If you know Japanese food you know what I mean. It seems like some important detail or ingredient is missing. Some people might prefer this.
* The first time I went, we sat at the sushi bar and ordered sushi. No issues, everything went fine. The second time, I came by myself and asked if I could sit at a table (the place was not very busy at the time and only one table was occupied) rather than the sushi bar since I wanted to order a cooked food lunch combination. Nope. Not allowed. Since I was only one person I had to sit at the sushi bar, even if it made no sense for what I was ordering. I was not at all happy with this and really should've walked out, but as I said, I wanted to like the place. So I sat down at the sushi bar. I said I wanted the salmon shioyaki lunch combination, and that for my side (lunch combos come with one side) I wanted tuna nigiri. I was told that I couldn't have that for my side since it wasn't one of the side choices, but I could have spicy tuna rolls. I pointed out that on the list of side choices on the menu, it says both "spicy tuna roll" and "sushi" as two separate choices, so what are the sushi options? No no, I was told, it means spicy tuna roll since that is the only kind of sushi you can get as a side. Again, I should have walked. Go look at the menu on the website and you'll see what I mean about sushi being listed as a choice. But I went with the spicy tuna roll. My meal arrived in one of those big Japanese compartment trays, and the tray barely fit on the sushi bar. Another reminder that it does not make sense to eat this at the sushi bar rather than at a table. After I finished it I ordered some sea bass nigiri. It was pretty good. The guy next to me also ordered some at about the same time. When our orders came I noticed that his had a garnish and mine did not. Oversight, or a little jab for having the nerve to want to eat at a table and then to order a side that is on the menu?
I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, both figuratively and literally. read more