Sushi Garden (Lougheed Location)

Hooray! First post on Blogger! 

Sushi Garden is one of my favourite sushi restaurants in Vancouver, mostly because of their cheap prices. On average, you'll only need to spend around $10 to $15 per person and the food is pretty solid. Of the two   locations (the other on Kingsway, across from Metrotown), I usually go to this one. Although parking is limited in the front, you can also park upstairs on the roof. The Lougheed location is also easy to get to via the Millennium Line SkyTrain (get off at Brentwood Town Centre). 

New diners to Sushi Garden should know that you need to go up to the staff at the cashier to give your name for a table upon arrival. There are signs around the seating area in the front informing guests about it, but they can be easily missed. There are around 60 seats available in this restaurant. During peak hours, you may have to wait about 10-20 minutes. They open at 11am from Mondays to Saturdays and 11:30am on Sundays. We got here just as they opened (you can see my parents sitting in the middle) so we didn't have to wait.

Alaska Roll $3.95

The Alaska Roll is a must order whenever I eat here. I even saw other tables order it so it can't be just me. Thanks to my awesome friend, Canita, for introducing it to me. It's an avocado roll topped with salmon, tobiko and sweet ponzu vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is really good; you don't need any soy sauce.

I love avocados and you can tell that this roll is loaded with them. The avocado with the salmon and vinaigrette combined make a very creamy sushi roll. It's absolutely delicious and cheap too!

Prawn Tempura $7.50

The tempura was pretty good; light and fresh. Nothing special to rave about. If I was eating out with a budget, I would grab one of their Tempura Udons which are only $5.95. The noodles are nice and chewy, and it's enough to make me full.

Salmon Sashimi (9 pcs) $8.95

We always order salmon sashimi for my dad, so here it is. The pieces are thick and I guess that's a good thing if you're into getting the most bang for your buck. Sashimi should be in thin slices, but I know my dad doesn't care. Half orders are available if you don't want that much. They give you a shiso leaf as garnish and it tasted like a combination of citrus, mint, and basil. It's a good substitute for the mint that restaurants should give you (especially if you're eating raw fish).

Rainbow Roll $5.95

The Rainbow Roll is a favourite of my friend Lisa, so I decided to try it myself. It's a cucumber and tamago (sweet egg) roll with mayo and topped with assorted sashimi.

I like that there's different types of sashimi on top because it adds a variety of textures and no two pieces are the same. I think there was a little too much mayo inside though.

Spider Roll $6.50

The Spider Roll contains deep fried soft shell crab and is topped with teriyaki sauce. The crab was crispy and I really like the presentation.

Uni $2.50 and Chopped Scallop Cone $3.50

My mom got the Chopped Scallop Cone and she says it was pretty good. You can see that it's loaded with scallops.

I don't eat uni that often, and I actually first tried it at Sushi Garden. Uni is very creamy and it has the slight taste of the sea. It's hard to describe, it's kind of like an egg yolk that dissolves in your mouth. 

In terms of service, I've had one time where the wait staff took forever to get to our table and we had to flag someone down before we were even got tea. There are obvious problems in terms of the service at Sushi Garden restaurants (according to other reviews), but in the end, they are (and will be) busy with or without you being there so it's obvious they don't need to worry about treating customers well (which is quite sad, but what can you do?). They want you to eat and get the hell out so other diners eat. As my parents and I were the first guests of the day, we given pretty good service. The kitchen staff is fast and the first plate of food was at our table within 5 minutes.

It does get busy pretty but an easy solution is to go there before the lunch or dinner rush starts (or after; although some sushi restaurants have closed hours during the time after lunch and before dinner, Sushi Garden stays open). You can order takeout as well. In the photo above, you can see that a lot of their business come from takeout orders (I haven't seen that much takeout in one place!). They were getting them ready as we ate and it seemed like the food sat there for quite a while, I hope no one gets sick. 

Overall, the food quality and quantity are good for the price. The menu is diverse including lots of sushi rolls (with addition to some Western creations for example the BLT Roll, and Fillet-O-Fish Roll), nigiri sushi, sashimi, temaki (sushi cones), starters, noodles, and rice bowls. Of all the times I've been to Sushi Garden, the service wasn't too bad; I have no major complaints. I'll keep coming back for the Alaska Roll any day.