Looking for a quick dinner idea in Richmond, we stopped at BanZai Sushi House across from the Richmond Public Market. It was recommended by a family friend – I’m often skeptical about recommendations but I decided to give it a shot.
Food
As we perused the menu, we also looked around at our neighbours’ food and realized that their portions are pretty big. Therefore, we were careful about how much we ordered and hopefully just enough – leftover sushi is never good.
We ordered Tuna & Salmon Sashimi, and boy, these were some thick slices. We thought the size of salmon sashimi at Hi Genki was generous, but these were at least 2 times bigger. Salmon tasted fresh, meaty and fatty; I really enjoyed it, and I wish we had more to share. The tuna was pretty good too, but at certain bites the slices were a bit stringy. That being said, for $10.95 I thought this was a great deal for sashimi.
For sushi rolls, we had one of my favourite rolls, Spicy Scallop Roll (top of the picture below). Usually restaurants would mix in the spicy sauce to mask the fishy taste of the not-so-fresh scallops. Because they just put a dollop of the hot sauce on top of the roll, the fishy taste was completely exposed and it wasn’t very pleasant.
The second roll is a Tama Unagi Roll, which includes BBQ eel, tamago (egg) and tobiko (flying fish roe). The sweetness of the tamago balanced with the saltiness/smokiness of the BBQ eel sauce, and the cucumber slices gave it some crunch. This, I quite enjoyed.
I must also point out the fact that the proportion of rice to ingredients in the rolls was off. The rice was well seasoned with vinegar (borderline too much vinegar), but there was just way too much rice! It became quite filling so I ended up eating less than what I would normally have for sushi.
Service
It was a Sunday night and it was busy. The servers were a bit flustered and not very organized, and there was not really a system for seating people. But kudos to the staff for turning the tables over quickly so the wait time was bearable.
Final Thoughts
For the sashimi I would go back because it was a good deal. For $3.95 and $4.95, our two rolls weren’t too bad for the money, but it could have had less rice and better tasting scallops. Neighbours’ rice bowls looked pretty good, too, so maybe I will give it one more chance and try that next time.
Banzai Sushi House
#40-8251 Westminster Highway, Richmond
604-821-0355
www.banzai-richmond.ca
[…] $14 hamachi toro; a large order would be double the price), especially compared to what we paid at BanZai. That being said, they tasted fresh with great texture. The hamachi toro was fatty, […]
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[…] fresh, not too fatty and with firm texture. The slices were pretty big, too, and cost us $13.25. BanZai is still on top of our list for offering the best bang for the […]
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