Kiso Island Sushi

BF and I decided to randomly come here tonight after the Night Market. He has been here a few times (6 years ago when it was on Broadway and Main called Kishu Island) and this is my first time. The first thing I noticed is that the owner is really nice, friendly and told us we can seat ourselves. We came around 10:15pm so there was only 1 other table since they close at 11:00pm. Kiso Island is a Vietnamese owned Japanese and pho restaurant with friendly staff (sushi chef and the only waitress there). The restaurant is very dark with orange lighting and there was no one around so I was able to us flash (I have this tendency of being embarrassed to take photos of food).

THE GRILLED EGGPLANT, TUNA AND SALMON SASIMI, TORO SASHIMI, MANGO ROLL, RAINBOW ROLL, SALMON NIGIRI, TUNA NIGIRI, EBI NIGIRI AMD HOKKIGAI NIGIRI.

To start, the MANGO ROLL and RAINBOW ROLL. The mango roll is a california roll topped with mango and masago. The mango is not sour which has happened at other restaurants, or even worse it has been raw. I love any roll that is pretty much a california roll with shredded imitation crab. For the rainbow roll, I was kind of upset because it says "rainbow roll (avocado)" on the menu, which gave me the impression that it would be an avocado roll topped with sashimi. But it ended up being a california roll (like how a rainbow roll is supposed to be) and I did not want two california rolls. I wish they change the way it is written on the menu and remove the avocado in brackets since it is kind of deceiving for people (like me) who will think it is just an avocado roll.

The second dish is the TORO SASHIMI. The temperature is off and a bit on the warm side. The stomach lining is not trimmed too (PHOTO ON THE RIGHT).

Plus, I found a fish bone because the toro was not filleted, skinned and deboned properly.

The third dish is the TUNA AND SALMON SASHIMI. What originally happened is that they gave us sockeye salmon which BF does not like. When we asked if there is atlantic salmon, the sushi chef told our waitress to let us know they ran out of atlantic salmon and we asked if we could get all tuna instead. I guess because tuna is more expensive than salmon, the sushi chef brought a new salmon filet out since the 4 pieces given to us are closer to the upper body part (they always filet from the upper body to the lower body). This shows good customer service (especially for a restaurant like this, yes I am judging them!) and they were closing soon too. They could have avoided the situation if they let us know in advance they only had sockeye salmon left, but in their defence, they probably thought no one would make a big deal since sockeye salmon costs more than atlantic. Anyways, the tuna sashimi is a bit at room temperature and more on the warm side, but the atlantic salmon is very tasty, fresh, creamy as well as fatty (since it is a new filet).

The fourth dish is the NIGIRI (SALMON, TUNA, EBI AND HOKKIGAI). The rice is squeezed too hard and tastes mushy. We also ordered UNI but it never came and we forgot to check if they charged us for -.-".

The last dish is the GRILLED EGGPLANT. I enjoy the eggplant because recently I have been obsessed with plain bland eggplant. The server says it comes with a sour sauce, but I asked to get it without the sauce.

MY THOUGHTS

Kiso Island is not the best, but passable and good for cheap sushi rolls if you are in the area. The restaurant is clean with no ripped seats, the price is cheap (20% off after 4pm) and the employees are friendly. I think I would pass on their sashimi, but the rolls are safe. There are a lot of really bad reviews which kind of surprises me since I am a picky eater and I did not think it was that bad. Maybe I am bias because I love any bland sauceless eggplant.

Food: 2/5

Service: 3.5/5