Sushi Gen Restaurant

The replacement of the previous Japanese restaurant Hukuya Sushi, is now Sushi Gen. I was surprised at the high ratings for Hukuya Sushi... considering that most of my visits were not so great with below average tasting food and not so fresh sashimi. Sushi Gen is located next to Red Robin's, near Lougheed Mall in Burnaby. The restaurant's interior has comfortable as well as spacious seating arrangements and one of the reasons the only reason for visiting is because I saw a photo of their lobster roll on Urbanspoon.

LOBSTER ROLL, SALMON TERIYAKI BOX WITH A SALMON AVOCADO ROLL, SASHIMI AND SUSHI BOX, NEW YORK STEAK TERIYAKI, AND MISO SOUP.

MISO SOUP AND TEMPURA SAUCE, INCLUDED IN LUNCH BOXES. 

The miso soup has a light miso taste with a couple of deep fried tofu slices and tiny diced tofu. The soup does not taste salty but some may think it tastes bland, I personally think it is okay. The miso soup is served warm as well as the tempura sauce. The tempura sauce tastes pretty flavourful and has a slight sweet taste.

NEW YORK STEAK TERIYAKI ($16.00). The steak teriyaki tastes quite chewy and the cut has too much tendon which is unfortunate because I liked the sauce. The sauce tastes like teriyaki sauce mixed with something else and tastes really light.


SASHIMI AND SUSHI BOX, INCLUDING SALAD, TEMPURA, DEEP FRIED IMITATION CRAB MEAT AND HALF AN ORANGE ($15.00).

The salmon sashimi tastes fresh but also kind of bland and lacks the buttery as well as fatty taste. For the tuna, the proper portion of the sashimi is used - the lower body, and tastes fresh. Moving to the nigiri, the rice could have used more sushi vinegar and the shape was kind of odd. The rice was shaped like a pyramid rather than an oval. For the tempura, two prawns and one slice of yam and squash is given. The tempura has a light flaky batter and tastes quite tasty, not greasy or oily. The prawns are small but understandable for the price, and the yam as well as squash tastes soft with a crispy exterior.

SALMON TERIYAKI BOX WITH A SALMON AVOCADO ROLL INCLUDING SALAD, TEMPURA, DEEP FRIED IMITATION CRAB MEAT AND HALF AN ORANGE ($11.00).

The green salad tastes fresh but it is disappointing that a generic dressing is used rather than wafu. The salmon teriyaki tastes overcooked, slightly stiff as well as dry and has a light tasting teriyaki sauce. For the salmon avocado roll, the roll is topped with sesame as well as black sesame seeds, and has a good portion of salmon and ripe avocado. The round deep fried large scallop shaped pucks are deep fried imitation crab meat and tastes lightly battered and crispy.

LOBSTER ROLL, DOUBLE PRAWN TEMPURA, AVOCADO, CUCUMBER, CRAB MEAT, TOPPED WITH LOBSTER, TOBIKO, 4 SPECIAL SAUCE ($15.00).

Reading the description after I received the order, I noticed that the lobster meat is topped rather than put in the roll. The amount of topped lobster meat does not equal to one chick tail and the pieces are quite small, very… cheap to be honest especially for the price. The roll has imitation crab meat, avocado and two small sized prawn tempura - a dynamite roll basically, topped with lobster, sauce and red dyed tobiko. As for the sauce on top of the lobster meat, it overwhelms the taste of the lobster but to be fair, even if the sauce was not there, the lobster taste may have been very faint. For only $0.95 more, Yo Sushi uses a whole lobster tail in the sushi roll and serves a side of arugula salad which is a much better value, despite their other below average tasting dishes. The amount of lobster meat is so little that I actually thought of the possibility that the lobster tail was reused, but since most restaurants know never to do that, I am pretty sure they do not reuse them. The restaurant most likely pre cooks the lobster tails and separates them - a container for the meat and another for the empty tails. I am not too sure what they would do with such a great amount of left over lobster meat though (?).

POSITIVES

- Lunch boxes are a good value

- Friendly staff

- Average eats

NEGATIVES 

- Lobster roll is overpriced

LITTLE THINGS

- Sushi California is close by and for the same quality as well as larger portions, many would probably rather go there

- Some prices are average while others are slightly higher by around $1.00 - $2.00

- EDIT: Just found out about Sushi & which is located near by and the food tastes so much better with a better value!

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 2.5/5