Overall: 4/5
Walking down New Scotland, it’s easy to pass right by Sushi House. If you didn’t notice that one of the names emblazoned on the large backlit awning said “SUSHI HOUSE”, you could easily miss it entirely. Far more attention-grabbing is the attached “CHINA HOUSE”, with which it shares an awning (not to mention one with the same color, number of letters in the name, and font) and whose Chinese-take-out-standard giant picture menu hanging above a to-go counter encircled by large glass windows on the corner sends glowing flourescent light into the street. Not so surprising that the door just to the North, which leads into a small, quaint sit-down restaurant, is easily missed in favor of its glowing, attention-grabbing, take-out screaming neighbor. The little Sushi House is certainly worth noticing, though.
Upon entry, you will likely be struck by just how small the place is – there are only six tables and a small sushi bar, and the entire place seats a whole 26 people. The low lighting lends to an intimate, if not a bit sleepy feel. The decor is pleasantly Japanese, and from what you would expect having seen the outside of the place, almost “nice” (although certainly not worth any specific praise).
My date and I wandered in at about 9:45PM, and we were one of two tables the entire time. The menu was impressive for a hole-in-the-wall – 5 pages of sushi, sashimi, appetizers, soups, lunch specials, and entrees that don’t consist of raw fish, and desserts. The menu was reasonably priced – even the specialty rolls averaged about $8.50. The wine list was house wine by the glass only, they had a whole two beers (Asahi and Sapporo, of course), and they had a modest sake menu consisting of five different 300ml bottles (all $7.95) along with a cheap house sake.
The best deal in the place – and if nothing else the reason to go – are the sashimi combos. I got the imperial sashimi, the largest of the sashimi combos, which consists of 21 pieces of sashimi (chef’s choice), miso soup, and salad – all for a whole $18.95. I also ordered a forest roll: one of the specials consisting of white tuna, cucumber, crabmeat, avocado, and roast pork inside, eel, lettuce, and massago outside. My lovely date ordered a lobster miso soup (unlike many places, miso is not included with rolls), a holiday roll (crabmeat, shrimp, cucumber inside, roast port, avocado, massago outside, with a side of spicy mayo), and a spicy tuna roll. Unlike at many places, the spicy tuna roll at Sushi House is not just a regular roll of marinated tuna, but rather has an inside of tuna, cucumber, avocado, and crabstick, and is covered in a healthy dollop of their “spicy tuna” – a ground composite of tuna, scallions, spices, and their spicy sauce. A bottle of Yaegaki sake topped it off.
We quickly realized that we shouldn’t expect too much from the service since they never set the table with napkins and chop sticks (we stole some from a vacant neighboring table) and the first roll that was brought out was not the correct one (they took it back and got the correct one with little delay). Aside from those distracting but otherwise forgivable mishaps, the night was filled with pleasant surprises. The hot tea, which unlike the miso is indeed free, was very fresh and tasty, with the little bits of debris in our cups serving as evidence that it was freshly brewed from loose leaves. While my salad and miso were standard issue, my date’s lobster miso ($2.95) was “really good”, with the little pieces of lobster infusing the broth with the delicious flavor of fresh lobster. The sushi itself was well-presented and the rolls were quite large. Her holiday roll was smothered in generous slabs of buttery avocado and ended in explosions of crabmeat out the sides. As generous as the portions of avocado on her holiday roll were the portions of eel on the exterior of my forest roll – there were two sizable cuts of eel running the length of the roll. In both, I looked for the flavor of the roast pork, which I was hoping would be a pleasingly interesting addition. I never found the pork to provide anything but the slightest hint of flavor – certainly too little to meaningly contribute – playing more of a roll in the texture by adding a pleasant crunch to two otherwise fairly “soft” rolls. The spicy tuna roll was marvelous, and a distinct break from the “norm”, being both well larger and far more complex than what you may expect (although you pay much more for it as well – $8.95 – more than most specialty rolls, although they have a “normal” spicy tuna option for about $4).
My 21 pieces of sashimi were a pleasant variety – both red and white tuna, yellowtail, octopus, salmon, mackerel, halibut, and a little bonus piece of shrimp that was more a garnish than anything. Most of the sashimi was very pleasantly fresh and tender, most notably the yellowtail which I could have easily chopped into little pieces with a spoon. The mackerel lacked the quality of the tuna, yellowtail, and salmon, but was still good, however the halibut left a lot to be desired – it was a little tough, tasted a bit stale, and felt dry in the mouth. That being the only bad part, it was still quite a steal for $19.
Going along with the genuinely mediocre service, we were never asked if we wanted dessert or anything else after dinner, and were given the delivered the check, without requesting it, almost 10 minutes before we were done. In the end, however, we had a good, enjoyable meal for $57.19 before tip (it should be noted that we were undercharged for the sake – it was $7.95 but we were charged the price of the generic sake, $3.50).
If you’re not feeling too snobbish for the neighborhood and don’t mind dealing with parking on the South side of Washington Park, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by good food and very reasonable prices at this quaint little hole-in the wall. Even if you are feeling a bit snobbish but you live in the area – they deliver. Either way, it’s certainly worth it.
/CH
Sushi House
Dine-in, take-out, and delivery.
Tuesday – Thursday 11AM – 10PM
Friday 11AM – 11PM
Saturday & Sunday 4 – 11PM
Closed Monday, closed 3-4PM every day.
6 New Scotland Ave., Albany
(518) 935-2270
No website.
