4372 Southside Blvd

 Suites 207-208

Jacksonville, Florida 32216

(904)998-8806

www.yummysushijax.com

Yummy Sushi

The caption on the take out menu is the Yummy Sushi is the “BEST JAPANESE CUISINE IN TOWN”. Well, I might have to disagree with such a bold statement here. I know it seems like I am starting the hate game early on this review. Yummy Sushi is not bad, so don’t think that I hate this place. But to be so bold as to say that you are the best is too presumptuous to say the least. Our visit was in the middle of dinner time and the place was empty except for 2 or 3 tables being used. This particular night had a staff of 5 servers and 2 sushi makers. The wait staff was literally standing there watching us the whole time. So, if this is the best Japanese in town then no one knows about it.

Dining Room

After we sat down I had ordered a water and started to look at the menu. The first thing that I noticed is that they were quite a bit more expensive than the other sushi mills in town. Sorry if that term is obnoxious to you, but from the front steps of Yummy Sushi you can visibly see 2 other sushi places and from the back entrance you are able to see the parking for another sushi restaurant. At this rate I would have to say that these are sushi mills. The staff returned to our table twice and seemed a little over anxious to take our order; it took a third visit before we were ready. My original plan was to get a couple of pieces of sushi and maybe something from the grill. When I looked at the grill menu and saw that an item that I usually order at other places was almost $5 more here, I decided to stick with the sushi rolls, a salad, soup and a side of fried rice.

Soup and Salad

The soup and the salad with ginger dressing came out first. Call it a quirk of mine but I prefer to eat my salad first, I had made a point to the waitress that I have an allergy. If I have cucumbers I get nauseously ill and it causes a reaction that will include but not short of vomiting. (Sorry if this is too descriptive for you but it is true). Well the very first bite of my salad had a cucumber in it, underneath the mound of ginger sauce. In this case I did not get sick, but I did not finish my salad. Actually I was now very alert and a little angry. If it had not been for the fact that I was very clear about the allergy I would allow a mistake but this was just clearly someone who does not pay attention, or does not care. The miso soup was good, tasty, and the temperature was hot.

Sushi

As the main course arrived I now was inspecting the rolls to see if by chance there was any cucumbers in these, there were not. My order was of a Dynamite Roll, Smoked Salmon, Egg, and a special roll that was on a second sheet of paper and not yet on the sushi menu. The special roll was called The Southside and consisted of smoked salmon, cream cheese, crab, then deep fried with fish egg, scallion and spicy shrimp sauce on it. This was almost my favorite roll but the Dynamite Roll was just fantastic. It had a perfect amount of spicy kick/heat to it. After I was almost completely done with my rolls was when the server brought out my fried rice. Personally I have an issue when your meal is brought out in stages. Now I understand if it is a dinner at a five star restaurant but when your neighbors consist of fast food places, you are not five star.

Front Door

Yummy Sushi may claim to be the best Japanese cuisine in town and there might actually be people who love it. Personally I did not love it, I did not hate it, but I will not go back again. If asked about Asian eats in Jacksonville, Florida I would list it as above average but that there are still many others much better than them. Remember we have so many sushi places here to choose from that you can be picky. Being picky in this economy is what I would advise, and since Yummy Sushi cost us nearly 60 bucks for the both of us (no alcohol was ordered) then you can tell that you have options.

Store Front

Any of the items from the hibachi/grill are going to run you over ten bucks just for the vegetable. If you want shrimp or chicken you should expect to be in the $15 range and for those of you who want the lobster or filet mignon you will pay between 20 to as high as 28 bucks. If looking to the sushi bar then you have the famous Love Boat for two that is near 40 dollars for the rolls. The teriyaki items are no less than $10.95 and as high as $15.95. On the plus side they do offer a lunch special before 3pm that is in the eight dollar range. The same items are available elsewhere for a couple of bucks less, but if you like Yummy Sushi then that would be the best deal for you. Take them for a try and let me know what you think, maybe I am just cheap (lol) I have been called worse.

Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com

824 Lomax Street

Jacksonville, FL 32204

904.301.1188

Mon. – Thurs. 11am – 10pm
Fri. & Sat. 11am – 11pm
Sun. 12:00 noon – 9pm

www.sakehousejax.com

Sake House

I was in the mood for Sushi and being in Riverside and not wanting to cross the bridge onto the South Bank, the evening found us at the Sake House in the Five Points section of Jacksonville.  I have never been to this location; I always go to the location on the South Bank by my work.  They are owned by the same people and refreshingly, the menus were the same too.  We arrived at the restaurant about 5:15 pm and there was only 1 other customer in the dining room at the time.  

Back Dining Room

If you have never been to the Sake House, there is outdoor seating on the front walk and a back dining room for larger parties.  There is also a sushi bar where you can pull up a stool and watch the chefs create your meal.  We were greeted with a bowl of mushroom soup.  This is such a simple soup, a light, clear broth with thinly sliced mushrooms and sliced green onions.  While eating our soup, we put in our dinner order.  I ordered a Rock n Roll sushi roll and a side of grilled vegetables.  Pie ordered sushi and some fried rice.  They brought the grilled vegetables as an appetizer even though we ordered it as a dinner side dish.  There was zucchini, summer squash, garlic and onions grilled in light oil.  We ate those with chopsticks.  I love the grilled vegetables!  I usually go to the South Bank location for lunch and get their hibachi lunch special.  The lunch special has a small salad, noodles, grilled vegetables, your choice of meat on the grill, and your choice of white or fried rice.  

Sushi Bar

Our sushi came out and we requested some shrimp sauce.  Now I don’t know about you, but I could put that shrimp sauce on just about anything; heck I could probably drink it!  I have noticed lately in restaurants that serve sushi, that the shrimp sauce is tough to get hold of.  Weird, they never bring it out right away, you have to ask for it and when they do bring it out, there isn’t much in the tiny bowl.  Forget trying to get more, it’s like pulling teeth! Don’t know what is up with that.  Any hoo, the sushi was great!  My Rock n Roll had shrimp tempura, imitation crab, cream cheese and cucumber with those little orange fish eggs in it.  Tasty.  Pie put the shrimp sauce on his rice and ate that too. 

Fried Ice Cream

The restaurant began to pick up and was actually beginning to get full.  We were looking for some attention from the waitress to bring us our check and she came out with a complimentary fried ice cream.  It was vanilla ice cream battered in tempura batter, fried and topped with whipped cream and a cherry or two.  What a nice treat!  We paid our bill, grabbed a couple complimentary mints (they have the best!) and headed home. 

The Sake House on the South Bank is one of my favorite lunch time places.  I am glad we finally went to the other one in Five Points and for dinner.  The restaurants are basically the same, good and bad.  The service has a tendency to be slow and not very attentive and they take the longest time getting the bill to the table.  That’s minor because both spots have great food though and are well worth putting up with the service.  They have a great lunch special and a diverse menu variety without getting too complicated like many sushi places do.  The average dinner or lunch is going to be around $15 per person, but you will definitely leave full.  Give Sake House, either location, a try; add a little extra time to your lunch or dinner hour and it will be worth the trip.

Review by Rhonette, email:  rhonette@piesplate.com

824 Lomax Street

Jacksonville, FL 32204

(904) 301-1188

www.sakehousejax.com

One of the old standards for sushi in the 5 Points area of Jacksonville, Florida, has been Sake House for the last several years now. When you visit Sake House one of the things you can count on is good food and inconsistent service. There have been times I have walked out on Sake House due to the service. Mind you, it takes a lot for me to walk out on any restaurant. But the quality of the food is always very good if not great.

Back Dining Room

 There are two entrances to Sake House on either side of the 5 Points intersection. With plenty of parking in the front of either door, you should give them a try. The door on the Margaret Street will put you in to the larger and more romantic dining area. Another feature to the Margaret Street side is the out door covered area to dine. Another reason for people to sit in the patio area is this is the smoking area due to the no smoking law in restaurants in Florida. The other door is on Lomax Street. If you enter on Lomax you will be able to sit at the sushi bar and watch them make your order right in front of you. The sushi bar is nice and seems to be popular for the happy hour crowd.

Sushi Bar

Before we ordered I wanted to wash my hands. When I entered the rest room I noticed that it is your standard small facility. The room is a one commode room with a sink. It is obvious that they wanted to make it very accessible for the handicapped. The room is clean and the only drawback I can see is if the place gets busy you will need to wait. I can only believe that it is the same for the ladies room. When I got back to the table I was happy to see mushroom soup waiting for me. As a fan of the mushroom I looked forward to the bowl, and I was not disappointed. The soup was hot and refreshing.

Usually when I go to the Sake House, I enjoy a salad with ginger dressing. On this stop, the salad was not even offered to me. However, I am not going to complain (this time). If you have read my ‘about me’, then you know that I am not a sushi fan. On this particular visit I decided to go the sushi route even though Sake House offers Hibachi, Teriyaki, Katsu and Tempura items. In every sushi place there are different names for certain items that may be offered at other places. What I ordered was the Egg (okay, this one is basic. Just chilled scrambled egg on rice). Also a JB Roll which is smoked salmon and cream cheese. The last of the rolls I ordered was a Jimmy Smith (named after the former NFL football player no doubt). The Jimmy Smith consists of smoked salmon, crab, cream cheese and deep fried with a spicy sauce on top. As a side I ordered fried rice and some shrimp sauce to pour over it. The staff never even offered a fork to us. For me this was not an issue, but to others, I can see how it would be. In my opinion chopsticks are not that difficult, but that is just a personal belief. 

The rolls took a little longer to come out than I had expected. But they were well worth it. The amount of food was perfect and the flavor was wonderful. One of the things I have not experimented with is the wasabi. It has been enough of a challenge to get me to eat sushi mind you, but on this visit I decided to put a little wasabi on the JB roll, then dip it into the soy sauce. Oh now that was good! This will be an item that I will absolutely have again. The Jimmy Smith was hot in both temperature and spice. The rice was a great topper for my meal. If you noticed I did not mention the egg item. The egg is always the same at almost every place you visit. The one thing about the egg and rice is that if there is a distinct flavor then you can be sure that there is a cleanliness issue there. You see, the egg will absorb any odor (good or bad) that may be in the cooler.

Tempura Fried Ice Cream

The server came to take our plates and leave the check. Before she left she offered us ice cream tempura. We could not refuse, well I could not refuse. Rhonette has the gluten allergy thing going on so I ate the outer shell and left the ice cream and whipped cream for her. Well, the shell was good and the little bit of ice cream I had was too. They did a great job on the presentation of the dish as well.

 This whole meal was under $40 which for sushi is not that bad. There have been times when I have gone for sushi with friends and it has cost almost double what it was for us per person. Now I will point out to you that we did not have any alcohol with our meal. I had a Diet Coke and Rhonette had a Hot Tea (which she said was very good). Just an FYI for you that the Sake House offers beer, wine and a very extensive sake selection.

 There are two locations of Sake House. This review is in the 5 Points area, the other location is on the South Bank near downtown Jacksonville. The location that we visited offers both dine in and carry out. They also accept reservations. Now I have never thought of doing reservations here, but on certain nights when 5 Points is busy you may want to give them a call. Otherwise, the hours for Sake House are as follows. Mon-Wed 11am till 10pm, Thur-Sat 11am until 11pm and finally on Sun 12pm until 9pm. These are the hours that are posted on the door. However, the hours on the take out menu indicate a two hour break from 3 until 5 on Mon thru Sat. I look forward to seeing you at Sake House.

Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com

4495 Roosevelt Blvd

Jacksonville, FL 32210

(904) 381-1777

In another blog post I made recently I said that Jacksonville, Florida had more sandwich shops than cars. Sarcasm was the intent there. But I do think that there may very well be more sushi places in Jacksonville than cars. Okay, only kidding. But it seems there are 2 of them in every shopping center. Seriously I think there are. On US 17 (otherwise known as Roosevelt Blvd) near the Naval Air Station is the site of Fuji Sushi. Fuji has been in the same location for a few years now. Within the last year they expanded from the tiny four table and sushi bar cafe into a full fledged restaurant. They now have a full dining room as well as a private room for 10 or 12 people. They have 3 HD televisions showing CNN, ESPN and movies and an open sushi bar that is available for seating. The atmosphere is dark with a cherry wood. All tables are booths with the only chair seating at the sushi bar. 

The server sat Rhonette and me in the front dining area. Interested in a particular football game that was on (and the fact that there was no one else seated in the area we were in). I requested to have the channel changed. This became a grueling task. When I realized the challenge that the young ladies were having I told them it was really okay. But they worked diligently to get the game on. For probably another 10 minutes they slaved over the fact that I had a game to watch. Really it was not that big deal. In the long run, they gave up which was a relief to me, because just watching them was exhausting me.

The waitresses shared the servicing duties of our table. The youngest of the 2 brought us a deep fried salmon skin in cucumbers. It looked really good; however, I have an allergy to cucumbers and Rhonette has allergies to flour and dislikes fried items. The appetizer sat there and the waitress eventually grabbed it and asked it there was a problem. As we tried to explain, we could tell there was a language barrier or she just did not care. It was kind of comical actually.

One thing I must confess is that I do not love sushi. Most sushi restaurants have now become more aware that they need to offer other Asian dishes. On occasion I get adventurous and order an item I am not familiar with. This was one of those visits. On the lunch menu that offers chicken katsu, tempura, sushi and teriyaki. I decided to try the Oyako Don. This item was a bowl of rice that is topped with chicken cooked in egg and onions. If I were to guess the manner of the cooking process is almost like a poached process. The chicken seemed boiled and the egg was very soft. The onions were strong and overbearing to me. This seemed to be a very popular item to the workers of Fuji. This was not an item that would ever order again. The rice in the dish was wonderful. I must admit that Rhonette ate the ‘topping’ of my meal, while I just scooped it off to enjoy the rice.

The servers were very kind and went out of their way to make sure we were happy. Rhonette enjoyed her sushi and part of my meal. When it comes down to it, I cannot fault a restaurant for an item that I experimented with and did not like. My plans are to visit Fuji again, but to be more conservative with my order. I do give my complete approval of Fuji Sushi and look forward to my next visit. Fuji is opened 7 days a week. They do offer an extensive lunch menu with specials, but they are not available on Sundays. The hours of Fuji are M-Thr 11 am till 10:30 and on Fri and Sat 11 am till 11 pm, Sun noon till 10. They have to-go menus, business cards and oh yeah, they also offer spearmints on the way out.

Review by Pie, email:  Pie@piesplate.com