Sekisui Pacific Rim

THIS PLACE IS CLOSED. Walked here from my hotel only to find out they haven’t been open since Labor Day :(

Nice friendly staff. Only one other table oppcuied the restaurant at 7:30p on a Monday. Prices looked reasonable as I ordered, but when the rolls came they were extremely small. Sushi was ok, not bad not good. In town visiting for work, probably would not go back.

My absolute favorite sushi spot in the entire world. After living in this city for 4 years through college and then moving away, I have never had the pleasure to find a replacement sushi spot in other cities. Not even in ATL. Now being back for a little, I made sure the first spotI ate out at was here at SPR. Order the Crawfish Tempura roll and the Red Bird roll. Perfect pairing! The former is spicy, the latter is sweet. Service was marvelous even still after watching this business go through many transformations. Five stars, and so glad this place is staying on the down low these days with all these other shiny new places popping up around this city — keeps it a very comforting place for dinner without the crowd.

I Like how it’s half off on most of the menu after hours. But the service that night was not what I expected. We received our seaweed salad without any plates. I had to ask several waiters (one with rolling eyes, one who dismissed me and passed me to the Asian male owner?) to get the plates. One of the waiters who finally helped even admitted that their staff was ‘sh1tty’. Yikes! The seaweed salad was soaked in soy sauce and the cucumbers were soggy. The sushi rolls that we ordered were good but came out in pairs when there were 5 of us eating. Seems like they were dragging out the table time to up their drink sales. We did notice that other tables were being ignored and had a hard time receiving service. The sashimi was fresh and that was the only thing that was decent for the evening. Overall: decent for the price but don’t expect good service after hours.

A late night stop here won’t disappoint. SPR offers perhaps the most complete late night meal in town. Their sushi is always made fresh in front of you, and their late night menu offers happy hour prices on many items. The most surprising find for me on my last visit was asking the waitress to explain the Japanese dishes: my curiosity was rewarded! Katsudon is by far the most delicious thing I’ve ever tried here! Not only that, but it’s enough for two meals. Highly recommend this dish, whether with pork or chicken.

A group of friends and I were planning on having dinner here on a Friday night. I tried calling them multiple times to see if there was a wait and to make a reservation if necessary. Each time I let it ring between 12 – 15 times. I confirmed that I had the correct # on Unilocal,on urbanspoon, on
, on facebook and on
. On my 5^th attempt a young Asian man answered the phone laughing with another young man giggling in the background. I asked them if they were busy and if there was a wait. They cracked up laughing and said «No wait! You come! You like sake? We have booth for you! We love you long time!!!» I’m NOT kidding, they really said that. Extremely unprofessional!!! I’d blame a wrong # if I had not confirmed with 5 different sources that it was correct. Sorry, but you just lost a large ticket table and get one star because of that.

I popped in late (10:15pm) last night (Friday) for take-​out. I’d never eaten here but had heard from colleagues that it was a-​okay. I walked in to no host despite an aggressive sign on the host pedestal indicating to wait for one. After 2 – 3 minutes of patiently following the rules, I stepped up to the bar and asked to place a to-​go order. The behind-​the-​bar staff were helpful and kind. I ordered a Sashimi Deluxe plate (for 2). Just as I had, the host returned to his post looking flustered and gave me an unknind look and stand-​offish, «you looking for to-​go or something? Order down there.» I followed his abrasive directive to the opposite end of the bar (no signage, by the way) which must be the to-​go holding area. Admittedly, I was pretty put-​off by this gruff encounter. I think he quickly realized he had needlessly been a jerk because he soon offered me a water and complimented my outfit (nice to hear after a 13 hour work day). Had he not been so kind in his follow-​up, his gruffness would have made a lasting, negative impression but having just had a rough day myself, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I was out the door in ~8mins after ordering with a meticulously arranged container of sashimi, plenty of wasabi/​ginger/​soy sauce (no dinky packets here!). When I got home and sunk in, we were unexpectedly pleased with the quality, freshness, and generosity in the meat cuts. Next time I have a late-​night sushi craving, I know where to go. A big down side here is, obviously, parking… not an easy place to dash in and out of.

Went here while visiting family. Ok for the price. Had the Miso soup, which was a little cooled down. It was fairly average.
Tried 6 rolls as well as Nigiri. The rolls were pretty standard for the price point. Nigiri wasn’t super fresh but was good.
All in all a good experience, but don’t expect the same quality as larger /​more diverse cities.

My expectation was not so great bcz of some comments I read, but I ended up being happy with the lunch I had there.
Food was good and nicely served. You can tell they care about the layout of everything, from the food to the place.
Wait staff is kind and friendly. At some point there was a waiter that looked coming to work right after a skateboard match. He really didn’t look doing the right job, in the right place at the right time. Rather than that, everything was good.
Give it a try

The sushi was quite good. Fresh and tasty. Some creative rolls on the menu with the usual local names like a «UAB Roll» or a «Roll Tide Roll». The seaweed salad (a personal favorite) was nice and tart with roe on top.
My first choice for a beer (Kirin) was out, but they did have a Sapporo to replace it.
It was good and I enjoyed it. The only downside was that it seemed to me like the waitress was bothered by me being the only diner in there on a weeknight. Just not a good vibe from her. But the manager did come over and he was quite pleasant.

The sushi itself is all right, but what’s good about Sekisui is that it offers Midnight Sushi, which is nifty. Some of the experimental sushi items are just not good, e.g., a sushi pizza (which a friend of mine tried on a lark).

Went in for midnight sushi. First off there was some DJ drinking beer and playing bad rave music LOUDLY. I was yelling across the table and my date STILL couldn’t hear me. My seaweed salad was still partially frozen and the sushi was very so-​so. They also allowed themselves to run out of white sushi so I had to redo my order. I have experience this place when it was good but you guys have got to step it up and be more consistent. For god sakes get rid of the loud rave music or turn it down a bit. Also they offer half rolls but don’t offer them during midnight sushi.

Sushi was decent. I’d give it about 4 stars. However, I ordered the Charsu Don and the pork was disgusting. The pork was dry and over cooked and the rice was old and simply had soy sauce and onions on it. Was the worst pork I ever had at a Japanese restaurant.
Was in Birmingham for a week for work so was glad I didn’t pay for any of the meal. The Chasu Don was what reallly turned me off about this place. My expectation was low to begin with since I was in Birmingham for asian food… and it didn’t meet my expectations. Sorry SPR!

Great food and service. No wait, authentic décor and great prices. The CRAWFISH EGGROLL was DELISH! They’ve even got a good burger and steakfries (LOL who knew?) The SAKE hit the spot.

3.5 stars.
Always get the Tofu Japan for an appetizer and it is surprisingly filling.
Try the UAB roll. Crawfish and eel? Yum!
Stray from the Thai octopus, even if you are an octopus fan.
Service is typically good, yet a little awkward.
They double charged my card one night, but that was easily fixed with efficient customer service via phone call.
Prices are average and it’s definitely one of my every-​other-​month dine outs!

LOVE it.
Best veggie sushi variety I’ve come across in the Birmingham area, and delicious, too! Nice assortment of pickled veggie fillings in addition to the ever-​present «veggie roll» of cucumber, carrot, and avocado.

Surin’s loss was this joint’s gain. After non-​existent service at Surin West, headed here for some sushi.
Not sure what’s going on here, but this place has gone WAY downhill. Thoroughly enjoyed my meal here on my first visit, but since then (3 – 4 repeat visits), service was terrible and food had been sub-​par.
During this visit:
– Hamachi sashimi was okay. Pieces could have been cut larger.
– Conch sashimi was DRENCHED in sriracha; perfect way to ruin the true taste of conch
– California roll was average; could have used more crabmeat filling
– The softshell crab-​crawfish-​avacado roll had way too much rice and not enough filling
– The third roll (pizza-​roll) was gross. If I wasn’t so hungry, I wouldn’t have touched it after the first bite
The best dish this time was the Croquette. It could have been fried longer for more crispness, but compared to other dishes, this one was by-​far the winner.
I think this is my last visit here. I’ll just stick to Chez Fonfon and Highlands when in Birmingham.

There is no more lunch buffet!!! :(:(:(
The sushi was ok but not totally impressive (spicy tuna roll, spicy crabroll, and 4 assorted nigiri [salmon, tuna, whitefish, shrimp] = $ 11.95 for lunch special). Needed more gari on the plate.
I liked the small salad, it had fried crunchy daikon radish on it. The miso was nice and fresh.
Sushi chef at the bar was a young AA who spoke Japanese or Korean to some of the other staff but sounded like a native English speaker (no accent).
Probably won’t go back except to flirt with the cute waitress, Kelsi.

I worship salmon sashimi. If you told me tomorrow that it’s all I could eat for the rest of my life, I’d go with it. But it has to be good… Good salmon sashimi is almost like eating a slab of butter; it should be that rich and smooth. So when I first had the salmon @ SPR and it was fresh, smooth and buttery– I was hooked. They also serve it in a martini glass like a cosmo, which I love.
The rest of the sushi menu is good, keeping in mind this is Birmingham. You’re not going to find anything exotic here. The Jacksonville is another favorite with crawfish and just the right combo of spicy heat and coolness from cilantro. I usually finish my unholy trinity with some kind of tempura. It’s cheating a bit, I know, but it’s so good!
The rest of the menu is pretty good, with a decent selection without being overpowered by choice. I definitely recommend the tuna tataki, but be prepapred: you get a ton of tuna and they don’t skip on the pepper!
Service is completely random. I’ve had fantastic servers (the woman who is always there– I’m guessing she’s an owner?) and I’ve had terrible servers. The music is also completely random ranging from horrible club techno to Harry Connick Jr. Prices are fairly reasonable. All in all, it’s probably Bham’s best sushi place.

I have to agree that it’s the best sushi I’ve come across in Birmingham. They have some really unique and wonderful choices on the menu. Their appetizers are delicious! I can’t speak for the rest of the menu because I can’t get enough of the former yet!