Rain Sushi Bar

We have eaten sushi all over the US. I have never been to a place that was so wound up on cocktails and had no clue about food the sushi was horrible and tough. The rice really bad, no vinegar in it, no wasabi. Ridiculous rolls that were tasteless. They didn’t know what sweet shrimp was, thought you put sugar on? Really the worst ever. Wait staff had no idea. Not one Asian behind the bar, really another level of rip off. They should be ashamed of themselves.

There is no shortage of sushi restaurants in Cordova, and inevitably, the quality varies between these options. Now the sushi at Rain is innovative, creative and utilizes many different ingredients. While they offer traditional options like the California roll and the Spicy Tuna roll, the specialty rolls are where Rain shines. Some popular options are the Rain roll (fried eel, fried crawfish, cucumber and cream cheese), the Ghoulash roll (lobster, spicy crawfish, seared scallops, wasabi mayo and ponzu sauce), and the Atlantic roll (crab, salmon, shrimp, cucumber and asparagus). They even offer sushi for people who don’t like fish, like the Beef Taktaki roll (seared flat iron steak, asparagus, avocado, artichoke, roasted red pepper, sweet chili sauce and wasabi mayo).
Rain also provides several dishes for those who are not sushi enthusiasts. The white pizza (white sauce, goat cheese, mozzarella, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes) is a satisfactory rendition of this popular pizza option. The roasted chicken (with herb mashed potatoes and tempura green beans) is tasty, if a little pricey, but the filet mignon (wrapped with maple bacon and served with grilled asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and truffle butter) is much more reasonably priced for what the diner receives.
Where Rain falls off a bit is the details. Service is often hit or miss. I really enjoy the Rain grilled lettuce wedge salad, but more than once, it’s come to my table with the lettuce unwashed and dirty. The atmosphere is a trendy and can get pretty loud.
While the food is more than adequate, there are so many Japanese restaurants in the area that are tastier and priced a little more reasonably.

My wife and I went last Saturday, have not been in long time, but just finished at the movies and thought we would pop in. Tried to order drinks, but they were out of cold sake, most of the wines, and when they found one that was in stock, they brought it still corked (all of the servers appeared to have been just hired). We had to ask for a cork screw, which they left at the table (maybe we are spoiled, but the bulk of nicer restaurants pour your wine for you to taste first. or at least open it for you). The sushi we ordered was clearly not fresh (the tuna was a brownish/​greyish color and the salmon was not edible). We eat sushi at least once a week, and even the seaweed tasted stale. So left and went elsewhere for dinner. Too many other places with good food, would not go back.

This is my fourth or fifth time here and the quality is definitely slipping. The past few times that I’ve been here the service is slow and the waitresses don’t know anything about the items on the menu. I frequently have to repeat the name of something I’m ordering because they can’t even pronounce the menu items let alone recommend anything. Finally, last night the sushi rolls and drinks I received were sub par. The crunchy crab rolls were not crunchy (downright slimy in fact), the rolls were smaller than they have been here in the past, there wasn’t any Ghost River or Kirin on tap (even though the drink menu has these listed), and my first draft drink was half foam (I was told I would get another on the house, but I wound up being charged anyway). One of the usually nice aquariums was even empty. Lastly, we always enjoy the live music when we visit on Wednesday nights, but even the band had some issues and there was almost a half hour delay in between the first couple songs. The owners could definitely use a kick in pants to get them going again. I’m not coming back until this has been fixed.

Rain «premier» sushi bar & bistro needs to change its name to Rain «below average» sushi bar & bistro.
I have been hearing a lot of great things on the radio about Rain, how it’s a great place to hang out with karaōke on the weekdays etc, and I have driven by many times, but never had the time to stop in… Today, on my way home from work, I was craving some sushi so me and my friend decided to give it a try.
We walked in with an open mind, excited to try something new but BOY WERE WE WRONG! To start this horrific experience, the host, standing at the front right when you enter the restaurant was wearing a grey zip up hoodie… not too big of a deal, but when you’re going to a «premier» sushi bistro and you can’t tell if the person at the front is an employee or a nosy guest, it’s a bit of a problem… the girl proceeded to take us to our table, the restaurant was empty so she gave us a choice of table, so we chose a tall top by the window…
Looking through the menu I was eager to try one of their many sushi rolls, everything sounded great… We ordered edamame to start with and I ordered the Tiger roll and The Nemo roll, not much of a seafood fan my friend went with the NY Strip w/​wasabi mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus…
First the edamame beans came out and I knew it was going to be downhill from here… the beans, were room temperature and extremely crunchy, edamame beans are typically steamed giving them a softer texture, but these were obviously thrown in the microwave and not long enough…
After we finished our appetizer, the dinner stand off began, hungry guests vs. lazy wait staff… We chatted amongst ourselves and after about 10 minutes I saw the sushi chef put my rolls in the window… Meanwhile the hosts boyfriend came into the restaurant and was sitting at a tall table closest to the door, being treated like a king. the host and our server were bringing him drinks and refills and showing him everything on the menu… while I sat across the restaurant watching my food sit in the window… After about another 15 minutes, both meals made it to the table, although I wish they had not.
The sushi rolls were very similar, had the exact same sauce on both, not what I remembered from what the menu said and the rice was way too mushy for a sushi roll. I have had excellent sushi, and although I know not every place I go to will measure up I expected more than what I got especially considering the prices…
My friend got her NY steak and nothing about this dish was good… The steak was extremely over done and seemed to be a poor cut of meat. it had no flavor and was room temperature (guess it was ALSO sitting in the window for quite some time while our waitress chatted it up with her buddies…) the «wasabi mash potatoes» tasted like day old potato soup mush and the asparagus was so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t cooked at all… And to top it off even if we wanted to let our server know that we were not happy with the food, we couldn’t because our waitress didn’t check on us until we were ready for our bill. (No wonder two ladies came in and walked out about 15 minutes later)…
Although the idea of Rain is decent, the execution was overall poor. I can handle a little bit of bad service if the food makes up for it, but in this case both were horrible and I had to pay $ 45 (and we both drank water) … Definitely will not be back.
Overall Rain gets a failing grade in my book and I would NOT recommend it to anyone that I know (unless it was someone I didn’t like ha).

My husband and I were both very disappointed. The «techy» feel of the establishment and loud club music would have been fine if we were dancing, but not for a date night dinner. We ordered the bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer first. The menu indicated that there would be eight pieces, but what we got was six very small, very tough, almost flavorless shrimp that were wrapped with a small piece of bacon and had been put under a broiler. We had to constantly stir our miso soup because it was separating, which is something I have never seen happen before. The flavor was good, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was some type of instant powder + water. The sushi was the final disappointment. I’ve had better on buffets and from the grocery store sushi counter. The crunchy shrimp roll tasted like old grease and I couldn’t even kill the nasty grease taste with soy sauce and wasabi. The entire meal was sub-​par and vastly overpriced for what we got. We would not have batted an eye at paying the price for a decent meal, but this was just awful.

One of the worst dining experiences that i have ever had. I will start by saying the server/​hostess were friendly and accommodating when we asked to change seats.
Food-​not very good and the mussel that i ate before noticing the broken shell made me violently ill. my mistake for eating it, but more the mistake of the line cook who served it. sushi was only so so.
wait– it took forever to get our food and the place was not very busy
check/​menu-​only place that i have ever eaten that has a half page of legal disclaimers on the back of the menu and the above illness and below explain why they feel that they need them. we had to leave early since i was already queasy from the food and did not notice the irregularity with our check: the server decided, since we used a free roll coupon, to add 20% tip to a party of two. firstly she did fine and probably would have gotten that, or more, anyway. the part that bothers me is that in the aforementioned half page of legal BS it states several reasons for adding gratuity and we did not fit into any of them.
overall a terrible experience and i will be posting this as a comment on multiple online venues as well as warning my friends and coworkers.

I will start out by confessing we had a groupon for here, otherwise i prob wouldn’t have tried it. First impressions: The décor was interesting and even though it was a bit clunky and overdone in places, there was a «techy» feel in the air which reminded me of some of the newer European restaurants i have visited. One could imagine they were far from Memphis. Interior design: Plus one Lunch atmosphere was ok, but the bad music being piped in was too loud and i found it annoying. Service was polite and efficient. (They offer a cool way to order where you just circle your laminated menu with a dry erase marker to select from their variety of menu items.) Considering the fact I was in a sushi restaurant, I ordered the crunchy crab rolls and the crayfish rolls. While I don’t claim to be a sushi aficionado, it was clear the the Rain sushi just didn’t have a fresh taste and was not remarkable in any way. (Hey Rain… «Sushi» is part of your NAME. Make a note of it please) The fried rice was just the worst I have ever had, so save yourself some disappointment and avoid that mistake.
To be fair, another in our lunch party ordered lobster mac and cheese. I tried some and it was really very good. (this could have been because I was desensitized by my own dull, sticky, tepid lunch choice).
What could have been a four star experience, just fell way short. This place might be an awesome adventure at night with the DJ spinning and the spacious dance area hopping. It might be a lively dinner spot with their chic bar and a quick witted bartender. But for ME and LUNCH, it was a big disappointment. The difficult part of a bad meal out is the constant realization that alternatively, there are great places which focus on FOOD all over this city… but that is the price you sometimes pay when exploring new options. Maybe i should have hit them for a couple of martinis to lift my spirits because overall, Rain really dampened mine.

Ok this is rated for the sushi only. The fried rice was awesome. The sushi I am a vegetarian. The rice on mine & husbands was smashed & a little sweet. I have been to many sushi places. I would eat the hibachi & other things.

The sushi was good, a little trendy but nice place with a wide range of different types of sushi.

Woe! Woe is me!
I have been meaning to review Rain for some time, but I had heard that it had really went downhill from several friends so I figured I would give it one more shot before I put my «pen to paper» as it were. I am extremely glad I waited, because this past visit to Rain really matched all I had been hearing.
I do not like doing negative reviews, but I assure you that this is a (summarized) factual account of my recent visit. We showed up on a Friday night and the place was a ghost town. There were maybe four tables in the entire restaurant. This is a big red flag, but we were able to get one of the tables with the cushy chairs so I figured hey lets just go with this.
First, the service was poor. I think our server was doing his best, but the entire experience was a comedy of errors. First, our drink order came out wrong. Second, he put our sushi in as one seat, so it came out on one big plate. This is unacceptable, because my friend cannot have spicy food. So, it was a big deal (and took over ten minutes) to get our food separated out. I could hear the argument behind the sushi bar about «well you have to put it in separately if you want it to come out separately».
Once we received our food, I was missing some of the food I had ordered. Turns out, one of the sushi rolls I ordered was never put into the computer. Once it did come out, and we began to eat, we discovered that the sushi was bland and tasteless. All in all, a thoroughly disappointing experience. Another one onto the ban list, and its sad because Rain used to be overpriced but delicious. Now it’s just overpriced.

Fried rice was really good. I loved my sushi (Tornado and Philly), wife thought rice was a bit mushy for sushi. We will be back for sure!

I dig how the interior looks. It’s got a cool vibe to it. Honestly, that’s about the only thing I find intriguing about Rain.
The service is inefficient. It takes way too long to get your food. The servers are rarely around. I also think they are way overpriced for what it is.
For good sushi in this area, I agree with Rayna. Go to Osaka where you will eat delicious, moderately priced sushi.
I’ve also been there late when it becomes a «club,» which I just think is funny. This place is having an identity crisis.

I eat here often and find the food from average to good, but always fresh and well-​presented. The menu is diverse but lacking in creativity. The prices are bit steep and the service is a tad indifferent and slow. heads up — on Friday and saturday nights this palce turns into a «club» complete with bouncers in uniforms. It might be a bit of a shock for someone finishing their meal and the climate changes so dramatically.

Let me start off by saying that I love sushi. It took me a while to come around to it and to try different types, but now, I want it every few weeks.
I lived out in Cordova for a long time and tried Rain with a friend one night. It was great! I’ve tried several of their rolls and my three favorites are the Crazy Crab roll, the Lori roll and the Charlie roll. I could eat these three daily. The Crazy Crab roll is seriously crazy good, probably my favorite. It’s filled with delicious seafood and topped with an amazing sauce I can’t even explain. They’re hibachi and regular menu is good as well.
Rain also has a great atmosphere. You walk in and forget you’re in Memphis next to a Party City.
Why didn’t they get 5 stars from me? Two reasons: 1. They are a tad over priced in my opinion. I always spend way more than planned. I guess I should lay off the wine next time. 2. On either Friday or Saturday night (I can’t recall which one) Rain turns into a bar/​club. While I do like going out and getting my dance on every now and then, I don’t really care to do it after I’ve eaten tons of sushi.

Deplorable service. Overpriced. This restaurant has never heard the word ‘hostess’ before. Our order was wrong, our waitress didn’t know how to open a wine bottle, and she was too lazy to run a gift card with the total bill. Oh, and on top of that, she brought her screaming kid into work with her. This establishment was terrible and I am never going back.

Rain receives a lot of air time on Q107.5, so I thought I would try it out. I didn’t make it for the dance party, but I did sample some sushi, and it was quite tasty.
I had the Fire Roll, which is crab and shrimp tempura topped with a spicy Thai sauce, as well as the Atlantic roll (crab, cucumber, asparagus, shrimp and salmon). Both were excellent. There’s also a hibachi grill that I intend to come back and enjoy.
I do like the ambiance of the place, but I get a bit confused about what it’s trying to accomplish exactly. Is it a sushi bar? A dance club? A sports hangout? After all, they also host viewing parties on the big screen. Call me crazy, but I personally prefer to dine somewhere that I can simply enjoy a meal and not have to worry if a DJ will be spinning tunes when I walk in.

I really like the interior of this place — very chic. A good date place or special occasion place with the fam.
I recently discovered this place with my husband when we were out on a quiet night and I had that insane craving for sushi that one gets at random.
So, special occasion it was not, but I enjoyed my rolls greatly — they were firm, not mushy, and the service was fast. The place manages to be Americanized with out feeling like McSushi, if you know what I mean. Hip.

This is a cool, trendy new Sushi spot in Cordova that I’ve been to several times now and really like.
The sushi is very good, always fresh and artistically presented. But they also have a Hibachi grill with Angus beef, shrimp, chicken and sea scallops. And some great entrees including sea bass and even sliders and pizza.
With the hip and techno atmosphere here, Rain is also known for it’s bar. They have live music on Thursday nights and on weekends from 10 o’clock on, they have a DJ and dancing.

When I was growing up in Cordova, the closest sushi restaurant was the Sekisui at Humphreys and Walnut Grove. This afternoon, I ventured out to the ‘burbs to try Rain, one of several sushi joints on Germantown Rd.
Rain bills itself as a «premier sushi bar and bistro». The interior is dark and sleek, in a way that made me forget for a few minutes that the restaurant is located in a shopping center. The main dining room is decorated with brushed metal, blond wood and fish tanks, which give it a sort of lounge-​y vibe.
Rain has a full Japanese menu, but I decided to stick with sushi. I ordered two rolls and some crabstick nigiri (a big chunk of cooked crab on a slab of rice). The sushi menu is broken up into sections — there’s a list of basic favorites, cooked specialty rolls and raw specialty rolls. Each roll is eight pieces of sushi.
My Philly roll had big chunks of salmon, avocado and a cream cheese. It was tasty with a tiny bit of wasabi and ginger, but a little on the mushy side. I also had a Dark Lulu Roll from the raw menu. It was awesome — the roll was filled with crab, avocado and cilantro and topped with shrimp, salmon and sweet chili sauce.
Rain is open from 11 a.m. — 2 p.m. for lunch, and nightly for dinner at 5 p.m.