Mr. J Asian Bistro

This place is great. Consistent, reasonably priced, and the best sushi I have ever had. Lunch specials are a plus. Happy match rocks my world. Shrimp on top of shrimp and crunch topped with a siracha sauce. Killer.

Would have given it 4 stars if not for our curt waitress. She made my 9 year old daughter and I feel from the start as if we were aggravating her by not knowing what we wanted within two minutes of siting down. It was our first time there and we did not realize there were 3 cuisine options. This seemed to bother her not to mention her aggravated attitude when we could not always hear or understand her. Will go back only if she is not our waitress as food was very good and reasonably priced. One other minor annoyance, we had to box and bag our leftovers. Will order take out though.

Decent food but expensive. The staff are unfriendly and make the experience uncomfortable. I don’t recommend going here.

This place is incredible food and service was phenomenal. They treat you right and make you want to come back every night for dinner. The chicken and broccoli was great! Thank you Mr. J!!!

We tried to have dinner there this evening. We were two people and they said they had no table available. Looking around the restaurant there were two large tables that were not set which seated eight. They refused to break them up so we left. Obviously don’t care about customers.

Visiting our son in New Haven, spent a good part of the weekend exploring the CT Shoreline. Had lunch here after a couple of hours of kayaking. My drunken noodles were very good, although my wife’s chicken lo mein was a bit underseasoned for her taste. Son very happy with his spicy vegetables with white rice… We’d definitely return as part of another coastal expedition.

Absolutely love the sushi here. The service is always amazing, and the prices are extremely reasonable. If you call in for take out, the meals are prepared within a quick amount of time. The restaurant is clean and all of the sushi is freshly prepared. The menu has a delicious and wide selection as well. I come here regularly and am never disappointed.

Came again to Mr. J’s, but somehow, it wasn’t as good as the first time we went. Our waitress seemed pushy, kept asking if we were done yet. Most of the sushi on a platter we ordered was either tuna, striped bass, fluke, or salmon. There was a lot of striper on the plate, more than anything else. Kind of disappointing for a 30 $ sushi/​sashimi dish. Wasn’t a lot of people in there on a Friday night, just of couple of people at the bar. I think this place is slowly going downhill with the cheaper cuts of fish and pushy attitude of the staff.

We go here for lunch quite a bit and LOVEE it! I find that mongolian chicken is very hard to get right, well they get it! The Bento boxes are great Perfect lunch for kids/​adults Sushi presentation is cute, they light up the sushi dishes with blue lights. Staff is Ok most do not speak english well, but the service is quick

One of our favorite places. Great family atmosphere. Expertly prepared and beautifully arranged. It’s the bomb diggity.

Good quality Asian food. They’ve got decent sushi with some really good Thai basics. Great for lunch, good deals.

I’m confused over these negative reviews. I’ve been here more than a few times and have never been disappointed. I like to think I know good sushi as I’ve probably tried about 20 different sushi restaurants from Madison to beyond Hartford. My bf and I agree that Mr. J’s gives us quality sushi at a great price. The servers are very attentive… sometimes to the point where it’s awkward because they stand 10 ft away from you in a line and watch you eat. However, you know your water glass will always be full.
I once asked for a thai iced tea. I had never tried it before so it was a risk. I ended up not liking it and I guess the server saw my face so he ran over, said sorry, took it from me and didn’t charge me. I thought that was nice. It wasn’t that it was bad quality, I just didn’t like the foreign, sweet taste. My boyfriend and I come here for quick, quality service and consistently good sushi.

Mediocre sushi, but close enough to grab takeout every once in a while. Kid friendly, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese take your pick, and it’s always pretty busy with customers and plenty of staff. Extra large fish tank will keep the shorter patrons entertained until seated or the takeout arrives from the kitchen.

Love Mr. J’s! I always come for the sushi and crab Rangoon’s because it’s always so fresh!!! The only downside is that it’s a bit pricey. The shrimp tempora roll covered in mango is amazing.

Update Oct 2015: What I’m about to say reminds me of something my old boss used to say. And that is, «when you’re starving, even a cracker is delicious.» He was referring to the dating scene, but I’ll use it here. So the CT Shoreline area is severely lacking in good Asian food, in particular Chinese food. The only places I like are (in order) 1. Forbidden City, Middletown 2. Golden Palace, Uncasville and a distant 3. Taste of China, Clinton. Having said that, Mr. J hits the spot when in Guilford and absolutely desperate for edible Chinese/​Japanese food (I say edible because there are many places that are NOT edible such as Zhang’s in Madison which makes me run screaming back to Mr. J). Admittedly, we are at Mr. J at least once a week, whether eat in or take out. And yes, I gave the sushi another shot since I don’t have time to drive to Branford every time and the closest sushi is Bishop’s, which is barely ok. If you want the better cuts of fish, sometimes you have to order sashimi (hamachi/​yellowtail), otherwise you get a piece of sushi that doesn’t look like most hamachi you would get at any normal NYC sushi restaurant. As for scallop, stick to sushi, not sashimi because it’s a larger portion and it looks prettier. I know this through trial and error. Mongolian beef or chicken are staples. I’m giving back another star to make 3. Maybe if Wayne, the owner, steps up their game, I’ll give another star back next year to make 4.
Old review on Aug 2014: You suck on so many levels, let me count the ways. 1. your food is so mediocre (cooked or not) 2. you substitute ingredients for inferior ones and hope the customer does not notice. and 3. you are the closest sushi restaurant yet you suck and I drive to Branford for a decent sushi fix rather than have to eat here ever again. Did I mentioned I used to live in Tokyo and NYC? Yeah, I know good sushi and you suck.
OK, I need to give you one star back because your sushi rice is actually edible. And if you don’t substitute inferior ingredients, your sushi is actually edible. My friend went to Yooki Yama and had to throw out half her sushi because the rice was *gag* awful.

Since I tend to rate on food quality and service I have to give them a five. Décor is OK but it can get crowded in the seating areas.
I have now been there twice and can say the sushi and their special rolls are excellent as has been the service. Prices are very reasonable (especially when compared to the Boston area.
We will be back!

Alone on business I decided to sit at the bar. The place was steady but the bar empty. Took 10 minutes to order. Miso soup was good, and sushi was very good.
Servers are friendly but a bit non-​attentive.
Clean, good food, reasonable prices.

Pretty Dang Good :)
I went here for the first time a couple days ago. I must say this was a very nice place. We had a variety of sushi, sashimi; beef; bbq unagi. Yum! Staff was very friendly. The restaurant is very clean, very nice décor. This is honestly one of the best places in Guilford, and surrounding areas for sushi and the likes. I highly recommend it! Lovely for a romantic dinner or lunch get-​together. I like that they are opened late, compared to most places along the shoreline.

Only went here for sushi. Worth the drive to go to Momo in Milford if you are looking for a good quality sushi place.
Fish was okay… not the freshest and a little on the fishy side, but edible. Staff at the sushi bar didn’t speak English and couldn’t understand what we wanted to order. Rest of staff was plentiful, but didn’t attend to us much.
Not a lot of variety for special rolls… overall we weren’t very impressed and will continue to drive the extra distance to Momo in Milford.

We never came here when it was Shangri-​La but after reading about the reopening under new name and ownership in the Shoreline Times we gave this place a shot recently and loved it!
We were very pleased with everything we ordered when we got take out the weekend before last. I had the Drunken Noodles, my boyfriend ordered House Fried Rice, and we shared an order of Vegetable Dumplings. The Drunken noodles were the best I have had in a long time. Heat level was quite low so ask them to kick it up a notch if you like it spicy, but it had a nice balance of sweet to salty, the noodles were the ideal firmness and did not fall apart as they do from other places. Sauteed onions and peppers in the noodle dish was great, as were the chunks of fried tofu. I stole a few bites of the boyfriend’s friend rice and that was also very good.
On Monday I was in town for lunch so I decided to get one of their lunch specials. When I first looked at the menu I noticed a slew of attractive lunch special options so I made a note to try them once I got the chance. There are options ranging from Japanese dishes like tempuras and teriyaki anything, to sushi, bento boxes, etc., to Thai dishes like ginger duck and Panang Curry, to Chinese dishes like black bean sauce with any meat or sesame chicken. I ordered a teriyaki beef bento box. For $ 10: rice, teriyaki beef with vegetables, three pan fried pork and vegetable dumplings, four California rolls, miso soup, and a salad. What a steal! I have a big appetite and I couldn’t even finish everything in one sitting. The presentation was beautiful, too.
Since it was bento style, the to-​go container had separate compartments so sauces from one part of the meal didn’t run into another part. The rice was cooked exquisitely well and was fragrant, indicative of high quality Jasmine white rice. You may ask for brown rice instead if that’s your thing. The perfect rice was topped with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The gyoza’s, or dumplings, were also fantastic, and served atop a sweet sauce. Beef was just a tiny bit chewy, but flavored well and not overcooked by most people’s standard. It was in a tasty teriyaki sauce and surrounded by thin sliced onions, carrots, and zucchini. The California rolls were very nicely prepared also. It made me excited to try some of their other rolls in the future. In the middle of the large rectangular box was a small space for pickled ginger and wasabi while soy sauce was given in a separate container.
I am always wary of restaurants that specialize in more than one type of cuisine. It’s like what they say about people who are multilingual — that they aren’t that great at any of the languages they speak. So far I’ve tried Japanese and Thai and they’ve both impressed me, so I can only imagine the Chinese is very good here as well. I have a feeling that the days where we have to drive all the way to Clinton for decent Chinese food are behind us.
So far this one looks like a keeper.