Shema Sushi

As far as sushi goes in Rochester, Shema really takes the cake in my book. I’ve been to Osaka, California Rollin, Plum House, Tokyo Restaurant as well as a few others and never had a place with dishes that highlight the natural flavors of the fish so well.
I also suggest the Miso Beef Ramen and Beef Maki Asparagus and have so say the beef quality and flavor (Korean BBQ style) is really great. The Miso Beef Ramen is accompanied by fresh green onions, spicy garlic sauce, nori, sauteed peppers and onions and corn. All of the flavors really compliment each other.
Suggested dishes: Beef Asparagus Maki, Miso Beef Ramen, Hot Snapper Roll, Nigiri plate

The sushi here is fine for the price but I wasn’t really blown away. I’m much more a fan of bubble fusion just down the street. You’ll get thicker slices of fish and avocado. In fact we headed over to bubble fusion right after dinner for 2 more rolls and honey toast!
But, you do get waiter service here, while bubble fusion is a more casual order at the counter kind of place. That being said, food comes out verrrryyyy slowlllyyyyy. The restauarant was around ²⁄₃ full and it took 40 minutes for 4 rolls to come out… we’d ordered at 7:45pm so it wasn’t even peak time.
Decent sushi, but I’ll probably avoid coming here weekends or other peak times.

Insanely good. I got the sashimi, and for $ 16, I got an enormous amount of beautifully presented, delicious raw fish. The quality was outstanding as well. Having gone to sushi restaurants ranging from all-​you-​can-​eat to very expensive places in SF, I can say that this was a low-​key, but very enjoyable sushi experience.

Few years back, I had stumbled across this place in the town of Webster. So glad to have found it again! We had a great evening with appetizers, sushi (the Shema roll was great) and dessert! Definitely recommended. There is parking in the back but it’s $ 5, a bit hard to find off-​street parking due to the area.

Sushi is my thing. It doesn’t take a lot to please me or make me happy when it comes to fresh and good quality ingredients. Shema’s sushi didn’t fall short of my expectations. The food was good and our server was awesome. I had very little to complain about.
We had miso soup to start. It was your usual miso, but with a bit less seaweed and bigger chunks of tofu. The rolls we tried out were the Spicy Salmon, Philadelphia, Shema and Love. The Spicy Salmon and Philadelphia were your typical standard rolls but with great flavor in both. The salmon was particularly fresh in both rolls. The Shema roll was my favorite of the bunch– it was shrimp tempura topped with spicy tuna. Amazing! I would suggest staying away from the Love roll. Was underwhelmed by the flavor as well as the soft shell crab but that could be that I’m not particularly fond of soft shell crab.
Whatever you end up trying at Shema, make sure it includes the spicy mayo. Their’s was the best I’ve ever had.

Shema roll!
I have been here a few times and always enjoyed. The sushi is clean and fresh, a clear step up from the strip mall places. The spot in the Medical Arts Building is gorgeous, tall ceilings and big windows looking out on Alexander. It’s a bit pricey, so I don’t go as often as I might. I guess you’re helping to pay their rent in that great location. Even parking is good, plenty behind the building.
I recently went with a large group, and had a great experience (especially since someone else snagged the check). We all shared, so I got to sample many different rolls. All were good, the same quality I’ve come to expect.
I ordered the Shema roll, and everything changed. It as one of the most delicious rolls I’ve had in ROC, if not *the* favorite. I have fond memories of Plum House’s yummy-​yummy roll, and I think it’s time to do the Pepsi challenge with those two. The Shema roll is amazing in complexity of flavor, texture, freshness, everything.
My beautiful wife, who usually shuns raw fish, tried a piece after much coaxing. She loved it, proclaims herself a convert to raw.
There are some things I go out of my way for in the ROC: Grandma’s pizza at Joe’s in Henrietta, the steamed buns at Han Noodle, spicy soybean tofu and Chen Garden. The Shema roll is now in the list.

This sushi is the worst I’ve ever tasted. I ordered takeout this evening and when I got home I knew it wasn’t going to be good simply based on how poorly it was rolled. I’ve eaten in the restaurant in the past and had a great experience with both quality of food and service. Tonight, sadly, was a completely different story. The rice and fish had absolutely no flavor… Awful is the only word to describe it. I am sad to have had such a bad experience but there is no way I would spend another penny of my money at this establishment after this horrendous experience. This garbage makes Wegmans’s sushi seem like it was prepared in a 5 star Japanese Restaurant!

Very good sushi restaurant. Not really trendy or cool, but solid menu and food. A good place of you have other plans for the evening and are in the mood for sushi. We had the fried tofu and shumai to start and it was great.

I got the chef’s sushi lunch. Eight nigiri plus miso soup, and a salad. Very good overall. The salad was the only weak part. Seamed like a salad-​in-​a-​bag you can get at the store.
The sushi was fresh and nicely presented.

I haven’t experienced disappointment like this at a restaurant in quite some time. After visiting probably almost every other sushi place in Rochester (I’m a big sushi fan), I decided to stop by Shema since it is close to my job. I picked up my staples– Salmon Avocado (no cucumber) and Spicy Tuna with crunches and tobiko. While the staff was polite and the restaurant nice and clean, I soon found out they are seriously lacking a decent sushi chef. For the chef they have, these two relatively simple rolls were not worth a combined $ 18. The Salmon Avocado roll was $ 7 from what I saw on the menu, and the Spicy Tuna shouldn’t have been much more but I guess I got charged up the you-​know-​what for some stale crunches and a minuscule amount of tobiko.
The texture of the rice was unlike I had ever tasted, it was too mushy. Also, there was way too much of it compared to the amount of fish they gave. The rolls were cut horribly and the end pieces were twice as big as they should of been. I don’t think the Salmon was cut correctly either. The tuna barely had any flavor and wasn’t spicy at all.
I will definitely not be returning until they’ve announced they’ve gotten a decent sushi chef. Worst sushi in Rochester. For the best, I suggest Next Door Bar and Grill.

I came here a few weeks ago after work after reading mostly positive reviews, I sat outside as the weather was perfect, I ordered a few rolls and the fried calimari
the fried calimari was awesome and so was the dipping sauce… next up was the New York New York, it was ok, I didn’t quite dig the flavor, nothing «bad» just not my thing, admittedly, I asked for them to knock down the spice a hair, maybe that knocked down the flavor? still feeling like I could eat a little more, I ordered an unagi roll, it was ok, I admittedly don’t eat much «traditional» sushi, I’m definitely more of a fan of «California» style if you will, with that said, I’ll definitely be back, the prices are fair, the service wss great and there’s so much more on the menu to explore

Definitely some great sushi and it’s cute restaurant the staff was friendly as well! I’d def return its right in the clutch of the city!

Shema Sushi is all about doing the bare minimum, and trying to get away with it. The location of Shema is ideal for the downtown neighborhood, since it is right around the corner from Alexander and East Ave. (next to The Old Toad). Going into the restaurant was a lot like walking onto a blank canvas. The interior was unsophisticated, and simple. Nothing is decorated, and you still sit on the same plain tables and chairs from its predecessor before. Immediately I went to sit at the Sushi Bar area, where it was so tiny I was practically eating on top of the person next to me. Even a sushi roll accidentally slid off my chop-​stick, and splashed the guest next to me with soy sauce. For being only two people dining at the restaurant during this time, service should of been faster. The Sushi Chef was too busy talking to other employees in Chinese than concentrating on getting the sushi rolls out fast enough. At one point I was thinking, «is this lady serious?». Extremely over-​priced menu for what you get, and how it tastes. Just another restaurant exploiting its location downtown without thinking it has to try. The sushi itself you could tell was sitting in a non-​refrigerated cooler for days. I examined the coats of slime layered on the fish while sitting at the sushi bar. Here is a restaurant that is going to disappear into oblivion within the next two years.
SAKE AND BEER: For starters the drink menu is OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. Sake will run you anywhere between $ 13.00 to $ 20.00 a Glass! However, the Umeshu Sake tasted so delicious that it will make you feel like your in the country of Japan at Epcot. You can taste the premium plums in the sake, so that alone was worth the once in a lifetime $ 13.00 price tag for a glass. The sake comes from the plum named ‘Nankobai’ meaning big and soft (I don’t know how I feel about that yet?). Then I finished off with a traditional Sapporo, my favorite Japanese Beer. Sapporo is a full bodied beer that is not watered down, and double the alcohol concentration.
SALAD: The salad was very sub par, and flavorless. Besides a basic American styled salad, the dressing was the only thing that could of saved it. The ginger dressing was so thick and gloppy that you could tell it was severely broken. Too much use of mayonnaise in the ginger dressing.
SUSHI: I ordered the Green Dragon Roll which is smoked eel, avocado, and cucumber. The Dragon Roll was so small it could actually fly away. According to the pictures on Unilocal!,once upon a time you actually had multiple large sushi rolls to eat. I received 6 pieces that included two huge end pieces. Speaking of pieces, the cuts were horrible. The end pieces were too big to fit into your mouth. Every roll was uneven with huge chucks of rice sticking out. Inside the roll was very little eel, and a WHOLE lot of RICE. Plus I had flashbacks of the gross slimy eel I saw in the non-​refrigerated cooler before. I paid $ 10.00 for a low quality «mini roll», and could of gotten a better quality larger roll of the same kind at Wegmans. Unilocal Tip!- There is only ONE sushi dinner entrée, and it comes with 6 Nigiri pieces/​tuna roll.
Overall: Plain Looking Interior, Over-​Priced Sushi and Drinks, Umeshu Sake, The «Mini» Green Dragon Roll, Poor Sushi Cuts, SAPPORO!, Slimy Eel, and a Chatty Cathy Sushi Chef… I will not be back.

Disclaimer: I am from Japan, and I tend to be a little… you know, «judgey» when it comes to Japanese food.
Shema sushi, this is not operated by a Japanese owner.
However, I give them 5 STARS!
Their food was amazing. Quality and presentation were fantastic.
My server was also amazing (how many times can I say «amazing» in this review?) that he pronounced Japanese fish words really great.
He told us a little trick of when we want more tea, when we are ready to order so we don’t have to catch him but he will be watching for our move.
I had a sushi plate– which looked amazing, and it was fresh and nicely presented.
The sushi plate came with Miso soup– which was delicious.
I definitely suggest this place if you are looking for a great and creative sushi.

Service Was Impressive
First of, thank you Harrison for making our visit loads better. This gentleman was not only knowledgeable but kind.
First things first, this restaurant is Korean owned. I see many people are under the assumption it’s Japanese owned. With that being said, it won’t affect my review of the food.
We started off with the nigiri. We ordered Tuna, Squid, Yellow-​Tail, White Tuna, Ikura (Salmon Roe), and Eel. All pieces were very tasty, but I personally would have preferred thicker slices of fish on top of more rice. We then ordered a few rolls which consisted of the New York New York, Shema, and Red Dragon. Presentation was pretty standard and none of the rolls blew me away. To be honest, they all tasted quite similar. The reason I bump this score from a 3 to a 4 is as stated before, our Waiter Harrison was just such a pleasure. I could talk to that guy for hours with that lovely smile of his.
I do recommend this restaurant, but I don’t recommend the rolls. They sure look impressive, but didn’t really do it for me. And as for the nigiri sushi, it’s fresh and tasty.
Cheers!

Very Very Very impressed with this sushi restaurant! I am always on the hunt for a good sushi place and i definitively found one to add to the top of my list. Speaking of list, I should make a sushi Unilocal list!
We went on the Wednesday before thanksgiving, it was kind of dead in there, but that wasn’t because the sushi is bad, I chalk it up to being the holiday week. My boyfriend, his sister and I order 6 rolls, the love roll, snow white, spicy tuna, salmon, the volcano roll and I can’t remember the other. Everything was delicious! The Love roll and volcano roll were my favorites. Everything was very reasonably priced also!
All the rolls on the menu sounded delicious! I wish we would have gotten a few more rolls, but it was the perfect amount so we were not over stuffed, but next time we will be trying a few different rolls to see what the rest of the meun is like!

I would give this place 3.5 stars — we went in for the first time tonight and sat right away. A group walked in after us and was sat right away and then received greeting, drink order, and drinks before we were even greeted by our server, which was a little annoying but they were pretty busy.
We decided to get Miso soup, salad with finger dressing and edamame gyoza to start. Miso was good, I liked the ginger dressing on the salad (peppery and spicy kick!). My favorite part of the meal were the gyoza– they were crispy on the outside and a nice sweet and spicy flavor. They were a must try item.
For dinner, my boyfriend got a crunch roll and a spicy tuna and he like both a lot. I decided to get the hot snapper which had a little too much Korean sauce on it for my liking but snapper was pretty fresh along with the salmon nigri.
I would go again to try another roll out in the future

This is a decent sushi place with a really convenient location. Service is great, but the food is mediocre and prices are pretty expensive for the size of the rolls.
Alexander Roll — Nothing special, pretty typical roll with tuna and avocado. The spicy sauce is different than what I expected. Kind of tasted like a Koren paste of sorts. Tuna was actual tuna, but did not seem super fresh.
Shema Roll — Would recommend over the Alexander. Roll itself was not incredibly flavorful, and needed to be drowned in the mayo that it came from.
Green tea ice cream sundae — This is very good green tea ice cream. Comes with red bean paste and little mochi pieces. I would recommend mixing it up a bit before eating — the bean paste is on the sweet side so mixing it mellows it out a bit. Simple and refreshing, but again, nothing to write home about.

Went here for lunch with my brother, sister & husband. My sister isn’t a fish fan (craziness!) so she had a tempura veggie roll ($ 8) with added avocado and cream cheese ($ 2) and said it was delicious.
We also split an order of seasoned french fries ($ 6) and chicken gyoza ($ 4 for 4 pieces). The fries came with a special spicy sauce rather than plain ketchup. We liked the fries — they were fluffy with an especially nice crust. However the seasoning on the fries could have been stronger/​spicier for us. The gyoza were good. Dipping sauce was fine but could be better (spice, scallions, etc could be added).
My brother, husband and I split 3 rolls and the chef’s sushi lunch special (8 pieces of nigiri, chef’s choice, $ 14).
The chef’s special included 4 types of nigiri on a wooden board: snapper, red tuna, white tuna, and salmon. They were all standard but very fresh. Wish the chef was more creative with the offerings and mixed it up a bit! For $ 14 I wasn’t sure it was worth it — even though it came with miso soup (pretty standard) and a small garden salad with a gingery dressing (also standard).
The rolls we had were: Snow White ($ 9), Red Dragon ($ 9) & Crispy Tuna ($ 10). My favs were the Crispy Tuna & Red Dragon, but my husband and brother loved the Snow White (and everything else!).
Crispy Tuna had tuna, roe, avocado, greens and a crispy crust (not too thick). I loved the flavors of this roll and would definitely get it again. Our waitress, Rachael, confirmed it was one of their popular rolls.
The Red Dragon had smoked eel, cucumber and avocado with a delicious, seasoned chopped tuna topping. Again, I’d get that one again in a second.
Both the Crispy Tuna & Red Dragon rolls had a spicy, creamy sauce that was served with them. I like it and it wasn’t overpowering.
The Snow White had white tuna (not my fav), crab stick, cucumber and avocado. I found it too bland, but my husband and brother found it clean & refreshing.
I was interested in a glass of wine, but was horrified by the prices ($ 13 for one glass of Dr Frank Dry Riesling?!! That’s more than a bottle costs!!!) so we didn’t get anything but water.
Our waitress, Rachael, provided good service and consistent water refills (thank you!!!) even if she hovered a little too much at check time (we were splitting it on multiple cards, so maybe she just wanted to make sure we didn’t need help?). She was nice and helpful sorting through the menu.
Overall the fish was very fresh and we will be back to try more of their menu. The pics of house-​made food scrolling on the tv look amazing. We may order off that alone next time to try new stuff!

Plans for a night out on the town would probably be my deciding factor to choose Shema over another when I’m craving sushi.
I’ll start with the cons. The prices are a little higher than other Japanese restaurants. You’re paying for the Alexander/​East Ave location and atmosphere. I wouldn’t recommend going there with young kids. Not just to Shema, but I don’t think that area is kid-​friendly in general. Along with that brings up the issue with parking. I’m usually not so lucky to find street parking, but they have a couple of parking lots in the area that charge $ 5. Also, I wasn’t drawn to their limited menu (lunch — maybe dinner has more options). I wanted rolls, but the combos weren’t enticing for the pricing. Ordering a la carte would’ve been overpriced for lunch. Furthermore, I don’t recall seeing any hibachi tables so it’s just sushi and kitchen items.
The cons do not overshadow the pros. Pricing and parking is expected in that area. Shema is a trendy spot in prime location. It’s convenient to have dinner there and enjoy a night out within walking distance. To me, that’s the advantage Shema has over the influx of Japanese restaurants over the past couple of years. Even though they don’t offer some traditional menu items, like chirashi, they compensate with unique items such as Japanese fries and in-​house specials. Shema serves a decent amount of fish and it tastes more fresh than some of the other places I have tried.
I ordered the sushi lunch, which comes with eight sushi pieces and the usual ginger salad and miso soup. The salad dressing was unique. After a few bites, it reminded of the flavor of tuna fish. It was more textured than creamy like pureed ginger and carrots. It’s nice to see they are not skimpy on the tofu and seaweed in the miso soup, which was filled to the top of the bowl. There were two good-​sized pieces of fish: red snapper, salmon, tuna, and white tuna. Each piece dissolved in my mouth with a slight sting from the wasabi used to stick to the soft rice. If it melts, it’s fresh.
Service was a little slow initially, but once the food started to come out, each dish was out in a timely manner. The owner was very friendly when she came over to chat with us as we were eating the tootsies that were brought with the bill. As I was walking out, I glanced at a wall covered with photos of her customers. I heard that she brought this memorabilia from her old Webster location. She seems to care about building relationships and getting to know her customers.
This place is definitely worth a try.