503 Sushi Bar

I love this little place. Good sushi for the price, lovely atmosphere.
Service is fine, but when it’s slow, you may want to venture to the other side from the entrance to be seated. No blame there– it’s a very difficult layout for waiting tables.
They could use a little more variety in the fish, but I have no problem with what they’re doing with that. It’s really smart to limit your menu items to what can be really fresh– and it is very nice and fresh.
Perhaps as they get more popular, they can expand the offerings.
The hot sake is hot, which I love.
I’m really pleased with this find, and I probably should start trying other places. Great location, easy parking.

The owner is a complete jerk to his staff. In front of customers, he was laying into one of the waitresses for a mistake she had made. At the end of my «dining experience» it was time to pay. I noticed I was charged for an item that never came, so when I told the waitress, the owner began to lay into her again. I decided to have a conversation about how poor of a manager he was, but he then began to attack me for my confrontation. He stated that «it’s none of my business, and that I should not come back if I don’t like it.» I tried to explain how inappropriate it is to talk to his staff like that in front of customers, but his response was, «you don’t know anything about how many times she messes up.» I turned to the waitress with sincere eyes and wished her all the best. The rest of the customers watched on as the drama unfolded before their eyes. My intention was to have a quiet, low-​key conversation with him, but his voice escalated from behind the sushi bar (low quality food). Don’t support this place as the owner does not support his staff, and obviously his customers.

This place has AMAZING food! My husband and I came for lunch and we got: edamame, miso soup, tuna poké, peppered tuna nigiri, creamy scallops nigiri, French roll, Oregon roll, Dragon roll and cream puffs for just $ 28! Super cheap but delicious food. We moved from California a few months ago where delicious sushi isn’t hard to find. We are so glad we found this little gem!

Was really excited to try this place after reading all of the terrific reviews.
Pros: Very inexpensive, great people watching from the mezzanine level of the Reed Opera House to Liberty and Court, as well as the main floor of the Opera House Mall itself, fish was fresh, good rice, the nigiri was excellent though a bit skimpy on the fish portions, quick and attentive service.
Cons: The vast majority of their rolls consist of mostly crab salad and veggies with a bit of sushi on top of the roll and not inside, also, a lot of avocado which you would never find in a Japanese sushi bar, the Poke Tuna (listed as Porki tuna on the menu, lol) had the pickled veggies underneath some chunks of tuna, in Hawaii Poke is served with the fish mixed in with the sauce, so wasn’t to my preference, if you are over 6’2″ watch your head with the fire sprinkler system heads, almost clocked myself walking in and out, not a lot of spaces to sit at the prep area itself which I find to be the best place to eat sushi so that you can ask the sushi chef what is fresh, maybe get omakase instead of just off the menu items.
In general if I happen to be near here and need cheap sushi I would come back, but would be nice to have more actual sushi options, even if the prices need to be higher for those.

Tried this place on a whim this evening. I am truly surprised to see the reviews of how good the sushi is. I found it to be very bland and boring. Ah well… they have Sapporo on draft which was great!

Let me say first off, for me, when reviewing a restaurant, especially sushi, I consider the quality of food based on the price range they fall in to. In theory a more expensive restaurant should have higher quality food than a lower cost restaurant. While this is certainly not always true, usually, the price of the food is an indication of the quality of the ingredients, every now and then a restaurant exceeds those expectations, for me, «503 Sushi» does just that.
I have eaten at very nearly every place that sells sushi in Salem (on top of eating sushi in several or cities and states), and I have made my own sushi as well at home. I love sushi, it never gets old for me, it is always fun to eat, and I enjoy it, even if some sushi is better than others.
I have never had a problem with the service at 503, I talk to the two owners Kay and Sonny (Sonny makes most of the sushi), every time I come in and they are both great guys. They seem to have a harder time finding good wait staff, but that isn’t surprising for a newer restaurant, however, I have never had problems with any of the wait staff, they have never been rude, if not always as attentive as they could have been, most of the time it is because one person left and they were new. I have seen them go through a lot of waitresses, though there is one girl, Danielle, I believe is her name, she is fantastic, and I hope she sticks around. :)
The sushi is very cheap, especially for the quality of ingredients. I have been to several sushi bars in Salem and out of Salem that have this price range and their fish is not as fresh, or any of the other ingredients for that matter. Most of them, even for their price brackets, are around a 3, 4 at most.
I have eaten here about 15x’s since it opened I have never had a bad roll or had anyone be rude to me. Their special rolls are really good, especial the «Something Special ES», it is my husbands favorite. It is twice the price, but if you look at the size of the roll it is 2−3x’s the size of the standard rolls, and my husband eats that one roll and is full.
I love their rainbow and dragon rolls because of the freshness of the fish, and I love the crab salad they use in their rolls because it is not sweet, but rather a little salty and provides a great balance to the other ingredients. Their miso soup is pretty good, and the tempura is also always crispy and light like it should be. I also am a huge surf clam fan, and their’s are by far, the best I have had anywhere, they actually have flavor. Also, they do not overdose on the sauces like some other sushi bars I have been to.
I give them a 4.5 (I like to round up), for their price bracket, they are very nearly perfect, if they could get some slightly better and more long-​term wait staff who can really learn the job, they would hands down be a 5.
God Bless ~Amy

The sushi here is a lot better than other places I’ve tried in the area. Great flavors and low prices.

Love this place. Super good sushi for the price! Usually don’t spent more then twenty for my wife and I. Would give five stars but there is usually a long wait to get your food and the owner (or guy who seems to be the owner) is a little off putting or not very warm and inviting in other words. I still love this place though and I always leave happy.

The prices are great and the sushi is delicious! Be sure to try the volcano roll if you have not already! The owners work very hard to satisfy their customers as does the rest of the team. Very happy to have this restaurant as a part of downtown Salem.

Stopped to grab some lunch after a friend who spent 2 years in Okinawa gave this place two thumbs up. Here’s the skinny on my first impression…
****STARS****
SERVICE: 3.5
PRICING: 5
SELECTION: 5
YUM FACTOR: 5
The rolls I purchased for take out were Avacado, Unagi, Spicy Tuna, & Rainbow. They were DELICIOUS! Service wasn’t the most amazing, but I was in and out in a timely manner. I will most definitely be returning!
BTW, if you’re going to leave a 1 or 2 star rating (Danielle F. & Bekki B., I’m lookin’ at you…), please work out your «rating math» accordingly. Your shoddy rating skills directly impact small business owners. If this needs to be explained, stick to posting to your friends on Fakebook…

As is the trend with the reviews, the service was poor. It seems to me like none of the employees have assigned tasks: hostess, busses, server. Nobody ever asked us what we’d like to drink. I had to flag someone down to ask. They give you a form to fill out for your order, so the waiter does very little. Our Miso Soup came after our sushi arrived which was a bit odd.
Sushi was great though! And very affordable too, just wish this place would learn how to run a restaurant!

The sushi was fresh and very tasty. The employees at the bar are pretty funny so it makes the air light in there. Only complaint would be the sprinklers on the ceiling are very dangerous. Myself and my mother are 5’8 but still, there’s not a height restriction so maybe make it accommodate to all? Just a suggestion.

This place was absolutely nasty and I wasn’t satisfied with the service. The waitress had
to double check anytime I asked for prices and what the dishes contained. I don’t recommend this place for sushi and I eat sushi very often.

The sushi was great, we shared a spicy tuna, nigiri, unagi, a volcano roll and some shrimp sushi. The sushi was fresh and tasty. A couple of the rolls had a little too much of the mayo sauce on top, but that’s easy enough to scrape off. There appeared to just be 3 people working, the chef and 2 servers. The waitress was literally running between the bar and the tables. She was friendly, but I think they might want to get an extra set of hands there if this is the norm. The prices were great, though, so I can’t complain. We will definitely be back.

I am so glad this place opened. Downtown Salem was in need of a good sushi place.
The sushi is fantastic, the owner is friendly and the prices are very reasonable.
I have been back a few times and will definitely return in the future!

Came back here for dinner since I happened to be downtown and wanted a Sapporo. Was by myself so I sat at the bar. Took about 10 minutes before I was even acknowledged. Realize the chef’s busy but a simple «We’ll be with you in a moment» would be nice. Got my beer. But after that, I wasn’t asked for my order at all for at least another 10 minutes. Just sat bored on my phone the entire time until I was demanded to «talk and order what you want». Awkward. Now there is a reason why I stuck around. The sushi is very good. Fish is fresh and the rice is nice and vinegary, which a lot of places forget. So that’s why the place doesn’t get 1 star. I would’ve rolled this up to four stars if the chef didn’t mistake me for a woman and call me «she» the entire time, which was… unneeded. He apparently didn’t notice the giant M on my ID card, which should speak for itself.
Can’t imagine this will turn into my regular joint, all things considered. If you’re dining by yourself, consider takeout.

This place is VERY delicious! And the prices are so cheap! It’s amazing. I don’t personally eat sushi, but my husband does; so if he says it’s good sushi, it’s good sushi. I did have the chicken bowl tho, and that was super delicious too.
They could do a little bit more with the atmosphere, but everything else is wonderful. I will be coming back here again.

I love this place! I visited 503 Sushi Bar for the first time today and was so incredibly impressed. The girl who served me gave me the run down on how to order and was very sweet. After I ordered I only waited maybe 5 – 8 minutes for my food (a spider roll and one other roll) which is really impressive for freshly made sushi!
Sushi was delicious and while I was eating the owner Kay came over and talked with me. He asked me about myself and was incredibly nice! I found out he has 7 years experience making sushi and the other chef has 15 years! It definitely shows because their sushi is not only delicious but also beautifully prepared.
I will definitely be a returning customer and recommending this place to all of my friends and family! They went above and beyond to provide excellent customer service and it definitely paid off

The sushi here is as good as the best in town and the prices are cheap. Service is fast, and the place is in the cool/​funky Reed Opera house right downtown. It’s almost the 2^nd floor and most of the tables are on the outside wall so you get an interesting view of busy downtown Salem, which is kind of neat to watch.
I’ve come here three times now and the most recent visit, the salmon rice bowl isn’t as good as it used to be; although there’s still a decent amount of fish, it’s now fried instead of grilled, and there was virtually no seasoning or sauce. Hopefully that was a fluke because their previous rice bowls were great.
The only other complaint I can think of is that the ceiling’s really low so if you’re over 6′, watch out for the sprinklers and lamps :-)

Great sushi, and affordable too, a must try!
We have been here twice since the grand opening the food has been great both times the service has been awesome everyone is very friendly and the prices are very good so this is our new sushi place… we have tried almost everyone in town and this us our new favorite. It is on Court Street in the Reed Opera House.