Sushi Alive West Chase

So good! The food was good and the service was good. Love the appetizers and the sushi menu

This place has it together now, service is very good, sushi portion is big enough and best tasting in town, half off apps after 9 pm are good, saki sangria 2 for 1 is ok. Love the modern clean atmosphere!

Surprise! This place isn’t all that good. Shocking, I know.
I want this place to succeed, I really do. Nice layout, cheery and prompt service, but… the sushi tastes like day old grocery store sushi.
I’m too lazy to describe it, but the CA roll, Alaska roll, Rainbow roll and smoked salmon nigiri just didn’t taste right. Specifically, the smoked salmon looked slightly slimy. We didn’t even finish our meal.
To note, the average person around here isn’t looking for bargain sushi, so just do it right or don’t bother.

Awesome fresh sushi!!! My husband and I love to come here when we are craving sushi since their rolls are very unique and yummy. This new location is clean, big and inviting. Service is great !! If you go here try to order the spaicy seafood soup!!! You will not be disappointed!

Great ambience and good place for happy hour. They do a lot of good rolls for $ 4 and half off beers.

Lettuce wraps are amazing and the rest is par. They have done a great job transforming this place into a trendy sushi spot, but we are not big fans of the food. Since it is in such a convenient location for us, we will go here (dine-​in or take-​out) for the lettuce wraps only. We have made our way around the menu, but have not been impressed with anything else.
For truly good sushi we head to Origami on Waters.

Upon entering the restaurant we were asked to wait, but I saw many seats unoccupied. The wait only 5 minutes and we were escorted to our table rather quick. Our waitress greeted us got our drinks order and came back with the drinks within 10 minutes. We ordered a sashimi bowl, Mexican roll and volcano roll. The food did take almost 30 minutes to come out. which is why I only give 4 stars. The sushi was great, very fresh the thin lemon slices that was paired with the sashimi bowl was a great addition. Will be back, even though service was slower than I would like.

I’m new to the area and was told by several co-​workers to try this restaurant. The service was superb. Our waitress was Amber and she was extremely nice and welcoming. The atmosphere was pleasant and the food itself was really good except for the wonton soup. I tried the Mexican roll and my favorite, the Philadelphia roll. A definite must if you’re in the area!

We arrived in time for happy hour. Score! We had no idea! Awesome smoked salmon! Great rolls and sushi! Jasmine Tea! (or green! Yum!)
We also ordered the Phở No Vietnamese soup and the Udon Tempura soup. The Phở is great! Very delicious. The Doshi Broth the udon is served in is revolting, but you can ask for miso broth instead.
Sushi service is a bit slow during Happy hour, but that is to be expected for such awesome prices. Staff was attentive and when I asked for more tea, they brought out a fresh pot rather than reuse the teabag. (i hate it when restaurants do that)
We will definitely be back!

Went here on a Monday night for a date. Sushi Alive is a hip looking sushi bar with lots of indoor and outdoor seating, televisions, and ambiance that makes for a good nighttime dinner party spot. It wasn’t busy that night, but there were lots of staff working at the time.
They have lunch specials on Weekdays from 11– 3 pm, and happy hour specials from 5 — 7 pm.
The staff were very friendly, yet inexperienced. Our waitress bumbled with our food requests (she didn’t know what uni was, so she had to go to the kitchen to ask) and we had to repeat our orders, which just seems like she wasn’t familiar with the menu yet. With some proper training, this can help the restaurant run smoother.
I enjoyed the food, and the sushi portions are HUGE! I was most impressed by the generous cuts of sushi, which is priced competitively with other sushi restaurants. We ordered:
— Braised Sirloin Negimaki — steak sirloin topped with asparagus, shitake, carrots, scallions, crispoy onions, teriyaki glaze. This was my boyfriend’s favorite appetizer. The steak is cooked juicy and tender, and I had to soak up every drop of the teriyaki glaze. A MUST order!
— Sashimi Dinner — tuna, yellowtail, salmon, whitefish, octopus, steamed shrimp, krabstick. The cuts of meat are huge! Definitely get the most food for the money, and if you are limiting your carb intake, the sashimi dinner is the thing to order!
— Jade Dragon Roll — crawfish salad, avocado and cucumber, topped with tuna, wasabi tobiko, tempura chips, scallions, and atomic aioli. My boyfriend’s roll. It has a small spicy kick, and also a nice crunch when you bite into it.
— Lollipop Roll — Tuna, salmon, krabstick, asparagus, avocado, scallions, smelt roe, wrapped in cucumber sheet with sunomono sauce. I love cucumber rolls, and the taste is there, but this one is wrapped very messily. It is served with a skewer, but most of the pieces fell off onto the place, and I had to eat the pieces with my chopstick. The sunomono sauce (like a light sweet vinegar) is very tasty and refreshing.
Ask your server for specialty sushi too. We asked for an uni roll, which is one of my favorite fish. They made it for us, even though it wasn’t listed on the menu.
I had a great time at dinner. Fresh sushi and a modern atmosphere. I wouldn’t mind returning for a sushi fix.

Since I was by myself, I sat at the sushi bar. Then I had to go back to the hostess stand to get a menu from the hostess who said she would bring it to me. Back to the sushi bar and waited. and waited…
Finally the sushi chef, who could tell no one had come over, was like — what would you like? I gave him my order for the lunch sushi/​sashimi bento box.
Another minute goes by, then a waitress came up to me and was like, what can I get for you? So I gave her my order for the lunch sushi/​sashimi bento box. She leaves, and moments later, yet another waitress comes over and was like, what can I get for you? So I gave her my order for the lunch sushi/​sashimi bento box. True story!
The bento box actually took no time at all to arrive, and while I really did like the flavor of the sashimi, the actual contents of the box was pretty sad. 3 pieces of ‘sushi’ (egg, shrimp, and krab), 3 thin slices of sashimi, cucumber salad, and 4 pieces of a roll. The bento boxes are supposed to come with salad first, which I got after flagging one of my many waitresses down, after I received my meal. The salad was drenched in dressing, and the dressing was very garlicky and not very gingery.
I would go back to try some of their specialty rolls, but that bento box would not draw me back for lunch.

This new location will succeed.
Having experienced the old location, i think the new building is gorgeous with an intelligent layout. Much more seating, half the bar opens to outdoor portion that is roofed. The new sushi bar is an island in center with more surface area.
They have had growing pains, probably with new staffing to accommodate a larger space. That being said I saw a lot of familiar faces.
I never thought that they offered the very best sushi. Just that they have struck the best balance between price and quality. Tonight we were served by Brandi and the service was fast and attentive. We sat at the sushi bar and our sushi chef was Ray, a veteran sushi chef from the older location. Because my friend was in town he included some mochi ice cream into the tempura ice cream dessert. It was a nice touch.
The food and service that I experienced was as good as I remember it to be. Very surprising that some Unilocalers have had issues, so I’m sending all positive energy and good vibrations. Sushi Alive needs to remain an exceptional foodie landmark.
P. S. half priced appetizers after 8.

Had a wonderful lunch here today! The tempura bagel roll is perfect, and the eel roll was delicious. I liked that the rolls seemed to be a little more compact/​dense, with just a thin layer of race as opposed to how some places seem to bulk up the rolls with rice. The $ 10 lunch special is a total steal. I really enjoyed the salad as well.
We shared the crème brûlée for dessert which was a little bit soupy, but I’ll let it slide because it still tasted great. It was a little pricey at $ 9, that’s almost another lunch special right there, so I don’t think I would order it again.
Sitting outside was super relaxing, they have a nice fountain going and great music playing. Nice spot for a quiet date. And our waitress (I believe her name was Carrie) was very quick and happy to offer suggestions.
I would compare it to Samurai Blue down the street, but there’s no comparison. This place blows Samurai Blue out of the water in every way.
I definitely recommend this place for lunch. I hope to check out the happy hour soon and will update when I do :)

Great service from Carrie and nice relaxing ambience in the outside patio. Wife and I had the $ 10 lunch special. We tried the Gator, Arizona, Eel, and Tempura bagel rolls. All of them were delicious and decent portions for a lunch special. I also had the Tyku Coconut Saketini which was very good.
Overall I would highly recommend coming here for lunch!

Had a wonderful lunch here today! The tempura bagel roll is perfect, and the eel roll was delicious. I liked that the rolls seemed to be a little more compact/​dense, with just a thin layer of rice as opposed to how some places seem to bulk up the rolls with rice. The $ 10 lunch special is a total steal. I really enjoyed the salad as well.
We shared the crème brûlée for dessert which was a little bit soupy, but I’ll let it slide because it still tasted great. It was a little pricey at $ 9, that’s almost another lunch special right there, so I don’t think I would order it again.
Sitting outside was super relaxing, they have a nice fountain going and great music playing. Nice spot for a quiet date. And our waitress (I believe her name was Carrie) was very quick and happy to offer suggestions.
I would compare it to Samurai Blue down the street, but there’s no comparison. This place blows Samurai Blue out of the water in every way.
I definitely recommend this place for lunch. I hope to check out the happy hour soon and will update when I do :)

Man. Second time here. Ordered the miso soup & house salad to start. The ginger dressing was overpowered with garlic, and the miso soup was over spiced as well. The gator roll, spicy tuna roll and octopus Nigeria were adequate, but did not make up for the slllllooooooowwwww service. At least it was cheap due to happy hour, so I guess the experience met those expectations. You get what you pay for.
Next time I’m choosing Samauri Blue.
PS. I can still taste the garlic from the salad dressing even with a full spicy tuna roll in my mouth.

This place is horrible. Thank god I got take out. Been here for 15 minutes and called my order in a hour ago. I usually don’t complain but this is the third time in a row. Once at the restaurant and twice for take out. I will go across the street from
Now on, to Samurai Blue. It’s better anyway!!!

Sushi Alive used to be a favorite stop for Happy Hour sushi prices when their restaurant was located in Carrollwood along N. Dale Mabry. Late last year they closed the original smaller restaurant, and moved into a massive restaurant site on the edge of Westchase along Race Track Road.
I was there on opening night in late December of 2015, and very underwhelmed by the service which our group received. It honestly felt as though Sushi Alive had bitten off more than they could chew (Sorry, couldn’t resist!). The place was slam-​packed on opening night, and the servers were totally clueless. The food, when it eventually was delivered to our table, was good, but we waited forever for our server to take the initial order and we had to beg other servers to refill our glasses of water.
Last night I decided to give them a second chance, and drove down through the heart of Westchase along Countryway Boulevard till it intersected Race Track Road. Sushi Alive occupies the space formerly held by the Courtside Grill, and it’s massive inside. Directly behind the hostess station is a large sushi bar, staffed by about ten chefs, and with room for about 20 diners. Behind the sushi bar is the kitchen. Looking towards the right of the sushi bar is the full bar area and outdoor seating patio. Towards the left is the main indoor dining room. There are still big-​screen TVs on all of the walls tuned to your favorite sporting events. That seems a bit odd for a sushi bar, but whatever…
The main draw at Sushi Alive is their Happy Hour prices. Individual pieces of sushi are $ 1, sashimi is priced at $ 2 for 2 pieces, and assorted rolls are $ 3. That pricing is in effect from 5 — 7pm Monday — Friday, and as expected the restaurant is packed during that time.
No matter how many chefs are standing behind the sushi bar, you’ll be waiting for your food during Happy Hour. Unfortunately the Westchase soccer Moms and golfing Dads have very little tolerance for waiting, and a couple of extremely rude people walked up to the sushi bar and started bitching out the chefs because they were having to wait «too long» for their food. Geez people, there’s a McDonald’s down the road that might be more your style…
I ordered the seaweed salad to start which was the traditional thin strips of wakame, seasoned with sesame oil, and served with diced mango, and ribbons of carrot and daikon radish. That was followed by a nice selection of sashimi which the chefs had artfully prepared to look like rose buds on the plate. And then finally to top it all off I ordered the spicy tuna roll.
To be fair, my food was delivered quickly since I was seated at the sushi bar, and able to watch the chefs prepare everything. This isn’t the best sushi that I’ve ever tasted, but it’s inexpensive and tasty. If you’re there during Happy Hour you fill up for less than $ 30, but during the non-​Happy Hour times you’ll pay about twice as much. If you’re there for Happy Hour then be prepared to wait. If that’s not in your snobby Westchase DNA, then go find a McDonald’s.

Let me start off by saying I love their old location. Basically, because the service was awesome. This location is much bigger in size, and beautiful inside. However, their service sucks! I wanted to give them a chance at the start… Because they were opening a new location… But this is the fourth time we have come, and they just can’t seem to get it together! Attention management: have your act together if you’re going to triple your size location and clientele!

I’m not sure why they’re starting with such a low rating. This was my favorite restaurant when I lived here and went to school down here. The new location is gorgeous. It is so much nicer than the old location!
Our server, B, was awesome. He was prompt on every aspect from refills to checking on us. The hostesses were very friendly and attentive when we walked in.
We did not come during happy hour, but instead on a Saturday at about 5pm. We ordered house salads, chicken teriyaki dinner, Mexican, Tempura Japanese Bagel Roll, and a Spicy Tuna Roll. The salads came out very fast and were outstanding. My only suggestion would be to make the bowls a bit wider so I don’t spill so much on the table!
Entrée came out a minute or two before the sushi and was perfect. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and the chicken was very tender.
Their sushi is single handedly the best sushi I have ever had… ever. The spicy tuna roll has the perfect amount of sauce. The tuna is very fresh and cut perfectly (not the ground mushy tuna). The Mexican roll is just okay– it’s a little more on the plain side but it still tops the charts.
The tempura Japanese bagel roll (no cream cheese!) is amazing. I legitimately dream of this roll when I’m in Boston, miles and miles away.
I recommend this place to anyone and everyone. My friends that came down to visit have all been here and are still talking about how amazing it was and still is. Someone open a second location… in Boston.

Valentine’s Day was our first time visiting the new location and it did not disappoint! We used to frequent the carrollwood location several times a month since it was less than a 5 minute drive from home. The new location is beautiful and very spacious, I love the outdoor sitting with the fire pit and fountain. It was very relaxing! The food was great like always and our waiter did a great job as well.

Good prices, nice atmosphere, good service, very good sushi. Since it is sushi, a great deal is gluten free. Ask for the gluten free soy sauce. Try the lunch specials. I will be back often.
Second visit: I still thoroughly enjoyed my food but:
They don’t offer a gluten free salad dressing or gluten free soup. This is an easy fix, so if they are smart they will offer something soon.
A bigger problem was that one person at my table had a rotten quail egg. Not good! He mentioned it to the waiter. This should have prompted attention from the manager. Instead, all the waiter did was take the rotten quail egg off of the bill. This shows me they need to improve their quality control and customer service processes. I will give them some slack as they are still going through growing pains.
I am downgrading them down to 3 stars from 4.

I’ll start with the décor of the new place, because it was absolutely beautiful inside and out. I was so impressed, especially since the last location was very small and had minimal decorations. The previous location was much more intimate, however, which I definitely did miss at the new place. The staff seemed to be very young, but most were nice. Now onto the food– we of course went for sushi happy hour, and like many other reviews have said, the wait was pretty extensive. We got seated pretty quickly (within about 10 minutes) but the food took at least 30 – 35 minutes to arrive at our table. I thought this was pretty odd, since we just ordered 4 rolls of pretty simple sushi.
Bottom line is — I understand that it was happy hour, and that’s what everyone is ordering, but I feel like I’d rather pay more for faster service and better quality food.

When we arrived we immediately noticed how cold the temperature of the restaurant was. We were also really disappointed in the feel of the place. It wasn’t what we expected — we are fans of the old Sushi Alive in Carrollwood. After ordering we waited 30 minutes for the tuna avocado salad and the taste and portion size of the salad was way off. We waited another 15 minutes for the rest of our food. Again, taste was off. We actually grabbed the manager on our way out and we mentioned that we were disappointed, especially with the tuna salad. Her response, we have a lot of people in training, what do you want me to do? We had to suggest that we be refunded for the salad or a portion of it at least since it was an $ 11 salad. She ended up offering us a $ 5 gift certificate so we took it and left. I’m so sad to say that this was totally not what I expecting. Sushi Alive was my #1! :(

The have a great lunch special hard not to come out here with the beautiful open layout they have and great service. I recommend it anyone whose looking for a great sushi place

This place needs better customer service. I have gone to the old location for years, and never had a bad experience. We walked in to the new location tonight and it took 10 mins just for the host to acknowledge us. Mind you we are the only ones standing at the host station. The wait was 85 mins. I completely understand for a Friday night, but if the host was a little nicer we might have waited. We were one of three parties to walk out due to customer service.
Ended up a Samurai Blue. The wait is 30 mins but the customer service is 100% better. Hopefully they get it figured out with the larger location.

I am in love. Sushi Alive is such a great Asian Bistro. So many great items to choose from. The sushi and cruises are full of flavor. The atmosphere is so fung shui, which I love. Their spicy tuna avocado salad is everything. Their far east wings is the best I ever had. Their bbq korean ribs with kimchi is must have. Their phở on a raining is perfect. Their kickin kani chowder and spicy seafood soup has to be on everyone must try list. I can go on and on…

Went there for lunch worth some Coworkers. Dont understand why all the low ratings. The sushi rolls were very good and generous with the fish. The bento box was also very good. Probably the best sushi lunch place I’ve been to around the area.
The waiter was alright, but that probably due to the place just opening. We will definitely be eating there again.

Wouldn’t even give this a 1. In the negatives.
My parents got food poisoning from this place last weekend. Would not recommend. The service here is horrible — too slow, and the food isn’t even that great.

Walked over for lunch today. 100% better choice than Samurai Blue, but still not a fantastic experience.
One server had called off which meant one of the servers who was there (mine) was in the weeds… deep enough that she wasn’t even trying anymore. If not for the very friendly sushi chef I would’ve had a terrible experience and a long wait. He took my order, brought out my water, got my soup for me, and checked on me several times. The server did nothing.
Sushi tasted good. I had an eel roll, some squid sashimi, and a Tampa or Florida roll with miso soup. Lunch special is 2 rolls plus soup or salad for ten bucks. Rolls weren’t pretty but portion size was adequate and ingredients evenly spaced. Omitions were omitted as per my request.
Management wasn’t doing enough to help the busy server and seemed oblivious, honestly. Dishes were not being cleared from the sushi bar in a timely manner (or at all, in the hour I was there). As I was looking around for the server who didn’t wait on me to request my check, the manager walked up and said, «Has anyone helped you yet?» I had been there for an hour. Management should’ve had the hostess seating people out of my server’s section and should’ve had the hostess pre-​bussing the sushi bar and wiping it down, rather than just standing at her podium.
I’ll definitely be back, I’ll definitely sit at the bar again, and I can’t wait to try their half-​price happy hour.
They opened only 3 ½ weeks ago so some screw-​ups are inevitable this early.

Love the new location! No more 50 minute wait. This has to be the largest and most appealing sushi restaurant in Tampa Bay both inside and outside. Has both a water and fire feature outside. They do need more gluten-​free vegan options. Vegan specialty rolls would be amazing. Happy hour is great too!

This use to be my favorite sushi place, they should of never moved into a bigger space.
I can’t even give a food review our order got lost in the shuffle waited forever and never got our food.

So we drive by this place everyday and decided to try it out. It’s a new «hip» sushi place so why not? What could go wrong? My girlfriend and I love trying new places and this sushi bistro sounded like the best place to dine in for a Friday night.
I guess I can start off by saying that the parking blew. There were maybe 10 spots in the front and the rest of the unlucky patrons had to hike it from behind the building or through an unpleasant grass lot across from it… but I digress
Entering the restaurant was like being blinded by Christ… and not in the good way. They have these oddly fluorescent lights everywhere that made the restaurant uncomfortable. Like sitting in an uncomfortable office with no air flow sitting next to other loud and hungry co-​workers.
After giving our name for a table we excitedly waited at a lovely red sofa to hear our name being called. The hostess told us that we could walk up to the bar and sit, or wait for a table. We chose the table of course. Honestly the only positive thing at this point was the excellent people watching.
Then the chaos ensued… As my girlfriend and I waited with the 20 people or so, we noticed that the staff was running around panicking setting up tables. This lasted for a whole 45 mins. At this point they had 8 open tables and 20 people still waiting to be seated. After asking when we were to be seated, the lovely lady said we were next…
15 minutes later we were finally about to be seated. We followed the hostess as we were excited to finally reach a table and stuff our faces. Then… as a a cruel joke… Just as we approached an open table the hostess immediately veered to the left right at the bar.
I honestly thought that this must have been some cruel joke as the bar was open to walk in guests who didn’t want a table and they had 8… EIGHT OPEN TABLES. I immediately chuckled and Walked right out of the building.
Sorry I never got to the food review. But hey, it felt a little like purgatory being there. Like god pulled some sick joke. Oh well… 1 star for me

As a resident in the area, we were excited to have this open up. Went there on opening night and it was pretty bad. The waits are just like people are saying as we were sat in about 15 minutes and waited about 75 minutes for our food. But we decided to give it a second chance, and chalk it up to opening night.
Went again and the place was pretty empty. Food was ordered which was two appetizers and 2 sushi rolls as well as an entrée that came with soup. Appetizers came out, and they were average, the tempura was cold, but its okay. In the meantime the server basically ignored us.
Then the sushi came about 40 minutes later. It was decent. I wasnt great and it wasnt bad, just average. Then all of the sudden the entrée comes out, which was just awful. Korean short ribs which were just all fat, the plate was cold and it was such a shame. Manager strolls up and says «How is everything» and we say its great to see the business going well and he goes on and on about how amazing business is and then we say this dish is inedible. The response was «Well you know what not to order next time». What? What is that? I wasnt hoping to get a freebie or even a replacement, but that was amusing.
Best part is I say «we never got the soup» and while he was telling us more about how great business is, the server comes over and drops off the soup, 15 minutes after the entrée and we already had napkins on everything. Manager standing there says nothing and walks away.
We wont be back. They got two chances and there are a dozen sushi places in the area that have as good or better food. The place looks great, but my gut says its gone with in the next year. People in this area expect better treatment and quality food to survive and Sushi Alive is offering neither.

The place was newly open and I can say that they did a good job renovating the place. Servers are very nice and the food was good. I ordered the spicy seafood soup. The soup was great but I guess not that spicy. I guess they can make it more spicy.
The sushi rolls are good too. Can’t complain. It’s just a good place to get sushi if your craving for one after dance rehearsal.
Hoping that they can keep it up. I have seen this place change there name so many times and hope this place can withstand everything.
Price was just right.
As I said in the beginning the servers were very nice and accommodating. That’s one commendable personality of this new place. For me they deserve my four star.
I also noticed that they don’t have any special during the weekend. I suggest to have some special just to get costumer coming in. Just a suggestion but other than that the experience was great. Left the place satisfied!

I hate to give a 1 star review but we had a very unpleasant experience tonight. Our server (I wish I remembered her name) was awful. Never smiled, barely looked at us when we ordered, spilled our drink and just walked away, not even an «I’m sorry.» and brought our soup out when we were done with our meal.
On top of that we disliked one of our entrees and didn’t touch it. The manager came over and asked us how everything was. We told him we didn’t care for it (which is something I never do, but it was that bad) and he said, «Well, I guess you know what not to order next time.» Really? Great customer service sir.
He did not offer to switch it for something else, and did not remove the item from our bill. I am not someone to complain, so we just paid for it and left.
It’s a shame, because we really wanted to like this place, and the sushi is quite good, but with so many other incredible sushi places in the area, I will take my business elsewhere.

We have been highly anticipating this place opening since we live near it and unfortunately with the long wait for our food as well as almost everything not being there I have an issue. They were out of limes, out of an ingredient for a signature drink, our miso soup was cold, never brought our Salmon Skin rolls, waitress didn’t know if they had a red Plum wine, generally poor service at best.
The atmosphere and acoustics sound like a mall food court and the lights are like being under a prison interrogation.
Staff seems to be highly untrained and too uneducated to know their menu. I think we will continue unfortunately to drive to the better options in Carrollwood.

Where do I start. We sat at the bar where the bartender didn’t know what beers were on tap. She didn’t know the menu at all and had to read our copy. Food was served without napkins or silverware. No water was offered or served. Bartender had no clue how to work the point of sale or identify food when delivered. I feel staff had no training at all. When we spoke to the manager John he blamed everything on first week and new help. The truth is it comes down to lack of training and or no training prior to going to work. I don’t think John cared enough to have a positive impact on the longevity of this establishment. We won’t be back.

After being loyal customers at the Northdale location for many years, we were sad to hear they were moving so far from us, but we were happy that business was good enough for them to require a much larger location.
My 12 year old requested her birthday lunch there, so off we went to check out the new place. It was large, clean, tastefully decorated and appeared to be well-​staffed. We were seated immediately and each chose rolls from the lunch special menu. 20 minutes later, I had to leave my seat to go find our waiter and request the soups we had ordered. Basic miso soup. Probably had a vat of the stuff in the kitchen just needing to be ladled into bowls. It was downhill from there.
Our waiter had no dedicated section so he was serving tables all over the restaurant. There were 6 guys behind the sushi bar but our BASIC rolls took 45 min to get to the table. Other tables got their food from the kitchen lickety-​split, but the sushi was just not coming out. When they finally came out, the birthday girl had to wait another 10 min for her Tampa roll, even though her sister got both of her Tampa rolls in the first wave! WTH?! 6 guys making sushi and they can’t get the most basic rolls made. The restaurant was nowhere near full! When I requested Gluten free soy sauce (something that was always available at the Northdale location) I was told they hadn’t ordered any. I had to go without.
I left a voicemail with «Jennifer», as suggested on their website. It was my intent to offer feedback, as a previously very happy customer, hoping to hear that they were indeed going through some growing pains but were willing to listen to the people who pay their bills. She has not returned my call, clearly not interested in our future business.
I gave two stars bc the rolls were as delicious as ever, but the service and attention as seriously lacking. Hopefully they will address these issues otherwise they will be closed by summer.

Ok so I can handle a wait on opening day. 25 minutes they say. Smells great, staff is kind but looking nervous. Seats available but kitchen is all backed up, so seating has stopped temporarily. Wait wasn’t too long to sit but, the couple next to us was held captive for their check before the lightning game. I can say the gyoza was fried all around. Thats different. I did expect some mishaps, but the hour wait for basic rolls wasn’t the worst part. I’ll be back when my cold stale tempura bagel roll can be served hot and crispy. They gave out free drink coupons in silent acknowledgment of their waits, so I’m cool with that!

After the much-​anticipated opening of what La Chica called «my favorite sushi spot» in Tampa, I left feeling underwhelmed. It didn’t have anything to do with the 25 minute opening day wait, or the fact that we had to ask a bus boy to grab a waiter for us after being seated for quite some time. Our gyoza app came out very quickly, but I was sad to see it was completely deep fried, like what you’d expect from a Chinese restaurant. In my experience, gyoza should be steamed. Beyond that, it’s contents were pretty good. We ordered 4 rolls, which took exactly 60 minutes to arrive, and that is where my gripe actually begins. Opening day or not, an hour is too long of a wait for food that is 75% raw. Roll that stuff up, slice it and keep it moving.
Second actual complaint is with the tempura roll, which arrived ice-​freaking-​cold. This was the only cooked roll we ordered and the raw tuna in my roll was warmer. The flavor was great, but I bet it would have been better served properly.
As for the volcano roll, all of its elements tasted great. I’ve never seen it served with tuna though, so at $ 10, it is a better bargain that Zen’s $ 13 version that contains crab stick. However, I actually prefer the crab stick over spicy tuna in this particular roll, so I will probably order something else next time I go. I’m sorry volcano roll, it’s not you, it’s me!
Third and final complaint should be taken with a grain of salt since it was opening night, but the waiter disappeared for log periods of time. We also didn’t want to be held hostage waiting for a check. This prompted us to ask for our check the minute the food arrived.
I’m going to give them a few months to get the kinks hammered out and then see how they do. This is the third restaurant I’ve enjoyed at this location, so hopefully they can stay… ALIVE.