Ottawa Foodies

Erk...I've debated writing this review as it does seem a bit harsh, but in the hopes of being as objective as possible, I'm putting it up here.

I've been to Yummy Sushi on several occasions, always for lunch, with my colleagues. Our group always ranged from 3 to 5 people; we are not the most adventurous group, I'm always selected to complete the order and we tend to stick to unimaginative sushi choices and a nice selection of "kitchen" dishes.

We have been to every AYCE Sushi location in the city for our lunches, and I can say that generally speaking, they are all the same...with a few exceptions.

Space: The space at Yummy Sushi is nice and open; I do like the privacy of the window booths if possible, but the remainder of the dining room is nice as well. I have never been there and seen more than 5 other tables at the same time; perhpas we just tend to go at off-lunch hours (usually, though, we're there around 1pm). The decor is bright, the music is inoffensive.

Service: Well, for the most part the service is OK. Tea is served quickly, orders are picked up quickly, and the server/manager/owner was always friendly when serving us himself...with the significant exception of The Time I Complained.

Let it be known that I am not a Complainer, hence the capitalization on the singular time I actually was angry enough to do something about it. We had placed an order of both kitchen and sushi items and once we had been waiting for nearly 45 minutes without so much as 3 kitchen items (dumplings, edamame and one rice bowl) delivered, we had to go. I went up to complain and request that we not be charged, and noticed the man ahead of me in line was venting the same frustrations. He said that they had been waiting for an hour and had not received their items...but that is his story to tell, not mine.

When I spoke to the server/manager/owner, he told me that people order too much food; I told him that was irrelevant because A) we didn't order too much food (our orders are down to a science now) and B) we didn't receive any food at all, which was the point of my complaint. He then said that too many people order maki rolls and they take a while to make, which I did not argue, but at that point there were only 2 other tables in the place.

I told him I didn't think we should be paying for food we did not receive, and asked to speak to a manager. He told me he was the manager and we would have to pay. I asked if there was anything he could do, that we were very dissatisfied and that I would like the contact information of the owner so I could follow up. He told me he was the owner, and that he would give us a 10% discount.

A plate of sushi was completed during this exchange, which they delivered to my dining companions, and to be honest, I was too exhausted and late for work to bother arguing anymore. I paid the bill and we left, and I told him that while we do enjoy the sushi they serve and were frequent customers, we would not be returning again. He smiled and told me to have a nice day and to come back soon - my point was clear.

Menu: The menu is standard for AYCE sushi in the city, and I particularly enjoy their ordering form - one half is for the kitchen, the other half for the sushi bar.

Food: As I mentioned, the food itself was likable - virtually all the AYCE sushi in the city is the same, with small variations. I do think that Yummy Sushi has a nice rice/filling ratio for their maki rolls *most* of the time, and they do not go overboard on the mayo filling. Their "spicy" sauce is quite nice.

Their dumplings are cooked well and I have always found the kitchen selection to be warm when delivered.

On the multiple occasions I have dined there, the food has been consistent, which is the big thing with AYCE sushi, in my opinion.

Overall: The food is fine, but the service took a turn from average to atrocious, and we will never be returning. I will get my AYCE sushi fix anywhere else.

I like their salmon neck and salmon belly (deep fried, very caloric), and at dinner time the white tuna sashimi. The eggplant teriaki is very good as well. I've never been when it's really crowded; perhaps the ordering system breaks down when it gets busy.

I notice they have a wifi connection. Ordering by laptop would be fun and save on trees . . . they could setup a web page with pictures of the items. I don't think it would be hard to implement in a php framework or rails . . .

NewUser 2462: This website frowns a little on making such comments when one has not been to the place in question. It is a strictly personal decision to make.

It is difficult to balance the positive and negative reviews as they are spread over a fair distance in the calendar, and have not had many lately, but the last two negative reviews seem to be from a Saturday night, while mine was a Friday night and Sunday early evening; several people note that food preparation and quality suffered when the restaurant was mostly full.

Having been twice when it was about a quarter full and not having found the rice dry or the fish in meagre quantities, I'd say the place sadly can not be recommended when 3/4 full or more. But if you peek in and it's not too busy, I'd say it's worth a try. Like any sushi place, the chef present during your visit will make the biggest difference.

We went to Yummy on Saturday night and while I used to recommend it, I can't do so anymore. The place was packed and they couldn't keep up with the orders.

Our group of 5 submitted our first order and a couple items came within 10 minutes: 2 dumplings, a plate of steak teriyaki, some sashimi and nigiri. Then we waited 30-40 minutes for another dish to arrive. In that time frame, servers didn't even come to our table to offer us more tea or water, or even to explain that they were behind.

When a member of our group went and stood by the cash, servers walked by her several times before someone stopped to ask her what she wanted. We complained about the wait and the owner came to our table to apologize and explained that they do all their sushi orders for one table at a time.

When we finally received our food (sushi, tempura etc.) several items were missing. They just dropped the plates on the table without even telling us what was what. We submitted a second order and it was the same thing all over again. We arrived at 6 and left at almost 9.

The other reason for posting this review is that the quality of the sushi has gone downhill. Yummy is now doing what most AYCE places do: small pieces of fish on HUGE beds of rice. The amount of fish in each order was negligible, whether it was nigiri or rolls. Many of the rolls were poorly made and were falling apart. The best part of the meal was the sashimi and other than that, the non-sushi dishes.

The quality of the sushi was horrible, i've never been so disappointed with sushi in my life. the salmon and tuna sushi for example had no fish, or barely in it, it was filled with tempura instead!! The rice was dry and the food was blend. the only good part was the sashimi and the steak tempura.

Overall I really don't recommend it! there are tons of better sushi place in Ottawa you can go to, including all you can eat sushi places. Oh and the service is really slow (normally i wouldnt mind that too much but considering the food was terrible it was just the cherry on top)

I have been to Yummy Sushi twice in about two months; the first time on a Sunday and last Friday evening.

I have no problem with the quality of the food and ingredients, or the service. Fairly tasty AYCE, good rolls, nice nigiris. The sashimi I tried was meh, nothing particular - a little "solid" and chewy as opposed to something that savours and fish flesh that melts in the mouth. The only roll I was disappointed in was the asparagus, as it had only one asparagus across the entire roll, masked by most of the other ingredients.

They are now licenced. The discount special is weekdays between 2:30 and 4:30. Friday evening price is now part of weekend, at $23.

Service was no problem, and both times the restaurant was about half full. Water replenished properly, and the order sheets taken within a minute or two of being put on the table edge.

We were 4 last time, and ordering three rounds along with some drinks and pleasant conversation lasted about 2.5 hours - but there was a fair amount of time spent just poring over the order sheet each time, deciding what we wanted! I never felt I waited overly long, but we weren't in a particular hurry. If you know in advance the amount you can eat and order it all at the same time, that can considerably reduce the total time.

The order sheet is thorough, but a little confusing for me - I still don't quite understand the small columns labelled "person" and "table" when a list of rolls seems to encompass both, and the description says how many pieces are in each category. But it's really minor; I always got the amount I expected to have.

I was quite full and satisfied when I left, didn't feel cheated in quality, but also didn't expect something from Vancouver. Definitely better than Sushi Kan and Sakura when I went a couple of years ago.

Ok, I probably eat here way too often (once a week so far), but now they're giving a 15% discount, every day I think, between 2:30pm and 5:00pm.

I wonder when this place is going to get licensed. It's too bad I can't have a beer with my sushi.

Now he has mango sushi too. It's not on the menu, because he can't guarantee he will have mangoes of the right ripeness on hand, but if he does he will make it for you. Just write it in on the menu.

No photograph for this review.
Yummy sushi... not so yummy sushi.

I don't know about most peoples experiences, but mine... well, first of all let me start by saying I have an iron stomach and never get sick from any food.

But after eating from here.. my head started to pound. I did not feel good afterwards.

We were a party of 3 and decided to eat some nigiri, rolls and appetizers. One thing they did well was the fried tofu, tempura and fried scallop. The nigiri had too much rice and the fish looked dead. It just tasted fishy more than the buttery taste you're accustomed to when eating "fresh fish." Gross.

The rolls were packed with rice and the rice itself was warm. Not much selection to be honest with you. The crispy roll was one of the disgusting things I've tasted on the menu.

The servers weren't awful, but weren't stellar either. No tip for you, server guy.

Nothing special, just bad food.
total came up to 16 dollars (wasn't worth it), Left with a churning feeling in the stomach.
It was probably wiser to pay the extra for better sushi instead of spending the attempted savings on tums and stomach meds.

My experience in Yummy Sushi:
The beef soba, maki and appetizers were not bad.

However tempura was not crispy enough, and white tuna & mackerel not very fresh, 2 of my friends got stomach upset after the meal. Be careful, I think 1000 Islands is better, although a bit farther, but worth the trip ;P

A co-worker and I decided to give this new place a try. Overall a very good experience for an AYCE. The service was fast and attentive, which is rare in my experiences of AYCE sushi places in Ottawa. The tea arrived nice and hot right away. The menu is extensive and even non sushi eaters would find more then enough to eat. We both ordered hand rolls; one of them was a spicy tuna. It was very tasty, the seaweed had a nice crunch. The only thing is, there was not enough fish and it was white, either they made a mistake or it could have been white tuna...
The shrimp tempura was very good, very crunchy, and not too greasy. We ordered a few rolls; I have had better, but still pretty good. The 2 things they need to improve on is the sushi rice. It contained too much water and was "cakey" and soggy. I ordered a green salad to finish my meal. It was nice and crisp (iceberg lettuce), however they serve it with bottled Italian dressing??? A ginger, sesame type of dressing would be much more appropriate. For $12.99 each, I find this to be an excellent lunch deal.

Oh.. and the other great thing is we were served every single items that we ordered, unlike other places...

I suppose I'm in the minority as well! And my bias with sushi is in Hong Kong...

Was there about 6:30pm, Wednesday night. Restaurant was at least 1/3 full (to over 1/2) during the whole time I was there (3 hrs).

Service was efficient and polite, although the younger girl messed up our order a few times (missing half of the tempera order... nearly giving our sashimi to the table beside us... trying to give us unordered spring rolls... confusing our ice cream flavours). it seems worse now that i type it out, but at the time it really didn't seem so bad as our conversation was more interesting to overlook these things, plus with AYCE, it's just a matter of ordering it again. except for the ice cream mess-up, but that i can live with.

OVERALL the food is decent for what it is (AYCE); the sushi didn't have too much rice; the maki rolls had a really good ratio of filling:rice; tempura was crispy and hot with plump (not wilted/dying) filling, dipping sauce not overpowering; sashimi was T&T quality (not amazing melt-in-your-mouth, but decent), although the salmon was alot better than the other selections.

tamago: denser than what i'm used to, but wasn't too sweet.
salmon sashimi: preferred choice out of the selection; fresh and sweet, not chewy.
white tuna sashimi: i did not expect this... i've only had toro. pretty innocuous though.
mackeral sashimi: didn't seem so good; less buttery and oily than what i'm used to.
squid sushi: just a sliver of squid; didn't get to try it.
tobiko sushi: fish roe; can't complain, is it possible to screw this up?
unagi sushi: eel; this -wasn't- laden in sauce. hurray!
octopus sushi: more than a sliver; good chew.
red/green dragon roll: the difference is the top layer as salmon/avocado. filling includes tempera shrimp PLUS panko crumbs, so that could be a problem for you. i like tasting the difference, so i didn't mind.
spider roll: i don't remember. or because it was so similar to the dragon roll, without the top outer layer.
salmon skin roll: this was the only one i was disappointed with, because i was expecting it to be crispy skin. otherwise, it's fine.
spicy salmon roll: yum! if only it was this flavour + crispy skin... (you see, spicy salmon skin is my favourite)
flying fish egg salad: shredded iceberg mixed with mayo, roe and crab meat; it wasn't bad, but i ordered it not knowing what it was. i don't like to eat things like this.
scallop: deep-fried with a blob of mayo on top. just a touch overdone, but still well-cooked (the residual heat fryer-to-table probably wasn't considered)
salmon neck: caloric-nightmare. lightly battered and fried, but not too oily. nice peppered sauce. it would've been a really nice meal to just have this and plain rice.
straw mushroom and beef rolls: these have shrunk, so i hear. i didn't get to try it. i can say they are twice as big as a thumb.
chicken kidney yakitori: tiny 3 pieces on a stick; did not try.

i have no huge qualms with this place, so i would go back.

*1 dislike: the disposable chopsticks + ice cream spoons, just brings the eating experience down a notch.
*2 dislike: the 'named' items (spider/halifax/yummy roll) isn't described on the menu.

I'm from Vancouver, so somewhat biased about good sushi. Overall I liked it. One of the comments on this page speaks to people expecting too much of all you can eat. I quite agree. If you want EXCELLENT sushi in Ottawa, go to Wasabi in the market, spend $50/each and stop whining. This is just good sushi.

Service was excellent, fast and friendly. Sushi was decent. Did not like the octopus and found a bit too many rolls had tempura batter in them, which seems to be an eastern canadian phenomenon.

Not licensed unfortunately...I like some nice COLD sake with my raw fish.

Oh, my girlfriend wants you to know that the yam tempura was too big :)

Super-full and aside from the pain of cramming too much food in my stomach, feelin' just fine thanks...we got what we went for and will most definitely go back. In a month.