Koi sushi = hmm…  I have mixed feelings about this visit to Koi Sushi.  The food is a bit lower quality than typical All You Can Eat restaurants.  However, we had a buy two get one free coupon which made this dinner cheaper than other AYCE places like Richmond Sushi.  I guess this is the place if you want lots of cheap food and not looking for quality.

The fried scallops were interesting.  Panda was having dinner with Rockia and the Fish King.  As you can tell from his name, Fish King is a pro when it comes to seafood.  So it was perfect that we were having Japanese.  And according to Fish King, these little fried scallops aren’t scallops at all.  I’ve never really paid attention to it, but apparently these are imitation crab meat cut into circular slices and then fried.  I studied these little things more closely after he mentioned it and realized that he was right!  It was imitation crab meat!  Haha. Oh well. It’s still good!

I love peanut butter spinach.  I’ve always loved anything with peanut butter sauce on it.  BUT!  The enormous thick blob of peanut butter on the top of this was way too thick.  It tasted like they just put peanut butter on it and didn’t mix the peanut butter with sauce at all.  It was way to sticky.

The sashimi was ok.  They offer wild salmon in their menu, but it didn’t taste like wild salmon at all.  As well, the pieces were VERY tiny.

The oyster motoyaki was a bit better.  They served them in plates instead of the shell.  I think it’s because it’s cheaper to buy oyster from a tub than to buy each one.  One small tub of oysters at T&T is around 10 dollars on sale. I was ok with this as long as the oysters were fresh.

As some of you might know….Panda doesn’t eat slimy things….  So I didn’t touch these raw oysters.

The only thing I truly enjoyed at Koi were the chopped scallop cones!  I think they are many people’s favourite.  There were lots of scallops inside and not a lot of rice.

We had a lot of other things too.  Nothing was special and should be mentioned.  I enjoyed the juicy ribs, but it was pretty normal.  Many readers have been messaging me to say that Koi is going downhill.  They don’t give people what they ordered and takes forever to bring food to the table.  As well, the waitresses have pretty bad attitudes as well.  Hmm…Take note, fellow foodies!  I personally will not be visiting again.

Overall impression:

Good:

• chopped scallop cone and ribs were ok
• cheaper prices because of coupon

Bad:

• bad service
• mediocre tastes
• low food quality

Fujiya is located at 912 Clark Drive in Vancouver, BC.  It is a Japanese market full of unique ingredients for you to make your own Japanese food at home.  They have a small section of already made bento boxes and rolls.  We were passing by and wanted to pick up a light dinner.  So here it is!!!

We had the $2.95 california roll.  The taste was average.  I didn’t expect much.  If you want a light meal or a snack then this is the perfect choice!

Then we also picked up a chicken katsu bento box.  This was only $5.95.  With increasing prices on food in Vancouver lately, I found this a great deal because the box was stuffed with yummy goodness.  The chicken katsu was breaded very well.  It came with sides dishes of mashed potato, marinated veggies and tofu, and a piece of Japanese fish cake.  It was different than the bento boxes I have at restaurants because they had more unique side dishes.  I enjoyed this a lot.  The only downfall was that it would probably be better if we could have it fresh.  But it was in the open refrigerator and I needed to preheat it before we could eat it.

Fujiya offers a small area at the front of the store for you to sit down and eat.  There is a microwave and a small TV in the corner.  I normally take my purchases home to eat, but it’s great of them to offer this little area for people to sit down, eat and then run!  GOOD JOB~ iPanda will definitely come back to buy some Japanese ingredients and have a Japanese dinner night. YUM!!!

Oh delicious!!!  Sushi Garden is located right across from Metrotown in Burnaby.  I love the food here but it’s always super crowded very early.  I find that the prices here are very reasonable because they have pretty good quality.  In order to beat the crowd, we called them early and arranged for take out~  Our usual favourites are alaska roll and seafood salad.

The alaska roll is special here mostly because of the wonderful sauce.  The sauce is tangy and does wonders for this roll.  Every time we visit people around us would order this.  The inside of the roll is avocado and it is topped with salmon on top.  It’s absolutely heavenly.  Rockia can actually polish off all 8 of these in 3 mins!!!

One order of alaska roll comes with 8 pieces.  This roll is $3.95!

Another one of our favorites is this seafood salad!  This costs $5.95 but it’s loaded with tons of seafood.  There is also pretty good variety as well.  There is a bunch of octopus, shrimp, imitation crab meat and salmon roe.  They also add a spoonful of Japanese mayo to the side.

The dressing for the salad is the same stuff they put on to their alaska rolls.  We haven’t been able to figure out what the sauce is made out of.  But I guess this is a restaurant secret that they do not want to share.  We also got news that Sushi Garden has a new branch located at 4269 Lougheed Highway~  If you have visited it already then please post a comment to tell us about your experience there!  Thank you!

Overall impression:

Good:

• reasonable prices
• good quality sushi
• some inventive rolls

Bad:

• crazy crowds (either go early or order take out)
• parking in the back of the restaurant is very very small

4635 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC