Sushi Wasabi — Restaurant in Edmonton

I have mixed feelings about Wasabi. From the time we walked through the door until we received our food, it was 55min. That seems incredibly excessive for a place that was 1/4 full and where our food didn't require any cooking. The staff in general didn't seem to give much care or attention to us, as we waited a long time to be seated, waited a ridiculously long time to order, never received beverage refills, and finally had to leave our table and flag someone down in order to receive the bill after waiting quite some time. In short, the service was atrocious. The food however, was a bit better. The sushi pieces were large, incredibly fresh, and some of the best I've ever had. They were a welcome sight after skipping the overly pricey sashimi options. Unfortunately, the maki pieces were a mixed bag. The uramaki, while rather cheap, were quite small/poorly put together. The rice was crumbling/the rolls were already in pieces before we started, and the quoted fillings were rather small. In contrast, the basic maki of salmon and tuna were rather large, with significant fish portions in the middle. My only complaint would be that the occasional piece would have a large blob of wasabi built in with no warning or clue in the menu (this happened in all menu items, but especially the small maki). Our party felt like it was almost like the chef was trying to prank/screw with customers, as after encountering such a piece the person would cough and have to drink water for a while, and there was no rhyme or reason in terms of where these pieces showed up. I'm still at a loss as to how this happened or why, but our party ended up trusting the kitchen less as a result. Considering the price and the limited maki menu, I'm not sure I...

Update 2018: This is still some of the best sushi in Edmonton if you know what to order, but it's rolls are not great and the sushi is unfortunately inconsistent. The green tea, tuna, and unagi we're excellent, the scallop was good, but the salmon and hamachi were disappointing. The tuna was so tender and delicate, I ordered another piece. The salmon and hamachi both had a very firm "snappy" texture to them that I didn't like; I have always preferred the soft buttery salmon and tender savoury hamachi. I even tried the salmon Toro but it was not better. I also tried another roll, this time dynamite, but I didn't enjoy it. Again, the roll had too much mayonnaise (I've never had a dynamite roll with mayonnaise before) and it was so big I could barely fit one piece in my mouth (see picture with two tempura shrimp in the roll). It also took 30-40 minutes to get my order even though I was alone, but it was the end of the night (7:40) so maybe they were slowing down prep staff and starting to clean. I still think this place may be overrated, but maybe their non-sushi menu is more consistent.

2016: This is the best sushi I have had in Edmonton, but that is not really a compliment. Sashimi and Nigiri were OK but the couple of rolls they recommended were poor. The Scallop roll in particular was mostly mayonnaise. The other rolls were mostly rice (see photo). I feel overall the hype and price...

We are regular customers at Wasabi and go there every month. We will not be going back again after this incident. Absolutely no professionalism and no respect for their customers. We went out for dinner with some close friends visiting from PEI. We had never been so embarrassed. After a full meal with lots of food and AFTER we had ordered dessert, my girlfriend brings out 3 small bite size pieces of chocolates that she had in her purse for us to try just to wash the fishy taste from our mouths while we wait for dessert. As my girlfriend lays them out for us, the lady owner of the restaurant came running up to our table and loudly told us no outside food. Then our waitress also came up to our table and said no outside food. For god sake, they were 3 small pieces of chocolates - what is the big deal. It is not as though we brought in pieces of cake etc. This was after a full meal and after we had ordered dessert! We had spent over $300 for a meal for 4 people. They should really have a bit more tact and did not really need to embarrassed us like that in front of everyone in the restaurant. The food there has gone downhill and so has the service. There are other sushi restaurants in town that is better and treat value...