Sushi On Fennell - Hamilton — Restaurant in Hamilton

This sushi place has got to be one of the best, if not THE best sushi place I have ever eaten at. For context, I am not a sushi expert in the slightest and actually do not even like sushi as I would rather have other forms of seafood. However, when I ordered their crab-based sushi, it felt like I was hearing my favorite song for the first time again, or like I was seeing color for the first time in my life. To say the least, this has forever changed my view on sushi. My entire order was the appetizers which consisted of fried squid, fried beef pastries, veggie spring rolls, and crab sushi. The fried beef pastries were good and enriched with heavy doses of seasoning and flavor in every bite, which was overwhelming at times, but in a good way. The spring rolls were nothing too special as a lot of other places are able to make just as good spring, but I do appreciate the fact that these spring rolls specifically were not too oily and had the perfect amount of crust-to-filling ratio. The crab, as stated before has completely changed my view on sushi for the foreseeable future in the best way imaginable. Now getting to the absolute best part of this entire order, the fried squid that tasted like it was made by god himself. If the cooks behind told me that they had just got this fried squid from the gates of heaven I would have no choice but to believe them because, my god, the first bite into this squid felt like falling in love in one of those early 2000s rom coms, it was surreal. The squid was lightly fried to perfection and perfectly seasoned, the outside of the squid was golden and crispy, but not the crispy you would expect from fried chicken, I am talking about the crispy that you could ONLY experience from Sushi on Fennell. It was crunchy and flakey while still having the softest bite known to man, it felt like I was biting into straight thin air with how smooth this was. I can not stress this enough, if you have not tried the fried squid, please do yourself a favor and change that, for your own sake. The service was 5/5 easily, everybody I had seen in the beautiful concept of their open kitchen seemed hardworking and looked like they were genuinely enjoying what they did, which is what every customer loves to see. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by an extremely friendly cashier who helped me figure out how to access their menu which was fully online, and helped me figure out how to use my gift card. This fully online menu concept and confusing layout on their website is where this establishment loses some points, however, as they should not expect every customer to have access to online menus. However back to the actual person-to-person interactions, I ordered and waited in the car for about 15 minutes, and instead of calling my phone or waiting for me to come inside, she brought it out to my car herself which I extremely appreciated and was impressed with, such a kind soul. Finally, is where this place loses most of its points and that is the reason why I can not give them a 5/5. The atmosphere. In terms of location, it is not in the best area in Hamilton and there are not many convenient parking spots near the building meaning that missing your turn, not finding parking, or feeling at ease may come with the experience of coming here for food, but you won't be there for long because when you walk in, there is no dining area or even chairs or tables to sit at while you wait for your food to be made. I advise everyone to order beforehand because of this. Speaking of the interior, when I walked in the atmosphere seemed very tense in a way, as I heard children yelling and crying in the background, which is fine, but still unprofessional. To end this off, I would say that considering Sushi on Fennel only lost points in factors that do not affect the actual food, please do your taste buds a favor and choose this as your next...

Ordered for the first (and last) time today.

Ordered Salmon Sashimi, Red Tuna Sashimi, and 4 Maki's.

The sashimi was little bit slimy. The tuna was very slimy and the salmon was ok.

The soya sauce was unbelievably salty, to the point that it was ruining the flavour of the maki rolls. I swapped in some Kikkoman from my pantry which helped a lot.

I was also disappointed to see wasabi in pre-made packages. Real wasabi is bright green, almost flaky in texture. This was a dark green paste and was quite tart.

The ginger was red sliced instead of the preferred and more desirable white sliced, and the pieces where large and thick, making it difficult to use to clean your palette between pieces.

I am unsure why there are so many positive reviews. As someone who has experienced sushi from different parts of the world, and a $75 take out bill, this left a lot to be desired.

Update April 15th, 2022: I accidentally ordered this again tonight not realizing I had ordered it before and that it was terrible then. I just wanted to note that is was terrible again this time. It was so salty it was not edible, and it was not the soya sauce. The sashimi is pre cut in triangles, and tasted ok at best. The rolls were not edible due to how salty they were. I won't make the mistake again of ever coming back here again. Its unfortunately I have been unable to find a good sushi restaurant and have to drive to Burlington to the only two good places I have ever found around town. I left a two star review previously but I am editing it to one star. This is just bad, save your money and go somewhere else.

Update #2 April 16th, 2022: In response to your notes about "not having my order in your system, which seems to be common theme for the negative reviews.

Skip The Dishes #208831526 2020-10-09 Total $76.18

Skip The Dishes #406952744 2022-04-15 Total $75.74

It's an impossible statement to say that salt is not used. I have eaten Sushi from all over the world, nothing has come close to this level of saltiness. I wish I could leave a better review, but the food you are serving is gross and went in the garbage, and...

JAN 31ST 2022 UPDATE:

I have ordered an additional 2 times since this last review and was so happy with the customer service. The owners couldn't be more genuine and the sushi has only ever been incredible quality. I found my new sushi spot and will be ordering here for a long time to come!!!!

I have been WAITING to try this place for months. I have heard such great things and I was very intrigued by their menu with lots of variety. I finally got to order tonight after I saw it came up on Uber Eats. I was so excited it was in my area I ordered instantly.

I have to say disappointed for a few reasons.

Firstly, I ordered the 3 roll combo and unfortunately I was missing the miso soup, seaweed salad or spring roll. While I did order on Uber Eats, there was no option to select one. I thought as a user this meant one would be added (I would have been happy with any) however there was nothing

Next, my order was incorrect. Not the biggest deal as I ordered a salmon avocado roll and a spicy salmon avocado roll (wanted to try the difference to know for the future) however they were both just salmon avocado rolls. This was a bit frustrating especially on your first time ordering.

Lastly and most disappointingly, I bit the bullet and paid $8 for an order of salmon sashimi after reading reviews on how fresh it was. I was in disbelief when I opened the bag to see the size of the sashimi. It was paper thin slivers. All 4 pieces put together would be the equivalent of 1 full piece of salmon sashimi at any other restaurant. Had I known what I was going to receive, I would have never spent $8 on this.

Overall, I probably will not order again based on my first experience. While the food tasted great, there was too many errors considering I spent $40...