1000 Sushi Islands — Restaurant in Ottawa

24 Jul 18 Update. It has been a while since my last review, and I decided to update it. Food is still good and fresh, and I noticed a marked improvement in the quality of the service. There are a few younger servers, and they seem to be bringing the standard up. On a very busy night, we only had a couple missing dishes, but the server got it sorted out for us. Additional water came without asking. Much better. Accordingly, I've increased my rating from 3 to 4 stars (to get a 5, they'd need to improve all the little things - have both regular and low sodium soy sauce, warm tempura dipping sauce, fresh ginger/wasabi for everyone, quicker on the refills, etc). I still find it a bit expensive, but certainly look forward to returning for another great meal.

1 Dec 16 Update. It's been a year since my last review of 1000 Sushi Islands. While I've never seen such thinly sliced sashimi, the food is tasty, and it's AYCE. Service has improved a little, but still poor. Asked for a straw, never came. No refill on tea, which is standard at every other place. They did bring a jug of water to refill our cups, although near the end of our dinner. No mistakes on our food orders, so that was good. I will continue to go here from time to time, as it's close to home and the food is good. Just wish they would improve the service. If they did, I'd give it 4 stars.

Fall 2015. Have been here three times in past six months, and it's always the same. Food is pretty good, service is absolutely abysmal. Doesn't matter if the restaurant is busy or empty, service is always terrible. Wrong order delivered to our table, same order delivered twice, more items delivered than we ordered, and on it goes. On last visit, ordered miso soup, but it never came. Stopped a server as he dashed by, re-placed order for miso soup, but it never showed up. No re-fills on water or tea, even though restaurant nearly empty and only 9pm. We will be going one more time, as we have a free meal coming with full punch card, but if the service is the same, we will never go back again. Last chance, 1000...

I am a regular customer here. The food is mostly good, though the service can be hit and miss. I usually prefer to stick to nigiri sushi, though some of their specialty rolls are really good. (Love the dragon rolls!) I also really enjoy their flying fish egg salad, seafood fried udon and squid. I often come with my mom and she likes a lot of the fried foods.

Some of the "Chinese Food" dishes like the general tao's and wonton soup are not very good in my opinion, so we just don't really order those. (Though my husband always gets the wonton soup, but he mostly just eats the wontons and leaves the broth.)

I've never been served fish that's tasted off. I've never been sick after and I've come here pregnant numerous times. There have been a couple times over the years where we've sent things back but we've never been charged extra. They will charge you extra if you leave whole portions for no reason, but we haven't encountered this. There was one time where the service was extra slow and we didn't get a bunch of things we ordered where they gave us a 10% discount. They occasionally have mix up and serve you wrong items, but if you politely inform them, they take back the item. They do occasionally forget items as well, but again if you polite ask about the item it's usually brought out fairly quick.

Dinner can get expensive and I find the service slower, so we usually just come for lunch during the week. I've also had their takeout and delivery a few times and the portions there are usually fairly generous.

Another reviewer claims soft drinks aren't included in the price, but they are.

I think this place is on par or better than most of the other AYCE sushi places in the area. We are usually happy and very full...

1000 Sushi… You Had One Job! 6/10

Pulled up to 1000 Sushi for lunch with an empty stomach and high hopes. Off rip yeah, it’s better than 168 Sushi, but let’s be real… that bar’s already underground.

First impression? Not great. The waitress who seated me didn’t even say hi or welcome me in just gave off that cold “what do you want?” energy. No smile, no vibe, just vibes missing.

The restaurant was empty during lunch, so no wait time and food came out fairly quick. That was cool. But the food itself? Flavors were just meh.

I had the sweet potato roll, spicy crab roll, squid tempura, shrimp tempura, crab tempura, and some seafood fried rice. Looked okay, but almost all of it was bland. Like, where’s the kick? Where’s the love? It felt like the chef said, “you’ll eat it and like it” but I didn’t.

Now the General Tao chicken… mannn dry, no crunch, and no flavor. It was like the chicken gave up halfway through cooking. LET ME GET SOME NAPKINS FOR THAT DRY GENERAL TAO!

The worst of the bunch? The sesame balls. Dry. Old. That wrong kind of crispy like they’ve been sitting under a heat lamp since yesterday. One bite had me thinking about my life choices.

I came near the end of lunch and felt rushed to finish and pay. Like bruh, can I finish chewing before y’all start wrapping things up?

Pricing is okay, but honestly? The food didn’t match the bill.

FINAL VERDICT: 6/10. Food came quick. Flavors didn’t. Some items felt stale, the sesame balls were a letdown, and the welcome was cold. Wouldn’t go out of my way to return.

UPDATE: 20 minutes later, I started feeling queasy and uneasy. Not fully sick, but something ain't sitting right. Could be a coincidence… or not. Just putting...