Sushi Crave — Restaurant in Richmond

There's a saying - you get what you pay for. I can say that tonight Sushi Crave has exceeded that expectation. For the price you pay, the food is excellent and one of the best in it's price bracket.

Although the location is a bit more hidden, there were signs around the parking lot to point you to the right direction.

Inside the restaurant the place has some small tables for dine-ins which is understandable as I believe the owner, Chester, mentioned to us they are primarily focusing on takeout. There were pictures of the dishes on the wall for visual. Although the pictures are not sharp, the owner did mention that they are planning to upgrade the menu as he understands customers are more interested by visual appeal. It is great for an owner to have vision and understand what is important.

Food wise, the plating was not special and was presented in a typical quick grab and go fashion. Again this is understandable considering they primarily focus on takeout. However, the taste was there; although some dishes were a bit heavier on the sauce, but to each their own since everyone has a different tasting palate. The fish was fresh and the rolls were amazing. I would say the highlight of the experience were the rolls. There was a large variety to choose from and all were priced very reasonable. We tried the Atlantic Flamed Roll, Scallop Magma, and Magic Roll. They were very generous with the portion. Personal favourite being the Scallop Magma. The Salmon Oshi and Aburi sushi were also delicious.

It is very likely that I will comeback for takeout...

First off. I would like to say. I do enjoy the food here. But my last visit will be my last. And I didn't even get to eat.

First few visits were great. I did notice, service was on the slower side. seems like they get a tonne of take out orders. This said I do feel this shouldn't delay dine in times. Given the food is good. I let it slide each time I visited.

Fast forward to Valentines Day. My son had basketball and we wanted some sushi before heading home. Got there a little past 8 and they close at 9. Few Customers sitting waiting for take out and two tables eating. The remaining tables had dirty dishes on them. Kitchen was still buzzing and when we got there the lady at the front was finishing up what sounded like a pretty big take out order.

She finally gets to us and I let her know we want to dine in. She speaks to one other lady from the back as they look at the dirty tables. After a few words. She proceeds to tell me, sorry. They have run out of rice. So they will not be able to serve us.

Not happy, We walked out and headed to a competitor. Sushi Crave will no longer be getting my hard earned money for this. May be petty but would rather they be up front and real rather than make up an excuse such as we have run out of rice. When they clearly haven't needing to fulfill their current orders.

Service is everything, no matter how good...

This review is meant for management more so than the servers and cooks. Please prioritize people dining-in rather than your Uber Eats / Door Dash orders.

Ate at the restaurant last week since we wanted a quick bite before heading to other arrangements later that night. Arrived around 6:15pm and were seated right away. Placed our order just fine, nothing too crazy 3 orders of sushi, 1 appetizer and 1 set item. Around 6:50pm we noticed a table behind us just getting their food, I'd say they were settled-in and ordered at least 15mins before us (it was a group of at least 6). We were a bit concerned at this point, after nearly 40 minutes of waiting they were just starting to serve tables that have been seated before us. Around 7:05pm some of our sushi finally came but our appetizer and set item was nowhere to be found. 7:15pm still nowhere to be found and we had to go, so we just asked to cancel the rest of our order. I've been to a lot of sushi bars / Japanese restaurants around lower mainland and this is the first time I've had to wait ~50mins for sushi.

The servers were friendly and accommodating, the cooks can only do so much when they're bombarded with pick-up / delivery orders. The food (at least those that arrived) was good. To management, please prioritize your guests dining-in or at least limit pick-up/delivery orders...