Sushi Island — Restaurant in St. John's

Sushi Island is not safe for celiacs or those with a gluten sensitivity.

On August 13 I needed something quick, so I ordered a gluten free order of sushi from Sushi Island. I chose from the dedicated gluten free menu and selected that I had a wheat allergy before submitting my order.

When I got it home, needing to eat quickly I started in without paying close attention to what I was eating. I was about to eat my third piece when I noticed what looked like imitation crab meat, which is almost never gluten free.

I immediately called Sushi Island to find out what was going on. I rang them 20 times over a 20 minute period before deciding they clearly weren't answering their phone. This was prime business hours, when they were open, on a Friday night.

In parallel I tried contacting them on Facebook and someone finally replied about 35 minutes later confirming I was given sushi containing wheat. I told them this was unacceptable.

The next day, they contacted me apologizing and saying they would send me a $40 gift card for my troubles. Useless to me but at least my family could have used it. So I sent them my address on August 19. They confirmed they had my address and would send out the card the same day.

3 months later, no card ever arrived.

I missed 3 days of work and was sick for 2 weeks.

I will not eat...

The sushi is the best in the area (though not the best I've had, there's just not a lot of competition here). I find the service is great sometimes and horrible others, mostly when it comes to take-out at the Kenmount location. I had one experience where the sushi was just awful and not up to typical quality. A couple other times my deliveries have been really late, and another time we were picking up and they called us 20 minutes before pick-up time to let us know it was ready. I tried to explain that this was an issue because we live 10-minutes away and therefore the food was sitting there getting cold, but unfortunately the person working at the restaurant did not see the problem. Yet, the Water street location has always had superb service! Hence...

The service at Sushi Island is very prompt and the staff are exceptionally great at serving. I have never had to wait more than 15-20 minutes either from dining in or getting takeaway.

The vegetarian tofu roll is really good (but small). I wish they either had more vegetarian roll options or a larger quantity of the tofu roll. Either would put this restaurant over the top! I was excited to try the deep-fried tofu as a starter, but I find it a bit too large and the tofu doesn't hold the crispiness to it like I feel it should. The yam tempura and edamame with spicy mayo are always so tasty and spot-on.

There are plenty of food and drink options to enjoy, so for anyone who likes sushi and hasn't tried this restaurant, it's worth it. Please bring the cat...