Sushi Zanmai NU Sentral — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

In Japan, Sushi Zanmai is known for serving decent quality sushi at stores that are open 24 hours. Having been to several Sushi Zanmai outlets in Japan, I was curious to find out the quality of sushi that was being served at its Malaysian branch. I must confess I was deeply disappointed after visiting the NU Sentral outlet, just few hours ago.

The immediate issue that I had did not even concern the quality of food, but sanitization. The plates at the table I sat were wet and one of them had dried-up sauce or soup stuck on them. The plates were promptly replaced after I requested new plates, but unclean plates are a worrying sign especially at an eatery that predominantly serves raw fish. In retrospect, I should have left at this point. But I sat down and proceeded to place an order using one of those increasingly ubiquitous online ordering systems that utilize QR-codes.

The moment the plate of nigiri sushi that I had ordered was placed before me, I knew that I was in for a terrible meal. Visually, the imbalance between shari and neta—that is, between the bed of rice and the topping of fish—was clear. Compared to the amount of rice in each piece of nigiri sushi, the fish placed on top was too thin and small. As a result of this cost-cutting measure, rice completely overwhelmed whatever fish it was supposed to support, such that I could barely taste the latter. As the toppings can barely be tasted anyway, this sushi joint is one of those remarkable sushi joints at which the quality and freshness of the fish used is irrelevant. One might imagine that the amount of rice packed into a piece of nigiri sushi at this restaurant could be a sign of the chef’s confidence in the quality of his or her sushi rice. Alas, neither was the rice served here worthy of any praise. Judging from its dryness, I infer that rice had been prepared hours prior to being served.

Perhaps the abysmal quality of sushi at Sushi Zanmai NU Sentral would have been excusable had the price been cheaper. While I am not familiar enough with the ‘sushi scene’ in Kuala Lumpur to make a judgment concerning the value of food served here compared to other sushi restaurants in town, what seems clear to me is that the quality of sushi that I had eaten at this particular Sushi Zanmai branch was below even that of 100-yen kaitenzushi or pre-packed supermarket sushi in Japan. The only other sushi of similarly low quality that I ever had was in London—but that Deptford eatery did not pretend to be an authentic Japanese sushi joint in the first place, and the food they served was, if my memory serves me right, cheaper. I regret that I must conclude by saying that my money would have been better spent had I gone to eat nasi lemak instead. At the very least, I would have avoided...

HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! SUSHI ZANMAI EVER! It took 5 minutes to be seated when a staff at counter ignored us while busy meddling with cash register. When we were asked to sit yet again ignored for another 10minutes with no staff around to even hand over a menu!??? NO MENU OR BARCODE TO SCAN!!!!

We had to call a girl to get us the menu and order immediately on the spot luckily we eat regularly at other sushi zanmai restaurants and familiar with the food.

AGAIN THE WAITING IS NEVER END WE ASKED AGAIN AFTER HALF AN HOUR IF THE FOOD READY AND SHE CAME BACK SAYING It’s coming BUT IT’s Not!

Been pressing the call button nobody Respond. WAITING AGAIN…10 minutes passed Suddenly another staff came and told us they need another 10minutes to grill the salmon!!!! So what happened to the HALF HOUR + 10 MINUTES + 10 minutes to GRILL THE BLOODY SALMON???? SERIOUSLY???? And there are barely people patronizing this place at this time!

The VERDICT…. The SMALLEST SALMON We EVER EATEN IN ANY JAPANESE RESTAURANT!

This Outlet is worst than Sushi King now! AWFUL! This is the first time I comment die the shocking incident! What happened to food the food chain like Sushi Zanmai? Now we have all the reason to doubt the food...

update2024: new menu is with prices of the food and food varieties are increased. services were quick as always. clean and often bursting with office crowds queue. however, not so sure about the inconsistent flavour of every dish, one of them was the favourite and the must-have that now the reputation of the appetite of this dish has been declined because of its tasted-too-bland in recent visit. require urgent delicacy quality check. Recently review: craving for japanese food appetites in kuala lumpur is easy to settle. ranging from premium omakase to ready made halal sushi options. too many choices in one place most of the time may ends up on unsatisfied dinning. sushi zenmai offers quite a number of Japanese food varieties. the restaurant is muslim friendly, where mirin is considered a controversial issue. Eat: raw squid, sushi, soup, rice bowl, seafood. be there before meal hour at least 1 hour. order from QR scan or menu book. usually fully occupied at lunch time. queue-up lining is usual. 16% extra charges on bill for service and tax. order cold dishes before hot dishes. serving during meal time can...