The Other Fish — Restaurant in Bethlehem

I've been here on several occasions and generally have a good experience, although there have been a couple bad experiences with takeout. It's a very cramped restaurant- I've definitely felt a few butts and hips (unintentional of course) of those in passing. However, I would say it's a good place for a date because they have these questionnaire cards on the table that make for good conversation while waiting for your meal. They have good quality sushi but it's really overpriced, especially for the amount you get. Eight small pieces can potentially run you over $15 if it's a "special" roll. Their chicken katsu (breaded chicken cutlets) was a generous portion and quite delicious. I've also tried their udon and ramen, which I wasn't too impressed with. The ramen broth was much too heavy on the chili oil and did not taste authentic at all, and the udon noodles were over cooked.

I would suggest dining in over taking out at this establishment. The two times I have ordered takeout here have been very frustrating. My first takeout encounter--I ordered two basic rolls of sushi (spicy tuna and spicy salmon). They gave me an ETA of 45 minutes which I thought was a bit extreme for two basic rolls, but I didn't complain. I arrived at the 45 minute mark, and my sushi was not yet ready. Since seating was full, I stood by the counter patiently waiting for my order. Fifteen minutes went by and my order was still not ready. I asked the person behind the counter about the progress of my order and he said it would be ready in a couple minutes. A couple minutes turned into 10 minutes. I look over at the chef behind the counter and I finally see him start making sushi. I asked if that was my order he was making and he said yes. So my order was pretty much started on 1 hour and 10 minutes into the time it was placed. He quickly made my two rolls of sushi in a total of 3 minutes. I was pretty upset that I wasted so much time for food that took me 3 minutes to scarf down (I was famished by that point). The second takeout experience was quite similar where it took me 1.5 hours to get my food with 30 minutes of that time comprised of me waiting inside...

Good news, bad news...

Good news: The server was great, very friendly, and attentive without being overbearing. My miso soup was tasty, though too large of a serving, (I know, an American complaining about a large serving size, weird). Unfortunately, that's it for the good news.

Bad news: This place is DIRTY, loud, & cramped. The grease dripping from the hood vents was gross. Their food handling skills are definitely not up to code, with no gloves for handling raw chicken, no dedicated cutting board, no dedicated towel, and no bleach for clean-up.

After staring for a long time at a confusing menu that is poorly formatted, and typed up in all caps, we finally ordered sushi. You write on the menu the quantity you desire next to the roll. Seems wasteful to use an entire 8.5"x11" piece of paper (menu) for every guest, don't ya think?

They didn't have yellowtail (a favorite), or tobiko (really?), or sushi nigiri (strange).

The sushi: • Rice over-cooked to the point of mush. • Way too much rice with the rolls. • The wasabi (or maybe the soy sauce) was bitter. • The rolls are bland and they all tasted the same. • Not an artful presentation. In fact, no attempt at a presentation at all, unless you count the mountain of artificially colored, pickled ginger on the side of the plate. • First roll that I bit into turned my stomach almost instantly. I think it was the "spicy tuna" glop that is poured in excess on so many of the rolls (nasty). I ate a couple more pieces, but then I just couldn't choke any more down.

We seriously considered sending all of our food back and going elsewhere. We just felt bad, and didn't have the heart. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. These guys are amateurs.

The staff here should go to a place like Jasmine in Easton, or another notable sushi restaurant, for dinner and try to take some notes. Seriously.

Sadly, The Other Fish was the worst dining out experience we've had in...

Your journey to finding "The Other Fish". Let's paint the picture, you're out and about living it up. You're listening to "Summertime Sadness", because it's getting warm out and we all know that the song was an instant classic the moment Calvin Harris pressed "publish". Suddenly, you're craving sushi, but the last 47 places you've ordered from gave you sushi maki around the diameter of a penny and about the size of a cherry tomato in height. Disappointed by nearly every sushi restaurant's portion sizing, you keep trying new places in an effort to find the perfect roll for the perfect price. You've been trying to find the best sticky rice and the freshest tasting sushi-- you can't give up until you find it. You're on the "Google Site" looking at the highest rated sushi restaurants in the area, but can you trust the opinions of people who have never eaten amazing sushi? Of people who have the time to leave reviews? Is this review written by a minor character in the main story that is YOUR life or is this review even real? You begin to doubt yourself. You begin to doubt your life choices and-- suddenly-- you discover "The Other Fish". What is this place? Where is this place? Why can't I stop reading this review? What is "The Other Fish"? Is there another place called "The Fish"? I don't know, but I do know that this Lehigh Valley restaurant is officially one of my favorite sushi places around. I'm a bit of a sushi aficionado and their sushi was phenomenal. I recommend calling in to place an order, because they can give you a decent estimate of when your meal's ready. The sizing of their portions was perfect and justified their price. I didn't feel like they were penny-pinching and that's reflected in the size and the robust flavor of their food. This isn't just a review-- this is destiny telling you to give this place a try.

Good food....