Sushi Maeda — Restaurant in Burlington

We walked in on the Friday before Christmas and there was one person at the bar and a couple at a table. We proceeded to wait at the host station for a few minutes while the server talked with the couple. I decided to go to the bathroom while we waited. When I got out of the bathroom, the server was still talking to the couple and my husband was still waiting at the host station. The server was facing the door the whole time, so plenty of opportunity to stop her personal conversation and at least greet us at any time.

We then decided to sit at the bar where she handed us menus. Several minutes went by before she took our simple order of a half bottle of sake and 3 sushi rolls. Nothing too elaborate. As we waited for our sake, my husband went to the bathroom. When he returned, he mentioned that someone was in the other stall watching sports news on his phone. Pretty odd. A few minutes after we got our sake, an older man slowly moved from the bathroom to the open kitchen area... clearly the man watching sports in the bathroom. He walked into the sushi bar area of the open kitchen and washed his hands. I guess that's a plus.

It was around this time that the couple and the man at the bar finished their patronage and left independently of each other. We were the only ones in the entire place. We proceeded to sit at the bar for another 35 minutes without seeing the waitress or any food, with the old man behind the sushi bar just shuffling around in slow motion. It was too far away to know if he was making our food or not. At this point, we got up, threw some cash on the bar for the sake we had consumed, and walked out.

Three Sushi Rolls should never take more than 15 minutes. We were there for the better part of an hour. I DO NOT recommend this place....

We were curious to try Sushi Maeda as we have walked past and looked in but each time we have been there seemed to be a long wait of 30+ minutes. Finally we went around 5:00 pm and were able to get a seat. We eat largely plant based and wanted to try the vegetable sushi. We ordered green tea to start which was excellent (and we have green often). We also got Daikon Dengaku which was a soft and warm almost potato like consistency with an incredible sweet and gooey miso sauce on top that was like nothing we have ever eaten before but was incredible. We also ordered three different vegetable sushis: Shitake, Kanpyo (white gourd), and Shiba Zuke Shiso (pickle mixture). I was pleasantly surprised by the individual quality of each piece of sushi. One slight critique was how small they were (felt just less an inch in diameter) and there were only 6 of each kind. I realize many probably go to get an entree which would have more food but we just wanted sushi. All in all the quality was excellent and the restaurant has a sort of upscale vibe with restrained staff. Personally I will be getting sushi from other sources going forward just because I tend to want larger portions but this is a great spot to try if you are craving great authentic Japanese...

Was hoping for something special, but can't say I found it. Space is huge and spare with less than 1/4 containing tables. No big deal, but odd. Miso soup: for me it wasn't hot enough, (temperature.) My wife thought it was OK. Seaweed and burdock salads: very tasty but pretty standard fare. Sushi: Rice is KEY to sushi, and in this case it felt like some unfortunate necessity. I ordered the chef's-choice assortment. The fish was huge relative to rice. I didn't take photos, but you can see it in other's. Some might appreciate this - they should order sashimi. The bites were too big and not balanced. Hard to tell for sure, because fish was so dominant, but I thought rice could have been seasoned more. Owners of this place had Sansai restaurant years back where they offered really excellent and uncommon sushi - hamachi with plum paste and mint for instance - really good. Was hoping something like this would appear in my assortment. It didn't. Fish all tasted fresh. Nothing was terrible but nothing was great. Best piece was mackerel. Wife enjoyed pork and tofu dish a lot. Waitress was nice. I hope it gets better, but not holding my breath.

John Russel: complaining that they have a white/American sushi chef is racist...