Mari's Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in City of Schenectady

UPDATED: because the restaurant responded so defensively I am adding information to clarify: The issue was not GrubHub's delivery: it was restaurant quality and care in preparation.

They left off ginger from the Chirashi plates...is no one checking food as it goes out the door?

The omelette sushi was loose and falling apart at the layers. This is inexperienced preparation of the omelet or lack of care in quality.

The avocado on the roll was at the point of just past ripeness but served anyway

Four of eight pieces of protein in the Chirashi were not fish but sloppy omelets or fake crab. You get more sushi on a supermarket sushi tray. Two of the four fish were tuna. One was over cooked shrimp.

The portion size and preparation on the tempura was poor.

We had to eat the food because one of the diners was diabetic and we had already waited an hour for delivery. Some issues aren't discovered until you start eating.

I also never said I was going to make people not eat there...I just said I was going to share how bad my experience was by posting reviews everywhere. Where you choose to eat is your business.

Shocked they actually tried to defend what they let out of the kitchen as quality ...........................

This review is for a GrubHub delivery order. Ordered one appetizer of veggie tempura, one spicy crab salad. One dragon roll and two Chirashi meals.

The veggie tempura consisted of six aneamically small pieces of vegetablea in a soggy tempura coating. Half or less the size of most tempura appetizer servings I've had at other places.

Crab salad has too much mayonaisse and not enough crab or spice.

The dragon roll had overly ripe avocadoes on top and the rice on the outside of the roll fell apart when picked up.

The Chirashi bowls: they forgot to serve with ginger. Four of the eight pieces of scattered "fish" consisted of two fake crab sticks and two sad tamago omelets.

The tamago was sad because the layers were loose and fell apart when picked up, as if made by an amateur chef.

One was served with an ok miso soup, the other with a house salad with an intolerable excuse for ginger dressing.

The Chirashi bowls, for two small ill prepared tamago, two fish sticks, two I hope it was tuna, one white fish and one overcooked shrimp, along with rice and soup or salad, were $22 a piece.

The total miserable meal was a little over $80 dollars.

Embarrassing to call this sushi. Mari's should be ashamed they let this...

This little place surprised my friends and me when we went out to the middle of nowhere the restaurant is located in. The place is run by a Japanese couple, and serves authentic, home-style Japanese dishes (and I'd know, since I grew up over there). The restaurant is cozy, with a capacity of ~35, maybe 40 customers. One American woman waits the entire restaurant -she does well and is attentive, although the place didn't have more than 20 or so people when my friends and I went there on a Sat. night. If you have a higher standard for food than the typical mainstream American sugar, salt, and grease drenched fake ethnic foods, you'll be very happy eating here.

Food notes:

_Miso soup, salad, and rice are all good quality. The rice was cooked just right.

_Prok gyoza: Mediocre. The skin was limp, and the flavor was uninspiring. Seemed like they were pre-cooked and re-heated.

_Chicken liver: Good and savory, with proper texture.

_Sushi: We ordered the simple nigiris and rolls (not into those crazy American'style rolls) in an entree: the quality of the fish was top-notch (even better than Yoshi sushi in Latham), the rice had a moderate flavor and was cooked just right, and the sushi was prepared with just the right pressure (i.e. sushi not packed too tight, or crumble apart when eating).

_Pork Katsu: Good. The meat was a bit thin and dry, but crunchy and had good flavor.

_Ishikari Nabe: Very good. A signature dish from Mari's place of origin -a Japanese-style hotpot with seafood, tofu, and veggies, in a butter-and-miso broth. Flavors were well-balanced, and contents of the pot were cooked just right. Makes you feel all warm and cozy.

_Tofu Sukiyaki: So-so. A more common Japanese hotpot in a variant of stock, soy sauce, and sugar broth. The contents were cooked just right, but it was a bit too...

I was surprisingly pleased with my early weekday (sushi) lunch in this stand-alone restaurant, with an unassuming and barely distinctive exterior. As the attentive server escorted me to the 7-seat sushi bar (photo) - I found the interior was also minimally decorated, but good news! the giant TV was only visible from a private side area.

I was presented a menu without photos, of which I always approve, but on the other hand, waribashi and paper napkins are their standard for lunch. Although the sushi selections were not that extensive, I was able to order a couple of rolls and a few nigiri, as usual, following a satisfying soup.

The plating of the main was simple and unadorned, (photo) but competent, with excellent wasabi. I won't say freshly ground today, because I didn't watch the personable chef grind it right in front of me. But very good, and extremely spicy.

The nigiri was good, with the sweetened tamago clearly rolled, not "egg cake"/frittata and the ikura and hamachi both very fresh. Also, individual nigiri had a small dab of wasabi under the fish, a step often omitted by chefs here in the Capital Region. The only mistake on the plate was the unagi - charred carbon black edges during reheating, and unfortunately, the chef still served them.

Both maki were much smaller than I normally expect, but very well done. The spicy hamachi was surprisingly very spicy, and the pleasant unagi cucumber satisfied.

Overall, I was happy with my lunch, and I will most definitely return soon.

2019...