Sushi Don — Restaurant in Lafayette

Sushi Don is the kind of sushi restaurant that makes you want to go out for other, better sushi later. It's not that any of it was bad. In fact, it's a solid step up from grocery store sushi. Unfortunately, it seems that fresh restaurant sushi is two or more steps up from grocery store sushi and Sushi Don didn't finish climbing the stairs.

The dine-in experience is weird. The sushi is served pre-packaged in refrigerated cases, evoking a cafeteria. (There's a reason people don't often rave about sushi cafeterias.) Signage on the wall proudly states that the sushi is made fresh daily. I believe that to be true, judging from the sushi chef visible from the dining area, heroically rolling sushi for a crowd of unknown size, taste, and timing. Alas, while the refrigerated cases keep the sushi cold, it ruins those rolls with fried components, rendering them soggy and unpleasant.

The pricing is just too high for sushi like this. $15 for a specialty roll of soft tempura and mealy rice is delusional. A sign indicated a special pricing, in which two specialty rolls could be purchased together for a reduced rate. We got two specialty rolls, but we were charged full price for each just the same. (Similarly, the fountain drinks were marked at $1.95, but we were charged $2.50.)

We purchased a volcano roll, intriguingly assembled into a vaguely mountainous shape. The pieces of the roll were stacked neatly, but then swamped in a mixture of sauce and fake crab meat that completely overwhelmed the flavor of the roll.

The other roll was a shrimp lover's roll. It was fair. It suffered from the sogginess problem acutely, but the flavor wasn't bad. Texture just ruined it.

Sushi Don is called an "Asian Fusion" restaurant, but the fusion in question is a sushi bar with a Japanese convenience store selling kitchy chopsticks and accessories. The decor is all over the place, right down to miniature apple crates bolted to the wall and filled with plants, and something that looked like balls of yarn.

With all of that said, I have to comment that the staff were very friendly. That's important. It was about the only redeeming quality of the dine-in Sushi Don experience.

You could do worse for takeout, but for dine-in, you could (and...

Well I came by here today after about a year and a half hiatus. It really is sad to see what this place has become.. we used to make this almost a weekly adventure with work bringing both clients as well as co-workers. And it was absolutely hands down the best sushi you could get anywhere. Now this place is reduced a little more than what you could get over at Kroger. It might work for some, but you would think for a place with multiple locations in the same county they would at least choose one of them to become a dine-in option. And I'm not talking about grabbing your pre-boxed roll and sitting at a table in the restaurant to consume it... The place was absolutely dead when I walked in, I guess maybe that's an indication of the customers not wanting the grab and go? One thing I found slightly off putting, none of the rolls come with wasabi or ginger... Instead they have "extra wasabi" and "extra ginger" that you can pay extra for... However, the word extra is quite deceiving as you're given none with any of the rolls. I guess the only advantage to this place continuing with Kroger style boxes is that it gave me an opportunity to explore other sushi places in Tippecanoe county. If you're looking for a great sit down atmosphere reminiscent of what this place used to be, I would definitely recommend trying Kitami Yakiniku & Sushi in...

I stopped by Sushi Don today for lunch with a friend. He mentioned that certain rolls were 50% off at lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Having never been and being in the mood for sushi, it sounded good. We arrived to find the entire dining area full. It is apparently very popular for lunch on Fridays. The entrance is very decorative and interestingly cozy. After about five minutes, we were seated. I ordered the Spicy California roll and an iced tea. The lunch quickly started with miso soup, which was quite good. Our sushi rolls arrived shortly after and were attractively plated. Each roll amounted to six or eight average-sized pieces. We were also offered ginger and wasabi to go with the rolls. I enjoyed my roll, which was fresh and had a very good taste to the spicy sauce. My unsweetened iced tea was quite good as well, being brewed and not from the soda machine. They did mention that the sweet tea was not brewed, when I ordered. At the end of the meal, the bills arrived and I was still under $5 for an excellent lunch. Overall it was a fantastic experience and I'm glad Lafayette has a great little restaurant like this. I look forward to visiting again soon and trying...