Ohayo Sushi — Restaurant in Lewisville

When my friend suggested I try Ohayo Sushi as a sushi virgin, it felt a little like being set up on a blind date with someone your friend's mom swears is perfect for you—except "perfect" turns out to be someone who wears corduroy and chews with their mouth open. But, I decided to give it a shot. After all, every now and then, blind dates don’t end with restraining orders.

Walking in, I was immediately relieved that not only was my blind date not hideous, but actually kind of a babe. The charming decor had just enough traditional elements to make me feel like I wasn’t in the Lew anymore. No fake "emergency" calls from a friend were needed—so far.

Still nervous, I needed a drink. Some liquid courage before I shoved raw fish into my mouth. I ordered a Cherry Blossom, and all I could think was, if this date leads to a second, I want this drink again. It was sweet, a little tart, and packed just enough booze to calm my nerves as I prepared to lose my sushi virginity.

First up was the Fried Calamari. It was crispy, tender, and not at all like chewing on rubber bands (which is how a friend once described her experience with calamari). I didn't think I'd like calamari because, if we're being honest, I have the palate of a six-year-old who hates anything that might carry nutritional value. But it was a great icebreaker that had me thinking sushi and I might actually like one another.

Then came the Snow Crunchy Roll. It had a great balance of flavor, and its crunchy topping gave a great mix of textures to make the softer elements of the dish stand out—the culinary equivalent of an unexpected joke from someone who at first appears way too serious. I thought, “Okay, Mr. Sushi, not bad. This might actually work out.”

The California Roll was up next. I’d heard this roll was the safe bet, like the Swifties have decided Travis Kelce is for Taylor Swift. They weren’t wrong! It was yummy, and I was feeling more confident I could take this all the way—straight to raw fish.

The Chicken Tempura wasn’t raw fish, but it said all the things I wanted to hear. Tender, with a side of soy sauce, it was my favorite. Like discovering your blind date also watches Key and Peele episodes when they can’t sleep and then tells you that they too are a lifelong Slytherin. It was magic.

The Dragon Roll (or Daenerys Targaryen as I call her) had me a little iffy when the word “eel” was mentioned. I wasn’t sure I could do this.. What if what had been a really great first half ended up being me ready to make that fake emergency call to a friend? I looked at her, so bold and daring in her presentation, and I just went for it. Yes—that is all I can say. She was a definite yes!

Time for the Eel Roll. Even though I’d had some eel with my Khaleesi roll, I wasn’t sure I was ready to go this far. But I did, and unfortunately, eel isn’t for me. But that’s okay! This date wasn’t over and done just because I didn’t like one joke. It didn’t make me laugh till I cried, but I did still giggle.

Then came the Tiger Roll. They said it was spicy, and I’m a girl who loves the spice, so I was ready to make this date count. My eyes watered, my heart raced, and the Tiger Roll became the reason me and sushi will definitely meet again.

My blind date with sushi at Ohayo Sushi was a roaring success. I went in apprehensive and left giddy, waiting for a second date. If you’re someone who thinks sushi is just a bunch of raw fish without flavor or personality, I implore you to give it a chance to charm you. If someone like me, who thinks ketchup is the greatest culinary invention on earth, can fall in love with this sophisticated but down-to-earth fusion of flavors, anyone can. Life’s too short not to...

I wasn’t expecting much since these guys just opened up recently but it was so below my already low expectations that I don’t know how to put it into words except to simply ask people I know to just not go here. I don’t want to rant about all the terrible things that happened so I will make it simple and sweet. The food was bad. Period. I have had better food at random Chinese buffets or literally even Panda Express. If you want to read on about what was bad about the food then you can scroll to the bottom for details but otherwise if you asked for my opinion, I would recommend highly to just steer clear of this place. Our waiter Alex was great and super sweet. He checked on us multiple times and made sure we were doing ok. The manager took our food back to the kitchen and apologized for the fish bone incident and then asked us what we wanted him to do to make our experience better. It was awkward because I had already lost my appetite so I didn’t want anything to be “fixed” and he also didn’t have a ready-made solution. I hope they can figure things out so when something like this happens they have a go-to solution instead of asking the customer what should be done.

Ok so what was so bad? Everything …

The rolls came with stale old shrimp tempura in it that was cold and rock hard. The miso soup was piping hot but also painfully salty. The sashimi had bones, scales, and more bones in it. The shumai had undercooked potato cubes in them for some odd reason and were deepfried instead of steamed. The shrimp hibachi had lemon seeds cooked in with it. The shrimp tempura was the frozen kind you can buy at Costco. The chicken wings were overcooked and very saucy. The crab puffs were so tough we couldn’t eat the outer part. The chicken katsu that was very dry and overcooked didn’t come with katsu sauce and came with some sort of sweet chili sauce instead. The calamari came out cold with a lemon sauce that was super bitter. The fried oreos were dry and hard.

Some random side notes .. The one good thing was their cheesecake that was frozen and tasted like your average grocery store Sarah Lee dessert. The inside was super grimey feeling and I could hear my shoes sticking and peeling off the floor as we walked to our table. Once we got to the table it was also sticky and divey feeling. The interior is interesting and I could definitely tell the old La Madeleine here was still very much alive. They had a ton of post-it notes and polaroid photos taped to the wall for some reason .. this was definitely the most interesting experience I have had in a...

Here is an honest review based on my experience:

We got to order a total of 2 times because our server barely came to our table, and she was more focused on cleaning tables than taking orders. Once we finally got her attention and ordered the second time, it took over 20 minutes for the sushi to come out because there was a big reservation and none of the smaller tables were getting their sushi since all of the chefs were making plates for the reservation (which I overheard from another table). At this point we were done because it was taking too long, and decided to leave.

Our server was nowhere to be seen, so we asked the manager who was walking by for our check. It was taking a while, so we just decided to pay at the front. To my surprise, the manager was at the front on his phone, not getting our check. We asked to pay and he didn’t even know our table number (so he had no intention in getting our check when we asked). He confidently said the total was $114 (for 3 people) without giving us the receipt, and I was confused because the lunch price is $20. He tried to rush us to tap the card, and my dad was going to, but I stopped him. I asked the manager why that was the total and he seemed taken back I asked him that. My mom was trying to explain that it was the just the three of us (she is not fluent in English) to which he put his hand up and told her to calm down and be patient. She was in no way being rude, and the one thing I will not let slide is disrespect towards my parents. I told him not to talk to her that way which he ignored and said the new total (without any apologies or explanations of why our total was wrong). So I asked him for the reason and his response was that our server had set it to dinner price. Regardless of whether the server made a mistake or not, he was the one who saw the bill at the end and chose to charge us that price. I understand that this is a new restaurant and I’m not saying that everything has to be perfect, but how you treat your customer should be a priority of your business. Very upset and disappointed.

edit: this was today (07/14) during lunch time and I'm surprised that Kenneth didn't talk to you about the situation because I told him I will be writing this review. This just further shows how unprofessional...